Chinese PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) has seen rapid growth in China’s smartphone market and aims at raising its share in the high-end market by cooperating with Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科), a Taipei-based research firm said recently.
DRAMeXchange Technology Inc, a research arm of advisory firm TrendForce (集邦科技), said in a report on Thursday that Lenovo led all Chinese smartphone makers in terms of shipments in the third quarter of this year.
Altogether, Chinese smartphone makers shipped about 60 million units in the July-to-September period, an increase of 8 percent from the second quarter.
Lenovo, which entered the smartphone sector only in the second quarter of this year, led all local vendors with 9 million units shipped, followed by Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) 8.5 million units and ZTE Corp’s (中興) 7.5 million units, the report said.
In comparison to other PC makers that have turned to the smartphone market, Lenovo has a stronger pricing strategy and established sales channels, the report said.
EXPANSION
By meeting demand from various consumer groups, Lenovo is strengthening its market share and brand acceptance in the run-up to the company’s attempt to expand through strategies such as adding higher-priced models to its lineup and offering its products internationally, the report added.
As part of an attempt to strengthen its presence in the high-end market and expand to the global market, next year Lenovo may introduce new quad-core and dual-core chips, developed in cooperation with MediaTek, the report said.
The computer maker appears to be determined not to miss the boat on smartphones as the market is growing fast and has a lot of potential.
Lenovo and other Chinese companies are becoming a key part of the smartphone industry. Morgan Stanley forecast in July that China’s smartphone shipments will likely hit the range of between 150 million to 170 million units this year, thanks to rapid upgrades of feature phones.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese companies are also trying to stay ahead in this competitive industry by offering special features to their phones.
Last month, Taiwanese computer maker Acer Inc (宏碁) launched its first smartphone supporting its own personal cloud service in Taiwan as part of efforts to boost its smartphone sales next year. Carrying a price tag of NT$14,900 (US$510) in Taiwan, the cloud service-enabled S500 will go on sale in other Asian countries later this year, the company said.
HYBRID
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) also launched its second-generation hybrid smartphone last month. The 4.7 inch Padfone 2 can be combined with a 10.1 inch tablet to provide the integrated functions of a mobile phone and a tablet computer.
Asustek said the Padfone lineup is seen as a “restart point” for its smartphone business and the company is dedicated to making its products more user-friendly.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
A man walks past real-estate advertisements outside a house in Taipei yesterday. The central bank yesterday said it plans to establish an “Inflation-at-Risk” gauge as a supplementary tool for observing inflation, as policymakers express wish to communicate more effectively with the public when making inflation forecasts.
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS