IF / News

Chipset

ARM has unveiled a couple of image signal processors – the Mali-C52 and Mali-C32 – that will help deliver high-quality HDR video capture to the next generation action cameras, drones, smart home and robotic gadgets. (Android Authority, VentureBeat, GSM Arena, Android Headlines, ARM)

Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) unicorn AISpeech has announced its first AI voice chip Taihang. The new chip is designed to accommodate a wide range of applications and devices, including smartphones, smart cars, and smart homes. (Sina, My Drivers, TechNode, CE.cn)

Touch Display

Xiaomi is reportedly developing a 3-panel foldable phone, supporting MIUI full display gesture control. (CN Beta, Engadget)

The South Korean government is planning to designate OLED equipment as the core technology of the country and restrict the export to prevent technology leaks. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) of Korea has allegedly held a meeting on national core technology designation, change and cancellation with display equipment firms and discussed designating OLED equipment as national core technology (Business Korea, Gizmo China, PJ Time, 52RD)

Camera

RED has teased its next product related to Hydrogen One, a 3D camera called Lithium. The camera is quite large, but RED Hydrogen One owners will be able to use the smartphone as a monitor and controller when taking pictures.  (Phone Arena, GSM Arena, Engadget, Facebook, Baijiahao)

Material

According to Apple’s newly published patent “The ornamental design for a fabric”, Apple has developed its very own fabric, made up of a ridged material to offer a “contrasting appearance.” The patent is an ornamental one, covering the look of the fabric rather than a specific use case.  (CN Beta, Cult of Mac, BGR, USPTO)

China will implement a new set of strict regulations on the operations of the PCB industry on 1 Feb 2019, which may threaten the survival of small- to medium-size makers, according to sources from the related upstream supply chain. In addition to having higher requirements concerning environmental matters, the new regulations will require makers to have technological patents for their products, to set aside at least 3% of their annual revenues for R&D, and to achieve annual utilization rates of over 50%. (Digitimes, press, PCB Info, ESM China)

Phone

Google’s upcoming OS, Fuchsia, would join the ranks of Chrome OS (and Android) in its support for Android apps. Fuchsia will use a specially designed version of the Android Runtime (“ART”) to run Android applications. (Neowin, 9to5Google, Android, Android Headlines, CN Beta)

Samsung has published roadmap detailing its plans to bring One UI, along with the Android Pie update, to many of its existing devices during 2019. (CN Beta, Neowin, Sam Mobile)

Apple has announced that its app and game stores set new holiday records. Between 2018’s Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve alone, App Store customers spent over USD1.22B, while sales on New Year’s Day 2019 set a single-day record of over USD322M. (VentureBeat, Apple)

Factor Daily has found that 44 of the top 100 Android apps in India are developed by Chinese companies, up from just 18 one year prior. (The focus is on Android because it is the overwhelming choice of operating system among India’s estimated 500M internet users.) (TechCrunch, Factor Daily, Baijiahao)

Huawei has filed a trademark known as “3D CuteMoji” and the application is submitted by an intermediary named Indecopi and based in Lima, Peru’s capital. The trademark is classified as ‘computer programs, data processing equipment, downloadable software’. It is for a new set of 3D emojis, which may likely feature on Huawei’s upcoming flagships. (Gizmo China, LetsGoDigital, CN Beta, iFeng)

In the “2018 EU Industrial R&D Investment Ranking”, there are 339 Japanese companies, 778 American companies, 577 EU companies, and 438 companies in China. Among them, Huawei ranks first in China with R&D investment of EUR11.3B. The fifth in the world. Samsung ranks 1st place in world. (Gizmo China, Sparrows News, China.org.cn, OfWeek, Sina, EU report)

Google has reportedly paid less than USD60M to “acqui-hire” the founders and purchase some of Superpod’s assets. Superpod, which lets users ask questions and receive answers from experts, could help Google bolster its virtual assistant’s ability to answer users’ questions. (CN Beta, Fortune, Silicon Angle, Axios)

Wearables

LG Electronics is considering a brand new smartwatch with enhanced functionality provided via a camera sensor that can be moved around the wristband depending on use, based on a patent. The camera is connected to the watch itself wirelessly as part of the band rather than the main hardware housing to enable repositioning. (Android Headlines, LetsGoDigital, IT Home)

Home

GE Lighting is deepening its C by GE portfolio in 2019, adding new platforms to help consumers realize more benefits across the home, including families of smart wall switches, full color lights and accessories. This industry-first designation means without an extra hub and in just one app, you can use the Google Home, Google Mini, Google Max or Google Home Hub to quickly and easily set-up and seamlessly connect and control new C by GE full-color bulbs.  (Android Headlines, CN Beta, 9to5Google, PR Newswire)

Automotive

Min-Liang Tan, CEO of Razer, has announced through Instagram that it is partnering with Chinese startup Leapmotor to bring Chroma (an RGB lighting system that can be controlled through Razer’s dedicated software and sync across all accessories and components) lighting to its cars. (Neowin, Instagram, Windows Central, CN Beta)

Cruise Automation, the self-driving unit of General Motors, is teaming up with DoorDash to test a food delivery service in San Francisco using autonomous vehicles. The pilot will commence in “early 2019,” the companies said, but it will only be available in the section of the city where Cruise has been testing its vehicles. (The Verge, TechCrunch, CNBC, CN Beta)

Segway-Ninebot has unveiled the Model Max scooter, which is designed to help services like Bird and Lime reduce their respective operating and maintenance costs. Segway has also unveiled Loomo Delivery, an autonomous vehicle for last-mile deliveries. The idea is to use the bot to make autonomous deliveries for food, packages and other items. (VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Engadget, CN Beta)

According to the EPO’s latest report on patents and self-driving vehicles, over the 2011-2017 period, Samsung Electronics held the most patents at 624, trailed by Intel with 590. Qualcomm held 361, followed by LG Electronics at 348 and German engineering firm Bosch with 343. (CN Beta, NBD, News18, Business Korea)

E-Commerce

Gurgaon-headquartered Zomato is in advanced talks to raise fresh funds between USD500M~USD1B. The online food delivery app’s latest attempt to raise fresh capital can be seen as the company’s strategy to take on rival Swiggy, which has managed to inject millions of the dollars in the start-up. (CN Beta, Economic Times, IB Times)