IF / News

Chipsets

[IFA2019] Qualcomm has officially announced its first chip that integrates 5G baseband and this chip belongs to the Snapdragon 700 series. This chip will be commercially available in 419but the phones will arrive in 2020. Qualcomm indicates 12 OEMs to use Snapdragon 700 series 5G platform including OPPO, Realme, Redmi, vivo and Motorola. (GizChina, My Drivers)

UBS has compared two different versions of 5G phones—sub 6GHz (Samsung Exynos) and mmWave (Qualcomm Snapdragon). It estimates BOM for the mmWave version will be about USD45 higher. UBS believes the main difference is from incremental RF-related components, in particular the integrated antenna RFFE modules for mmWave. (UBS report)

Touch Display

[IFA2019] Pixelworks, a leading provider of power-efficient visual processing solutions, has worked with TCL and HMD Global on TCL Plex, as well as Nokia 7.2 and Nokia 6.2, respectively. PureDisplay technology with the Pixelworks visual processor to deliver a premium mobile entertainment experience at an affordable price. (Android Headlines, Globe Newswire, NASDAQ, Elecfans)

[IFA2019] TCL is showcasing a ‘waterfall’ display technology. It is not a standard edge on a smartphone. The display wraps around to 80+º, making it a more comfortable hold on both sides of the device. TCL wants the edge to maintain color reproducibility and to minimize any specific color shift in the design. (Anandtech, The Verge, CNET)

[IFA2019] Honor has unveiled a new smart app that helps visually impaired users to read text. The app is called PocketVision and it is powered by Honor’s AI and the high-resolution camera on the Honor 20-series smartphones. There are 3  modes available -Text-to-Speech Mode, Zoom-In Mode, and Negative Image Mode. (GSM Arena, GizChina, My Drivers)

Camera

According to TRi, with the global key brands expanding the rear dual-camera  in 2018, the proportion of phones equipped with dual-camera has reached 32%, and with the introduction of more dual-camera phones, the usage rate is gradually deepened and lowered to the lower-end. Now that the rear camera design has become mainstream, it is estimated that the proportion of smart phones equipped with rear dual-camera will reach 51% in 2019. (TRi report)

According to TRi, LG Innotek and Sharp are Apple’s dual camera module main suppliers. Samsung’s main supplier is SEMCO, which owns 70% of the share. Chinese vendors including Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo main camera module vendors are Sunny Optical, O-Film and Q-Tech. (TRi report)

Biometrics

According to CINNO Research, sales of AMOLED smartphones in China market are about 32.92M units in 2Q19, while sales of under display fingerprint phones are about 28.47M units. The penetration rate in OLED mobile phones has raised to 86.5%, becoming a default specs for OLED phone. CINNO Research predicts that global shipments of OLED phones with under display fingerprint scanner will increase by approximately 28M units in 2018 to 220M units in 2019. (Laoyaoba, CINNO, press)

Connectivity

TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that all Apple’s three 2019 iPhone models will be equipped with Ultra Wide Band (UWB). The technology is said to integrate inside existing iPhone applications, with Kuo naming Apple Maps getting an assist in regards to indoor navigation. JCET is predicted to be the major beneficiary of UWB inclusion. (TF Securities, Apple Insider)

Huawei has secured more than 50 commercial 5G contracts globally, and has delivered more than 200,000 5G base stations, says Xu Wenwei from the company’s executive team. According to Xu, 28 of Huawei’s contracts are from Europe, constituting almost 60 percent of all contracts. 11 contracts are from the Middle East, six from the Asia-Pacific area, four from the Americas, and one from Africa. Currently, nearly two-thirds of all 5G base stations are built by Huawei (Laoyaoba, CN Beta, Sina, Global Times, CNBC)

AIS, Thailand’s largest mobile operator, signed an MoU with Nokia, Huawei, and ZTE to jointly conduct research to prepare for the 5G test. AIS, which has a 45% share in the Thai market, said it will work with suppliers to develop 5G. (GizChina, IT Home)

5G is supposed to achieve theoretical speed of 10Gbps, which is 30x faster than 4G. Video is becoming more and more important. The current 4G standard cannot support 4K resolution which is now becoming popular. Additionally, augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) are also bandwidth heavy. 5G networks are also designed to support non-smartphone devices from the ground up. For example, autonomous cars will have very different requirements than phones. (UBS report)

Going into 2020, UBS believes Apple and Samsung’s 5G phones will support both sub 6 and mmWave, as the phones are sold internationally. It is possible that there will be regional models, similar to the initial rollout of 3G and 4G: ie, an iPhone that only works on Verizon and AT&T, but not on Sprint, and not in China. (UBS report)

Phone

According to IHS Markit, Apple has shipped 26.9M units of iPhone XR in 1H19 (13.6M in 1Q19 and 13.3M in 2Q19). That is more than double the number of Samsung Galaxy A10 phones, the No. 2 device on IHS Markit. (GizChina, CNET)

Dr. JuneHee Lee, Samsung’s head of technology strategy, has revealed that more than 2M Samsung 5G phones have been sold worldwide, and expects that number to more than double by end of 2019. (CN Beta, CNET, VentureBeat)

NavInfo has indicated that the underlying data of maps of Huawei, Tencent, Didi, JD.com, etc. all come from NavInfo, including the previous Baidu map. In addition to being bound to domestic customers, NavInfo is also expanding overseas. (Laoyaoba, EE World, SCMP)

William Xu, president of Huawei’s institute of strategic research, Huawei plans to spend more than USD300M (GBP244.36M) a year in research funding for universities. (Laoyaoba, IT Home, iFeng, Euro News)

vivo Z1x is announced in India – 6.38” 1080×2340 FHD+ Super AMOLED, Qualcomm Snapdragon 712, rear tri 48MP-8MP ultrawide-5MP depth + front 32MP, 6+64 / 6+128GB, Android 9.0, under display fingerprint scanner, 4500mAh 22.5W, INR16,990 (USD240) / INR18,990 (USD270). (GSM Arena, Twitter)

Gionee F9 Plus is launched in India – 6.26” 1520×720 HD+ IPS, 1.6GHz octa-core, rear dual 13MP-2MP + front 13MP, 3+32GB, Android 9.0, rear fingerprint scanner, 4050mAh, INR7,999. (91Mobiles, Laoyaoba, Economic Times, BGR)

PC Tablet

[IFA2019] Lenovo unveils new Smart Tabs with Google Assistant: Yoga Smart Tab – Full HD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 439, dual JBL Hi-Fi speakers, Google Assistant’s Ambient Mode, USD299. Smart Tab M8 – HD display, MediaTek Helio A22, dual stereo speakers, Smart Charging Station, USD149. Smart Display 7 – 7” display, it has better audio quality since the two speakers are housed in a larger chamber, USD129. (Phone Arena, CN Beta, Neowin)

Samsung Galaxy Tab Active Pro is announced – 10.1” 1920×1200 16:10 display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 710, rear 13MP + front 8MP, 4+64GB, Android 9.0, 7600mAh, IP68 rated, S Pen, EUR599. (Liliputing, Samsung, CN Beta, GSM Arena)

Augmented / Virtual Reality

[IFA2019] TCL is premiering a new 5G wearable display called Project Archery that brings a 100” cinematic viewing experience to a device about the size of most sunglasses. TCL’s design is meant for personal entertainment only, and completely powered by phone. (CNET, Engadget, Gizmodo, Funstec, Tencent)

Fintech

Samsung reportedly will be marketing the blockchain variant of Galaxy Note 10 as “KlaytnPhone”. The phone is made in partnership with a South Korean company, Kakao, which is a messaging company. (GizChina, KlaytnPhone, MS Poweruser, WSJ, IT Home)