The Week In Review: Manufacturing

Samsung Electronics is expected to demonstrate three new technologies at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The technologies are part of Samsung’s so-called Creative Lab (C-Lab) projects. The first project, dubbed WELT, is a healthcare belt that helps people manage their waist size by measuring their daily habits and behaviors. “WELT is a smart wearable healthcare belt that looks like a normal belt, thus offering consumers a more discreet way of using smart sensor technology to monitor their health,” according to Samsung. “WELT is capable of recording the user’s waist size, eating habits and the number of steps taken, as well as time spent sitting down. It then sends this data to a specially-designed app for analysis, and the production of a range of personalized healthcare and weight management plans.”

Samsung’s healthcare belt (Source: company)

Samsung’s second C-Lab technology, called rink, is a hand-motion controller for mobile VR devices. And the third, TipTalk, is a user interface that enables people to listen to the sound from their smart devices simply by touching their finger to their ear.

Samsung has rolled out an all-in-one advanced system logic chip for the wearables market. Samsung’s so-called Bio-Processor integrates five AFEs, including bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), photoplethysmogram (PPG), electrocardiogram (EKG), skin temperature, and galvanic skin response (GSR), into a single chip solution. It measures body fat, skeletal muscle mass, heart rate, heart rhythm, skin temperature and stress level.

As reported, Apple will soon bring OLED displays to the iPhone. Both LG Display and Samsung Display will supply OLEDs for Apple, according to a report from The Electronic Times of South Korea, which claims the negotiations between Apple and Samsung are tense.

The South Korean government has reduced the import tariffs on display equipment, materials and other items, according to The Electronic Times of South Korea.

Fairchild Semiconductor has received a new offer to be acquired by China Resources and Hua Capital Management, according to Bloomberg. On Semiconductor has also made a bid to buy Fairchild. In addition, there is a bidding war for Anadigics. One company, GaAs Labs, has made a bid to acquire Anadigics. Another undisclosed party has also made a bid.

According to International Data Corp. (IDC ), the worldwide wearable device market will reach a total of 111.1 million units shipped in 2016, up a strong 44.4% from the 80 million units expected to ship shipped in 2015. By 2019, the final year of the forecast, total shipments will reach 214.6 million units, resulting in a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28%. “The worldwide wearable device market (commonly referred to as wearables) will see continued growth as second- and third-generation iterations reach the market,” according to IDC. “These new devices will build upon the hardware and software of their predecessors and answer some of the shortcomings and concerns that potential customers have today.”