IF / News

Chipset

Head of Qualcomm Research (QR) China Hou Jilei believes that 5G development is unified platform for the future – a variety of services, frequency range and more 5G base stations installation. With 5G landing, 4G maturing, considering the complexity of the network maintenance and cost control of network migration, 2G / 3G will gradually exit the market. (CN Beta, CN Beta, iFeng, Sina)

NASA is working with the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have developed self-healing transistors for use in nano-spacecraft, to protect them from radiation damage. (New Atlas, Futurism, IEEE Spectrum, CN Beta)

Touch / Display

EPD (electrophoretic display) e-paper maker E Ink Holdings (EIH) expects to ship 30-40M smart tags and display cards in 2016, with cumulative shipments since 2012 expected to reach 100M units at the end of 2016, according to the company, adding that shipments in 2017 will grow 20-30% on year. (Digitimes, press, CECB2B)

Foxconn Electronics and Sharp plan to cooperatively set up a 10.5G or 11G LCD TV panel factory in China at an estimated total investment of JPY800B (USD6.95B), with Foxconn mainly funding the plant and Sharp to provide manufacturing technology. (Digitimes, press, Asia Nikkei, Huanqiu, IT Home, Sina)

Sensory

Cornell University details progress in making a mechanical hand that is much closer to mimicking human’s sense of touch. The hand which has been dubbed, “Gentle Bot” is even capable of determining which of 3 tomatoes is the ripest. (NPR, Gizmodo, Robotics)

Japanese electronic parts maker TDK Corp is reportedly in talks to acquire InvenSense, a US chip maker that produces motion sensors for Apple and Samsung. (TechNews, Reuters, India Times)

Battery

Nearly 24 of the world’s most successful business leaders, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists will invest up to USD1B in a fund led by Microsoft-co-founder Bill Gates that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero by financing emerging clean energy technology. The Breakthrough Energy Ventures Fund includes John Doerr, chairman of venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, etc. (CN Beta, Fortune, Quartz)

Connectivity

According to GWI, broadly speaking, the lower a country’s overall internet penetration rate, the higher the proportion of 16-24s in its Mobile-Only audience. In Indonesia, where the World Bank estimates internet penetration at sub-25%, 60% Mobile-Only users are from the youngest age group. And, at the bottom of the table, it’s some of the countries with the highest internet penetration rates of all like Canada, Japan and the UAE which have the lowest percentages of 16-24s in their Mobile-Only groups. (199IT, GWI, press)

Material

MIT assistant professor of metallurgy Antoine Allanore and his student Samuel R. Wagstaff PhD developed a new process that uses a turbulent jet to reduce uneven distribution in aluminum alloy structures by 20%. The solution was to design a jet that would work with existing direct-chill casting machines. (CN Beta, Phys)

Smartphones

HMD Global CEO Arto Nummela has talked about very competitive pricing for upcoming Nokia Android phones. It will allegedly be unveiled Feb. 2017 at Mobile World Congress.  Currently known as Nokia D1C with 5” / 5.5” FHD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, 2 / 3GB RAM, 13 / 16MP + 8MP cameras, and it is rumoured to cost USD150. (Phone Arena, Nokia Poweruser, iFeng, ChinaZ, Tencent)

LeEco CEO Jia Yueting has not answered 5 questions—1) if funding would reduce his power in the company; 2) current relationship status with the investors; 3) the gap between its market value on the stock market; 4) LeSee car production numbers; and 5) LeEco Sport’s view on gambling terms. (CN Beta, 163, Sohu)

LeEco CEO Jia Yueting did not indicate the exact debt, but pointing out the funding shortage issue is due to mobile phone business – the retail price is lower than cost, and the sales volume is increased drastically, etc.  Also, he indicates that LeEco’s funding problem is solved 60%`70%, and expects to fully recover in 3~4 months. Then, all operations will be back to normal. (TechNews, Sina, OCN, Xinhuanet)

There are a lot of mid-range smartphones in the market, and in fact in general use they are not much difference from flagships from different vendors. Compared to a flagship priced at around CNY4000, CNY2000 mid-range has some advantages. In that sense, what are the differentiating advantages do consumers get from spending CNY2000 more on flagships? (TechNews, article)

Anzhi is suing Huawei for unfair competition by intentionally damaging reputation and businesses of its platform “Anzhi Marketplace”. Anzhi is requesting CNY500K compensation from Huawei. (CN Beta, Sina, Huanqiu)

Wistron saw its Nov. 2016 consolidated revenues rise 12.94% on month and 25.81% on year to reach NTD74.13B (USD2.32B), a new historical record, while the company’s consolidated revenues for the first 11 months of 2016 reached NTD589.62B, up 4.36% on year. (Digitimes, press, China Times)

Handset ODM Arima Communications has reported revenues of NTD2.104B (USD66.198M) for Nov. 2016, up 3.33% on month and 26.28% on year. Accumulated 2016 revenues through Nov. 2016 totaled NTD19.439B, increasing 0.8% from a year earlier. (Digitimes, press, Yahoo)

Xiaomi and Meizu have launched 14 models of smartphones in 2016 separately. To launch so many new models in 2016, reportedly are to test the popularity of each product, thereby to define products for 2017. In 2017, Meizu would launch 7~8 models, while Xiaomi probably would launch less than 10 models. (CN Beta, 163)

Internet of Things

I-City and Huawei have recently combined forces to speed up the development of more advanced smart homes that can track and manage appliances, lights, air conditioners and various other devices.  This project is scheduled to target Kuala Lumpur in Comverse@I-City project in 2017. (Read/Write, Yahoo, IoT.do, Telecom Lead, OfWeek, CCIDNet)

Foxconn chairman Terry Guo pointed out that whatever industry complemented with IoT would become an Internet. However, in turn, it is not easy to have an Internet industry to become manufacturer. He is using car industry as an example.  The success of an Internet company to manufacture a car is very unlikely. That’s because car involves human life, and there is a lot of hardware problems to be solved. (TechNews, Sohu, Huanqiu)

Commerce

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has signed an emergency decree ordering the country’s largest banknote, the 100 bolivar bill, taken out of circulation to thwart hoarding cash in Colombia. The announcement came as Venezuela — a country in the midst of an economic crisis and crippled with the world’s highest inflation — prepares to issue new banknotes and coins in values up to 200 times the highest denomination currently available. (TechNews, Reuters, Yahoo, Washington Post)

India’s government move to ban INR500 and INR1,000 notes from 9 Nov. 2016 has had a domino effect on the mobile phone industry, where a large majority of mobile phones are bought for less than INR5,000 and most of the transactions happen through cash. Consumer purchase power has been reduced dramatically – mobile phone monthly sales halved to INR175-200 crore post demonetisation – and sales revival is not looking up, as was perceived earlier. (TechNews, India Times, Zero Hedge, Times of India)