2011 MWC: Booming popularity of smartphone helps increase NAND flash demand

TAIWAN: According to DRAMeXchange, the research department of Trendforce,Mobile World Congress, starting on February 14th, 2011 in Barcelona, is the most important event of the worldwide telecommunication industry.

We found most of the mobile and system vendors announced their new generation mobile devices during the show. The launches of both new tablet PC and 4G/LTE Smartphone are tightly scheduled throughout the year.

According to DRAMeXchange, 2010 worldwide handset shipment reached 1.3 billion units while Smartphone accounts for 18 percent of the total number with an annual growth rate of 40 percent compared to total smartphone shipment in 2009. Again, we expect 2011 worldwide handsets can increase 10 percent year-over-year to 1.4 billion units.

Benefited from the introduction of less sophisticated, entry-level Android phones, smartphone market penetration in 2011 will reach about 30 percent to 32 percent, approximately, an 80 percent growth year-over-year from the total smartphone shipment in 2010.

The enhancement of speed and efficiency in communication has always remained the center of interest of the telecommunication industry. The commercialization of 4G, LTE and NFC (Near Field Communication) in 2011 MWC demonstrated vendors’ interests. From chip designers to equipment vendors and telecommunication carriers, one after another they announced the adaptation of the new technology and we expect to see a progression of this adaption starting on 2H11.

With the gradually maturing infrastructure, mobile internet penetration rate can be further accelerated. From a hardware point of view, advanced hardware such as dual-core CPU can boost smartphone performance and meet the basic computing needs of consumers. On the other hand, several location-based services have been introduced at MWC and with the successful penetration of mobile internet and app store, application services are coming together to provide a better user experience.

We expect that these new internet applications can closely integrate customer experience with apps. Thus, with more diversified and efficient telecommunication infrastructures, hardware and application services, DRAMeXchange expects Smartphone’s booming momentum will likely continue further into 2013.

Smartphone has triggered a strong demand for the traditional MCP (Multi-Chip Package) and the emerging eMMC. Simultaneously, smartphones also increased the content-per-box of embedded NAND Flash storage. Rocketing sales of iPhone influenced mobile vendors to adopt more Smartphone designs with embedded NAND Flash. Meanwhile, NAND Flash vendors will accelerate the 2xnm technology migration in 2011.

DRAMeXchange is positive toward the increase of embedded NAND Flash storage content per box. According to an updated statistic by DRAMeXchange, the consumption of NAND Flash in the handset segment reached 43.8% of total demand. This ratio can be further increased if Smartphone sales continue to outperform our expectation.