10-5: Google a series of announcement – Pixel, Assistant, Home, etc.; Samsung manufactures Qualcomm Snapdragon 830 with 10nm; Apple in talks with Sharp for OLED supplies; etc.
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Chipset |
| Qualcomm will attempt to fend off EU antitrust charges at a hearing on Nov. 10 that it used anti-competitive methods to squeeze out a rival. The company could face a fine up to USD2.5 billion or 10% of its 2015 revenue, if found guilty of breaking EU rules. (CN Beta, Reuters, Yahoo) |
| Samsung LSI currently manufactures Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 on its 2nd-gen 14nm LPP FinFET node, and it looks like Samsung will also manufacture next year’s 10nm Snapdragon 830. (Android Central, ET News, ZOL, IT Home, My Drivers)
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Touch Display |
| Apple and Sharp are reportedly currently in talks regarding OLED displays in future iPhone models. (Apple Insider, Bloomberg, 163, Sina) |
| Samsung has been awarded a patent for flexible tablet that also features a built in stand and a keyboard by the US Patent Office. (Android Authority, Sam Mobile, Patently Mobile, 163, ZOL)
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| Sharp unveils a new IGZO display able to cram a staggering 1,000ppi. This represents a noteworthy step in the right direction for the future of VR. (Android Headlines, Ubergizmo, China Times)
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Battery |
| The market of fast-charging chips is likely to reach 1 billion units a year soon due to a comprehensive adoption of fast charging technology, according to Digitimes. Richtek Technology, Global Mixed-mode Technology (GMT), Leadtrend Technology and On-Bright Electronics have been developing chips supporting Quick Charge and Pump Express technologies, and all have seen their monthly revenues ramp up significantly from 2H16. (Digitimes, press, CEB2B) |
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Connectivity |
| In-flight internet provider Gogo Inc is building a faster version of its air-to-ground system for business and commercial aircraft that will ease a bandwidth bottleneck when it becomes available in 18 months. The service will provide speeds of 100Mbps to an aircraft, about 10 times more than Gogo’s existing system. (CN Beta, Reuters, Forbes, Mashable) |
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Smartphones |
| BlackBerry’s CEO John Chen reassured fans that the QWERTY BlackBerry phone is here to stay. (Ubergizmo, BNN, CrackBerry, 163, IT Bear) |
| Spotify, the music streaming service, is in advanced talks to acquire SoundCloud, as competition heats up with Apple for the future of digital music. (Android Headlines, Financial Times, TechCrunch, Beta News, Tencent, 163)
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| Google Pixel and Pixel XL are official, powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 821, featuring 12.3MP PDAF + 8MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 32 / 128GB ROM, Android 7.1, fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C, IP53-rated, and Daydream VR ready: Pixel – 5” FHD AMOLED display, 2770mAh battery. Pixel XL – 5.5” QHD AMOLED display, 3450mAh battery. (Android Authority, The Verge, GSM Arena, Mirror)
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| Gionee P7 Max is official in India – 5.5” HD IPS LCD display, MediaTek MT6595 processor, 8MP + 5MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, Android 6.0, 3100mAh battery, INR21,999. (Gizmo China)
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Wearables |
| Birgitta Olson, global marketing manager at Nikon, mentioned that “new possibilities are opening up for Nikon in the fields of action, wearable and drones”. Lately Nikon has been diversifying their business and this year alone they acquired Mark Roberts Motion Control (a robotics solution company) and also invested in a 3d printing a x-ray companies. (CN Beta, Nikon Rumors, Campaign Live) |
| China local smartwatch vendor InWatch allegedly has not paid 3~4 month wages to its employees, and the company founder indicates on social media that they are “forced” to do that to “survive”. (CN Beta, 163, ZOL)
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| Google pushes Android Wear 2.0 back to early 2017, issues third developer beta. The company says that it is using the extra time to fine tune the software via feedback from developers, and it will have another preview build released before the end of the year. (CN Beta, Engadget, The Verge, Ars Technica)
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| IoT startup Witworks launches Blink smartwatch In India – 1.39” 400×400 Super AMOLED display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, Marvin OS, 300mAh battery, INR12,999. (Android Headlines, The Next Web, India Times)
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| KGI Securities Ming-Chi Kuo is revising overall shipping estimates from 10~ 10.5 million units down to 8.5~9 million units for the entire Apple Watch line in 2016. By comparison, Apple shipped 10.4 million Apple Watch units during 8 months of availability in 2015. (Apple Insider, 163, YeSky) |
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Internet of Things |
| IBM has announced that it had come to an agreement to acquire Promontory Financial Group. Promontory’s 600 some ex-regulators and former Wall Streeters will train IBM’s artificial intelligence platform, Watson, how to advise financial institutions on regulatory compliance. (CN Beta, WSJ, TechCrunch, Fortune) |
| Google announced the availability of Android Auto on new models from Mercedes-Benz and Kia. (Charged.io, Motoring Crunch, ZOL) |
| Microsoft has reorganized several disparate projects and programs into an entirely new Artificial Intelligence group. It will be the 4th major division after Windows, Office and cloud, reallocating over 5,000 computer scientists and engineers under its umbrella. (Microsoft, Engadget, GeekWire, Tencent, Sohu, 163) |
| Google has announced the Chromecast Ultra, a 4K version of its very popular streaming device. It can videos 1.8 times faster than the standard Chromecast, thanks to improved Wi-Fi connectivity. It is priced at USD69. (Android Headlines, The Verge, CNET, Wired, 163, Tencent)
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| Google has shipped more than 30 million units of its Chromecast streaming dongle, CEO Sundar Pichai says. (Recode, 163, YeSky)
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| Google Wifi, a Wi-Fi router that takes after aspects of recent “mesh” networking routers, is announced. It is priced at USD129. Google Wifi will work with homes up to 1,500 square feet. (Android Headlines, 163, Tencent, Ars Technica, Business Insider)
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| Google has launched Google Home, a Google product through which people will be able to communicate with the Google Assistant, which is a more friendly way to talk to Google, and will be available at USD129. (Quartz, Nerds Magazine, The Guardian, Venture Beat,163)
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