The 'low cost' technology tremble for a rise in the cost of the screens

The 'low cost' technology tremble for a rise in the cost of the screens

The fight for the most affordable suppliers threatens to increase the final price of the devices in the Spanish points of sale

   Less than a month before Santa Claus leaves the gifts on the Christmas trees, the letters for Santa Claus and the Magi are filled with technology.

Spain has become the country with the most smartphones per inhabitant in the world - nine out of ten Spaniards already have one of these devices - which represents an increase of 4% compared to last year.

  A fever that seems not to remit in 2016 and that will fill the sacks of the magicians of the East and the smiling fat man born in the North Pole, although, yes, they should scratch their pockets these holidays.

As this newspaper has learned, Spanish manufacturers of 'low cost' technology are seeing how their Asian suppliers are raising the price of their parts. "There is a big problem and it is the lack of screens," says a source close to a Spanish technology. "It may be that at Christmas we have to raise prices or our products are not found."

From Phone House comment that "it is true that there is a shortage of components to manufacture high quality screens", which is affecting large and small manufacturers. However, they assure that "it is not a question of whether the price rises or not, but that there is not enough availability to manufacture all the high performance models that would be wanted".

Currently, the market for smartphones and electronic devices is powered by three types of screens: LCD, Retina and AMOLED. The first category is divided into TFT and IPS, the latter being the most common in high-end smartphones.

Spain, leader in the use of smartphones
data

Spain has become the country with more 'smartphones' per inhabitant in the world with Singapore: 92% of Spaniards have at least one of these devices, which is 4% more than last year, as has been proven the online platform Back Market.

According to the study, the number of Spaniards who have an intelligent mobile phone has doubled in the last five years. Despite this fact, the consumption of new phones in Spain has peaked.

In fact, according to sector data published by the consultants Kantar Worldpanel and Deloitte, so far this year there has been a general decline in the purchase of these devices, with a drop of 11%.

The collapse in the sale of "smartphones", especially the latest models, has led to the boom in the refurbished phone market, increasing its sale by 25% in the last three years. Only during this exercise, it is expected that Spaniards reuse two million devices.

LCD screens (Liquid Crystal Display) are the antithesis of AMOLED, the last milestone in the market, although its main advantage is the production cost. However, the obsession with the duration of the batteries is relegating them to the background due to energy consumption.

On AMOLED screens, used by most Samsung, the electrical information is sent to each pixel, increasing the battery's autonomy and the backlight in low light situations.

But the market lives and thrives on the IPS LCD, In-Place Switching, an improved version of the TFT system. Better resolution, lower consumption. A binomial that has dazzled block manufacturers of smartphones and tablets.

"The screens of 7-inch tablets have increased their price since April of this year to 225. In 10 inches, the increase reaches 115% of the price in April this year," they comment to Innova + manufacturers of electronic devices .

The problem has a name: Apple and its new devices. The giant of Cupertino, who has not wanted to make statements about it, has sought "new suppliers to lower costs."

100% Asian market

Asia is the main distributor of parts for all the global technology companies. China and Taiwan share the market. Highlights Foxconn, owned by Sharp, for being the origin of all iPhones, iPads and other Apple products.

The multi-touch screen of the iPhone 7, the new Macs and the iPads are equipped with IPS technology on their screens. "We may not have what to replace, they have gone to all the suppliers that offered great quality-price," they explain.

At the moment, they do not have the exact price but they assure that the cost per unit of a tablet screen was around 13 dollars in April, while now it is about 28 dollars "approximately". "The problem is that it will have an impact on the final price," the consulted sources state.