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Millenials Affect Pay-TV Market, Says Gartner

Gartner’s Derek O’Donnell has shared the company’s predictions for the pay-TV market ahead of CES 2016. Gartner predicts that worldwide end-user spending on video media services will reach $316 billion next year: a 6% YoY rise. Of this revenue, pay-TV services will represent the largest proportion, generating $293.8 billion (up 5% YoY). Despite slowing pay-TV … Read more

Foxconn Chair Supports Tariff Elimination

Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn, has said that the Chinese government should drop tariffs on LCD products shipped from Taiwan, from 5% to 0%. Korean makers do not pay these tariffs, so such a move would help to maintain Taiwanese makers’ competitiveness in the UltraHD TV panel segment. Gou made the comments at a meeting … Read more

Freeview Play comes to Panasonic PVR and Blu-Ray products

Perfectly timed to make watching what you want, when you want, easier than ever this Christmas, Panasonic is pleased to announce that its customers will now be able to enjoy Freeview Play on its new PVR and Blu-ray recorders[1]. Customers can now benefit from on demand and all the Freeview channels subscription free with no … Read more

Samsung and Best Buy are the leading companies for purchases of 4K TV sets

Parks Associates research finds that by mid-2015, more Samsung 4K TV sets were sold than any other brand. Samsung accounted for 28% of 4K TV purchases made within the last 12 months to U.S. broadband households. Best Buy was the leading retailer, capturing more than 40% of 4K TV purchases. Of the remaining brands, 17% … Read more

Are Augmented- and Virtual Reality Threatening Cinema?

In the recent article ‘Cinematically Immersive Environments’ published by Michael Goldman, in SMPTE Newswatch, November 2015 #2, he discusses the opportunities that augmented reality may bring to the cinema environment. The article quotes Peter Ludé, CEO of Real D and former SMPTE President as he recalls several events in expanding the capabilities of cinema projection … Read more

Smartphones Fall to Single-Digit Growth

2015 will be the first-ever full year of single-digit smartphone growth, according to IDC. The firm forecasts 9.8% growth YoY, to a total of 1.43 billion units. This is a revision from IDC’s previous prediction (see comments in Q2 Smartphone Growth Was ‘Slowest Since 2013’), based on the slowing performance of the APACxJ, LATAM and … Read more

Samsung Falls From Wearable Rankings

The top wearable vendor positions were in a state of flux in Q3, with Xiaomi challenging Apple for the second-place spot, and Samsung beaten to fifth place by newcomer XTC. IDC says that total shipment volume for the quarter was 21 million units – up almost 200% (197.6%) from the 7.1 million units shipped in … Read more

NextFlex is Born

In August, the FlexTech Alliance received funding from the US Department of Defense (DoD) to establish and manage a Manufacturing Innovation Institute (MII) and Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE MII) (FlexTech Alliance Secures $75 Million DoD Funding). The FHE MII has now been renamed, and is known as NextFlex. Analyst Comment We noted that Paul Semenza, … Read more

QD LCDs Will Dominate Flexible Barrier Market

IDTechEx has predicted that flexible barrier film market will be worth $850 million by 2026. Interest will mainly be driven by quantum dot (QD) LCD displays and flexible OLED displays, both of which require these components. Flexible encapsulation aims to replace the rigid glass encapsulation used for OLED displays in, for example, smartphones and tablets. … Read more