SINGAPORE : Apple and Samsung are riding high on the growing demand for mobile devices.
Global shipments of smartphones and tablets are expected to reach some 680 million this year, according to Frost & Sullivan.
Analysts have said the success of mobile devices may not necessarily benefit many contract manufacturers.
Some are instead struggling to change their production lines from falling personal computer (PC) shipments.
Japanese tech giants that once dominated the electronics market are finding themselves in an increasing perilous fight for relevance.
Companies like Sony, Sharp and Panasonic are struggling to turn in profits, and close the gap on rivals with innovative products such as smartphones and tablets.
PC makers are also suffering.
Andrew Milroy, vice president of ICT (Asia Pacific) at Frost & Sullivan, said: "All sorts of new devices are emerging - tablets and smartphones are one type that do the the same kind of thing that PCs once did."
Global shipments of PCs tumbled by 8 per cent year-on-year to 87.5 million units in the third quarter of this year.
Apple and Samsung are currently leading in the market for smartphones and tablets.
In the third quarter of this year, they had a combined marketshare of 46.5 per cent in the smartphone market, and close to 70 per cent in the tablet market.
The success of Apple has turned Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry into the world's largest contract manufacturer.
But other such manufacturers in Southeast Asia have not been so fortunate.
Edison Chen, a tech analyst at DMG & Partners Research, said: "For example, Broadway Industrial, the one making actuator arms for the HDD (hard disk drive) market...they have been trying very hard to diversify..."
Broadway has diversified into making foams, pulps and thermo-formed packaging products, while others have ventured into corporate devices like medical instrument components.
- CNA/ms
Some contract manufacturers struggling despite demand for mobile devices: analysts
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Some contract manufacturers struggling despite demand for mobile devices: analysts
