Taiwan-based IC design houses expect demand for IC parts from China-based smartphone vendors to remain brisk in early 2016 as vendors have continued to upgrade the hardware specifications of their devices, according to industry sources.

China-based smartphone vendors have been adding wireless or fast charging chips as well as fingerprint sensors to their new models for launch in the second half of 2015 and are likely to incorporate dual lens modules, force touch chips and health-monitoring sensors into the new gadgets for 2016, said the sources.

MediaTek, for example, saw its revenues reach a 6-month high of NT$20.04 billion (US$611.84 million) in September despite a 10-20% reduction in prices for chips shipped in second and third quarters, said the sources, adding that the strong performance indicates that sales of high-priced 8- or 10-core chips should have accounted for a high portion of MediaTek's total shipments in September.

Facing a slowdown in the domestic market and weakening demand from mature markets, China-based vendors have continued to stress on their policy of promoting smartphones with high price/performance ratios to other emerging markets and therefore will push up demand for IC parts, commented the sources.