11-24: Spreadtrum has placed 40nm chip orders with UMC 12” wafer fab in Xiamen; JDI JDI has announced a dedicated VR display, LTPS TFT-LCD display has a screen size of 3.42”; etc.
Chipset
Spreadtrum has placed 40nm chip orders with United Microelectronics (UMC) recently-opened 12” wafer fab in Xiamen, China. Monthly production capacity at UMC’s Xiamen fab is set to reach 3,000 wafers by the end of 2016, and will expand to 25,000 units in 2018 for its first phase of expansion. (Digitimes, press, 52RD)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 to utilize an octa-core Kryo 200 CPU, X16 modem with 1Gbps download speed supporting LTE Cat 13, and a disappointing Adreno 540 GPU. (TechNews, The Inquirer, Digital Trends, MoneyDJ)
According to Isaiah Research, Spreadtrum is estimated to deliver the AP manufactured by Intel with 14nm process to clients from late 2Q17 to early 3Q17 timeframe. (Isaiah Research report)
Touch Display
JDI has announced a dedicated VR display—LTPS TFT-LCD display has a screen size of 3.42” with a pixel density of 651ppi and will be used in VR glasses. It has a high refresh rate of 90Hz and a liquid crystal response speed of just 3ms. (Gizmo China, Far East Gizmos, IT Home, Sohu)
Japan-based Nichia has undertaken R&D of Micro LED for more than 10 years and is poised to begin the process of certification for large-size display solutions, with are likely to be commercialized in 2017, according to president Dai Zhen-jia for Nichia Taiwan. (Digitimes, press, TechNews, LED Inside)
Camera
LG Innotek united forces with Apple to develop a smartphone camera module which enables 3D photographing. The camera which uses LG Innotek’s dual camera will likely to be applied for Apple’s new products starting from the latter half of 2017. (TechNews, Korea Economic Daily)
Battery
In the shadows of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone crisis, affiliate Samsung SDI is quietly reassuring anxious clients including Apple that its batteries are safe. But potential new customers may prove harder to convince as Samsung’s biggest in-house parts supplier grapples with the reputational fallout from the Note 7 debacle. (Android Headlines, Reuters, VentureBeat, CN Beta)
Sensory
Smart Microsystem Technology Center under government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has unveiled 2 smart sensing solutions for use in daily life: one for detecting residual pesticides staying in vegetable/fruit and the other for measuring pulse and blood oxygen saturation, according to ITRI. (Digitimes, press, ITRI)
John A. Rogers, who directs Northwestern University’s Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics is creating a skin patch that can test those droplets while people exercise and beam results to their smartphones, possibly a new way to track health and fitness. (TechNews, Daily Mail)
Material
MIT builds low-cost synthetic muscles out of nylon cord by harnessing this basic synthetic fiber material lies in shaping and heating the fibers in a particular way. (Engadget, MIT, Digital Trends, Cailiao)
Connectivity
The British government has announced that it will be investing over GBP1B to encourage the rollout of a full fibre-to-the-premises (FttP) network and become a “world leader” in 5G. Chancellor Philip Hammond used the Autumn Statement to announce the spending, which the government hopes will kickstart private investment in the sector in order to conduct further 5G trials and roll out fibre broadband to every home and business across the United Kingdom. (CN Beta, Telegraph, ZDNet)
Smartphones
Shipments of mobile handsets in the India market are expected to reach 265M units in 2016, with smartphones accounting for 116M units or 43.8%, according to Cyber Media Research (CMR). Handset shipments in India reached 78.4M units in 3Q16, bringing total shipments for the first 3 quarters of the year to 198M units, CMR said. 66% of the phones in 3Q16 were Made in India. (Digitimes, CMR, press, 10JQKA)
Rosenblatt Securities’s Jin Zhang believes that Apple has started trimming down its Mar. 2017 quarter component order forecast, following production cut for the Dec. 2016 quarter. They expect component orders to drop to 40~43M units from 45~46M units. They view that the Mar. 2017 quarter’s iPhone shipment consensus of 52~54M units faces some risk (TechNews, Barron’s, blog)
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities believes Apple will unveil a flagship, redesigned OLED iPhone in 2017, accompanied by 2 LCD models at the same size as the current iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. (TechNews, Apple Insider)
In a phone conversation with Apple CEO Tim Cook, Donald Trump mentioned that it will be a real achievement when Apple builds big plant to manufacture in the US instead of China or Vietnam. Cook replied that he understands, and Trump is confident that Cook will accept that suggestion with a very large tax cut for the corporations. (CN Beta, Gizmodo, The Times)
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella explained he is confident his company’s aggressive pursuit of artificially intelligent cloud computing would pay off. He states that Microsoft will continue to stay in the phone market with “unique features” and will build the most ultimate mobile device. (Phone Arena, Financial Review, MS Power User, Tencent)
HTC 10 evo, Desire 10 pro and Desire 650 are launched in Taiwan: 10 evo – 5.5” QHD Super LCD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, 16MP PDAF OIS + 8MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 32 / 64GB storage, Android 7.0, IP57 certified, 3200mAh battery, from NTD17,900. Desire 10 pro – 5.5” FHD IPS LCD display, MediaTek Helio P10 MT6755 processor, 20MP + 13MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, Android 6.0, 3000mAh battery. Desire 650 – 5” HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 6.0, 2200mAh battery. (TechNews, Digitimes, Nashville, BGR, Digital Trends, HTC, Android Headlines, Ubergizmo)
Wearables
HTC has confirmed that they have sold much more than 140,000 units of HTC Vive. This is according to Chia-Lin Chang, President of Smartphone and Connected Devices at HTC. (Ubergizmo, Road to VR, HTC, Sohu)
Internet of Things
GE Digital announced buying ServiceMax, a cloud-based field service management company, for USD915M; and also acquiring Bit Stew, a industrial internet software company, for USD153M. (TechNews, Green Tech Media, TechCrunch, The Globe and Mail)
Eight, a sleep technology startup in New York, is launching Smart Mattress, which does standard sleep tracking – monitoring movement and breathing rate. The bed also integrates into home automation system and supports Amazon Alexa. (TechCrunch, Digital Trends, 163, Sina)
