IF / News

Chipsets

Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE modem will be featured in the Snapdragon 845, the company’s upcoming system-on-chip (SoC) that is set to be commercialized in 2018. the Snapdragon X20 is a contemporary modem with LTE Category 18 support that boasts download speeds of up to 1.2Gbps. (Go Android, Android Headlines, Sohu)

Qualcomm has reportedly chosen to work with TSMC instead of its current partner Samsung to produce its next-generation 7nm application processor. Qualcomm has reportedly been designing and developing a 7nm Snapdragon platform using tools distributed by TSMC since 2H16.  (Android Authority, Business Korea, ET News, Sohu)

Qualcomm has teamed up with Johnson and Johnson’s Diabetes Care Companies to help bring wireless capabilities to an oft-used blood glucose meter. Qualcomm plans to bring better wireless capabilities to LifeScan’s OneTouch Verio Flex, which already syncs data through Bluetooth. (Android Central, Qualcomm)

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich indicates that we should expect to see the company ship the first products based on its 7nm technology, noting that such shipments should happen 2~3 years after the first 10nm shipments occur. (CN Beta, Madison)

Intel is actively working with ecosystem partners in Asia to accelerate 5G commercial availability. Intel’s Rob Topol writing that 5G adoption in Asia through the lens of solving density challenges in some of the world’s largest markets. (Laoyaoba, PR Newswire, EE World, Intel, blog, GSMA)

Moore’s Law will reach its physical limits in 8-10 years, but the development of advanced packaging technology will help extend innovations, according to Morris Chang, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). (Digitimes, press, Laoyaoba)

MediaTek announced MT5597 System-on-Chip (SoC), an Ultra HD TV SoC supporting Dolby Vision™ and Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG). MT5597 transforms TV viewing experiences with breakthrough brightness, contrast and color. Several top TV manufacturers have selected the MT5597 to power their new generation of TV devices.  (PR Newswire, Laoyaoba, MediaTek)

MediaTek has developed LTE + mmWave 5G dual connection technology “5G Smart Link”, which could ensure mmWave signal strength will not be disrupted by walls to switch between 4G and 5G signals. Another technology is 28GHz beamforming technology “hierarchical beamforming technology.” (Laoyaoba, EE World)

Touch Display

Sharp will reportedly soon make its entry back into the smartphone market with bezel-less and border-less device, as leaked on the Internet. (TechNews, Android Soul)

Microsoft’s patent filings and the images indicate that even though it is a foldable tablet, its size is similar to a smartphone than a tablet. The images show that the tablet features a series of hinges which makes it possible to fold it at various degrees.  At 0º, the device appears closed whereas at 180º, it looks open in a flat manner and it is completely open at 360º. (MS Poweruser, Gizmo China, Laoyaoba)

E Ink shows some of their demos including a 10.2” Flexible Carta Mobius plastic flexible based e-reader device with 220ppi high resolution. Plastic Logic also shows some of their plastics based flexible E Ink displays such as 10.7” with organic material flexible backplane. (Liliputing, Arm Devices)

In 2H17 TDDI demand is going to grow stronger, and this benefits FocalTech and Synaptics, which currently share the market share. In 2016 FocalTech shipped 15M units of TDDI, and expects to see this grow 20%~30% in 1Q17. The company expects to see 100M units TDDI shipped in 2017. (Laoyaoba, UDN, OfWeek)

Memory

Western Digital reportedly plans to raise its offer for Toshiba Corp’s prized semiconductor unit to USD18B or more. Toshiba has been favoring a rival bid from U.S. chipmaker Broadcom, which has partnered with U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake to offer JPY2.2T. (CN Beta, Japan Times, Reuters, Economic Times)

Terry Gou, Foxconn’s founder and chief executive indicated that Apple and Dell will join a Foxconn-led consortium bidding for Toshiba’s highly prized chip unit. He also said Kingston Technology would also be part of the bidding group, while Amazon.com was close to joining. (Apple Insider, Reuters, CNA, UDN, Laoyaoba)

Innodisk, Taiwan-based provider of industrial embedded flash and DRAM storage products, indicates that as 3D NAND yield rate does not reach expectation in 2Q17, in addition to Apple’s new iPhones ramping up demanding huge amount of NAND Flash, it expects that 3Q17 NAND Flash production will be tight. If this situation does not improve, the tight supply will continue throughout 4Q17. (Laoyaoba, CSIA, HQEW)

Sensory

With the emergence of virtual assistants like Alexa, Cortana, Siri, OK Google and Bixby, microphones are becoming mandatory as the central voice command hub. There is continuous improvement of audio quality including voice recognition, noise cancellation, wind cancellation and person identification. There has also been a multiplication of platforms embedding microphones, including smartwatches, hearables and cars. The microphone market will therefore expand continuously and reach more than 8B units by 2022, with an 11% CAGR. (Yole Development, press, Laoyaoba)

Connectivity

Chinese telecommunications technology solutions provider ZTE has announced signing a partnership with Japanese carrier SoftBank to trial 5G over sub-6GHz spectrum at 4.5GHz across Tokyo. (Laoyaoba, ZDNet)

Smartphones

The European Union (EU) may fine Google with highest number to date. As Alphabet Inc. pulled in USD90B in revenue in 2016, any fine would be capped at USD9B. But within that limit, the actual size of the fine would be calculated from sales in the market under investigation. (CN Beta, Bloomberg)

Yahoo shareholders have voted to approve a revised agreement for Verizon to buy Yahoo’s core Internet assets for USD4.48B. Once the acquisition is complete, Yahoo and AOL will form a new digital company under Verizon called Oath. Verizon expects to cut as many as 2,100 employees from the combined venture, or about 15% of the staff. (Laoyaoba, CNN, CNBC, NY Times)

The High Court of Justice of England and Wales has ruled against Huawei in its fight to avoid paying patent royalties to data software firm Unwired Planet International (UPI). In an unprecedented move for a case of this kind brought in the UK, the judgment not only applies to sales of Huawei devices in the UK but also globally, which would prove vastly more costly. (Laoyaoba, Sohu, JRJ, Telegraph, Android Police)

Samsung is going to release the Galaxy Note FE (Fan Edition), which is a refurbished Galaxy Note 7, in South Korea on 7 Jul 2017. It reportedly decided to do that before it has increased the number of refurbished units it’s going to sell from 150,000 to 450,000. The refurbished units will be sold through the country’s 3 top mobile carriers. (Laoyaoba, Tencent, Gizbot, TechRadar, GSM Arena, Sam Mobile)

Google has reportedly shelved “muskie” — the presumed Pixel XL successor — in favor of a another rumored device codenamed “taimen”, which will be manufactured by LG.  (Phone Arena, 9to5Google, Sohu)

Analyst Sun Changxu believes that Xiaomi will cross the 80M sales mark in 2017. Additionally, IHS Markit’s analyst Kevin Wang also indicates that Xiaomi would sell 33M units of Mi 6 in 1Q/2Q17. (Android Headlines, My Drivers)

Huawei Honor 9 is official – 5.15” FHD 2.5D curved display, Huawei Kirin 960 processor, rear dual 20MP-12MP + front 8MP cameras, 4 / 6GB RAM, 64 / 128GB storage, Android 7.0 (EMUI 5.1), 3200mAh battery, from CNY2299. (Android Headlines, Android Central, CN Beta)

Moto E4 and E4 Plus are official: E4 – 5” HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 / 427 processor, 8MP + 5MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 7.1, 2800mAh battery, USD129.99. E4 Plus – 5.5” HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 427 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 16 / 32GB storage, Android 7.1, 5000mAh battery, USD179.99. (CN Beta, Android Headlines, Droid-Life)

Samsung Z4 is brought to South Africa via Vodacom south Africa –  4.5” WVGA display, quad-core processor, 5MP + 5MP cameras, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, Tizen 3.0,  2050mAh battery, ZAR1299 (about USD100). (Tizen Experts, GSM Arena)

Wearables

Snap has reportedly a 2^nd-gen pair of Spectacles in the works that will come in the form of augmented reality which will improve upon the capabilities and functionality of the device. (Ubergizmo, TechCrunch, Sohu)

Huawei Honor Band 3 is announced, designed specifically for athletes. It supports 30 days battery life, 50m water proof, and priced at CNY269. (CN Beta, CNMO, TechPP)

VR is still hampered by the necessity for users to wear clunky headsets and possibly other gear.  While these are becoming more user friendly, Futurism likes to know when we will be able to bypass all that equipment to simply connect VR to our minds directly. The decade with the most votes was the 2030s, taking 36 percent of readers’ votes.  (CN Beta, Futurism)

Sony has sold 60.4M PlayStation 4 units since its launch in November 2013. PlayStation software sales led by games hit 487.8M copies. PlayStation Plus recorded 26.4M paid subscribers. (CN Beta, VentureBeat, CNBC)

Internet of Things

LG has reportedly reorganized its structure and established two research centers devoted to the development of technologies related to artificial intelligence (AI).  (Android Headlines, Yonhap News, Xinmin, OfWeek)

Sharp is suing business partner Hisense, claiming the company is putting its name on low quality TVs. Hisense can make TV sets using the Sharp name thanks to a deal it signed with the company in 2015. (Laoyaoba, CNET, BBC, The Register)