Mobile Phone Production Continues to Soar
By John Colwell, Bishop & Associates Inc.

The leading suppliers of mobile phones are predicting that more than one billion mobile phones will be manufactured throughout the world this year, including the countries of Brazil, China, Finland, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Japan, Mexico, and South Korea. There are approximately 15 significant manufacturers, however, Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens, Sony-Ericsson, and LG Electronics account for approximately 80 percent of the total market. In a typical one-year period, each of the major suppliers will put more than 20 new mobile phone designs into production. That is a lot of new product design and, also, a lot of component design-in activity.

Source: Molex Incorporated

For any electronic component manufacturer, the mobile phone market is big business. For connector manufacturers, the mobile phone business is approaching $2 billion per year. This equates to an average connector value per device of $2, however, the actual value is predicated on the features and functionality of a given design. As a general observation, the trends for both functionality and feature richness are on the rise. Bandwidth limitations of 2G, and early 3G, wireless networks limited the scope of mobile phone functionality. This is changing in two ways. First, we expect that today’s mobile phone will evolve into a dual-band, dual-mode Internet appliance, with WiFi and/or WiMax access capabilities. Second, the UMTS Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has recently developed standards (HSDPA and HSPA+) that will enable video downloads at rates of up to 42Mb/s. The 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) is currently working on 4G standards. This new bandwidth will enable new service offerings from carriers, such as streaming video, biometric authentication, and gaming.

From a component supplier’s standpoint, these developments mean increased packaging complexity and an increased number of connector applications.

Some of the connector applications in a typical high-featured, clam-shell-style mobile phone include the following:

Internal Antenna: The internal antenna may consist of a flex circuit, bent wire, or metal stamping.

Input/Output Connector: The I/O connector is typically mounted at the bottom of the lower board. It may be a custom I/O connector, a Mini USB or a Micro USB. The corresponding mating half is applied to a cable assembly, or a docking device, used for charging and similar functions.

Microphone: The microphone may be mounted to the board in various ways, including Pogo contacts, compression contacts, or direct wiring using a flexible printed circuit (FPC).

Keyboard Switch/UI: The switch is either a metal-dome-type switch, or a touch screen, attached to a connectorized FPC circuit assembly.

Slide Switch FPCA: Side switches are typically of the metal-dome-type mounted directly on a FPC. The FPC may be attached to the lower board, either by a board-to-board connector or by direct soldering.

Earpiece: The earpiece may be mounted to the board in various ways, including Pogo contacts, compression contacts, or direct wiring, using discrete wires or FPC.

Main LCD Screen: The main LCD is mounted directly to a FPC assembly and connects to the lower board, either by a board-to-board connector or by direct soldering.

Sub-LCD Screen: The sub-LCD screen is mounted directly to an FPC assembly, which connects to the upper board, typically by a board-to-board connector or by direct soldering.

Camera: The CMOS, or CCD camera, mounts in a camera socket that is attached to an FPC assembly.

Hinge: Consists of a flex circuit assembly with a board-to-board connector and/or a micro coaxial wire-to-board connector.

Speakers: The speakers may be mounted to the board in various ways, including Pogo contacts, compression contacts, or direct wiring using an FPC.

Battery: Battery connectors are typically Pogo or compression types.

SIM: The subscriber identification module connector is either a 6-pin, or 8-pin-type, soldered directly to the board.

Memory Card: The memory card connector is either a miniSD, microSD, or microSD/SIM combo-type mounted directly to the board. (miniSD, microSD, or microSD/SIM are registered trademarks of Secure Digital Association)

Antenna Connection: An insert molded antenna, and an antenna contact consisting of a threaded ferrule with a compression contact welded to it, is shown right. The ferrule, shown enlarged at the far right, is captivated within the phone’s lower housing, while making compression contact with the RF section on the lower board.

The connector applications described above are characteristic of a full-featured, high-end phone. A low-end phone would have many of the same applications, except the antenna connection, memory card, speakers, hinge, camera, and sub-LCD screen.

The combined value of connector shipments to mobile phone manufacturers accounts for approximately one-third of the entire telecom market for connectors.

In summary, the outlook for the mobile phone industry is bright. The iPhone provides a glimpse of what the future will hold. DECT is early 3G technology. When wireless carriers begin introducing late 3G and 4G access, the demand for high bandwidth mobile phone-based applications will explode.

Top 10 Manufacturers to the Telecom Connector Market

                                                           Source: Bishop & Associates, Inc.

The 2006 top 10 connector suppliers to the telecom sector are listed above. Forty-five percent of the sales in the telecom sector are from the top three participants: Amphenol Corporation, Tyco Electronics, and Molex Incorporated.

John Colwell Director, Telecom, Medical and Instrumentation, Bishop & Associates Inc. John Colwell’s background includes 10 years at Nortel Networks‑Cable Group, where he directed the U.S. premises cable marketing effort. In addition, Colwell directed Nortel's global product development group. Prior to joining Nortel, Colwell held positions in engineering, business planning and development at Amphenol Corporation.