As smart devices are becoming increasingly complex, reducing testing costs as well as time to test presents a challenge for mobile device manufacturers and test equipment vendors. End users of test equipment are not satisfied with the exponentially rising costs of testing. They are striving to reduce testing costs through various means, including the acceleration of testing tasks. Although OEMs would like to reduce testing costs, this is a challenge because they are significantly increasing the amount of testing.
There is a strong push to conduct more testing for less money in a completely different and innovative manner because end users are not able to transfer the increasing costs to consumers.
In addition, a new trend has emerged in the manufacturing segment, wherein chipset vendors embed proprietary methods into their products, which presents a challenge for test equipment vendors.
Frost & Sullivan has observed increased cooperation among chipset vendors and test equipment companies to choose solutions for one chipset or another.
Reducing testing time, which will yield significant cost-savings for OEMs, is a challenge for test equipment vendors.
One of the major challenges test equipment vendors are facing is offering testing solutions that accommodate different technologies. This is a key issue for test and measurement companies, especially due to the introduction of advanced smartphones featuring the latest technologies, such as LTE.
As a typical smartphone has multiple radios in a single unit, co-existence testing becomes increasingly important for OEMs. There are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, cellular, and FM radio technologies working in different bands. In addition, some of the technologies listed above have simultaneous radio signals. At present, cellular works on two different standards simultaneously. As a result, the concept of co-existence testing is rapidly penetrating the manufacturing line.
Another challenge for test equipment vendors is fewer investments from operators and NEMs. CAPEX and OPEX investments continue to fluctuate based on external market dynamics. For example, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, a number of OEMs and contract manufacturers were not willing to invest in the procurement of new test systems due to liquidity crunches and the lack of risk-taking. However, the absence of investments, according to Frost & Sullivan, is a short-term restraint.
Reduced CAPEX and OPEX investments are offset due to the high demand for test instruments originating from OEMs and contract manufacturers in Asia Pacific.
For more information on Wi-Fi test equipment-related studies, please contact Olga Shapiro at [email protected] or Ariel Brown at [email protected].
Edited by
Maurice Nagle 
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