IF / News

Chipset

Madhav Sheth, CEO of Realme India has announced that the next Realme will be powered by MediaTek Helio P70 and it is coming soon.He has also clarified that while the phone will be a game changer in its price segment, it is not the successor of the Realme 2 or 2 Pro. (Gizmo China, Twitter, iGao7)

Qualcomm has said that Apple is USD7B behind in patent royalty payments to the mobile chip firm, which for years supplied parts for the iPhone. Apple and Qualcomm are involved in a series legal actions. Apple has accused Qualcomm of unfair patent licensing practices. Qualcomm, the world’s largest mobile phone chip supplier, has in turn accused Apple of patent infringement. (Apple Insider, Reuters, My Drivers, Sina)

Globalfoundries and the Chengdu municipality have signed an amendment to their investment and cooperation agreement. Based on market condition changes, Globalfoundries’ renewed focus on differentiated offerings and discussions with potential clients, the two firms have decided to bypass the original phase one investment in mainstream process technology (180/130nm). It is also agreed that the project’s timeline will be adapted to better align capacity to meet demand from China for differentiated offerings including Globalfoundries’ 22FDX technology. (Digitimes, press, Digitimes)

Touch Display

Samsung’s rumored foldable phone has 2 design configurations: folding in half in a portrait style, or in a landscape style. Samsung and Google have reportedly been working on developing a special version of the Android operating software for the phone, whose final user interface will depend largely on which of the two designs is chosen. (Android Authority, Bloomberg, CN Beta)

Visionox VP Xiuyi Huang said that the company has completed the development of the folding display in Sept 2018 and is expected to start supplying in 2019. Although the curvature at this stage is 4R (equivalent to the extent of a circular column that can roll 4mm), there will be 3R products in the future. The product size developed by Visionox is 7.2”. (CINNO, China.com, China Byte)

Camera

GF Securities forecast global penetration rates for triple camera (tri-cam) smartphones of 15% in 2019 and 25% in 2020, at the higher end of consensus expectations, driven by the assumption that Apple’s 2 OLED iPhone models will adopt tri-cams in 2019, as well as Samsung’s Galaxy S10, Note, and A / J series, and given OPPO / vivo’s competition with Huawei, whose first tri-cam model, P20 Pro, has been well-received. (GF Securities report)

Google Lens is being integrated into another Google service: Google Images. The system will now be able to identify objects within images. Lens in Images is also aimed at helping users more easily find things they’re interested in buying.  (CN Beta, USA Today, Digital Trends)

Storage

According to GF Securities, Samsung will allegedly release 2 new variants of the Galaxy S10 called the Galaxy S10 X and Galaxy S10 X 5G. The latter device is shown to offer a whopping 12GB of RAM. The same storage configuration is also shown to be offered on the upcoming Huawei P30 Pro variant. (Gizmo China, SlashLeaks, GF Securities report, Weibo)

Battery

Apple SVP and Great China GM Isabel Ge reveals that the company and its suppliers are planning by 2020, they will produce more than 4 gigawatts (GW) of new clean energy worldwide. Now suppliers in china have promised 2.8GW of clean energy, of which 1 GW has been connected to the grid. This plan is going very smoothly and there is no problem in achieving the goal. (CN Beta, Ping West, The Paper)

Almost 2 years after Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the solar roof, Tesla on has acknowledged its “complexity.” The company is still iterating the product’s design and refining the installation process. Tesla now plans to ramp up “production more quickly during 1H19,” a delay from almost 3 months ago when it said that was expected “toward the end” of 2018.  (My Drivers, Bloomberg, Industry Week)

Phone

According to Counterpoint Research, the global refurb market is growing faster than that of new smartphones market, as consumers increasingly turn to refurbished phones amid increasing prices of new devices from leading brands. The global refurb market grew 10% YoY in 2Q18 in stark contrast with the market for new smartphones, which declined 1% annually. The trends are linked. (Counterpoint Research, blog)

According to Counterpoint Research, premium smartphone (>INR 30,000/USD400) shipments reached an all-time third-quarter peak during 3Q18 in India. The top 3 brands, Samsung, OnePlus and Apple contributed to 83% of the overall premium market as compared to 88% a quarter ago. OnePlus led the premium smartphone segment for the second successive quarter, capturing 30% of the market driven by the strong performance of its OnePlus 6. (GSM Arena, Counterpoint Research, Baijiahao)

Huawei consumer business group CEO Richard Yu indicates that Mate series has shipped tens of millions of units in the past, and it is expected to reach 20M units for Mate 20 series. He said that Huawei aims to ship 2000M units of smartphones in 2018 The target volume of flagship products will be 20M units, and even gradually increase to 30M units and 40M units. (CN Beta, My Drivers, iFeng)

Elephone is expanding its global reach and is set to open a physical store in Morocco’s capital city, Rabat. The Elephone store will be opened officially to customers on 27 Oct 2018 and is the company’s largest ever brick and mortar store as well as its first in Africa.  (Gizmo China, GizChina)

Samsung is reportedly working on three different versions of its upcoming “Galaxy S10” flagship phone, including a low-cost one that more people can afford very similar to the approach that Apple has taken with the iPhone XR. (Apple Insider, Bloomberg, Poppur)

Nokia has announced that it has extended the patent license agreement between Nokia and Samsung, which would otherwise have expired at the end of 2018. Under the agreement, Samsung will make payments to Nokia for a multi-year period beginning 1 Jan 2019 onwards. (Phone Arena, GSM Arena, Nokia, WSJ CN, OfWeek)

OPPO’s global SVP, Shen Yiren reveals that they have successfully implemented the first 5G network access for their phones, which will ensure them be the first to launch commercial 5G phones. (CN Beta, My Drivers, Sina)

Meizu Note 8 is unveiled – 6.0” 1080×2160 FHD+ IPS, Qualcomm Snapdragon 632, rear dual 12MP-5MP + front 8MP, 4/6+64/128GB, Android 8.0, rear fingerprint scanner, 3600mAh, from CNY1598. (CN Beta, My Drivers)

Infinix HOT S3X is launched in India – 6.2” 720×1500 HD+ IPS, Qualcomm Snapdragon 430, rear dual 13MP-2MP + front 16MP, 3+32GB, Android 8.1, rear fingerprint scanner, 4000mAh, INR9,999 (USD137). (GizChina, NDTV, Fonearena)

BLU Vivo Go with Android Pie (Go Edition) is launched – 6.0” 720×1440 HD+ TFT, MediaTek MT6739, rear 8MP + front 0.3MP, 1+16GB, Android Pie (Go Edition), 2600mAh, USD90. (GizChina, Android Authority, 9to5Google, Gizmo China)

PC / Tablet

Streamlabs, a company that specializes in making widgets and free Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) for Twitch streamers, has announced that it is partnering with Intel to create dedicated live-streaming PCs. the companies are teaming up to bring Intel CPUs to third-party hardware device makers like Shuttle, Simply NUC, Zotac, and Acer, who are building plug-and-play PCs that are ready for 1080p streaming at 60fps right out of the box, and preloaded with Streamlabs’ OBS software. (VentureBeat, The Verge, Business Wire, CN Beta)

Wearables

Huawei Kid’s Watch 3 Pro is launched, powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 2500, equipped with 5MP camera, supports China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom 4G networks as well as 5-Mode 14-spectrum. It also supports GPS, SOS and priced at CNY988. (IT Home, Qudong, CN Beta)

Augmented / Virtual Reality

Global shipments of AR/VR head-mounted display (HMD) devices are expected to grow at a CAGR of 52.7% during a 5-year forecast period to reach 40M units in 2023, according to an estimate of Digitimes Research. On the other hand, AR headsets are defined as consumer products as smartphones, and therefore, a growing popularity of AR devices is likely to result in an explosive shipment growth of the entire AR/VR industry during the forecast period from 2018-2023. (Digitimes, press)

Home

Arlo is infusing its line of security cameras with artificial intelligence (AI) that gives them the ability to identify specific objects. The ability to spot these things will help to cut back on incidents where the camera is accidentally triggered by things that should be no cause for alarm. It will also give users the ability to customize notifications in a way that better fits their needs. (Digital Trends, Arlo)

Huawei AI speaker is announced powered by its proprietary Xiaoyi voice assistant. It is priced at CNY399. The AI speaker uses Danish speaker company Dynaudio’s audio technology, and it’s also paired with Huawei’s own “Histen” algorithm (the company’s name for its music equalizer effects). (CN Beta, The Verge, Trusted Reviews)

Automotive

Alphabet’s Waymo has begun charging passengers in Arizona for rides in its autonomous cars, making it the first self-driving car developer to launch commercial services.  (CN Beta, CNET, Sina, Financial Times)

SoundHound , the leading innovator in voice-enabled AI and conversational intelligence technologies, has announced a strategic partnership with Honda Motor to accelerate the development of voice-enabled AI assistant. (Engadget, Sohu, Business Wire, Cheyun)

Robotics

More than 2 years ago, ASUS introduced its home companion robot, Zenbo. ASUS is following up on that initiative in 2018 with Zenbo Junior. It comes in a much smaller form factor compared to the original, and weighs only about a fifth of the original’s weight. Zenbo Junior boasts an impressive array of sensors to power its AI capabilities. (CN Beta, Neowin, BNext)

Artificial Intelligence

Baidu has announced strategic collaboration with steel company China’s Baowu Group. Both companies will promote the application of ABC+IoT technology in the steel industry chain and help the construction of a smart steel ecosystem. (CN Beta, Sina, East Money)

IBM Research has developed an AI, dubbed Philyra, that can help create fragrances. This is thanks to a collaboration with Symrise, one of the top producers in the world for flavors and fragrances, where the AI will be able to learn about formulas, raw materials that go into creating fragrances, historical data, industry trends, and more, all of which that will go towards it being able to come up with combinations that can help fill gaps in the market. (Ubergizmo, IBM, Huanqiu, CNMO, AI Lab)

Fintech

A Silicon Valley technology start-up, Open Health Network, is using blockchain technology and smart contracts for the healthcare sector. The firm has launched PatientSphere, a blockchain based data sharing platform. PatientSphere offers, “HIPAA-compliant data-sharing capabilities to healthcare providers, medical researchers, pharmaceutical companies and health insurers”. (VentureBeat, Live Bitcoin News, iTerduo, Hecaijing, Sohu)