70 SMT Magazine • January 2017
Display Panel Makers Increase Fab
Utilization Rate to 90% in Q4
The overall utilization rate at fabrication plants
used for display panel production is expected to
reach 90% in the fourth quarter of 2016, up 7 per-
centage points from the same period in the previ-
ous year, and up 1 percentage point from the pre-
vious quarter, according to IHS Markit.
Average Contract Price of PC DRAM to
Go Up 15% Sequentially in Q1 2017
The latest research from DRAMeXchange finds
that the global DRAM market in the first quarter of
2017 will benefit from the stock-up activities ahead
of the Chinese New Year holidays and the wide-
spread expectations of tight supply.
4G Smartphones to Surpass 1 Billion
Mark in Shipments for 2016
Worldwide smartphone shipments are expected
to reach 1.45 billion units with a year-over-year
growth rate of 0.6% in 2016, according to the IDC
Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
IoT: Soaring Demand for Smarter Devices
to Bring Lucrative Opportunities in Market
The global Internet of Things market stood at
$237.77 billion in 2014 and is predicted to touch
$924.86 billion in 2021, expanding at a whopping
21.4% CAGR between 2015 and 2021.
Global Smartphone Production Volume
to Grow 4.5% Annually in 2017
Market research firm TrendForce has lowered the
projected annual growth rate of smartphone pro-
duction worldwide for 2016 to 2.5%.
Strong Growth Expected for the
Wearable Technology Markets
The wearable technology market is worth $28.89
billion in 2016 and expected to reach $71.23 bil-
lion by 2021, growing at a CAGR of 18.9% from
2016 to 2021, according to a new report by Scalar
Market Research.
Indian Smartphone Market Crosses
30-Million-Unit Shipment Milestone
The smartphone market in India has crossed the
30-million-unit shipment milestone for the first
time ever in a quarter in CY Q3 2016, maintaining
its healthy traction with 11% year-on-year growth.
Worldwide Sales of Smartphones Grew
by 5.4% Year Over Year
Three Chinese vendors — Huawei, Oppo and BBK
Communication Equipment — together account-
ed for 21% of the smartphones sold to end users
worldwide in the third quarter of 2016. They were
the only smartphone vendors in the global top five
to increase their sales and market share during the
quarter, according to Gartner Inc.
Biometric System Market Worth
$32.73 Billion by 2022
The future growth of the biometric system market
is expected to be driven by rising use of biometric
technology in financial institutes and healthcare
sectors, government initiatives in adoption of bio-
metric system, and increasing use of biometric sys-
tems in criminal identification.
Global Tablet Market to Recover in 2018
Worldwide tablet shipments are expected to de-
cline by 12% in 2016, rounding out the year at
182.3 million shipments, according to a new
forecast from the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tab-
let Tracker. IDC expects the market to rebound in
2018, though growth will remain in the low single
digits as detachable tablets slowly gain traction.
Electronics Industry News
Market Highlights
