10-15: LeEco’s new phone might be powered by MediaTek Helio X27; Qualcomm Inc. has taken actions to address Meizu’s patens infringement in US, FR and GE; etc.
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Chipset |
| The global smartphone application processor (AP) market grew 3% on year to USD10 billion in 1H16, while the tablet AP sector declined 34% to USD889 million, according to Strategy Analytics. (Digitimes, press)
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| The global cellular baseband processor market declined 2% on year to USD10.5 billion in 1H16, according to Strategy Analytics. Qualcomm, MediaTek, Samsung LSI, Spreadtrum and HiSilicon captured the top-five baseband revenue share spots in the 1H16, said Strategy Analytics. (Digitimes, press)
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| MediaTek announced that 2 of its latest SoC solutions will now be available for electronics manufacturers in the country. The MT2511 and the MT2523 were both announced earlier this year, and while the former is MediaTek’s first bio-sensing analog front-end (AFE) chip designed specifically for health and fitness devices, the latter will be used to power smartwatches. (Android Headlines, Fone Arena, BGR, MediaTek, MediaTek) |
| LeEco is leaked to launch a new product soon powered by MediaTek deca-core processor. it is said to be manufactured by Samsung with 14nm process, but some said it would be 20nm. It is Helio X27 featuring two 2.59GHz A72 and eight 1.55GHz A53 cores. (CN Beta, Phone Arena, Android Headlines, GSM Insider)
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| Qualcomm Inc. has taken actions today to address Meizu’s infringement of its patents in the United States, Germany and France. (CN Beta, Seeking Alpha, PR Newswire, San Diego Union Tribune) |
| TSMC saw its net profits surge 28.4% from a year earlier in 3Q16, while revenues increased 22.5% on year. TSMC announced net profits of NTD96.76 billion (UD$3.05 billion) on consolidated revenues of NTD260.41 billion for 3Q16. (Digitimes, press, Barron’s, NDTV, Sina) |
| SoftBank Group Corp. (SBG) has announced that it will form SoftBank Vision Fund, teaming up with a Saudi sovereign-wealth fund. The Fund intends to make investments in the technology sector globally. SBG expects to invest at least USD25 billion over the next 5 years. (TechNews, Business Wire, WSJ, Financial Express) |
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Touch Display |
| Samsung has finally brought notification LEDs to its mid-range segment, with the Galaxy J5 Prime and Galaxy J7 Prime being the first budget phones from the company to feature a notification LED. (Sam Mobile, Android Headlines) |
| OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei has just confirmed that OnePlus will not be moving away from the OnePlus 3, and rather will stay with Optic AMOLED technology “for the foreseeable future”. (9to5Google, Phone Arena, My Drivers, Sohu)
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| Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun indicates that the company has no plans to manufacture a smartphone smaller than 5-inches (at least not at the moment), though he did not specify whether he’s talking about a high-end phone or not. (Android Headlines, Gizmo China, TechWeb, My Drivers, PC Pop)
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| The Xiaomi concept phone was leaked on Baidu recently and was pictured in two separate renders. The phone uses flexible screen that can be bent upwards, downward, as well as to the left and right. (Phone Arena, Gizmo China, Android Authority, Newhua)
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| Apple is reportedly closing in on a Australian startup Sonder that has pioneered dynamic, customizable “magic keyboards”. Sonder has designed a smart keyboard using the same E Ink display technology used by Kindle. (TechNews, Mac Rumors, The Guardian, 9t05Mac, Reddit)
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Material |
| There are rumors Apple “iPhone 8” in 2017 will be made of glasses or zirconium ceramics, but there is analysis claiming this is not possible. Apple reportedly “manufacturing roughly 1 million iPhones per day” during peak production times, it is important to remember that any new process or material Apple wants to incorporate into the iPhone has to be able to scale. (TechNews, BGR, Atomic Delights, article) |
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Connectivity |
| Volvo will launch car-to-car communication, in collaboration with Ericsson, in its top model line in Europe before the end of 2016, joining Mercedes-Benz and Toyota on a shortlist of automakers offering systems that allow vehicles to exchange information, giving the driver advanced warning about poor road conditions or obstacles further ahead. (TechNews, Auto News)
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Smartphones |
| E-commerce solutions provider Branding Brand just conducted a new survey between 11~12 Oct. following the official discontinuation of Samsung Galaxy Note 7. 40% of current Samsung phone owners said that they would not buy another Samsung phone in the future. (BGR, Branding Brand, press, 9to5Google, GSM Arena, 163) |
| Samsung said it expects a KRW35 trillion (roughly USD3 billion) deficit from the Note 7 in 4Q16 through to 1Q17. (Android Authority, Samsung, iFeng, Sohu) |
| The permanent cease of production and sales of the Galaxy Note 7 will inevitably force Samsung Electronics to slow down its future projects such as iris recognition, finance, fintech, security, cloud and electric cars. (CN Beta, Phone Arena, Business Korea) |
| Samsung mobile chief Koh Dong-jin has pledged that he “would at any cost find the exact cause (of the faulty Galaxy Note 7) to restore trust of consumers so that they can use Samsung products without any safety concerns”. (Phone Arena, Korea Herald, My Drivers)
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| According to a report from Apteligent, it has been revealed that more than 1 million Samsung Galaxy Note 7 handsets are actually still in use. (Ubergizmo, Apteligent, press, Sina, CNFOL)
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| Professor john Jacobs of the Georgetown Center for Financial Markets and Policy believes that discontinuing Galaxy Note 7 is as a smart, wise and cost-effective decision. Samsung sacrificed the Note 7 to save the company. The decision was not about the Note 7 itself, but about the brand and the company’s relationship with its customers. (Time, CN Beta) |
| Huawei has officially confirmed that more than 100 million smartphones had been shipped in 2016. (Android Headlines, GSM Arena, Playful Droid, My Drivers, Sohu)
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| Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple plans to complete construction of its new R&D facility in Yokohama, Japan, Dec. 2016. (Apple Insider, Xinhuanet, Sina, Tencent, CN Beta)
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| In a recent poll conducted by the TechRepublic’s so-called CIO Jury which encompasses most of the leading decision-makers in the western tech industry, almost 2/3 of interviewees stated that they are extremely skeptical about the usefulness of products like Google Pixel and Google Wi-Fi in the context of enterprises. (Android Headlines, TechRepublic) |
| In India, 114 million more men than women have cellphones. That represents more than half the total world-wide gap of around 200 million between men and women who possess phones, according to GSMA. Mobile phones, especially smartphones, are going to be the biggest challenge to achieving gender equity, says Osama Manzar, founder of the nonprofit Digital Empowerment Foundation. (CN Beta, WSJ, article, Business Standard)
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| ZTE Blade A2 Plus is announced – 5.5” FHD IPS 2.5D curved display, MediaTek MT6750T processor, 13MP PDAF + 8MP cameras, 3/4GB RAM, 32GB ROM, fingerprint sensor, 5000mAh battery, from CNY899. (CN Beta, iGeekPhone)
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Tablets |
| Samsung launches Galaxy TabPro S Gold Edition 2-in-1 Windows 10 tablet / notebook hybrid – 12” 2160×1440 Super AMOLED display, Intel M3 processor, 5MP + 5MP cameras, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, USB Type-C, USD999. (CN Beta, Engadget, Samsung, Venture Beat)
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Wearables |
| Apple CEO Tim Cook reaffirmed his company’s stance on AR, saying the technology’s ability to amplify human experiences makes it more likely to succeed as compared to VR. (Apple Insider, BuzzFeed News, Wooyoo,163) |
| Sony is expecting that its PlayStation VR headset to sell “hundreds of thousand” units after its launch and the company is ramping up production capacity to deal with the expected demand, says the European chief executive of electronic giant’s gaming division Jim Ryan. (CN Beta, CNBC, Gamespot)
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| Among US consumers ages 8 to 64 years old, 42% said they were very or somewhat interested in virtual reality, according to a survey by researcher Magid Advisors. Among consumers who say they’re already somewhat interested in a VR experience, 29% say they plan to buy Samsung Gear VR in the next year, and 26% say they plan to buy Sony Playstation VR. (CN Beta, CNET, SCMP)
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| Microsoft’s Chief Envisioning Officer, Dave Coplin sees the future where HoloLens will be obsolete because there will be a time where headsets are no longer required to create and manipulate holograms. Microsoft and its partners are working towards a way to see and manipulate holograms without the need of a headset like HoloLens. (CN Beta, Yahoo, WinBeta) |
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Internet of Things |
| Baidu has launched Baidu Capital, a CNY20 billion (USD3 billion) fund to make investments ranging from USD50 million to USD100 million in internet startups. (Android Headlines, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Reuters, Sohu, Sina) |
| Japan’s SoftBank Group earlier this year introduced its robot Pepper, and now the robot is aimed for sales in China and it will carry Alibaba’s YunOS operating system. Alibaba Group and SoftBank Group have formed a joint venture robot company named Alibaba Robotics. It will be responsible for Pepper’s business in the Chinese market. (CN Beta, CTimes, China Tech Times)
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