IF / News

Main Chipsets

Qualcomm collaborating with China Mobile demonstrated a under 6GHz 5G NR prototype system. The prototype running 3.4-3.6GHz band, and can efficiently achieve thousands of megabytes per second data rate and low latency. (CN Beta, Hexun, ZOL)

Spreadtrum announced that its LTE chipset SC9832 has been adopted by China Mobile for its own smartphone product, which will be launched in 1Q17. (EE Trend, HCS Index, PRN Asia)

Touch / Display

A production joint venture of Sharp and Taiwanese parent Hon Hai Precision Industry will likely stop supplying liquid crystal display panels next year to China’s Hisense Group for use in televisions. (CN Beta, Asia Nikkei)

Memory

The global NAND Flash industry will see an annual increase of just 6% in its total wafer capacity in 2017, according to analysis by TrendForce. As the pace of the industry-wide transition to 3D-NAND architecture accelerates, supply of 2D-NAND memory will drop sharply, leading to shortages next. (TrendForce[cn], press, TrendForce, press)

Sensory

TDK Corp. agreed to buy InvenSense Inc. in a deal that values the supplier of sensors to Apple and other smartphone makers at about USD1.3B. (Forbes, Reuters, LiveMint, CN Beta)

Material

MIT’s tangible media group presents ‘aeroMorph’, the programmable paper, plastic, and fabric self-folding origami-like inflatable structures. With ‘aeroMorph’, the structure of the material can transform so it is effectively self-building. (CN Beta, Curbed, Design Boom, Fast Code Design)

Connectivity

Ericsson AB is considering cutting about 1,000 jobs in Italy, about 25% of its local workforce, after losing out on a contract to manage the country’s largest wireless network. (CN Beta, Bloomberg)

Li Yue, president of China Mobile indicates that the company hopes to bring commercial use of 5G technology nationwide in 2020, and before that they are hoping to put in trial commercial use in 2018. (CN Beta, Global Times)

China Mobile announced that it has 510M 4G network customers in 2016, representing more than 30% of the world’s total 4G network users. The firm brushed off any concerns about a slowdown in growth and said it targeted sales of 400M 4G phones in 2017. (Reuters, Euro News, Telecom Lead, Channel News Asia, China Daily, Xinhuanet, GMW)

Smartphones

Samsung is aiming to achieve the highest results ever with more than KRW30T (USD25.23B) of operating profits in 2017. (Android Headlines, CN Beta, Kejixun, Business Korea)

From welfare charities to cultural programs for socially disadvantaged groups, Samsung Group has selected 51 organizations for a KRW10B (USD8.43M) project to contribute to society. (CN Beta, Korea Herald)

Samsung Electronics’ mobile business unit scheduled to hand out the OPI incentives to its employees on 26 Jan. 2017, has decided to cut the incentive rate for the mobile business employees from 50% to 17%. The cut is mainly due to the Note 7 recall. (The Investor, Phone Arena, 163)

In recent weeks, senior officials from India’s Trade Ministry have met with Apple to discuss prospects for setting up manufacturing in the country. Apple sent a letter to the Indian government in Nov. 2016, outlining its plans and seeking financial incentives which prompted a meeting between Trade Ministry authorities to discuss the matter. (Apple Insider, WSJ, Phone Arena, CN Beta)

A leaked documentation suggests Apple plans to market 3 iPhone models designated D20, D21 and D22 in 2017—2 upgraded iPhone 7 models likely branded “iPhone 7s” and “iPhone 7s Plus”, as well as a high-end version codenamed “Ferrari” with a glass sandwich design, borderless OLED display, “invisible” home button, wireless charging and more. (CN Beta, Apple Insider)

A recent Columbia Business School study found that people are bound to be more careless with their device when a new model is available. It is a phenomenon called the “upgrade effect”. The number of Apple iPhone 5 devices reported lost peaks around August which is close to 20 Sept. 2013 when the iPhone 5S was released. Similarly for iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S for 19 Sept. 2014. (Mashable, AMA, CN Beta)

HTC teases its new flagship with a logo, “U”, which possibly be HTC’s next generation flagship. (CN Beta, ZDNet, Digital Trends)

LeEco is planning layoffs in several markets on account of the “overall volatility and uncertainty that is forecast for the global economy”. LeEco will downsize its operations in “all its offices in various geographies”, including India. (Android Central, NDTV)

Lenovo’s sub-brand ZUK unveils ZUK Edge in China – 5.5” FHD 2.5D curved display with 86.4% screen-to-body ratio, Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor, 13MP PDAF + 8MP cameras, 4 / 6GB RAM, 64GB storage, Android 7.0, LTE (VoLTE), 3100mAh battery, from CNY2299. (Android Central, CN Beta, Android Headlines)

BLU Life Max is announced – 5.5” HD IPS LCD display, MediaTek MT6737 processor, 8MP + 5MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 6.0, LTE, dual-SIM, fingerprint sensor, 3700mAh battery, USD119. (Android Authority, BLU)

Wearables

Prevent Biometrics has developed a mouth guard able to pair with a mobile app, to inform players of head trauma received during games. This is carried out in real time, with the monitor able to record information related to the direction, force, and location of impact. (CN Beta, Fox News, VentureBeat)

Lumus, a leading developer of AR wearable displays, announced that it has completed a USD45M investment round with an additional USD30M in funding from top-tier strategic investors including Quanta and HTC. Earlier this year – and as part of this round – the company received $15 million in funding led by Shanda Group and Crystal-Optech. (TechNews, 36Kr, Business Wire, VentureBeat)

Xiaomi-backed Huami Technology announced that in 2016 wearable shipment has exceeded 16M units, with sales exceeding CNY1.5B. The company also announced that its latest AMAZFIT smartwatch also have sold 100,000 units in 3 months after launched. (Laoyaoba, My Drivers)

Baofeng Mojing Matrix all-in-one VR is announced – 2 pieces of 1440×1440 706ppi displays, support 90fps 3K 3D video, FOV 110°, latency <17ms, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB RAM, 5000mAh battery, weigh 230g, with 9-axis controller, CNY2499. (CN Beta, CNMO, Gfan, 163, iGeekPhone)

Internet of Things

General Motors (GM) plans to lay off nearly 1,300 workers in March as it eliminates one of two production shifts at a car plant in Detroit. (TechNews, WSJ, Auto News, NASDAQ)

Xiaomi has so far invested in 77 ecological chain company of which 30 released products during this period. One of Xiaomi’s ecological chain partner, Huami Technology, recently announced a total shipment of more than 16M units of smart wearables totaling up to CNY1.5B in revenue. (Anzhuo, Gizmo China)