Worldwide phablet shipments, defined as smartphones with screen sizes from 5.5 to less than 7 inches, will reach 175 million units worldwide this year, passing the 170 million portable PCs expected to ship during the same period, said International Data Corp. (IDC). Next year, phablet shipments of 318 million are forecast to top tablet shipments, projected at 233 million for the year, IDC said. Phablets began picking up volume in 2012, but the category has already put pressure on the smaller end of the tablet market, where growth of 7-inch tablets has slowed, it said. IDC expects consumer replacement cycles to shift to larger-sized tablets, but that trend hasn’t made up for the falloff in shipments of smaller-sized tablets, which has led to lowered expectations for the tablet market in 2014 and beyond, IDC said. Apple’s expected entrance into the phablet space with the iPhone 6 this month is expected to bring more attention to phablets “as larger screen smartphones become the new norm,” said analyst Melissa Chau. IDC expects phablets to grow from 14 percent of the worldwide smartphone market this year to 32 percent in 2018. While consumers in mature markets including the U.S. and Western Europe are likely to own a combination of PCs, tablets and smartphones, “in many places the smartphone -- regardless of size -- will be the one connected device of choice,” IDC said. Falling average selling prices (ASPs) for phablets and smartphones will help drive the trend, it said, noting that in 2013, phablet ASP was $568 versus a regular smartphone at $320. This year, phablet ASP will drop to $397 while smartphone ASP falls to $291, it said. “Consumers are still trying to figure out what mix of [mobile] devices and screen sizes will suit them best,” analyst Tom Mainelli said. “What works well today could very well shift tomorrow as phones gain larger screens, tablets become more powerful replacements for PCs, and even smart watch screens join the fray."

Costco will pay $335,000 in penalties for federal Clean Air Act violations as part of an agreement to cut emissions of ozone-depleting and greenhouse gas chemicals from refrigeration equipment at more than half of its U.S. stores, the EPA said Wednesday (http://1.usa.gov/1ppyWD7). Costco also will improve refrigerant management at 274 stores at an estimated cost of $2 million over the next three years, EPA said. The retailer violated the federal Clean Air Act by failing to repair leaks of the refrigerant R-22, a hydrochlorofluorocarbon and ozone-depleting substance, between 2004 and 2007, EPA said. The measures required by the settlement are expected to prevent the release of more than 105,000 pounds of ozone-depleting refrigerants that destroy the ozone layer, leading to dangerous amounts of ultraviolet solar radiation striking the earth and increasing skin cancers and cataracts, EPA said.

TCL announced at IFA Wednesday a 55-inch 4K Ultra HD TV that delivers full NTSC color gamut performance from an LCD TV at one-third the cost of OLED TVs. The TCL TV, launching first in China before rolling out to other markets, uses Color IQ quantum dot (QD) technology from Lexington, Massachusetts-based QD Vision that’s said to provide deeper, sharper and more natural color than standard LCD TVs. The QD plus LED TV “shatters the prohibitively high price barrier of OLED TVs,” the “only other technology to provide consumers with the richness of a full-gamut color viewing experience,” the companies said in a news release (http://bit.ly/1lzodez). QD Vision describes Color IQ as semiconductor nanocrystal technology that enables a liquid crystal display to achieve 100 percent NTSC color performance. The company can achieve full-gamut color in LCD TVs due to its in-house, “high-volume manufacturing operations,” it said. The company cited research indicating that “colorfulness” is the most important perceptual factor in viewers’ judgment of picture quality. Most mainstream LCD TV designs have had to sacrifice color quality, achieving typically 60-70 percent of the NTSC color gamut standard, the companies said. Color IQ can deliver 100 percent of the NTSC color gamut, and it works with all major LCD applications, QD Vision said, providing “superior color performance and high system efficiency.” The ability to deliver vibrant and accurate color using a cost-effective technology makes quantum dot technology “poised for universal adoption in the coming years,” QD Vision said. Adding full-gamut color at an affordable price “creates a really strong differentiator,” for TCL, said QD Vision CEO Jason Carlson. On a retail show floor, TVs with full-gamut color stand out, and “customers can easily tell the difference in performance,” he said. Carlson called the TCL TV a “world-class system that sets a high bar for the rest of the industry.” The addition of QD technology to TCL’s 4K TV lineup will offer “great value to consumers who want to enjoy the advanced picture quality with vivid colors and sharper images,” said E. Hao, CEO, TCL Multimedia. Price and availability weren’t given. Queries to U.S. tier-one TV makers about plans for quantum dot technology weren’t immediately answered.

Origin Acoustics announced the Director collection, 13 in-ceiling speakers representing the company’s worldwide launch. The line, ranging $400-$5,000 a pair, was designed by SpeakerCraft founder Ken Humphreys to address challenges inherent in in-ceiling speakers, which Origin said Monday are limitations in bass response and limited dispersion. The speakers use a fixed woofer and a new mounting system that are said to “dramatically reduce” a speaker’s footprint by providing a 50 percent increase in cone area. An 8-inch speaker has the diameter of a typical six-inch speaker, and a 10-inch speaker fits the space of a typical 8-inch speaker, the company said. The speakers include a ZipClip tool-less mounting system that uses a rail similar to a zip tie to simplify mounting and cut down on labor costs. Origin products “are disruptive,” with smaller footprints, high-performance sound quality and improved aesthetics, CEO Jeremy Burkhardt said. Company patents will cover most aspects of architectural loudspeakers “and I hope to share them to support industry advancement,” Burkhardt said.

Lenovo is using this week’s IFA show in Berlin to introduce the TAB S8, its first 8-inch Intel-powered Android tablet, the company said in a webinar briefing last week. The tablet features an Intel Atom Quad-Core 1.83-GHz processor, in-plane-switching LCD infinity screen (1920 x 1200) and dual front-facing speakers with Dolby audio, the company said. At 0.31 inches thick and weighing 10.5 ounces, the TAB S8 is “super-thin and super-light,” said Andrew Barrow, Lenovo director-worldwide consumer product marketing. Its infinity glass “gives you a very clear view of the screen and the actual images you're looking at,” Barrow said. The display also has “a very wide viewing angle,” and a “super-slim bezel gives you the maximum picture it can for the size of the device,” he said. Lenovo has used infinity glass screens on its laptops to “eliminate gaudy frames surrounding your actual display area by stretching the display area to the very edge” of the frame, the company said in a “glossary of terms” on its website (http://lnv.gy/1qNUcaQ). “Multiple colors” and “a range of options” will accompany the TAB S8, which starts shipping this month at $199, he said. Lenovo remains the world’s biggest PC supplier, and has outperformed the PC industry “21 quarters in a row,” said Ray Gorman, Lenovo executive director-external communications. “Even in a tough market, we've grown our market share to 19.4 percent worldwide, and 12.5 percent in North America.” PCs “are still our core,” though “more and more we're becoming a competitor in the tablet and growing smartphone space,” Gorman said. “We now sell more smartphones and tablets than we do PCs.” Last quarter, Lenovo became the world’s third-biggest tablet supplier, “and we're currently the world’s fourth-largest smartphone supplier,” he said. “Just last quarter, we became the number one smartphone company in China for the first time ever, and we're shifting our focus beyond China to other markets.” Of Lenovo’s pending acquisition of Motorola Mobility from Google for $2.91 billion (CED Jan 31 p3), “this deal will make us the number three global smartphone provider,” Gorman said. “We're on track to close this deal, and we're excited to bring Motorola-branded products to new markets going forward.”

Samsung will use this week’s IFA show in Berlin to showcase the world’s first soundbar to match the curvature of its 55- and 65-inch curved TVs, the company said Monday. The soundbar can easily be installed under the TV, replacing the TV stand, without the need to drill separate holes into the wall, it said. It’s crafted with a brushed aluminum finish that complements that of the Samsung curved TVs and has “8.1-channel support,” it said. Its “amped-up mid- and low-range capabilities” make for better sound quality and minimal distortion, it said. The soundbar can be controlled through Samsung TV remotes and by connecting the soundbar to the Samsung TV wirelessly via the “TV SoundConnect” function on the TV, it said. Pricing and availability weren’t disclosed.

"What you hear is up to you,” read a Tuesday email offering Delta SkyMiles members 1,500 bonus miles when they buy a pair of Bose 20i headphones at $299 a pair. “Shut out the world and lose yourself in your music —- or let the world in,” said the promotion. The 20i headphones are the first in-ear noise canceling headphones from Bose, “so you'll hear more of your music and less of your surroundings,” it said. “When you want to hear what’s around you -— like crossing a city street or waiting for an airline gate announcement, just press a button and let some sounds in, while your music plays on.” There’s no specific cutoff date on the promotion. The rules said the offer may be withdrawn at any time.

ZENS added the PuK wireless charger, a Qi-based inductive charger designed to be built into furniture for living and working environments. Applications include desks, counters and bedside tables for use in offices, hotels, restaurants, kitchens and homes worldwide, the company said. Installations can be built-on or built-in to existing or new furniture, the company said. The ZENS PuK has seven induction coils that continually detect a device’s signal so that a charging phone doesn’t have to be placed in a precise location but can be “freely positioned,” ZENS said. Foreign Object Detection software automatically shuts down the charging process if metal comes between the Qi phone and the charger, ZENS said, preventing objects from absorbing energy from the wireless power supply field and creating a heat hazard.

The FCC should grant cable operators that use TiVo set-top boxes a waiver of the requirement that they must include “an industry-standard, interactive, and recordable home networking interface,” the company said in a waiver petition (http://bit.ly/1vJGlFR) posted Tuesday in docket 97-80. TiVo had successfully sought an extension for the deadline for set-tops to fulfill that requirement because the Digital Living Network Alliance had not released industry standards for the boxes on time (CED April 7 p8). “TiVo could not anticipate the precise outcomes of the DLNA process or the timing and content of published specifications, and had to develop its own home networking solution in order to maintain its role in providing innovative solutions to retail consumers,” TiVo’s petition said. If TiVo has to change its technology to fit the DLNA standard, it could “hinder TiVo’s ability to compete on both a retail and a wholesale level,” the company said. If the FCC takes the position that the home networking requirement was invalidated by the EchoStar decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, TiVo said, its petition would be moot.

Asus said it will include Trend Micro’s Smart Home Network in its wireless routers, adding network management, security and parental controls to a Wi-Fi network. The Smart Home Network offers a multistage shielding process that’s said to be able to virtually fix vulnerabilities in home router and Internet-capable devices. Its QoS (quality of service) feature can prioritize Internet traffic by identifying more than 800 Internet applications and 1,000 Internet-capable devices across 25 hardware categories to ensure smooth viewing of HD videos, low-latency online gaming and clear VoIP calls along with uninterrupted Web browsing and peer-to-peer downloading, the companies said. An added feature is embedded parental controls to block access to inappropriate Internet apps and URLs, they said Tuesday. The updated wireless home router products “enable home network security and optimize bandwidth efficiency while filtering Internet content based on users’ preferences,” said Tenlong Deng, Asus vice president-wireless devices. The Asus RT-AC87U was the first to be embedded with Trend Micro’s Smart Home Network software suite, followed by the RT-AC56U and RT-AC68U routers. Updates to existing models will be completed by year-end, Asus said, and existing users can get the Smart Home Network functionality via software update.