IF / News

Chipsets

Hailo, a startup developing hardware designed to speed up AI inferencing at the edge, has announced that it has raised USD60M in series B funding. The fund will be used to accelerate the rollout of Hailo’s Hailo-8 chip. (Laoyaoba, CN Beta, Reuters, VentureBeat)

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has teamed up with Broadcom to strengthen the Chip-on-Wafer-on-Substrate (CoWoS) integrated circuit packaging platform that supports 5nm technology. TSMC is scheduled to launch mass production of the 5nm process in 1H20. The 3nm process is expected to begin commercial production in 2022. (Gizmo China, Focus Taiwan, Moore, Sina)

Nokia has signed two separate deals with Marvell Technology and Intel to jointly developed custom silicon solutions. Nokia and Intel have jointly developed custom silicon solutions are included in Nokia’s AirScale radio access products being shipped worldwide as part of its 5G “Powered by ReefShark” portfolio. Nokia and Marvell are developing 5G multi-RAT (Radio Access Technology) silicon innovations, including multiple generations of custom silicon and infrastructure processors to further expand the range of the Finnish Vendor’s ReefShark 5G chipsets. (Laoyaoba, RCR Wireless, TechRadar, Nokia, GizChina)

Touch Display

TCL is showcasing 2 concept foldable phone utilizing display panels developed by TCL-CSOT – a rollable and a tri-fold foldable phone. The tri-fold model features a flexible AMOLED technology which allows a 10-inch tablet to collapse into a 6.65”device. TCL has introduced two different hinges for the tri-fold model – DragonHinge and ButterflyHinge. (Android Central, CN Beta, Gizmo China, GSM Arena)

LG’s patent has showcased a smartphone with the display rolls out from the bottom when turned on and rolls back in when turned off. The display on this smartphone rolls out from the right side to offer a tablet-like screen. The patent images suggest that LG is using motors for free motion of display to roll in and out. Furthermore, the LG phone also allows you to open a portion of the screen to perform quick operation like replying to messages. (CN Beta, The Sun, 91Mobiles)

LG Display (LGD) OLED factory in Guangzhou, China is facing more difficulties, and it is currently expected that mass production will not take place until 2Q20. There are many factors that cause the production delays, such as the COVID-2019 that has become prominent in 2020, causing some employees to face a 14-day quarantine period. The impact of equipment (new equipment produced in China, not Korean equipment used in Paju) and new manufacturing technology (new OLED stack) has also further impact the delay. (CN Beta, OLED-Info, Korea Herald, Business Korea)

Sensory

Infineon Technologies has worked with Qualcomm to develop a reference design for 3D authentication based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform. The reference design uses the REAL3 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) sensor. (Phone Arena, Infineon, SEMI, Sina)

Phone

Bytedance has officially launched its Resso streaming service in India. Resso includes other features: Marrying social media functions with music, Resso’s main features include sharing customizable lyric posters, creating animated visuals for song backgrounds and interacting with other users to encourage a sense of community. (CN Beta, Variety, TechCrunch, Musically)

Huawei offers developers 90% of revenue from AppGallery. Huawei is calling it the Revenue Share Percentage for the Preferential Policy and it is valid for 24 months and it is valid from when developers accept the agreement before 30 Jun 2020. (Gizmo China, Huawei, CN Beta)

Samsung has decided to temporarily close the factory in Gumi, South Korea, is responsible for the production of Samsung’s flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S20 series, and Z Flip, due to the coronavirus incidents. Samsung says that it will temporarily transfer some of its smartphone production tasks from South Korea to Vietnam. Over the past decade, Samsung has shifted most of its smartphone production to Vietnam. Currently, more than 50% of Samsung’s mobile phones are produced in Vietnam. (GizChina, IT Home)

Counterpoint Research estimates the US market sold under 2M 5G NR capable smartphones during 2019 in its first year of the rollout. This only represented 1% of total smartphone sales in 2019. Samsung is the leader capturing 74% of the total sales during the year. The Samsung Note 10 Plus 5G is the best-selling 5G smartphone in the USA in 2019. (Counterpoint Research, CN Beta)

Moto G8 is launched in Brazil – 6.4” 720×1560 HD+ IPS HiD, Qualcomm Snapdragon 665, rear tri 16MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro + front 8MP, 4+64GB, Android 10.0, rear fingerprint scanner, 4000mAh 10W, BRL1,299 (USD282). (Android Headlines, GSM Arena, Android Authority, CN Beta)

Infinix S5 Pro is launched in India – 6.53” 2220×1080 FHD+ IPS, MediaTek Helio P35 MT6765, rear tri 48MP-2MP depth-low light sensor+ front 16MP pop-up,  4+64GB, Android 10.0, rear fingerprint scanner, 4000mAh 10W, INR9,999 (USD135). (GSM Arena)

OPPO Find X2 and X2 Pro are announced, featuring 6.7” 1440×3168 QHD+ AMOLED HiD 120Hz refresh 240Hz touch-sensing HDR10, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, under display fingerprint reader: X2 – rear tri 48MP OIS-13MP telephoto OIS-12MP ultrawide + front 32MP, 12+256GB (no memory card slot), Android 10.0, 4200mAh 65W, EUR999. X2 Pro – rear tri 48MP OIS-13MP periscope 5x optical zoom OIS-48MP ultrawide + front 32MP, 12+512GB (no memory card slot), Android 10.0, 4260mAh 65W, EUR1,199. (GSM Arena, Android Central, CN Beta)

Gionee G6 is launched in China – 6.2” 720×1520 HD+ IPS, MediaTek octa-core, rear dual 12MP-2MP + front 13MP, 4+64GB, Android 9.0, 5000mAh, no fingerprint scanner, CNY699 (USD100). (GizChina, My Drivers, Somagnews)

Wearables

Apple’s suppliers will kick off production of a new entry-level version of AirPods Pro between the end of 1Q20 and the beginning of 2Q20, according to Digitimes. It suggests that assembly of the earphones will begin around early to mid-Apr 2020. (Mac Rumors, Digitimes, CN Beta)

OPPO is releasing OPPO Watch smartwatch, powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 2500 with Apollo-3 co-processor. It comes in 1.6” and 1.9” varieties and sports minimal bezels all around. The watch is rated 5ATM for water resistance. It is priced at CNY1,999 / USD288 (46mm) or CNY1,499 / USD215 (41mm). (CN Beta, OPPO, TechRadar, GSM Arena)

Virtual / Augmented Reality

Telefónica, MediaPro and Barcelona’s metropolitan transport agency TMB have teamed up to use 5G and augmented reality in a practical way for tourism, equipping a bus with a translucent display that can highlight key places as they appear in real life. (VentureBeat, Telefonica)

Automotive

General Motors (GM) light-vehicle joint venture with China’s SAIC Motor, has announced it has launched a logistics route specifically designed for autonomous vehicles. The vehicles deployed are NEVs offered by Baojun EV. The level 4 autonomous driving system installed in the car can perceive and monitor its surroundings in real time with the accuracy down to a few centimeters. (CN Beta, Gas Goo)