Suppliers in the global handset supply chain are nervously waiting for the planned release of new smartphones from Apple, Samsung Electronics and Huawei in the upcoming peak season as sales results of these new models will affect significantly the vendors' market shares as well as follow-up orders for related suppliers.
The new models that will heat up the competition in the smartphone market in the second half of 2017 include Apple's new iPhone devices, Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 and Huawei's Mate 10, according to industry sources.
At stake is a growing concern that the much-anticipated OLED-version of the new iPhone devices may not come in time as some market watchers have indicated that the tight supply of OLED panels and the re-design of fingerprint authentication has hindered the production of this premium model.
The observers also pointed out that volume production of the OLED-version iPhone may not start until November with the first wave of shipments to be less than five million units. If such a scenario is to happen, the sentiment of the new iPhone devices will be seriously impacted, said the sources.
The roll-out of the Galaxy Note 8 devices is also crucial for Samsung as the new series will bear the responsibility of revising the negative image caused by the defective Note 7 and of continuing the lifespan of the Note-series products.
To the make the debut a success, the Galaxy Note 8 is expected to come with an array of enhanced hardware specifications, including a double-curved 6.3-inch flexible AMOLED display, Exynos 8895 CPU and dual 12-megapixel main camera with fast-charging and wireless charging, dual SIM, 6GB RAM/64GB ROM, according to the sources.
Huawei, which has long expressed its intention to overtake Apple to become the world's second largest smartphone vendor, apparently sees the timing is ripe for it to launch the Mate 10 this fall leveraging its current sales momentum.
The Mate 10 will sport a 6-inch AMOLED 18:9 all-screen panel, which is comparable to those panels to be used by the OLED-version iPhone and the Galaxy Note 8, said the sources, who continued that the Mate 10 will feature a HiSilicon Kirin 970 processor, built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) using a 10nm FinFET technology , the same process as Apple's A11 processors used in the new iPhones.
Huawei's smartphone shipments expanded by over 20% on year to 130 million units in 2016, and the sales momentum continued into the first half of 2017 as the company saw its smartphone shipments grow another 20% to 73.01 million units during the six-month period. |