A perfect storm of events have converged to create the semiconductor shortage of 2021. High-level collaboration across the electronics supply chain could make the deficit less painful, experts say. Shortages often prompt less-than-optimum purchasing behaviors. Competitive bidding for inventory drives prices up. Exceptions to approved vendor lists become common. And double-ordering – where purchase orders…
Market segmentation can often offer insights into a broad customer problem, and naming the market enables a discourse which can lead to the formation of solutions. With this objective in mind, a coming series of articles will discuss a market segment which is not often discussed: Long Lifecycle (LLC) electronics systems. What exactly are LLC…
Global smartphone sales to end users declined 20.2% in the first quarter of 2020, according to Gartner, Inc. The global shelter-in-place combined with the economic uncertainty brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic led to demand for smartphones collapsing as consumers stopped spending on nonessential products during the first quarter. “The coronavirus pandemic caused the global smartphone market…
The first quarter of 2020 has represented a historic low for the smartphone industry. While some technology sectors, like cloud services, have excelled amid the coronavirus pandemic, the mobile industry has not. As Covid-19 continues to spread throughout the globe, it’s causing substantial economic effects on smartphone companies. Counterpoint Research reports a 13% year-over-year loss…
Although conflict minerals disclosure is no longer enforced in the United States, a recent lawsuit may reignite the debate over the sourcing of materials widely used in electronics. Families of children killed or injured while mining for cobalt in the Congo have filed a lawsuit against the world’s largest tech companies, including Google and Apple,…
Apple and Qualcomm announced that they have dropped all litigation in a multi-billion-dollar patent licensing dispute that has dragged on for more than two years across courts in China, Germany, and the U.S. However, the sketchy details of the settlement leave many unanswered questions. Under the deal, Apple will pay Qualcomm an undisclosed fee. Qualcomm…
Junko Yoshida is my friend. Permit me this name dropping. I can’t help it; she is a celebrated, award-winning, and globally recognized technology writer and media executive. Ask Junko, though, about her preferred title, and it will undoubtedly be, simply, journalist — technology journalist, that is. This week, another title dropped into Junko’s lap when…
AspenCore Media’s Special Project on Apple’s $1 trillion climb takes a look back at Apple’s business, its strategy to go vertical, and its supply chain. On a cross-Atlantic flight in 2008, I happened to sit down next to Kirk Kirkpatrick, a tech executive who’d worked for Apple early in his career. After hours of…
Editor’s note: Apple hit a market cap of $1 trillion on August 2. How’d they do that? While everybody else in the electronics industry is talking about this extraordinary milestone, Apple is staying mum when it comes to those who supply chips and components to Apple. As part of our Special Project on ‘Apple’s $1 Trillion Climb’…
Sales of the top 15 semiconductor companies grew by 24 percent in the first half of 2018 (1H18) compared to the 1H17, which is four points higher than the total worldwide semiconductor industry growth during the same period, according to IC Insights’ latest update to the McLean Report. The research also shows that the top…