Mobile phone manufacturers will show off their most advanced models at Asia’s biggest telecommunication fair this week, hoping to prove they can rival or even better the Apple iPhone.
CommunicAsia 2009 opens in Singapore today, a week after the US technology titan unveiled a new version called the iPhone S featuring a video camera as well as faster connection speed.
Analysts say competitors have been left playing catch-up to the iPhone, which has shaken up the industry and created a legion of new Apple fans drawn to the device’s sleek design, touchscreen interface and myriad of applications.
Thanks to the iPhone, Apple has emerged to become the world’s third-largest maker in the fast growing smartphone segment, selling 18.66 million units since the device hit stores in 2007, technology research house Gartner said.
The stakes this week are high for mobile phone makers because the region is shaping out to be a key battleground as they jostle for a share of the smartphone market.
“If you look at the Asia-Pacific, this is the biggest show in town,” said Marc Einstein, industry manager for mobile and wireless communications with Frost and Sullivan consultancy. “It’s important for them to display their strengths.”
Samsung, the world’s second-largest phone maker behind Nokia, is among the heavyweights at CommunicAsia, where the South Korean electronics giant is expected to unveil its latest innovations including a new smartphone line-up.
LG, another South Korean player, ranked third globally behind Samsung in terms of overall mobile phone sales, is also expected to tout its most advanced wares at the show, as is Sony Ericsson.
Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the popular Blackberry, is also one of the exhibitors at show, but the Canadian company will not be introducing any new products, a spokesman said.
Finnish giant Nokia is not part of CommunicAsia but will hold its own events outside the trade fair.
Smartphone sales are tipped to account for 26.5 percent, or 228 million units, of the Asia-Pacific’s overall mobile phone market, up from 13.74 percent last year, Frost and Sullivan said.
“This rise is primarily due to the fact that the costs of smartphones are reducing tremendously across all individual markets in the Asia- Pacific, with operators subsidizing the price to entice subscribers to experience and use higher value-added data applications,” it said.
Roberta Cozza, a London-based analyst with Gartner, said the iPhone was a major reason behind the growing global interest in smartphones.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it would boost equipment capital expenditure by up to 16 percent for this year to cope with strong customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Aside from AI, a growing demand for semiconductors used in the automotive and industrial sectors is to drive ASE’s capacity next year, the Kaohsiung-based company said. “We do see the disparity between AI and other general sectors, and that pretty much aligns the scenario in the first half of this year,” ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an
RSS