Making a custom product takes time. Usually, more time than our customers realize as there are never less details, and often more, during a development process. But through experience we learn optimization techniques that have a big impact. Below are some concepts you can apply for an efficient, yet reliable development process.
The App
When building a custom Android device, the key to quick development is identifying which parts of the product exist already. That way you start testing your app on existing devices at an early stage, rather than waiting for your custom hardware. Start by finding a sample of an existing product which uses the same CPU and Android version as your custom product, these are the foundation of an Android product. While the existing product and your custom product won’t be exactly the same, the existing product can be used to start testing the basic functionality of your app. Starting this process early saves time and generally results in a better app.
Special Hardware
To continue with efficient development, it’s necessary to know which components matter and aren’t standard. Consider the purpose and focus of the product. This determines what other components are important. For example, if taking photos or video using a wide-angle camera lens is part of the device requirements, try to get samples of different cameras to test with the chosen CPU to make sure the camera quality is good enough. We’ve seen the same camera provide different results with different CPUs (better results happened on CPUs with integrated ISP). Ultimately this motivated a change in the device CPU because the camera quality was such an important feature of the product.
During this stage the hardware doesn’t need any case as the point is quick compatibility testing of the hardware.
Casing
Basic concept is to start prototyping as early as possible. It’s possible to prototype even before the electronics are ready. Hatch’s customers usually design the exterior of their product case with an industrial designer (Hatch does the inside, mechanical engineering, part). Previously we had a customer approve a prototype and then a few months later change their mind regarding part of the external design. The mass production tooling was already done at that point, so the change ended up costing additional time and money.
Even if the custom Android electronics aren’t done, if case design is very important to a customer, it’s possible to quickly get a simple PCB made with just case fittings. For example, a blank PCB with just a USB, earphone, and charging port, rather than all the electronics components, so the customer can test from purely a mechanical and design standpoint. If that prototype works the same one can be used once the full electronics are done.
Smartphones running Android and iOS have combined many digital products into one pocket sized package. Traditional watches, when not worn for fashion or social status, have become less necessary thanks to the smartphone. Calculators, house phones, bedside clocks, MP3 players, simple digital cameras, and countless other gadgets have been eaten up by the mighty all-in-one smartphone.
A trickle of these products will continue to sell. The surviving products come from niche markets, like designer watches or a waterproof MP3 player. Also a low volume of mainstream product sales go to people who don’t want to use a smartphone for that specific purpose. For example an accountant who prefers the feel of a traditional calculator. As a company that sold a lot of MP3 players, Hatch knows the impact the smartphone had on sales of single purpose gadgets.
Beyond putting many mainstream products on the brink of extinction, Android has gotten so small, dynamic, and reliable that brands have started using it in niche products also. This article will review how Custom Android hardware is accelerating the creation of new single purpose products.
Benefits of an Android Body Camera or Security Camera
Custom Android hardware has brought down the costs for making the mobile webcam. Before webcams were attached to a desktop or peering at you from a laptop screen. Using an Android mobile phone platform, and nothing else, a camera can instantly stream video from and to anywhere in the world with a mobile or wifi internet connection.
One use case of an internet connection, besides sending video, is the remote software update that companies can use to update the hardware. This is called an OTA, or Over The Air, update, which is common on all Android and iOS platforms. Updating the software ensures bugs are dealt with quickly and can create new revenue streams for the brand by offering more services to the users. Such as when an app expands its service offering and pushes out an update.
Body cameras, commonly worn by police officers, started gaining in popularity towards the end of the ‘00s as camera technology became smaller and less power hungry. Early cameras saved video to internal flash or a memory card. The use case sold itself: easy to capture video evidence in highly contentious and often dangerous situations.
Wall mounted security cameras usually use wire connections for electricity and data transmission. They don’t run off of batteries. Older ones used wires to connect to a central machine that received the streams from (usually) multiple cameras. The central machine records the videos of each camera.
In both of these use cases the cameras provide urgent safety information. Building these products on a Custom Android platform improves the reliability and usability. The ability to review video from these sources in real time can save lives or prevent harmful events from happening. Integrating a battery in a wall mounted security camera means that if power goes down or wires are cut the video keeps rolling.
Besides obvious benefits of connected, low power functionality, the Android platform comes with many native features that add value to the products. For example adding GPS to a body camera provides the exact location to a control center. Light or sound sensors help a wall mounted security camera with power saving, only turning on when the device senses light or sound.
Examples of Android Body and Security Cameras
Security cameras, like the one shown above, have been extremely popular for decades in businesses, public places, residential areas, and countless other locations. The systems used to rely on lots of wires to stay connected. Custom Android hardware has reduced the need for wires, reduced cost, and, with the support of battery power, can run even during power outages.
Police worn body cameras, like the one shown above, have revolutionized policing. The video evidence they create has been used to vindicate or vilify police officers and civilians who may otherwise have been misjudged. Early versions used on-board memory to store media. Improvised Android hardware architecture enhanced these products with real time streaming, communication, and location tracking.
More to come!
As Android hardware continues to become more powerful, efficient, and present in our everyday lives it will continue to expand into and create new niche products. Building on our experience of creating custom Android hardware, Hatch looks forward to undertaking your bespoke project!
When conceptualizing a customized Android device, the 3 main areas to focus on are casing (mechanics), electronics, and firmware. Other aspects may include accessories and packaging (depending on business model), to name a few, but this article focuses specifically on the Android device itself. Key factors within each area affect the development cost and time and unit cost. Understanding what impact different factors have enables a more efficient and beautiful development process. Read on for a summary of key details that matter in custom Android development.
Casing
Casing is unique as it incorporates two different disciplines of design; external and internal design. Usually called Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering, respectively. If good looking external design isn’t a key aspect for your custom Android hardware then using just a mechanical engineer for both should be fine. Many mechanical engineers mistake themselves for industrial designers anyway. Usually external design means less for products that users don’t see or are purely functional in nature. For the sake of this article we’ll look at the best way to approach a product where design matters.
External design, unlike all the other areas covered here, is exclusively based on perception and emotion. Intricate details affect branding, perception, and usability. Hatch highly encourages our customers to work directly with an industrial designer (rather than through Hatch or any other final product supplier) on the case’s external design for the highest quality results. Hatch will provide the dimensions and other relevant information to support the designer. To allow a smooth transition to the mechanical designer, the industrial designer should define gap tolerances between the parts of casing, exact colors, and materials. Usually industrial designers do a good job on the latter two, but making the case fit perfectly can take a lot of time. Having this requirement from the beginning gives a clear goal, allowing a supplier to test internally before sending to the client.
It’s best to use a mechanical engineer with product specific experience to create the mechanical design. That’s why Hatch takes control of mechanical design once external design is finished. Hatch’s mechanical designers have made and modified hundreds of Android devices like tablets, phones, and custom hardware. Without start to finish product specific experience even a very qualified mechanical engineer won’t foresee product specific design nuances. Those nuances are related to finished product quality and, through support of supply chain partners, component selection.
Only through seeing multiple products go from start to finish do hidden design optimizations become clear; this is the definition of experience. For example structures within the mechanical design to strengthen ports or block dust from entering the screen area. Sometimes ‘the perfect’ design requires an expensive or difficult to source component. That must be avoided (and there’s no such thing as perfect design). Collaboration between Hatch’s experienced engineering team and a client’s mechanical designer combines the best of both worlds. This has a higher cost for the client and maybe overkill, but certainly covers all bases.
Simple takeaways:
Make sure your industrial designer specifies gap tolerances between parts of casing.
Use a mechanical engineer with Android device experience for expertise with quality manufacturing details.
Have the mechanical engineer work with a supply chain partner (like Hatch) to verify that the components suggested by the industrial designer are easy enough to obtain now and into the foreseeable future.
Electronics
All projects have specific performance requirements that call for different kinds of electronics. Potential for remorse comes when choosing commodity components like a screen or battery, designing around that, and then finding out that the screen isn’t crisp enough or the battery doesn’t last long enough. When customizing an Android device choose components individually, by testing them in other devices first. If there’s a screen you’re considering then get a sample of another device that uses the same screen to see if you like it. Once you decide on all the key components then make an initial prototype to check that they work well together.
As much as possible stay within the framework of the CPU manufacturer’s reference design. Clients have asked for a certain Bluetooth chip that’s not included in the reference design. A change like this requires changing the tried and true reference design. This change opens the door for new bugs. It also takes a lot of engineering to make this modification. Changing the reference design usually comes with a high development cost and higher mass production risk.
Simple takeaways:
Sample key components individually in existing products before deciding on the final list.
Test a prototype that integrates those chosen components before making mold.
Stay within reference design; changing it opens the door to unpredictable problems.
Firmware
A combination of knowing the result you want from customized Android firmware and clarifying what customizations are possible at the onset of a project sets the stage for smooth development. The key here is to ask specific questions to the right people so you get reliable answers. Many Chinese suppliers hire inexperienced sales people based on their young age and English ability. Young means they’re cheaper and English means they can serve as a conduit of information to the customer. Oftentimes the answers these people give customers are incomplete or just wrong.
Hatch uses direct connections with IC companies and their licensed engineering companies to directly access management level engineers. While the engineers don’t usually speak English that’s not a problem and we’re usually able to get real answers about implementing complicated customizations. Like proper directions before a new journey, knowing whether the customizations you want are feasible avoids going in the wrong direction.
Simple takeaways:
Clear definition of what’s needed before starting the project.
Find the right person to confirm feasibility of customizations saves losing time going in the wrong direction.
Any project that tackles the unknown is prone to risk and surprise. Applying the takeaways, learned through first hand experience, listed above when approaching the project will maximize reliability while intelligently managing risk.
From the front lines of Custom Android hardware manufacturing Hatch is seeing rising material prices across the board. IC chips, metals (used in wires), and plastics have all risen. In parallel with rising prices sourcing is becoming more difficult. Many materials now have longer and unpredictable lead times. Sometimes a buyer will wait for material prices to come down. Over the past 18 months waiting only resulted in higher prices and delays since they have continued to rise.
Some parts, especially older IC chips, have less supply and longer lead times now. IC chip companies prioritize stable supply of newer chips. With limited production capacity available, production of the old ones get sacrificed. Normally when an IC goes out of production the chip manufacturer gives customers advance warning. That way customers have time to redesign the products using a newer chip. If the transition to a new IC takes too long, customers are usually still able to find stocks of the old IC to ensure a stable product supply. In today’s market stocks are becoming scarce as buyers snatch them up. Production schedules remain unpredictable, yet the older chips haven’t officially gone out of production yet. This pushes companies like Hatch and our customers to redesign products in a hurry, using more readily available IC chips. The sudden nature of this shortage resulted in delayed shipments due to the time necessary to properly redesign the product using new components.
Global shipping delays create another challenge to today’s interconnected world of global trade. Sea freight prices from China to many parts of the world are 3-4 times higher than a year ago. But just like with materials, delivery times are longer now as well. Before shipping, goods wait to board ships for longer amounts of time. Before arrival, ships wait on the water for longer amounts of time to unload.
Cause of problems
Material prices have gone up for several reasons. At the pandemic’s onset commodity prices declined steeply because of a negative global economic sentiment. Manufacturers lowered their forecasts, but product demand increased because people working and studying from home suddenly needed new electronics. This created a stark imbalance between supply and demand.
In 2020 Huawei’s orders consumed all available capacity at IC chip foundries in anticipation of the US’s ban on selling components to them. This alone impacted almost all aspects of chip production. Other large brands, seeing diminishing production capacity, placed large orders as well leaving very little supply for smaller customers. This year even large companies like Apple can’t maintain reliable supply, having issued warnings that chip shortages will reduce their profitability.
Shipping companies can’t move empty containers back to Asia fast enough. Many ports have limited staff and companies receiving the containers don’t have enough manpower to offload the goods fast enough. Limited access to containers has created a constraint on shipments. In a global economy parts come from all over the world to the location of assembly. Missing one component usually paralyzes all finished product output.
The world continues to demand digital products and many mechanical products are becoming digital. This further exacerbates demand for ICs. Household appliances have mostly become digital. Cars are packed with increasingly complex electronics. Both these important and large industries face production shortages. Statista predicts IoT devices using Bluetooth and other wireless technologies will grow from 8.74 billion units in 2020 to 25.4 in 2030, nearly a 3 times increase. This segment alone is generating massive demand.
How it’s affecting brands
Popular Android ICs, from brands like Rockchip, face shortages. Hatch uses Rockchip Android CPUs in multiple Custom Android devices. We’ve experienced this shortage first hand. Rockchip is moving customers from older chips to newer chips. This way volume is consolidated and manufacturing becomes more efficient. However as more customers migrate to a smaller number of chips the demand for those chips may soon start to outweigh supply.
For complex products, like Android, the CPU represents just one of the multiple IC chips on the board. Even when a company finds stocks of an older Android CPU they need to find the peripheral IC chips that also go into the electronics; a WiFi chip for example. Like with finished products, a PCBA (the assembled PCB board) of an Android device, has many components. Missing any one of them delays production of the PCBA.
For one of our products Hatch used to buy a chip from Nordic Semiconductor, a leading supplier of Bluetooth chips, for $1.70. Goods consistently arrived 2 weeks after placing the order. Now, to maintain the same price, the lead time has increased to 1 year. Available stocks are selling for $4.80 to clients who can’t wait or find other options. Luckily we checked about this before needing to place an order, giving Hatch a head start on transitioning to another chip. Unfortunately making that change requires additional development cost and more time to redevelop. It’s possible we’ll have to do another production with the original, high cost, Nordic chip before the new electronics are ready for mass production (if it’s even available).
What brands can do to avoid problems
Forecast shipments more in advance. Businesses are always trying to reduce lead time as much as possible in order to have better control over inventory and expedite cash flow. As production of parts has become faster over time, the more forecasting requirements have gotten shorter. Now the inverse is happening. Companies now need to plan 6 months further in advance than before. This means more inventory risk and capital requirements for companies that sell finished products.
Reviewing your products BOM to identify risky components allows you to act early. Screens and CPUs are the hardest hit components in custom Android devices. Screen costs have more than doubled in some cases and many CPUs are experiencing shortages. Go through your BOM as early as possible to identify which components face sourcing challenges or price increases. Look for alternatives. Start to redevelop your product. In Hatch’s case we’ve taken an approach of finding available stocks for production today and redesigning products for stability tomorrow.
Like with all challenges in life and business, some companies can get out of this situation ahead and some fall behind. Hatch’s clients benefit from our connection to the pulse of this market. Problems can’t always be avoided, but they sometimes can be taken advantage of!
In the early days of mobile phones, a single phone could be used around the world relatively easily. In the 2G era the whole world used a total of 4 bands so a ‘quad band phone’ could support voice and (where available) data services anywhere. Newer generations of cellular technology got more complicated with different mobile networks choosing different wireless protocols and frequencies to operate on. As a phone’s compatibility with more networks increases so does the complexity of electrical engineering.
It became more difficult for phones to provide global coverage on networks starting with 3G. As the presence of IoT connectivity and custom Android devices grows Hatch shares what to consider when designing a phone for optimal global coverage.
Generations of Wireless Telecom Protocols
The 2G network uses the GSM standard. 4 frequencies 850, 900, 1800, and 1900MHz covered all the world’s main markets. Most phones only supported dual bands, but it was easy to find quad band options also.
3G introduced incompatible network standards. Phones that were built for UMTS often didn’t support CDMA. Plus within each of the different 3G networks there were at least 5-6 different frequencies. Only a few high end phones provided global coverage on 3G. Generally more expensive phones and telecom devices support a wider range of frequencies than lower cost ones.
4G also introduced incompatible networks, but the LTE network had much better coverage than the competing WiMax technology. Across the world there are over 10 commercially used frequencies on the LTE network. More than most phones can support.
5G looks to keep things more simple. The 5G NR (New Radio) network has been introduced in a handful of countries and doesn’t appear to have any rival standards, although there are over 15 different frequencies on this network.
Decommissioning of Older Networks
In many countries legacy 2G and 3G networks are shutting down. Mobile networks try to move subscribers to the newer networks so they can cut the costs of maintaining older networks.
Backwards Compatibility
Phones with the newest wireless technology are backwards compatible. That means the newest phone which supports 5G will also support 2G, 3G, and 4G (wherever those networks exist).
New Network Benefit
Newer wireless standards, like 5G, are great for quickly consuming tons of data. Older generations offer slower data rates. Mobile users who want to stream high res movies or play graphics rich video games have the best user experience on 5G, but for many IoT or lower data use cases even 2G sufficies.
Designing a Global Android Telecom Device
If you’re making a custom Android telecom device to use globally the key details to consider in regards to choosing frequencies are outlined below, based on the information provided above.
First consider the device’s data consumption profile. If it doesn’t consume a lot, for simple IoT purposes or low data applications, 2G will keep you in business. Obviously if your application requires more data consumption then 2G may fall short. Then research which networks your SIM card will roam on in different countries where the device will be used. The roaming networks are determined by the roaming agreements of the original SIM card provider.
Next check whether the countries where the device will be used still have 2G (or 3G) networks. Information about countries sunsetting 2G and 3G networks is easy to find on Wikipedia (where information for this article comes from). Then research which networks your SIM card will roam on in different countries where the device will be used. The roaming networks are determined by the roaming agreements of the original SIM card provider. Notice which networks and frequencies overlap the most between different countries based on the carriers your device will use. What often happens is that not all the bands within one generation (ie, 4G) can be covered by one device. This happens because so many different frequencies exist around the world. To overcome this, start to look at which frequencies on other generations (ie, 3G) are most used by the roaming partner networks. The idea is to aggregate the most overlapping networks in different countries so that the device can work anywhere it needs to on at least one generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G).
Designing a phone with multiple custom ranges of frequencies.
Traditionally the frequency bundles in mobile phones are broken into US, Asia, and EU regions. In each regional configuration the frequencies are all set to serve that local market for best coverage across all generations. That’s a different logic than getting as much coverage as possible globally. Most generic mobile phone suppliers allow the wholesale buyer to choose the regional configuration before manufacturing. For example if buying phones to use in the US then the buyer would choose US configuration.
When making a custom Android device you can choose which bands the device supports based on your specific needs. Up to 3 custom configurations can be created, so you don’t need to stick with the traditional US, EU, and Asia configurations.
Looking to the Future
In the world of technology having common standards sometimes works better than having options. There are varied reasons for the existence of competing standards, however financial interests probably have the biggest impact. Whatever new roads appear as you pursue making a custom Android device, Hatch is there to help navigate them. 🙂
Prototype Version (left), and Final Version (right).
This month Hatch introduces a new kind of article, one that profiles a unique architecture for Android hardware. Overtime, as we showcase more unique hardware, you may find something which serves as a better platform to test your software than a generic Android tablet.
When Hatch first started making custom Android products around 2015 most demand revolved around mainstream retail tablet and smartphone devices. As visionaries imagined new use cases and industries created new demands, modified hardware architectures gained in popularity. One of the earliest high volume use cases that evolved from a niche are point of sale (POS) devices. Now there are several engineering and manufacturing companies that exclusively focus on this category since the global demand justifies a high level of support. Same thing is true for Rugged Android tablets and phones, however the high prices of these may still justify going custom if order volume is high enough.
Modifying hardware for a specific use case is only part of what’s needed to deliver an end product. The other, and arguably more important, part is designing the software to go with the hardware. Software entails a front end app and, usually, a back end system that interacts with the app. Once stable hardware is developed for industrial or business applications it stays the same for years, however elements of the software are regularly updated to improve user experience or resolve bugs.
Hatch sees the growing popularity of niche applications for Android as a good thing for the industry and synergistic with our business model. A new generation of niche Android products make it easier for entrepreneurs to realize their vision by running tests on existing hardware. Often existing hardware can be used for prototyping and beta testing. If testing goes well using existing hardware the next step is making custom Android hardware. Below we look at a device that’s been designed to replace the traditional keyless entry system.
This Android device combines traditional systems with new technology. More powerful electronics supports new use cases, such as keyless entry using facial recognition. The facial database is stored in the device, either uploaded in a file or acquired using the camera, and recognition processing happens locally on the device in real time.
A Wiegand interface designed into the device’s motherboard connects to an external card reader. Wiegand is an older and still popular wiring protocol for connecting swipe card readers to an underlying access control system.
In addition to Wiegand there are several other interfaces including LAN (Ethernet), USB, RS-232, Power, and GPIO buttons. The RJ-45 Ethernet port can be used for PoE (power over Ethernet) or maintaining a hard-wired internet connection rather than relying on Wi-Fi. Other ports can be used for opening and closing access points mechanically or as defined by the user.
The IP65 case has been designed to withstand light rain and dust. This helps protect products exposed to rain or other outdoor conditions.
If the current architecture of the product detailed above serves your purpose better than a standard retail tablet we welcome you to use it for your initial prototype. Once you decide to make a custom version, future iterations of this product can add mobile data connectivity, body temperature sensing, or whatever customization serves your purpose best.
Design a tablet for photographers to quickly review their shots and copy photos from the camera’s memory card to a spare card.
Use Cases
Photographers want to quickly review photos on a clear and large screen then move images off their camera’s memory card so they can get back to taking photos again. Hatch’s client identified this unique market and turned to Hatch to manufacture a custom Android tablet tailored to serve it.
Hardware and Mechanical Requirements
9” Screen
No Wireless Connectivity (mobile data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc)
Reference design modification to add extra SD card slot
Assistance with Industrial Design
Mechanical Engineering
Creating prototypes
Tooling for device case
Manufacturing process optimization
Create finished product testing procedure
Trial and Mass Productions
Time Frame
This project moved fairly quickly from Hatch’s end. Two months passed from kickoff to initial prototype. The customer took a few months to thoroughly test the initial prototype, which is time well spent. Another month was used to refine aspects of the firmware in parallel with producing the tooling for the tablet’s casing. Trial production took a month and then the customer needed extra time to refine and debug their app. The whole process took about 8 months, but most of this time was used for app related development and optimizations.
How it Happened
The client initially approached Hatch about working together when they first started conceptualizing the project around 2017. At that time, as a new company and concept, they couldn’t commit to Hatch’s minimum order quantity. We wished them good luck and ended the discussion. They came across another tablet supplier who said all the right things, won the business and then forced the client to place a large order (which they weren’t ready for) or lose their deposit. If everything went well that’s where the story would have ended, but after deceptive business practices the other supplier also shipped bad products and were difficult to work with. At that point the customer contacted Hatch again and asked for help with getting out of their dilemma. Typically we don’t get involved with this kind of situation, but the client seemed like good people in a bad position. We agreed to help them fix the problems and manage production for the rest of their order from the first supplier before redeveloping the product ourselves.
As the first order was coming to an end Hatch started to redevelop and improve the product. Hatch had the benefit of learning from the mistakes of the first development, which helped our development go smoothly and make the customer experience even better.
The device had several custom hardware requirements that deviated from the standard reference design, the electronics design which ‘off the shelf’ Android tablets are based on. For example, remove Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cameras, headphone jack, unnecessary apps, and increase battery size. Also Hatch needed to add a second memory card slot and make both memory cards full size SD, while the reference design calls for one MicroSD size memory card. Most of these hardware customizations also required related firmware modifications.
Second SD memory card slot for copying photos.
Result
The results were great. A large part of the success came from the lessons learned from the first generation of the product. Our client was able to earn a reputation for higher customer satisfaction than the competition (in their niche) thanks to the great job they did with redesigning their app and the improvements Hatch made to the hardware and firmware. This allowed them to raise the retail price, helpful in offsetting the high costs of fixing problems with their first generation product.
It’s hard to predict how things go in business, but some situations create good stories when told in retrospect. Sometimes, for whatever reason, people don’t connect with potential friends/customers/whatever on the first interaction, but a relationship develops in the future. This client has turned out to be a great company to work with and Hatch provided key value to them. Often companies contact us who aren’t ready to work with Hatch when they first reach out. I try to guide them in the best direction for them rather than sell them services they’re not ready for. Hopefully my guidance or something else they did brought success. It’s always a pleasure to see companies flourish and become able to help them.
Android Devices Show Resilience Through Rapid Adaptation
Custom Android tablets are helping people push through the challenges of the Covid era. New use cases and growth in existing niches have driven innovation and demand for Android hardware.
When Covid arrived in Q1 2020 many Android manufacturing companies quickly reacted with a pessimistic outlook on business prospects for the year ahead. Key component manufacturers decreased their annual production forecasts, lowering the quantity of components produced for the whole year. Agile Chinese tablet manufacturers responded drastically. Many factories transformed their production lines to make masks, gowns, and other PPE. Engineering companies shifted attention from Android PCB design to designing digital thermometers. From one month to the next, customers went from getting price lists for tablets to price lists for medical devices and PPE from the same companies.
Covid didn’t kill economies. It halted industries. Travel, restaurants, cinemas, and many other industries have been decimated by Covid. Other industries ignited. Online education, remote working, and ecommerce/logistics, are examples of industries undergoing a renaissance with heightened user demand and investments. Many workers from the hard hit industries lost their jobs. With less disposable income people have less money to replace old phones or tablets. These were the people that industry executives thought about when reducing forecasts for component production.
What was overlooked was that if people couldn’t congregate in offices and schools then they’d need to work remotely. This created a boom in sales for Android tablets and other devices used to work or study from home.
Android’s system architecture makes it relatively easy to add different peripheral electronics to the core platform. Innovators can also quickly build apps for a wide range of use cases.
The combination of fast hardware and software development are what make Android an ideal platform for quickly adapting as the world and technology evolve.
Android products have become more than a mobile phone or tablet for the consumer market, where several global brands sell fairly similar products. The Android manufacturing ecosystem in Shenzhen quickly responds to opportunities with hardware for serious business, health, and education applications at speeds that weren’t possible until recent years.
Examples of Android Devices that Grew as a Result of the Pandemic
Access Control Android Tablet with Body Temperature Sensor and Facial Recognition
Before the pandemic started there were a few custom Android devices with access control. Once temperature testing started becoming a part of access control, temperature sensors were added to the product. Now, instead of a person taking other peoples’ temperatures at entry points for office buildings, malls, or supermarkets, a tablet does this, and much more, automatically. It takes peoples’ temperatures, assigns the temperature to a specific person, and records that information instantly for future reference as a pandemic control measure (while this raises privacy concerns that is another topic for another article).
Several different companies started making their own version of this product with little twists in design or components. Because of how many companies made their own version of this product it may not be necessary to custom make anymore since many options are available. Some of these tablets are built into a self driving robot device that approaches people for use in hospitals and restaurants.
Educational Tablet for Children
From elementary school to colleges, remote education was forced upon students around the world. With so many students studying from home the global demand for tablets tailored to serve them exploded. While the electronics don’t vary much (or at all) from standard tablets, specialized apps and casing designs differentiate educational tablets. The huge demand for educational tablets overcompensated for the people with reduced discretionary spending and drove up component prices across the whole industry. The price increases were also a direct result of Huawei hoarding parts due to trade restrictions and reduction in production forecasts from component manufacturers, as mentioned above.
So Many Use Cases. So Many Android Custom Solutions.
Covid has brought to light how the Android platform allows for diverse and fast development of new products. Hopefully demand for pandemic related products will go down soon. Whenever that happens there will be new opportunities calling on engineers to adapt Android in new ways. If you want to bring a unique Android product to life, Hatch can help. We’re always happy to talk with entrepreneurs and engineers about your project.
In this article ‘supply chain’ refers to all the contributors of components or services that go into manufacturing a finished product. More specifically, in the case of custom Android manufacturing, that means suppliers of hardware such as screens, PCBA, cameras, cases, etc. Also different specialized service providers such as electronics, mechanics, software, and assembly engineers. General services, such as logistics, which aren’t specific to Android hardware are not covered in this article.
What’s a mature supply chain?
Supply chains become mature when multiple suppliers gain expertise and compete on individual pieces of the supply chain. A supply chain consists of many different elements so when there are many companies competing in one niche of the supply chain, over time that creates optimal service and price (theoretically). For example there are hundreds of companies that design and produce plastic cases for electronics around Shenzhen. Several of them are particularly focused on designing cases specifically for Android tablets or smartphones. There are so many case suppliers and so much demand for Android device cases, some case suppliers carve a niche by specializing in tablet or smartphone cases.
This creates teams of engineers with specific retained knowledge that apply directly to making Android devices. Each case company has engineers with experience designing cases for optimal performance and manufacturing efficiency. For example an experienced mechanical engineer designs the camera slot in a way to ensure the camera easily snaps into place, blocks light from the flash, and doesn’t overheat. They know what works, and have seen many things which don’t, creating a reliable and efficient supply chain. More experienced component manufacturers working in a supply chain makes that supply chain more mature.
What’s an immature supply chain?
Supply chains are immature when there are limited suppliers with deep (or any) expertise in bringing a finished product to life. For example when developing a new product, especially taking that product from prototype to mass production, countless surprises and mistakes happen due to inexperience. It could be that the product was designed by non-Chinese engineers who choose components that are difficult to get in China, necessitating a design modification. Even for products fully designed in China, components don’t always work well together. Some materials don’t mix well together for chemical or electrical reasons. Some components come with different calibrations that require tweaking for consistency during mass production. Immature supply chains result in surprises that take time to resolve.
Production line staff at factories don’t usually understand the point of the custom modifications as it pertains to the product’s use case. Because of this sometimes small variations in workmanship have a bigger impact on product performance than the staff realize. Over time mistakes become lessons, but until that happens the supply chain is immature.
How does a supply chain become mature?
Immature supply chains become mature over time as orders of the finished product increase. For example when Android tablets first started shipping from local Shenzhen supply chains around the end of 2010 the product quality was low and unit cost was high. As demand exploded new suppliers entered the supply chain. Even with these new entrants it took a while to meet demand and have prices start to come down. Over time the profit margins decreased and maturity of the supply chain evolved. Once supply caught up with demand they needed to improve product quality and price in order to compete. Sales volume and, in turn, competition are the key forces that drive a supply chain to maturity.
The more orders suppliers produce the more opportunity they have to learn from mistakes. This drives improvement of their components and, ultimately, the finished Android tablet. As volumes of Android tablets and smartphones exploded a massive supply ecosystem came into existence. The same events take place in the creation of supply chains for lower volume products, albeit with relatively fewer participants, as demand is lower. A large company producing high volumes of a unique product will also create a mature supply chain. This happens somewhat through brute force rather than purely organic capitalism. In this case entering the supply chain is more restrictive than with a product anyone can buy since there’s only one customer who chooses the individual suppliers.
How to work with an immature supply chain
It’s necessary to work with an immature supply chain whenever creating a new product or modifying an existing one. Getting from idea to mass production means going through a learning curve. Over time production runs become more efficient by identifying and fixing problems. That’s why initial production runs should start with smaller quantities. Problems are easier and less costly to fix with lower volume.
In addition to extensive testing with low volumes, having multiple suppliers for high risk parts is also useful to hedge risk. High risk parts refers to parts that have a higher tendency to go out of production or become difficult to source. Often a component’s future availability is tough to predict. From experience, cameras and screens seem to have the highest risk in custom Android devices.
Supplier value in a mature supply chain
Once a supply chain becomes mature so do the buyers. Experienced retail buyers know what’s important to look for in a supplier. The supplier traits which matter most in a mature supply chain are quality, speed, price, and reliability. Because finished products coming from a mature supply chain are so similar to each other there’s rarely room for significant product differentiation. Strides in innovation are made in small, manufacturing related, baby steps. Any big technological innovation will not likely come from a manufacturer, at least not for Android products.
How an immature supply chain is helped by a mature supply chain
If you want to make a custom Android product your development and manufacturing partner, such as Hatch, plays a big role in leveraging mature supply chains to create custom products. Some suppliers in a mature supply chain are willing to support smaller production runs at a higher margin. By working with them Hatch leverages the experience and efficiency of the mature supply chain to reliably produce what is needed for the lower volume custom product.
Conclusion
Anytime a new commodity product or product category kicks off a supply chain must be created from scratch. The initial entrants do what they can to provide a ‘good enough’ early stage product, but as demand for a product grows and more companies enter into the supply chain the quality gets better. When making something custom leverage mature supply chains to gain a head start.
Whenever working with a new and immature supply chain, go slowly to find problems early. Reduce risk by thoroughly testing multiple rounds of a trial production and making clear requirements, sometimes even SOPs, for the suppliers to follow. All mature supply chains start as new and immature ones. They’re both important at different stages of a product’s lifecycle and through constant intersection help each other to grow.
