IF / News

Chipsets

MediaTek has announced the Helio M70 5G modem. It includes ARM’s newest Cortex-A77 CPU, Mali-G77 GPU and MediaTek’s most advanced AI processing unit (APU). The M70 modem supports 5G NR in the sub-6GHz spectrum with up to 2x carrier aggregation. The new chipset will be ready for lead customer samples in 3Q19 and be in commercial devices by 1Q20. (Android Authority, Gizmodo, AnandTech, TechRadar, PR Newswire, EET China, Sina)

Qualcomm has announced the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Smart Viewer Reference Design built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 Platform. Built in collaboration with Goertek, it is designed to help decrease product development time of both AR and VR Smart Viewers. (VentureBeat, Yahoo, CNET, Qualcomm, Engadget CN)

Touch Display

Sony Mobile is reportedly planning to come out with its first foldable smartphone in 2020. The smartphone will reportedly be Xperia F (‘F’ is foldable). It will use Samsung’s flexible OLED display panel and will have 21:18 aspect ratio. The foldable smartphone is tipped to have 5G connectivity as well. (Phone Arena, MySmartPrice, CNMO, Gizmo China)

Intel is showcasing a dual-display laptop out of fabric, dubbed Twin River. It features a pair of 12.3”, 1920×1280 touchscreen displays in that polyester, polyamide, and lycra textile combination. Intel says it managed to fit a full quad-core, 15-watt Intel U-series processor inside this fanless chassis without overheating. (CN Beta, The Verge, Unwire.hk)

Samsung files ‘Dex Live’ trademark, which is an application software, namely, for projecting the screen of mobile device to displays via computer peripheral devices and wireless networks. (GSM Arena, TMDN, Galaxy Club, Sam Mobile)

Apple has successfully secured a patent for a device with a folding display, which focuses on the display and cover layer of the phone. Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives has indicated that the new patent shows at least that folding devices are “something on Apple’s roadmap”. (CN Beta, CNN, Business Insider, Sina, USPTO)

Camera

Honda’s neat side camera mirror system will come as standard on its new Honda E electric car when it lands in showrooms in early 2020. The cameras are housed in small modules positioned in place of the side mirrors, with video streamed to two 6” displays located just inside each door. (CN Beta, Digital Trends, TechCrunch)

Memory

Toshiba Memory and Western Digital have finalized a formal agreement to jointly invest in the “K1” manufacturing facility that Toshiba Memory is currently constructing in Kitakami (Iwate Prefecture, Japan). The K1 facility will produce 3D flash memory to support growing demand for storage in applications such as data centers, smartphones and autonomous cars. (Digitimes, press, Business Wire)

Intel has announced Intel Optane memory M15, a new generation of Intel Optane memory, which will be available in 3Q19. It comes as an M.2 80mm PCIe 3.0×4 NVMe card that can be used in laptop or desktop computers to offer faster boot speeds, app launch times, and other experiences. (CN Beta, Liliputing, Intel, Intel)

Connectivity

UNISOC is launching RDA5882 chipset aiming for true wireless stereo (TWS) headset, which supports Bluetooth 5.0 and could realize low power consumption and responsive. Currently TWS headset with RDA5882 is already available in the market. (UNISOC, CN Beta)

Apple’s next iPhone allegedly could allow users to connect 2 pairs of Bluetooth headphones at the same time. Samsung’s dual audio feature is an implementation of Bluetooth 5.0 technology, suggesting Apple’s function could be of similar origin. (Engadget, Mac Rumors, Macotakara, Sina, CN Beta)

Phone

Global sales of smartphones to end users declined 2.7% in 1Q19, totaling 373M units, according to Gartner. Despite its absence from the U.S., Huawei maintained its ranking as the No. 2 smartphone vendor worldwide and continued to reduce the gap with Samsung. (GSM Arena, Gartner, press, data)

It is official – the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is 1 year old. In its first 12 months, the European Commission has demonstrated strong yet measured implementation, with fines totalling over EUR56M hitting 91 companies, including EUR50M against Google. (CN Beta, Sohu, Campaign Live, Comforte, TechRadar)

Augmented / Virtual Reality

Logitech has announced the first generation of Logitech VR Ink Pilot Edition: the world’s first stylus to offer control and precision in virtual reality, on two-dimensional surfaces and in three-dimensional room-scale space. The user can use it to draw in 3D space, creating three-dimensional images in a VR space. (CN Beta, VentureBeat, Logitech)

Robotics

France-based drone maker Parrot has been selected by the U.S. Department of Defense as one of six companies to develop small, short-range reconnaissance aircraft for use by soldiers on the battlefield. The others are Skydio, Altavian, Teal Drones, Vantage Robotics, and Lumenier, all of which are based in the U.S. (Digital Trends, Parrot, CN Beta)