LEDinside research team has published three reports this week one on the sapphire for LED application market in China, the LED commercial lighting sector, and also on manufacturers outlook for the year. A report also sheds light on the shady replacements made to LED components that have enabled the cheap LED prices in China. In the Taiwan market, UPEC Electronics announces its withdrawal from the LED package business. Emcore and Nichia also finally arrive to an agreement over LED patent infringements. For more please see below:

Global LED commercial lighting market penetration rate this year soared, with growth projected to reach 23% by the end of the 2014, according to the latest “2Q14 Silver Member- Commercial Lighting Market” by LEDinside a research division of TrendForce.   

As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches in China on June 1, 2014, the market has entered a new luminaire discount season, according to a report by Chinese-language media Kyushu Building Network. Top luminaire brands have all increased prices because of rising raw material and logistic costs. However, since lighting products are not daily commodities most consumers have been less sensitive towards incremental price increases. Some industry experts project prices will be up as much as 10 percent next year.

LED luminaires in the Chinese market might see a glimmer of hope for larger market shares as Compound Fluorescent Light (CFL) prices soar, according to a report by Chinese-language media Kyushu Building Network.

LED package manufacturer Everlight has been actively developing their LED lighting brand, according to the Economic Daily News. The company merged with Germany luminaire manufacturer WOFI for less than NT $400 million (US $13.3 million) last year, which adds an extra NT $100 million to its monthly revenues. Everlight has recently announced plans to acquire another European luminaire manufacturer this year to continue expanding the company’s market presence. 

Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) and Emcore Corporation (“Emcore”) reached an agreement to settle a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, in which Emcore acknowledges the validity of the USP 7,295,587, and makes a payment to Nichia for past damages and for royalties in the future.

GE Lighting and ByteLight today announced they will showcase the next generation of LED lighting fixtures that communicate with shoppers’ smart devices while in-store, enabling retailers to provide exciting new location-based services using GE LED infrastructure. The innovative solution featuring GE’s Lumination™ LED Luminaire - IS Series is being unveiled at LIGHTFAIR® International 2014 (LFI®) in Las Vegas, June 3-5, in GE Lighting’s booth #4208.

Smithers Apex, in association with the OLED Association, is proud to announce that LG Display, Novaled, BASF, Acuity Brands Lighting, Konica Minolta, DuPont Displays, Panasonic, Visionox, BOE, Philips Lighting and many more of the industry’s most influential players in OLED lighting and displays will be presenting at the OLEDs World Summit 2014.

 Philips Lumileds is now delivering the highest flux and most efficient LED arrays in higher lumen packages. The new LUXEON CoB 1211 is perfect for industrial and outdoor applications and is an ideal replacement for 70W and 100W equivalent ceramic discharge metal halide (CDM) lamps.  As the latest addition to Philips Lumileds LUXEON CoB arrays portfolio, the LUXEON CoB 1211 delivers efficacy of 100-130 lm/W, depending on color temperature and CRI of the luminaire. 

This new Acrich technology has been optimized for street and area lighting applications that require high light output, reliability, and high cost performance. 

Cree, Inc. introduces the OSQ™ Area LED luminaire, the first LED area luminaire specifically designed and priced to replace the nearly 54 million* outdated high intensity discharge (HID) area parking lights installed in the United States. Delivering an unprecedented combination of industry-leading performance and low-profile design at nearly half the price of comparable LED luminaires, the Cree® OSQ Area LED luminaire provides up to 70 percent energy savings with a quick payback of two years.**

Acuity Brands, Inc. will demonstrate its expansive portfolio of LED lighting, digital controls and daylighting solutions via vignettes that mirror actual applications during Lightfair® International 2014 (LFI). A total of 18 indoor and outdoor settings, ranging from patient care rooms and classrooms to office and retail spaces to tunnels and roadways, will be on interactive display (Booth #3808, Las Vegas Convention Center, June 3-5).

SORAA, the world leader in GaN on GaN™ LED technology, announced today that the company will launch and display large lamp versions of its innovative SNAP System™ along with new accessories at LIGHTFAIR International (June 3 - 5). Last year, Soraa's award-winning MR16 SNAP System™ transformed lighting design by allowing users to customize light directly on the lamp rather than on the fixture.  With the addition of PAR30, PAR38 and AR111 LED lamps to the SNAP System™ line, customers now have a choice of lamps as well as accessories to perfectly tailor light in restaurant, retail, hospitality, museum, and residential applications.

As the market acceptance of LED is gradually increasing, there are more and more areas where LED lighting can be applied. The Taiwanese leading brand of LED packaging, Edison Opto, has recently launched various high CRI and special light series products to branch out into special lighting market. Edison Opto will participate in the 2014 Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition and showcase their latest LED products. It is expected that Edison Opto will attract the attention of customers and the lighting industry.

What sets the Chinese LED luminaire market apart from others? It all really boils down to prices. The product’s technology, lifetimes, and warranty are all nothing more but a floating mirage. Buyers will always choose the cheapest LED luminaire, but should not expect manufacturers to willingly lose money by making acceptable quality products at these prices. Below is a comparison between LED bulb and ceiling spotlights to illustrate the manufacturing costs involved.

Speculations about the iWatch have been floating around the internet, with every analyst giving their take of what technology they think Apple will use. After reading through hundreds of articles posted by U.S. media discussing new Apple patents and technology acquisitions, Tencent has compiled a list of the top five plausible technology and materials that might be seen in the iWatch.

LG Chem announces to strategically drop the price of OLED light panels from third quarter of 2014. The market price was set at $600/Klm or above, depending on order quantities. Today, LG Chem suggests a new price of $200/Klm. 

Philips, the global leader in lighting, continues to not only revolutionize LED light bulb design, the company is also setting new affordable price standards with the introduction of the Philips SlimStyle BR30 indoor floodlight at an MSRP of US $12.97, making it one of the most affordable LED floodlights available on the market today. 

Cree introduces the new XLamp® XM-L2 EasyWhite® LED, delivering more than 1,100 lumens of color-consistent light from a 5mm x 5mm package and enabling a 38 percent gain in light output and efficacy as a drop-in upgrade to the first-generation XM-L EasyWhite LED. Built on Cree’s EasyWhite technology, which combines the industry’s tightest color binning and intense light output from a single LED, the XM-L2 EasyWhite LED is optimized to replace halogen technology.

Acuity Brands, Inc. will demonstrate its expansive portfolio of LED lighting, digital controls and daylighting solutions via vignettes that mirror actual applications during Lightfair® International 2014 (LFI). A total of 18 indoor and outdoor settings, ranging from patient care rooms and classrooms to office and retail spaces to tunnels and roadways, will be on interactive display (Booth #3808, Las Vegas Convention Center, June 3-5).

Lighting Science brings a complete suite of commercial LED lighting solutions to LIGHTFAIR International in Las Vegas, June 3-5. Lighting Science will showcase new products that emphasize the technological and biological advantages made possible with LED technology.

LEDtronics® announces energy-efficient, vibration-resistant LED replacements for both fluorescent fixtures and tube lights with its ETL and DLC listed dimmable thin-panel lights that are designed to replace troffers in most standard recessed T-bar ceiling.

Due to aggressive market competition in the LED backlighting market, Taiwanese LED manufacturer UPEC Electronics announced termination of its LED backlight package manufacturing business recently, according to a UDN Evening News report. 

LED price for lighting applications have dropped around 3-7 percent in 2Q14. Similarly, backlight-use LED prices have also seen a decline, dipping around 5-10 percent, with direct-type TV backlight-use LEDs decreasing by 13 percent due to fierce market competition, according to the recent price report from LEDinside, the green energy research division of TrendForce.

Apple was granted a new patent for the use of LiquidMetal by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday. The company could be planning to use LiquidMetal in conjunction with sapphire glass displays to form an integrated chassis for future iPhone models. 

In the latest development of the long legal battle between Foshan Electrical Lighting and company stockholders, Guanzhou High People’s Court recently informed lawyers that it upheld previous rulings of the intermediate people’s court in keeping the case in Guangzhou courts, according to a report by Guangdong Yangcheng Evening News Digital Media.

LED lighting is labor-intensive industries, But in recent years has been plaguedby recruitment difficulties faced by personnel instability and other factors,Therefore, the use of automated production lines to replace the manual, while addressing the current laborshortage, saving labor costs and the growing market demand doubled.

Plessey Semiconductors Ltd today announced that it has purchased another CRIUS II-XL MOCVD system for use in the manufacture of Gallium Nitride LEDs on Silicon wafers (GaN-on-Si). The company is further expanding its production capacities in this area. The Close Coupled Showerhead system recently delivered with a 7x6-inch configuration will supplement an existing production system from AIXTRON.

Osram Opto Semiconductors adds two further models with excellent color rendering to the Duris S 5 family. The new LEDs are ideal for the home, for example installed in downlights or LED retrofit lamps.

Electronics USA is shedding new light on high-performance energy efficient LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lighting solutions for commercial applications.