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.
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
Nanya Technology Corp (南亞科技) yesterday said the DRAM supply crunch could extend through 2028, as the artificial intelligence (AI) boom has led the world’s major memory makers to dramatically reduce production of standard DRAM and allocate a significant portion of their capacity for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. The most severe supply constraints would stretch to the first half of next year due to “very limited” increases in new DRAM capacity worldwide, Nanya Technology president Lee Pei-ing (李培瑛) told a news briefing. The company plans to increase monthly 12-inch wafer capacity to 20,000 in the first half of 2028 after a
Property transactions in the nation’s six special municipalities plunged last month, as a lengthy Lunar New Year holiday combined with ongoing credit tightening dampened housing market activity, data compiled by local land administration offices released on Monday showed. The six cities recorded a total of 10,480 property transfers last month, down 42.5 percent from January and marking the second-lowest monthly level on record, the data showed. “The sharp drop largely reflected seasonal factors and tighter credit conditions,” Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) deputy research manager Chen Chin-ping (陳金萍) said. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday fell in February this year, reducing
Zimbabwe’s ban on raw lithium exports is forcing Chinese miners to rethink their strategy, speeding up plans to process the metal locally instead of shipping it to China’s vast rechargeable battery industry. The country is Africa’s largest lithium producer and has one of the world’s largest reserves, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Zimbabwe already banned the export of lithium ore in 2022 and last year announced it would halt exports of lithium concentrates from January next year. However, on Wednesday it imposed the ban with immediate effect, leaving unclear what the lithium mining sector would do in the