HTC Corp (宏達電) is set to release several new devices in the second half of this year, including a new “selfie phone,” codenamed “Eye.”
The handest is set to be launched in the US in the fourth quarter, said a report published on Friday on technology news Web site eprice.com.
The HTC Butterfly 2, an Android-based, fourth-generation long-term evolution-capable smartphone designed and developed by the company, has already been certified in Japan.
The international version of the Butterfly 2 has received certification from Visa for contactless near-field communication payments, which enable mobile payments at point of sale, indicating that the device will be launched soon, the report said.
In addition, although a new variant of its flagship model, the HTC One (M8) has been available in China since the first half of the year, the official version of the device is soon to make its China debut after it received certification by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
According to market speculation, HTC plans to launch its first handset compatible with the Windows Phone 8S operating system, the HTC W8, in the third quarter of this year.
Shipments of Taoyuan-based HTC’s smartphones doubled last quarter, as it has been gearing up to put out new models on the market, ranging from high-end to mid-range devices, researcher Digitimes Research said on Friday.
Overall shipments of Taiwanese phones in the quarter ended June 30 grew by about 30 percent from both a year earlier and a quarter earlier, driven by local brands’ intensive efforts to launch new models, the researcher said.
Taiwan shipped 21.06 million units during the April-to-June period, up 29.8 percent from the previous quarter and 30.2 percent from the same period a year ago, the researcher said.
Taipei-based Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) also saw strong shipments during the three-month period due to high sales of its low-cost Zenfone series, it added.
As for contract phone makers, both Chi Mei Communication Systems Inc (奇美通訊) and Compal Communications Inc (華寶) saw rising shipments on the back of orders for Sony smartphones and Nokia feature phones.
However, declining shipments from Arima Communications Corp (華冠通訊), which is another contract manufacturer, offset the overall growth among contract makers.
READJUSTMENT? Despite the rumors, a senior Google official said that the company plans to expand its AI research center in Taipei’s Shilin District Google Taiwan is reducing its workforce as the company continues to adjust operations to improve efficiency and focus resources on core goals, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) reported yesterday. The Alphabet Inc unit said the organizational adjustments have begun and would continue, even though it did not put a figure on the number of potential job cuts or specify the affected departments in its Taiwan operations. The company’s response came after rumors circulated on social media about major job cuts at Google Taiwan. Some posts said the downsizing would target the company’s consumer electronics-related departments
Taiwanese aircraft maker Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (AIDC, 漢翔航空) yesterday announced that it has secured a 20-year partnership agreement with Canada-based Bombardier Inc. The two companies held a ceremony in Taipei yesterday to exchange signed copies of the agreement, launching the 20-year partnership under which AIDC would supply cockpit and forward fuselage structural components for Bombardier’s super-midsize Challenger 3500 business jets, the Taiwanese company said. The agreement represents a new milestone in cooperation between the two companies, which dates back to 1999, with the Taiwanese supplier having provided rear fuselage structural components for more than 1,000 Challenger 3500 aircraft, it
FOUNDRY DATA: Demand pushed production on some TSMC lines to full utilization, while Samsung’s market share of 5.9 percent dropped, TrendForce said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) foundry market share edged up to 72.5 percent in the second quarter from 72.3 percent in the previous quarter, propelled by robust artificial intelligence (AI) and smartphone chip revenue, data compiled by market researcher TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) showed yesterday. TSMC’s revenue last quarter grew 12 percent sequentially to US$40.2 billion, outpacing the 11.5 percent average growth among the world’s top 10 foundry companies, the researcher said. Combined revenue of the top 10 is expected to grow further this quarter from US$53.49 billion last quarter, supported by strong demand and price hikes, it said. The increased demand has
Global notebook computer shipments are expected to fall 8 percent year-on-year to 167.9 million units this year, dragged by weak demand, high component prices and supply constraints, the Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC) said on Tuesday. Next year, shipments are expected to decline by a further 4.7 percent to 160 million units as higher retail prices weigh on consumption, MIC deputy director-general Edward Lin (林柏齊) told a news conference in Taipei. The downtrend is expected to extend into 2028, with replacement demand unlikely to recover before supplies of key components rebound and costs decline, Lin said. Surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI)
RSS