Mobile Handset Framework & Case Industry Report, 2006

Handset case is a field with high technical threshold. At present, China only has a few handset case manufacturers whose products could meet the middle standards although it is world's largest production base of plastic products. Globally, only about 11 to 15 suppliers could embark upon the production of handset cases in accordance with middle standards.

Experienced years of development, the market of plastic handset case is in maturity and the competition becomes fiercer and fiercer. Nearly all plastic handset case suppliers suffer from a sharp drop in the operating profit margin. In 2003, most suppliers could keep an operating profit margin of 20-25% or so, but the figure decreased to 10% or even less in 2006. Probably, it is difficult for those suppliers in year of 2007. After years of probe in the market and being led by the trend of Motorola's super-thin handsets, metal case rapidly seized the market of high-end handsets. Since the high threshold of metal case, it will be hard for handset manufacturers that are specialized in plastic cases to enter this field. Currently, the world's major handset metal case manufacturers cluster in China's Taiwan, including Chi Cheng, CATCHER, Foxconn, Waffer and ICHIA, etc., and 90% of metal handset cases are produced in Taiwan. Besides, the Korean supplier HV-VATEC should also not be neglected.

There are two trends for the development of handset cases in the future. The metalized case has become the mainstream in middle-standard handsets of plastic handsets; the other is the increasing proportion of metal handset cases, particularly in high-end handsets. Metal case enjoys many advantages over plastic case. To begin with, metal handset case can be made lighter and thinner, and its intensity is superior to that of plastic ones. Thinness and lightness means a lot for handsets in the market nowadays. Secondly, metal case is characterized by excellent thermal conduction. Presently, the ever increasing power consumption of handsets, particularly the ones adopting 0.18-um technique, will lead to the heat threat to handset users in talk time. Next, metal case is merited by electro-magnetic interference, far superior to plastic case and with less harm to users' health. Lastly, metal case is environment-friendly and can be recycled, while it will take decades for plastic case to break up and does a lot harm to the environment. However, metal handset case has disadvantages such as long development period, high cost of materials, excessive manufacturing procedures and low good yield, etc. This shows that metal case is suitable for high-end handsets and smart phones with large shipment.

In 2003, the handsets adopting plastic cases enjoyed a proportion of 99%, while metal case (aluminum alloy) only 1%. The proportion of aluminum alloy case can be up to 8% in 2006 and 10% in 2007. In quantity, the figure will increase from 110 million pieces in 2006 to 157 million pieces in 2007, up by 43% year-on-year.

There is a trend of Mg-alloy case to substitute for plastic materials. Motorola will increase the proportion of adopting Mg-alloy framework to be 50%. In addition, there will be also a growth of 15% to 20% for Nokia in 2006, and about 20% for Samsung. The proportion for the mobile framework adopting Mg-alloy was 90% in 2005, 17% in 2006, and 25% in 2007. The annual shipment in 2005 got to 72.9 million pieces, up by 53%, and the shipment in 2006 increased to 102.8 million pieces with a growth rate of 141%. In 2007, the shipment will rise to 285 million pieces. As far as the plastic case is concerned, the market is shrinking, and the shipment will decreased from 805 million pieces in 2006 to 700 million pieces in 2007.

Selected Chats

• Overview of Mainstream Handsets Adopting Metal Cases, 2006H2
• Statistics & Forecast of Handset Case Prices, 2003-2008
• Statistics & Forecast of Prices of Handset Frameworks, 2003-2008
• Shipment & Forecast of Handset Metal Cases and Frameworks, 2003-2008
• Global Market Shares of Major Handset Framework and Case Suppliers, 2006
• Gross Profit Margin of World's Top 11 Handset Case Suppliers, 2006
• Handset Case Shipment of Intops at China and Abroad, 2006Q1-2007Q4
• Statistical Sales Income and Operating Profit Margin of Intops Tianjin Plant
• Proportion of Stockholders of P&TEL
• Revenue of P&TEL by Product, 2005Q1-2006Q4
• Introduction to Main Production Bases of P&TEL
• Handset Case Business Flow of P&TEL
• Design Ability of P&TEL
• Main Products of P&TEL
• Sales Revenue of KH-VATEC by Product, 2006Q1-Q4
• Latest Handset Models of Chi Cheng
• Sales Revenue of PERLOS, 2001-2006
• Sales Revenue of PERLOS by Region, 2005-2006
• Manpower Distribution of PERLOS by Region, 2006
• Regional Distribution of Factory Area of PERLOS, 2006
• Statistics on Revenue and Gross Profit Margin of HI-P, 2001-2006
• Statistical Income of HI-P by Division, 2001-2005
• Quarterly Income of HI-P by Division, 2005Q1-2006Q1
• Handset Manufacture and Design Ability of HI-P
• Global Distribution of HI-P
• Statistics & Forecast of Sales Revenue of Foxconn by Product, 2006Q1-2007Q4
• Proportion of Stockholders of Balda Group
• Organizational Structure of Balda Group
• Organizational Structure of Balda (Asia)
• Core Competitiveness of Balda
• Main Clients of Balad by Field
• Global Distribution of Balda
• Statistical Revenue and Operating Profit Margin of Nolato, 2001-2006
• Revenue of Noalto by Division, 2005-2006
• Handset Shipment and Annual Growth Statistics of Samsung, 2001-2006
• Quarterly Shipment of Samsung Handset, 2005Q1-2006Q4
• Handset Shipment of Samsung by Region, 2005-2006
• Revenue & Pre-tax Profit Margin of Sony-Ericsson, 2005Q2-2006Q4
• Shipment & Average Prices of Sony-Ericsson Handsets, 2005Q2-2006Q4
• Shipment & Average Prices of Sony-Ericsson Handsets, 2005Q2-2006Q4
• Shipment of Nokia Handsets by Region, 2005Q1-2006Q4
• Shipment & Average Sales Prices of Nokia Handsets, 2005Q1-2006Q4
• Sales Income & Operating Profit Margin of Nokia Handsets, 2005Q1-2006Q4
• Handsets Shipment of LG and Annual Growth, 2001-2006
• Quarterly Shipment of LG Handsets, 2005Q4-2006Q4
• Sales Income & Operating Profit Margin of Motorola Handsets, 2006Q1-Q4
• Handsets Shipment and Market Shares of Motorola, 2006Q1-Q4
• Framework of Mobile Business Division of BenQ
• Income Structure of BenQ by Division, 2004Q4-2006Q3
• Organizational Structure of TCL Communication
• Revenue and Gross Profit Margin of TCL Communication, 2001-2005
• Statistics & Forecast of Revenue of HTC by Product, 2006Q1-2007Q4
• Statistical Revenue and Gross Profit Margin of HTC, 2000-2006
• Corporate Structure of Compal
• Operating Income and Gross Profit Margin of Compal, 2001-2006
• Organizational Structure of Arima Communications
• Global Layout of Arima Communications
• Product Roadmap of Arima Communications
• Income and Gross Profit Margin of Arima Communications, 2001-2006
• Shipment and Average Sales Prices of Arima Communications, 2005Q1-2006Q4
• Investments of Arima Communications in Mainland China
• Revenue and Gross Profit Margin of FIH, 2001-2006H1
• Product Development Flow of FIH
• Statistical Revenue of Flextronics, 2005Q4-2006Q4
• Revenue of Flextronics by Region, 2005Q4-2006Q4
• Product Income Structure of Flextronics, 2005Q4-2006Q4
• Core Strategies of Flextronics
• Quarterly Terminal Business Income of Elocteq, 2004Q1-2006Q3
• Statistics on Quarterly Operating Profit of Elocteq, 2004Q1-2006Q2
• Quarterly Revenue of Elocteq by Region, 2004Q1-2006Q2
• Viewpoints and Strategies of Elocteq
• 7C Strategy of Elocteq
• Business Workflow of Elocteq
• Comparison between Features of Handset Case Materials
• Estimated Demand of Handset-use Mg-alloy Worldwide
• Estimated Demand of Handset-use Aluminum-alloy Worldwide
• Sales Income of P&TEL by CDMA, GSM and PCS, 2005Q1-2006Q3
• Sales Revenue of Handset Components of P&TEL, 2005Q1-2006Q3
• Financial Performance of Green Point, 2006
• Proportion of Customers of Chi Cheng, 2005-2006H1
• Main Suppliers of Components for Samsung Handsets
• Main Suppliers of Components for Sony-Ericsson Handsets
• Main Suppliers of Components for Nokia Handsets
• Main Suppliers of Components for LG Handsets
• Main Suppliers of Components for Motorola Handsets
• Main Suppliers of Components for BenQ Handsets
• Sales Volume, Sales Income and Average Prices of Bird, 2005-2006H1
• Financial Performance of Associated Companies of Bird
• Main Suppliers of Components for Bird Handsets
• Main Suppliers of Components for Handsets of TCL Communication
• Handset Shipment and Sales Revenue of Lenovo Mobile, 2005Q2-2006Q4
• Main Suppliers of Components for Konka Handsets
• Associated Companies of Amoi
• Main Suppliers of Components for Amoi Handsets
• Major Suppliers of Raw Materials for Arima Communications
• Proportion for OEM Companies of Motorola
• Proportion for OEM Companies of Nokia
• Production Bases of Flextronics in China
• Production Bases of Elocteq
• Export Volume of Top 22 Handsets in China, 2006