IF / News

Chipsets

[MWC2017] MediaTek technology executive Zhou Yujun indicates that in the future transition from 4G to 5G is going to be longer than 3G to 4G. He estimates that the most optimistic time of commercialization for 5G would still be 2020. (Laoyaoba, 52RD)

Meizu reportedly plans to purchase mobile application processors from MediaTek for its upcoming high-end M Pro 7 smartphone instead of buying Exynos 8895 CPUs from Samsung Electronics. Concerns that Samsung may not have enough capacity to provide Meizu 10nm Exynos 8895 have prompted Meizu to consider switching orders to MediaTek. (Digitimes, press, Sohu)

BlueFin Research analyst Steve Mullane warns that Intel is running into issues with its production of chips with 10nm process. 10nm equipment installations remain on schedule at Fab 28 (Israel) in preparation for 2H17 production ramp. While the production ramp target at Fab 28 is 2H17, there are concerns that this ramp could be delayed by 2-3 months. (Barron’s, blog, TechNews)

Touch / Display

[MWC2017] Sony’s marketing director, Don Mesa, has said that Sony’s Xperia smartphones will not be featuring 18:9 display panels in the foreseeable future. Sony is perfectly happy with the current 16:9 ratio, but the main reason is entertainment. (Android Headlines, Android Authority)

Memory

Samsung Electronics in mid-Feb 2017 reportedly started to recall certain PC DRAM module series, which PC OEMs found as the cause of blue screens while testing products. Samsung’s faulty PC DRAM modules use 8Gb chips built using 18nm process technology. More than 100K modules will be recalled affecting shipments of mainly first-tier PC OEMs, which are supplying to brand vendors including ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo. (TechNews, Sohu, Digitimes, press)

Foxconn chairman Terry Guo has declared that he is “very serious” about bidding for Toshiba’s memory chip business, which could potentially guarantee supplies for products like Apple iPhones and consolidate Foxconn’s position as a primary Apple manufacturer. Toshiba is currently soliciting bids valuing its memory business at about JPY1.5T (USD13B). (Apple Insider, Bloomberg, Sina, 163, CNStock)

Camera

Sarah Diefenback and Lara Christoforakos of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich published a paper in Frontiers in Psychology in January, titled “The Selfie Paradox: Nobody Seems to Like Them Yet Everyone Has Reasons to Take Them”. Of the 238 people surveyed, 77% said they take selfies at least once a month, and 49% said they receive a selfie at least once a week. 2% of respondents, however, said they would like to see fewer selfies on social media. (CN Beta, Science Daily, Inquirer, DP Review, The Next Web)

Connectivity

Samsung announced its innovative “I&G (Infill & Growth) Project” for Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd in India. This joint project is to upgrade current LTE mobile communication services across India by expanding both the current network capacity as well as network coverage in the rural zones to over 90% of the population of India. (GSM Arena, Samsung)

Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing indicates that 5G is not really dedicated for smartphone vendors only, but also for PC and server vendors. (Laoyaoba, 163, Sohu)

Smartphones

Blancco Technology Group finds that iOS devices were, on average, less reliable than their Android counterparts during 4Q16, but both have more than their fair share of hiccups, glitches, and outright crashes. For some points of interest, iOS users in the study experienced an overall 62% failure rate, versus 47% for Android devices.  (Android Headlines, Digital Trends, Blancco Technology, report, ZDNet, BGR, Yahoo, 199IT)

Lenovo has struck an agreement to sell a 49% stake in the joint venture to a unit of Sunac China Holdings Ltd., the company that is investing USD2.2B in LeEco. As part of the deal, Lenovo also gets its hands on CNY264M (USD38M) of the venture’s undistributed profits. (Laoyaoba, MSN, Reuters)

Samsung announces mid-range Galaxy Xcover 4 – 4.99” HD TFT display, Samsung Exynos 7570 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 7.0, LTE Cat. 4, IP68 certified, 2800mAh battery, EUR259. (CN Beta, Android Headlines)

Tablets / PCs

Apple CEO Tim Cook has addressed growing concerns that Apple is no longer interested in catering to creative professionals. Cook said that Apple remains committed to the Pro market and that the company has no plans to abandon that specific user demographic. (CN Beta, CNET, BGR)

Wearables

[MWC2017] Ricoh has announced the Ricoh R Developer kit. This is a camera that can capture video footage in 360-degree format, but unlike its other 360-degree products, this camera can livestream 2K footage at 30fps. (Engadget, Ubergizmo, 163)

Google is granted a patent for the headwear, which is a baseball cap with a video camera mounted on the brim. According to the patent, Google’s removable hat-mounted camera would be used for capturing photos and videos, which you can upload and stream directly to social media platforms. To do so, the camera would connect to a wearer’s mobile device via an app. (CN Beta, Business Insider, Daily Mail)

In late 2016, Microsoft announced a partnership with companies like Acer to bring Windows Mixed Reality to a broader audience. Microsoft is announcing that Windows Mixed Reality devkits will start shipping later in Mar 2017. (Digital Trends, TechCrunch, Xinmin, Tencent, VRRB)

Internet of Things

Japan-based automobile makers have been developing self-diving cars and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) aims at 20% of cars to be self-driving models in 2030, according to Digitimes Research. (Digitimes, press, Android Headlines, Sina)

Honda is announcing the debut of a new tech R&D group within the facility Innovation Lab Tokyo called R&D Center X. The new unit will begin operations in Apr 2017, and will focus on the kind of cutting edge stuff you might imagine it would – robotics, mobility services and systems, artificial intelligence and energy tech including batteries. (CN Beta, TechCrunch, Brand Channel)