9-13: Samsung Display to invest CNY210mln in CSOT’s G11 fab; South Korea’s earthquake do not impact much on semiconductor / panel makers; etc.
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Chipset |
| NVIDIA’s new Tesla P4 and P40 GPUs are targeted at deep learning. The P40 has 3,840 CUDA cores, offers 12 teraflops of single-precision performance, has 24GB of GDDR5 memory and draws 250W of power. The P4 has 2,560 cores, delivers 5.5 teraflops of single-precision performance, has 8GB of GDDR5 memory, and draws up to 75W of power. (CN Beta, Venture Beat, PC World)
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| Qualcomm has announced the opening of Qualcomm Communication Technologies (Shanghai), a semiconductor test facility in the Waigaoqiao (WGQ) free-trade zone in Shanghai, and its first foray into providing manufacturing services for semiconductors. Qualcomm indicated by working with Amkor Technology. (Digitimes, Press Release Point, Seeking Alpha, EE Focus, Huanqiu) |
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Touch Display |
| TCL announced that will increase the investment in the G11 LCD / AMOLED fab in Shenzhen, owned by CSOT, by a further CNY21 billion (around USD3.15 billion). Samsung Display will be a partner in this fab, investing CNY2.1 billion to hold a 9.76% stake. (Glass, iFeng, OLED-Info, TCL, Sigma Intell)
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| In partnership with Visonect, RoadAds involves a pair of four tiled 32” E Ink displays in billboards mounted at the rear of a truck. A truck’s location can be determined to within 5m accuracy, and the screen content adapted to create location-targeted messages delivered in the language of choice. (CN Beta, New Atlas, Visionect, Sixteen-Nine) |
| Two strong earthquakes jolted an historic city in southeastern South Korea Gyeongju city on 12 Sept. Local semiconductor and panel makers including SK Hynix, Samsung and LG, reportedly has not faced any substantial negative impacts. (TechNews, OLEDW, Korea Times US)
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Camera |
| Only one of the two 12MP cameras inside the Apple iPhone 7 Plus has OIS, but the telephoto lens that enables optical zoom does not have OIS. That means recording video while zooming at 2× will be shaky and zoomed photos will have more blur than normal ones. (CN Beta, 9to5Mac, BGR) |
| MIT is designing an imaging system that can read closed books. The system exploits the fact that trapped between the pages of a book are tiny air pockets only about 20µm deep. The difference in refractive index — the degree to which they bend light — between the air and the paper means that the boundary between the two will reflect terahertz radiation back to a detector. (MIT News, Ubergizmo, Tencent, iFeng)
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Memory |
| In 2Q16, demand for high-capacity eMMC/eMCP from Chinese smartphone brands and the stock-up activities ahead of the iPhone 7 release caused a gradual tightening of NAND Flash supply. The decline in contract prices for eMMC and SSDs of both client and enterprise grade also started to ease during the same period, according to TrendForce. The combined global revenue of branded NAND Flash suppliers increased 3.4% sequentially in 2Q16. (TrendForce, press, TrendForce[cn], press, TechNews)
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Material |
| The Australian National University (ANU) have developed a new spray-on material with a remarkable ability to repel water. The team created a much more robust coating than previous materials by combining two plastics, one tough and one flexible. (CN Beta, Paint Square, Phys)
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Biometrics |
| The Sichuan University is using a custom-built facial recognition system to scan students’ faces and determine whether or not they are bored. (Engadget, Telegraph, 163)
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Smartphones |
| Overall 2016 the global rate of mobile phone shipment difficult to support the production rate of mobile phone globally. 3Q16 is the season of stocking inventory and launching new products. However, entering 4Q16, ∑intell expects the inventory of mobile phone would be high, and vendors will reduce their orders, especially at the mid-to-low segment. Thus, 4Q16 inventory is high, and suggests to readjust the sourcing strategy. (HQEW, Sigma Intell, article)
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| T-Mobile Chief Executive John Legere declared demand for the Apple iPhone 7 a “phenomenon”, and said that preorders thus far have been “like 4 times bigger than the iPhone 6”. (CN Beta, Apple Insider)
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| Amazon is reportedly doubling down on retail stores with plans to have up to 100 pop-up stores in US shopping malls. (CN Beta, Business Insider) |
| Tech analyst Rod Enderle of the Enderle group speculated that Samsung may have to abandon the Note 7 and transition to the Galaxy Note 8 ahead of time. Myung Sub Song, analyst at HI Investment & Securities expects shipments of the Galaxy Note 7 to top 6 million in 3Q~4Q16, down from earlier estimates of 12~15 million. (CN Beta, USA Today, Inquisitr) |
| Samsung refutes the rumor of remotely deactivating Galaxy Note 7 to ensure no potentially dangerous handsets could be used after 30 Sept. 2016. (Android Headlines, Android Central, Pocket Now, iFeng) |
| Samsung and LG are accused of agreeing to an anti-poaching arrangement in the U.S. The lawsuit suggests the two companies agreed not to poach each other’s U.S. employees. (CN Beta, Reuters, Market Watch, Yahoo) |
| Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong is nominated to join its board of directors. (CN Beta, Bloomberg, LA Times) |
| Airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines, etc., are now urging consumers not to use or charge Samsung Galaxy Note 7 on the planes. (Barron’s, Business Mirror, Geek Wire, Apple Insider, Gulf Business, Sina) |
| Facebook Messenger can accept payments natively without sending users to an external website, Facebook’s head of Messenger David Marcus announced. (TechCrunch, 163, Huxiu)
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| Facebook’s head of Messenger David Marcus announced that out of Messenger’s 1 billion users, 300 million use its audio and video calling features each month—around the size of Skype user base. (TechCrunch, 163) |
| Meizu announces that this year “Meizu Friend” sales festival on its online mall from 5 Sept.~12 Sept. has exceeded more than CNY400 million, unique visitors have exceeded 11 billion, and there are 250,000 people placing orders on the online mall. (CN Beta, 163, Anzhuo)
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| BLU Vivo 5R is announced – 5.5” FHD display, MediaTek MT6753 processor, 13MP + 8MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, Android 6.0, LTE, fingerprint scanner, 3150mAh battery, USD199.99 (GizChina, GSM Arena, PR Newswire)
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Tablets |
| According to IDC, global tablet assembly industry in 2Q16 is impact by off season and tight-supply of main components, the shipment declines 2.7% from last quarter. Of which slate tablet assembly shipment falls 3.2% from last quarter, whereas detachable tablet, thanks to replacement of traditional notebook, its shipment has increased 1.2% from last quarter. (TechNews, IDC, press)
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| HP Inc. is buying Samsung Electronics’s printer business in a deal worth USD1.05 billion. HP said the deal will strengthen its position in laser printing, which it established with Canon. (CN Beta, LA Times, Reuters, WSJ, HP, Digital Trends) |
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Wearables |
| Sony has announced two new action cams, the FDR-X3000R and the HDR-AS300R. The key difference between the two is that the former records in 4K UHD whereas the latter in Full HD. (GSM Arena, DP Review, 163, Hexun)
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Internet of Things |
| Verizon has announced plans to acquire IoT startup Sensity Systems, which is providing smart LED lights for streets, airports and other public places. (Android Headlines, Motley Fool, Tech Republic) |
| Denso, a Toyota Motor group company, will purchase shares from Fujitsu Ten parent Fujitsu. Denso is strengthening development of auto safety technologies. (CN Beta, Green Car Congress, Automotive IT, Asia Nikkei)
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| Alphabet’s Verily Life Sciences division and French pharmaceutical company Sanofi are each investing a quarter billion dollars in a new company called Onduo to tackle diabetes. (CN Beta, Business Insider, Digital Trends) |
| Volvo has produced the first car that is going to take part in its Drive Me self-driving public trial with its XC90. (Ubergizmo, New Atlas, Tom, My Drivers)
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| The Japanese government is looking to have 20% of cars autonomous by 2030, as part of the “4th industrial revolution” initiative to revitalize the economy. (CN Beta, Asia Nikkei) |
| Ford intends to start selling driverless cars to the public by about 2025, says the CEO Mark Fields. (CN Beta, SMH, The Detroit News, Auto News) |
