There has been an explosive growth in the number of 4G network users worldwide in 2015. According to TrendForce’s projection, the sales of the global 4G-enabled smartphones will reach 450 million units worldwide this year. The convenience and seamless connection of the mobile network encourages consumer usage, while the increasing penetration of 4G-enabled smartphones also drives user growth of 4G mobile networks.
Pepper, a humanoid intelligent robot developed by Japanese telecom giant Softbank, has been an incredible success in its home country. The first batch of 1,000 Pepper units that was released to the Japanese consumer market earlier this June was sold out under a minute, as with later waves of limited pre-orders.
The latest photovoltaic (PV) market price report by EnergyTrend, a division of TrendForce, says strong demand from major markets such as China, the U.S., Japan and India ensures that first-tier PV module manufacturers will have fully booked capacities to the end of 2015.
TrendForce projects that the 2016 global smartphone shipments will be at 1.34 billion units, showing just a 5.8% annual growth as well as a consecutive decline from the estimated 8.3% annual growth of this year.
The competition to develop applications for artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) heats up as tech giants scramble to acquire AI-based startups and related industry talents in order to strengthen their strategic positions.