Sony have announced the new Xperia Tablet Z tablet, which will be only 6.9 millimeters thick and will weigh only 495 grams with a 10.1 inch display. Sony have been struggling in recent years, reporting four straight annual losses. As we reported last week, they have also just sold their …

Sources in the Taipei channel spoke to me last night and the consensus is  that notebook shipments will drop in Q1 2013. The figures should drop around 11% sequentially with a global market share around 89%. Digitimes have more detailed research on the matter than they claim “Of the first-quarter …

LG have said that they are taking pre-orders in Korea for their 55 inch WRGB OLED television set. Pre-orders have not yet been announced in other countries, but they are expected to roll out between now and April. Korean customers are expected to get their hands on the new set …

Bloomberg have reported that the joint Intel-Microsoft attack on the tablet market is off to a slow start. Both companies initially announced a dozen tablets which would run Windows 8. Only five of these can be purchased for immediately delivery. Craig Berger, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets has said …

Apple are facing stiff competition worldwide by many Android and Windows tablets, however they are still the dominant force in China where they are claiming over 71 percent share. Analysys International figures show that the tablet market in China is very strong, and growing – with 2.6 million devices sold …

If you ever wondered why super oblong screens weren't more commonplace, then LG might just have the answer. The company are launching their new 21:9 aspect monitor in Korea this week. This is the first in their attack on the ‘ultra widescreen invasion'. This will be the world's first 21:9 …

Google's Android platform is dominating the Chinese market, taking 90 percent share. Analysts expect this figure will drop however when the iPhone 5 and Windows Phone 8 models will be introduced to the China market at the end of the year. Market Research as shown that Android has already taken …

Texas Instruments have announced that they are axing 1,700 jobs worldwide in a strategy of reducing costs and to focus investments in their wireless business on embedded markets. They previously said they were going to focus OMAP processors and wireless connectivity solutions on a wider set of embedded applications with …

Asustek reported non consolidated revenue growth on November 8th. They quoted NT£35.555 billion (US$1.213 billion) for October, a growth of 5.31% on month and 13.60% on year. Their revenue for January-October was NT$305.002 billion, rising 15.86% on year. The growth in October has been attributed to larger expected demand for …

ProMOS Technologies have announced their plans to sell its 12 inch wafer plant and other facilities through an open bidding scheme by the end of the year. They want to become a fabless memory-IC company. The starting bid for ownership is NT$19.5billion ($666.9 million US). The company have said that …

For a Westerner it may seem bizarre, but unless you get hold of a grey market import, Consoles are banned from sale in China, since 2000. Sony however may be about to make a landmark move. A report on TechInAsia has highlighted that Sony have received approval for the China …

ASUStek, one of the world's largest technology companies have had to reduce their motherboard shipments from the original plan of 25 million units in 2012 to 22.2 million units. CEO Jerry Shen acknowledged the reduction in shipments and the final figure is a reduction from the 23.2 million shipped in …

The Apple iPhone 5 has already proven to be a big seller, which won't come as a shock to many. Shipments of the iPhone 5 in Q4 is said to hit around 40 million according to sources in Taipei. We heard a couple of hours ago that the shipments from …

Foxconn (Hon Hai Precision Industry) has reported impressive revenues of US$24.33 billion for third quarter 2012, with net profit rising 139.94% to $30.256 billion. The results are very positive for the company who make many components for leading brands such as Apple. Although the profit figures are very high, the …

In the run up to Christmas there is never a better (or worse) time to get lumbered with a ‘fake' item, produced in some underground lab in the Far East. Andy Churley, the market director at brand protection specialists NetNames has informed us this morning that there are already dodgy …

Amazon.com – the world's largest Internet retailer are in talks to buy the mobile chip business of Texas Instruments according to Calcalist, the Israeli financial newspaper. The newspaper reported today that the move would be very beneficial for the giant retailing chain, as they would make their own chips for …

Thousands of workers at a Foxconn factory went on strike this weekend to protest over working conditions on the iPhone 5 production lines. The report comes from an independent workers rights organisation. New York based China Labor Watch works closely with sources in China. The Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China …

A report issued today has detailed a series of investigations into eight factories in China, six of which are directly controlled by Samsung. The organisation, China Labor Watch has said that staff are being forced to work 100 hours of overtime every month, and have to accept unpaid hours and …

Apple are planning a new iPad Mini, a smaller 7.85 inch version of their hugely successful tablet. Rumors of this device would indicate that it may actually launch as early as next week. The smaller, cheaper tablet is designed to target a different audience, and to ensure that competitors can't …

I had a chat with several industry insiders associated with the notebook market in Taipei a couple of hours ago and they are suggesting that Apple could claim up to 40% of the global ‘super slim notebook' market this year. Ultrabooks in general are selling more units in recent months …

There doesn't seem to be a day that goes past without some company seeking legal action on another, and today LG have decided to target Samsung, over claims of patent infringement. The news which hit a couple of hours ago suggested that Samsung are infringing on an LG Display patents …

Digitimes in the Far East are claiming that the upcoming Haswell based processor range may have a negative impact on some of the second tier motherboard players. This may even force some of them out of the market completely. Haswell is set to integrate functions such as power phase control …

Foxconn are facing a new wave of criticism, as the latest fight at one of their factories has placed the spotlight on their security team. Reports are coming in that the heavy handed security team and the regimented dormitory life may have been the tipping point for the brawl which …

I spoke with an industry insider a couple of hours ago and it may be the case that NAND flash memory prices will increase soon. The four largest NAND flash chip supplies, Toshiba, Samsung Electronics, SanDisk and SK Hynix are discussing the options for raising prices soon due to the …

Alibaba, the Chinese web organisation has bought back half of the stake Yahoo had in the company for $7.6 billion. They are moving to their initial public offering (IPO). Alibaba paid $6.3 billion in cash and $800 million in shares of the Alibaba group. They also paid $550 million which …

When Apple release their upcoming 7.8 inch ‘Mini iPad', competitors will be forced to drop their prices to snag a percentage of the market. Industry rumours circulating in Taipei today have indicated that many companies will drop the prices of their tablets by up to 40%-50%. Apple will have a …

Local companies in China have been making upgrades to the specifications of their entry level smartphones for the US $150-$240 sector. The plans are to make dual core 1GHZ processors and 4 inch screens the new industry ‘standard'. The news is circulating in the Far East over the weekend and …

The Shanghai Evening Post published a very interesting insider report detailing what it is like to work at the Foxconn Tai Yuan factory to assemble the device. It certainly doesn't look to be a dream job for anyone, thats our views on it. The report was published by a Chinese …

With a big launch almost upon us, stores across the planet would normally also prepare to sell a range of accessories to the lucky new owners of the iPhone 5. Checking with our Far East sources, there seems to be something of a delay. KitGuru checks the calendar for accessory …

Intel may dominate the desktop market right now, but in the handset sector they haven't been able to take control. Noel Hurley, vice president for Marketing & Strategy in the Processor Division within ARM spoke out. He said that Intel still have a long way to go to catch up …