The highly competitive consumer electronic industry is also very fast moving, as IT and telecom products continue to add more features and turn more towards wireless. Computer and printer makers, faced with the tough challenge of selling more hardware in a saturated market, are expanding competencies. The global mobile device market has achieved its third consecutive quarter of yoy growth exceeding 100%, rising 134.6% yoy to 8.4 million units in 2005. Mobile phones have seen a quantum jump in the features offered as they double up as MP3 players, digital cameras, personal organizers, etc.

A shift to converged technology with basic personal information management (PIM) functionality is exerting pressures on companies to develop a niche competency that will rehabilitate growth in the handheld device market. These emerging applications exert fresh demands on materials and engineering, as the combination of increasing functions demand more memory space. Solid-state memory devices are shrinking in size and will soon be small enough to fit into the compact form factor of a mobile phone. Demand from traditional hard-drive outlets such as desktop and laptop computers will get dwarfed by this demand and provide a significant opportunity for plastic component suppliers. Analysts estimate that by early 2006, 25 million hard drives will be used in cell phones, which will see a quantum jump to 500 million by 2010.

The first example of a mobile phone incorporating a hard drive is the SGH-I300 from Samsung Electronics (Seoul), which comes with 3 GB of storage on a disk similar to that used in Apple's iPod mini.
Mitsui Chemicals' Grade PL8001 is a new grade of thermoplastic polyamide resin (Aurum) that targets hard-drive applications. The grade contains carbon nanotube filler and boasts excellent antistatic properties, as well as superior processability.
Mitsui's Chemicals' cyclic olefin copolymer is finding increasing application as the lens material in mobile phones that are fitted with cameras, prompting a capacity increase of 600 tpa to 3400 tpa by the end of 2005.
Besides memory and optics, ETP suppliers are developing compounds to boost the performance of voice communication in mobile phones. High-dielectric-constant compounds used so far suffered from high specific gravity, difficulty achieving dimensional precision due to large shrinkage ratios and problems with thin-wall molding. Polyplastics has developed a series of high-dielectric-constant compounds based on PPS and LCP that employs a ceramic filler, specifically targeting compact mobile phone antennae. The compounds can also withstand lead-free solder temperatures.
A polyamide copolymer (PA9T) of terephthalic acid and nonane diamine from Kuraray with heat resistance up to 300°C can also withstand lead free solder temperatures, with low water absorption-less than 1% compared with 2.6% and higher for competing materials. Kuraray plans a capacity increase from 3000 tpa to 4000 tpa by the end of 2005 in response to increased demand for electrical and electronic applications, including mobile phone connectors.

The other key drivers of this market are globalisation of the market, recyclability and legal issues.
In addition to global demand, regional legislation has also plays a large part in determining the grades specified by OEMs. Legal issues continue to drive parts design and materials choice as issues such as forced recycling and strict limits on lead and brominated flame retardants are similar across regions.
The WEEE (Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment) legislation that takes effect in the European Union in July 2006, requires OEMs to collect and recycle their products at increasingly high levels. Enforcement of the WEEE along with European laws strictly limiting the use of lead and some flame retardants has led many OEMs to shift entire product lines to grades that are compliant with European law, rather than managing multiple inventories for different geographic markets.
The E.U.'s RoHS (Restriction on Hazardous Substances) laws place strict limits on lead and several other materials often used in electronics manufacturing, forcing a reconsideration on lead soldering. The legislation is complicated as it does not stipulate that no lead can be used; it does dictate that only very low levels of lead are permitted in each part or component. Some equipment, including servers, compliant pin connectors, and light bulbs likely will be given exemption from RoHS.