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Monday 14 September 2026

China accelerates e-SIM's leap from wearables to smartphones

China's e-SIM adoption is moving beyond smartwatches and other wearables into smartphones at an accelerating pace.

Monday 14 September 2026

Samsung, Qualcomm deepen 2nm talks as pricing and yield hurdles persist

Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm are expanding discussions over 2nm foundry cooperation, with pricing, yield, and process optimization still unresolved as Samsung seeks to regain a share of Qualcomm's flagship processor business.

Monday 14 September 2026

Foldable smartphone panel shipments to grow 23% in 2026

Following the launch of Apple's first foldable iPhone, the iPhone Duo, combined sales momentum from Samsung Electronics, Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and Motorola is expected to drive global foldable smartphone shipments above 27 million units in 2026.

Saturday 12 September 2026

Apple foldable plans drive new demand for Japanese smartphone parts makers

Apple’s move into foldable smartphones is creating fresh business for Japanese component makers with expertise in thin, lightweight and compact designs. According to Nikkei Asia, suppliers that once helped shape Japan’s feature phone era are seeing renewed interest in foldable display materials, hinges and battery-related parts.

Friday 11 September 2026

Apple cracks mmWave with C2, weakening Qualcomm's last big iPhone modem edge

Apple has introduced its new in-house C2 modem in the iPhone 18 Pro, and the US specifications list support for the n258, n260 and n261 mmWave bands, marking the first time Apple's C-series modem has crossed the mmWave threshold.

Friday 11 September 2026

Apple's foldable arrives late to a supply chain already moving on

Apple has unveiled its first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, raising expectations that its entry will expand the foldable phone market and lift component prices. For Taiwanese suppliers, however, foldables are no longer the main growth focus.

Thursday 10 September 2026

Apple added flat US$100 to every iPhone and rebuilt A20 Pro around memory

Two things happened at Apple's September 9 launch that belong in the same story: the company raised the price of every iPhone it sells by exactly US$100, and it introduced a chip whose headline improvement is a wider memory interface, without saying how much memory sits behind it.

Thursday 10 September 2026

Apple just put a US$700 premium on hinges — seven supply chain takeaways

These are the seven supply chain takeaways from Apple's announcements on September 9, covering new iPhone models, new AirPods, chips, and upgrades to its ecosystem.

Thursday 10 September 2026

Apple's 100-part iPhone Duo hinge puts spotlight on Chinese suppliers

Apple's first foldable iPhone is putting Chinese precision-component makers under closer scrutiny as its complex hinge creates new opportunities in structural parts, metal injection molding and other high-value components.

Thursday 10 September 2026

Apple's first foldable lands at US$1,999, and constraint is the panel

Apple has entered the foldable market at the top of it. iPhone Duo, announced in Cupertino on 9 September, starts at US$1,999 with 256GB and goes up to 2TB — above the US$1,899 Samsung charges for the wide-format Galaxy Z Fold8 — and is priced as a halo product rather than a volume one. The interesting question is not whether Apple can sell it. It is who gets to build it, and how few of them there are.

Wednesday 9 September 2026

Samsung, LG secure roles as key suppliers for Apple's foldable iPhone

Apple's expected first foldable iPhone is set to channel a significant share of its component value to South Korean suppliers, with Samsung Display (SDC), LG Innotek, Samsung Electro-Mechanics (Semco), Samsung Electronics, and SK Hynix securing positions across displays, cameras, substrates, passive components, and memory.

Wednesday 9 September 2026

CIOE 2026: Luxshare bets on flat optics to solve AR glasses' weight problem

At its booth at the China International Optoelectronic Expo (CIOE), Luxshare and its camera-module affiliate Luxvisions showcased the components they believe will define the next generation of smart eyewear, pointing to weight and price as among the industry's biggest remaining obstacles.

Wednesday 9 September 2026

Apple yields to memory suppliers in historic strategy shift, with Kioxia tipped as NAND long-term agreement recipient

Apple, historically known for wielding unmatched leverage in component price negotiations, has reportedly been trading pricing leverage for long-term supply guarantees from memory manufacturers. Facing a severe structural shortage driven by the AI infrastructure boom, the company has reportedly signed a long-term supply agreement (LTA) for NAND flash memory, prioritizing volume guarantees over cost suppression.

Tuesday 8 September 2026

Huawei Kirin 9050 Pro puts LogicFolding to the test with 55% density gain, 66% lower NPU power

Huawei's Kirin 9050 Pro is the first commercial test of its Tau Scaling Law, with the company claiming a 55% increase in transistor density at the same process node while cutting NPU, GPU and CPU performance-core power by 66%, 58% and 41%, respectively.

Wednesday 2 September 2026

SDC to expand foldable iPhone OLED mass production in September

Samsung Display (SDC) is expected to formally expand mass production of OLED panels for Apple's foldable iPhone starting in September 2026. Although the ramp-up for the foldable iPhone had previously been pushed back because production delays hit some components, including the hinge and substrate, the new OLED mass production schedule suggests SDC can still meet its full-year production target.

Wednesday 2 September 2026

Apple's M6, M5 Ultra break rule tying process to chip strength

Apple has unveiled new Mac mini and Mac Studio models, equipped respectively with its first 2-nanometer chip, the M6, and the four-die M5 Ultra. Most notably, the latest 2-nanometer process is used only in the entry-level Mac mini, while the 3-nanometer M5 Ultra is officially billed as the "most powerful M-series chip yet."

Friday 28 August 2026

Apple's M6 marks a transitional step before wider 2nm adoption

Apple on August 25 unveiled the M6 and M5 Ultra chips without holding a launch event, with the M6 becoming the company's first processor built on TSMC's 2nm process and debuting in the new Mac mini. But industry watchers say the M6's short-term significance lies mainly in showcasing 2nm design technology, not in delivering immediate commercial gains.

Friday 28 August 2026

Samsung absorbs memory costs to chase smartphone crown

Global smartphone shipments are set to shrink sharply in 2026 as soaring memory and core component prices hit the market, but Samsung Electronics is moving in the opposite direction. Rather than passing costs fully on to consumers like some rivals, Samsung plans to keep shipment volume steady through the Galaxy S26, Galaxy Z Fold 8, and Galaxy A series, and could even retake the No. 1 spot in global smartphone shipments.

Thursday 27 August 2026

Tri-fold, rollable foldables intensify materials supply chain battle

Samsung Electronics' first tri-fold handset of 2025, the Galaxy Z TriFold, has repeatedly sold out, but with global shipments of only about 30,000 units, it functioned more as a technology showcase. A second-generation model is expected in the second half of 2027, with thinner designs, durability, and mass production capability as the next focus.

Thursday 27 August 2026

Apple, Huawei foldables to collide in September, lifting ultra-thin glass, hinge and cooling demand

Huawei and Apple are set to intensify competition in foldable smartphones in September, accelerating demand across a supply chain spanning foldable OLED panels, ultra-thin glass, hinges, flexible printed circuits and thermal components.

Tuesday 25 August 2026

Smartphone lens maker Largan spends US$179m on four Taichung plants in two months

Largan Precision, the world's largest maker of smartphone camera lenses and a longtime supplier of lenses for Apple's iPhone, said on August 25 it would buy land and buildings in Taichung's Nantun district for NT$3.08 billion (approx. US$98 million). It is the company's fourth industrial property purchase in two months.

Tuesday 25 August 2026

AI boom drives Foxconn past 40% of Taiwan-listed firms' China returns, with FII leading the way

Global demand for AI and high-performance computing (HPC) has lifted investment returns for Taiwan-listed companies in China, with Foxconn continuing to lead the pack. According to CRIF, Foxconn's total China investment returns in the first half of 2026 reached NT$117.6 billion (US$3.7 billion).

Friday 7 August 2026

VisEra Technologies sees stronger 2H26 on recovering demand across three end markets

TSMC-affiliated optical sensing chipmaker VisEra Technologies said at its earnings conference on August 6 that business momentum rebounded significantly in the second quarter of 2026, driven by stable shipments of smartphone CMOS image sensors (CIS).

Thursday 6 August 2026

Apple scrambles to secure DRAM as US$1 billion worth of iPhone 18 chips reportedly await packaging

Apple and its manufacturing partners are rushing to secure mobile DRAM ahead of the expected launch of the iPhone 18 lineup, as about US$1 billion worth of next-generation processors reportedly remain unable to move into packaging without sufficient memory supply.

Wednesday 5 August 2026

Smartphone makers brace for lower volumes, higher prices, and deeper market split

Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek delivered similar warnings last week: the global smartphone market is entering a more expensive, more polarized phase. For users, this means fewer affordable devices, fewer upgrade options, and greater pressure on smartphone prices until memory supply improves and chip costs ease.

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