IF / News

Chipsets

Qualcomm claims it has helped Android roll out a number of industry firsts, like edge-to-edge OLED displays, augmented reality and facial recognition, many of which are expected to debut as tentpole features of Apple’s upcoming iPhone X.  (Apple Insider, Qualcomm)

Mobike plans to use IoT solutions from AT&T and Qualcomm to support its station-free smart bikes in the U.S. AT&T’s 4G LTE connectivity combined with Qualcomm’s LTE IoT modems and Mobike’s smartphone app will let users easily locate, unlock, and securely pay for the nearest Mobike. At the end of their ride, users will be able to return the bike to a designated “Mobike Preferred Location” or any regular bike parking area. Mobike currently manages more than 7M smart bikes across 160-plus cities globally. (Laoyaoba, Sina, Business Insider, PR Newswire)

Huawei and MediaTek report they have completed the Interoperability Development Testing (IODT) of 5G New Radio (NR) in the condition of enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Ultra Density Network (UDN) scenarios. The test is part of China’s second-phase 5G radio technology testing in Huairou District, Beijing. (Laoyaoba, Huawei, Telecom Paper)

Qualcomm and Nokia have announced plans to conduct interoperability testing and over-the-air field trials based on the 5G New Radio (NR) Release-15 specifications being developed by 3GPP. The testing and trials intend to enable timely commercial network launches in 2019 based on 3GPP standard compliant 5G NR infrastructure and devices. (Laoyaoba, Electronics Weekly, Fierce Wireless, Qualcomm)

Touch Display

The large thin film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) market is expected to continue to expand in 2017 despite slower end-market demand, according to IHS Markit. While unit shipments are expected to be up 1% in 2017 to 688M units, compared to the previous year, area shipment forecasts show growth of 6 percent in the same period, to 180Mm². (IHS Markit, press, Laoyaoba)

Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung’s mobile business, said the company is setting its eyes on 2018 to release a smartphone using its bendable OLED screen technology, but he said there are several hurdles it has to overcome, leaving room to push back the release if those problems are not solved. (CN Beta, Sohu, The Verge, The Guardian)

Memory

Toshiba has allegedly opted to sell its memory chip assets to the Western Digital alliance for JPY2T (USD18.3B). (Apple Insider, Reuters, Sina, Reuters)

Battery

Shenzhen Chipsvision Micro CEO Shao Libin introduces CV90312T wireless charging chipset, which can support WPC Qi standard, and can achieve 20-30mm distance of wireless charging. It is also compliant with WPC 1.1, 1.2 standards. More importantly it also supports wireless fast charging, which can reach 15W. (Sohu, Laoyaoba, ESM China)

Connectivity

Research director of Gartner’s Networking & Communications Equipment Peter Liu indicates that the completion of 1^st 5G standard is only the beginning of 5G development. For 5G to really enter mass commercialization, it still needs a long time. For operators, he has suggested to focus more on 4G LTE network further development and planning, and not waiting for 5G to get mature. (Laoyaoba, C114, Read01)

Smartphones

According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo from KGI Securities, Apple “iPhone X” will remain in severe short supply for awhile. He indicates that mass production of the iPhone X faces significant challenges ahead of launch, particularly for the gold model, with new technology limiting Apple to producing less than 10,000 units per day. (Apple Insider, CN Beta)

An industry analyst has given her forecasts on smartphone shipment for Huawei (150M), OPPO (120M), vivo (100M) and Xiaomi (90M) for 2017. (CN Beta, My Drivers)

DJ Koh, President of Samsung Electronics’ mobile communications business, reveals that Samsung Galaxy Note 8 has received 650,000 pre-orders from 40 countries in only 5 days. (CN Beta, Value Walk, Financial Times, Reuters)

Second-hand platform Zhuan Zhuan has signed a strategic agreement with Foxconn to build a industry standard for the second-hand Apple iPhone ecosystem. Zhuan Zhuan will use Foxconn’s standard quality assurance system, which complies with Apple’s official standard. (Laoyaoba, Tencent, Sina)

Xiaomi president and CEO Lei Jun reveals that Xiaomi has shipped more than 10M units of smartphones in Sept 2017, and expects in 2017 the overall shipment could reach 70M units. (Sina, Laoyaoba, C114)

Huawei Technologies has been setting up its own public cloud and will make long-term commitment to establishing a global cloud network with integration of AI (artificial intelligence) services via cooperation with partners, and aims to become one of 5 global public clouds, according to company rotating CEO Guo Ping. (Huanqiu, Digitimes, press, Financial Times)

Wearables

Apple is working with Stanford clinicians and telemedicine vendor American Well to determine whether Apple Watch can be used to detect abnormal heart rhythms, a feature that would make the wearable desirable to doctors and high-risk patients. (Apple Insider, CNBC, CN Beta)

Apple reportedly will be making a grander push into augmented reality (AR), as per CEO Tim Cook’s promise, complete with new hardware and software that will be unveiled “in the coming weeks”.  (WSJ, Laoyaoba, Phone Arena)