07-05: Nokia and Xiaomi said that they have signed a business collaboration agreement and a multi-year patent agreement; Samsung is reportedly developing a voice-activated speaker powered by its digital assistant Bixby; etc.
Chipsets
Apple’s previous chip manufacturer Imagination Technologies has returned to profitability on paper, but has made no progress with Apple regarding its contention that the iPhone manufacturer will not be able to make its own GPU technology without infringement. (Apple Insider, Investegate, Phone Arena, CN Beta)
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), representing U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached USD31.9B for the month of May 2017, an increase of 22.6 percent compared to the May 2016 total of USD26.0B and 1.9% more than the Apr 2017 total of USD31.4B. (SIA, press, Laoyaoba, Digitimes)
Touch Display
LG Display (LGD), BOE Technology and Tianma Micro-electronics are expected to enter mass production of flexible AMOLED panels starting 2H17, challenging Samsung Display’s dominance in the sector, according to Digitimes. (Android Headlines, Digitimes, press)
Camera
The mobile market segment, with its large volume and dedicated performances remains the main application for CIS technologies. Not so far behind, security and automotive applications are also standing by such disruptive technologies to release products with attractive functionalities. Yole Développement is announcing a USD11.6B market in 2016 with 10,5% CAGR between 2016 et 2022. (Yole Development, Laoyaoba)
Memory
Merged with Micron, DRAM vendor Inotera allegedly has a pollution breakout in its fab, destroyed half of its wafer and the fab has halted operation. About 60K wafers are destroyed, which might impact the supply of DRAM. (TechNews, Sohu)
Sensory
Apple iPhone 8 is expected to kick off a wave of smartphones with AR capabilities, boosting suppliers that make depth-sensing cameras and components. Rosenblatt Securities analyst Jun Zhang has identified several suppliers likely to benefit from the trend. They include Lumentum and Viavi Solutions. (CN Beta, Barron’s, blog, Investors, TechNews)
Connectivity
Huawei has announced it will jointly deploy the first G.fast network in the Middle East working with Omantel, a leading operator in Oman. Huawei said its E2E G.fast solution will support Omantel to construct ultra-broadband networks by reusing existing copper lines. (Huawei, Digitimes, C114)
Smartphones
Pekka Rantala, Marketing Director at HMD, said that his company is entirely focused on smartphone production and there will be no new tablets launched in 2017. (Phone Arena, Nokia Mob, Mobiili.fi, Yesky)
China smartphone ODM Ragentek Group (RGK) launching new high-end brand “Voga”, with standard price CNY3700. The company’s “Qingcheng” brand targets younger consumers, with 10M sales target in 2018. Voga is targeting high-end consumers. (Laoyaoba, Sina, China Byte, Laoyaoba)
Pegatron Technology has seen weakening orders from clients recently, as Apple has yet to launch its next-generation iPhone and orders for Microsoft’s Surface devices have been smaller than expected, according to Digitimes citing upstream supply chain. Arima Communications has also seen weak smartphone orders from Asustek Computer. (Digitimes, press, Sohu, IT Home)
Nokia and Xiaomi said that they have signed a business collaboration agreement and a multi-year patent agreement, including a cross license to each company’s cellular standard essential patents. Xiaomi also acquired patent assets from Nokia as part of the transaction. (Laoyaoba, My Drivers, NASDAQ, Bloomberg)
ZTE Blade V7 Plus is unveiled – 5.2” FHD S-IPS display, MediaTek MT6753 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 6.0, 2540mAh battery. (Android Headlines, GizChina)
ASUS ZenFone 4 Max is unveiled in Russia – 5.5” FHD IPS LCD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 / 430 processor, rear dual 13MP-13MP + front 8MP cameras, up to 4GB RAM, 16 / 32 / 64GB eMCP, 5000mAh battery, RUB13,900. (Phone Arena, GSM Arena, ASUS)
Samsung Galaxy J5 Pro is launched in Thailand – 5.2” HD Super AMOLED display, Samsung Exynos 7870 processor, 13MP + 13MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, Android 7.0, 3000mAh battery, THB9,990. (GSM Arena, Sam Mobile, Blog of Mobile)
Internet of Things
Samsung is reportedly developing a voice-activated speaker powered by its digital assistant Bixby, codenamed “Vega”. The timing is yet to be determined. The English-language version of Bixby has been delayed. (Apple Insider, WSJ, CN Beta, Korea Herald)
China-based TV brand vendors experienced disappointing shipments in 1H17, which will account for only 30% of their overall shipments for the year, according to Sigmaintell Consulting. Sales of TVs totaled 2.1M units in China during the period from Jun 1-21, an increase of 3.4% from the same period a year earlier. (Digitimes, UDN, Sigma Intell, press, Laoyaoba)
Baidu has announced partners for its Project Apollo autonomous driving platform. They include Chery Automobile, FAW Group Corporation, Changan Automobile Group, and Great Wall Motors. (VentureBeat, 163, Sohu, Leiphone, JRJ)
Baidu has acquired Kitt.ai, a profitable startup based out of Seattle that has developed a framework to build and power chatbots and voice-based applications across multiple platforms and devices. (My Drivers, TechCrunch, Wall Street CN, 36Kr, Kitt.ai)
