Samart joins MediaTek

Source: Bangkok Post, ThailandAug.迷你倉出租 27--SET-listed Samart I-Mobile (SIM), the handset flagship of Samart Corporation, has teamed up with a Taiwanese chipmaker to revamp product designs to differentiate its household handset brand.The partnership with MediaTek Inc of Taiwan is expected to improve the designs of Samart's i-mobile handsets, said Ditaphon Chantraurai, assistant vice-president for products.SIM aims to offer low-cost smartphones priced from 2,500 baht to capitalise on the increasing migration from 2G to 3G networks.Mr Ditaphon said the company plans to introduce a series of smartphones priced from 2,500 to 3,900 baht next month, targeting first-time users.The company is also looking to make some affordable smartphones supporting the LINE messaging application.Mr Ditaphon said Thailand's smartphone shipments are expected to reach 7 million units this year. "We aim to have a share of up to 27% of the market or second place," he said.Sales of smartphones in the first half of this year totalled 765,000 out of 2 million mobile phone sales.S迷你倉M reported first-half revenue of 2.6 billion baht, an increase of 70% year-on-year, thanks to increased average selling prices of its IQ smartphone.The company recently introduced the IQ X2 phone, its first full high-definition smartphone, at 9,490 baht _ about half that of rival brands.Mr Ditaphon is confident the partnership will halve its smartphone prices.Arthur Wang, senior director for emerging market of MediaTek, said the company could possibly help SIM shorten product development time from 18 to four months.He said technology for smartphones is moving to the octa-core processor, while phone cameras will offer 18 megapixels as a mainstream feature.MediaTek is shifting to making chipsets for smartphones and tablets rather than DVD and Blu-Ray players. The company aims to rise from fifth to fourth place next year with 350 million smartphones using the company's chipsets.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Bangkok Post (Bangkok, Thailand) Visit the Bangkok Post (Bangkok, Thailand) at .bangkokpost.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉