IF / News

Chipsets

Huawei’s HiSilicon SoC accounts for 70% – 80% of its smartphones. Huawei is actively looking for Kirin’s alternative, and the number of Huawei’s order with MediaTek has allegedly increased by over 300%. MediaTek is also evaluating whether it has sufficient resources to meet Huawei’s needs. MediaTek chips will also enter mid- to high-end mobile phones. In the past, Huawei only uses MediaTek chips on low- and mid-end 4G mobile phones. A large number of mid- to high-end 5G chips may be purchased in 2020. (CN Beta, TechNews, Money DJ, LTN, GizChina)

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is allegedly planning on coordinating with various companies like NVIDIA, AMD, Qualcomm and more to shift its production focus towards Huawei HiSilicon chips. HiSilicon has placed a big order to TSMC before the US ban. TSMC is also working hard to ship the product, which has increased from 700 units to 1,000 units per day, an increase of more than 40%. It hopes it can be on schedule within the US 120-day buffer period to HiSilicon. (Sina, Gizmo China, UDN, UDN)

Huawei is allegedly trying to purchase Samsung’s Exynos SoC, and it is expected that 2H20 will formally provide supply requirements. However, Samsung may refuse to supply Exynos chips to Huawei, because the supply of mobile phone processors can increase the performance of the semiconductor business, but compared with the overall situation, Samsung is more optimistic about the decline of Huawei’s mobile phone and network equipment business. After all, Samsung and Huawei are competitors in these segments.  (CN Beta, My Drivers, TechNews, Korea Herald)

Touch Display

Huawei may be the first manufacturer to launch the first under panel camera technology. It is previously reported that the off-screen camera will be mass-produced and commercialized in 2H20. The most important step for the under panel camera is the “transparent screen”, which has the characteristics of low reflection and high light transmission. The front camera area is transparent.  (My Drivers, CN Beta, Huawei Update, Zhihu, Sina)

Camera

According to Huaan Securities, among camera modules, the camera image sensor (CIS) is the most expensive component. According to Prospective Industry Research Institute, the value of CIS chips accounts for more than 50%. High-end CIS has higher value, with higher gross profit and higher technical barriers. High-end CIS has high technical barriers and its gross profit can reach more than 40%. (Huaan Research report)

According to TSR, in 2019, the global CMOS image sensor market size is USD15.9B. Sony’s market share is 48%, ranking first in the industry, firmly grasping the high-end market; Samsung‘s market share is 21%, Omnivision has a market share of 7%, and ONSemiconductor, Canon, etc. are ranked fourth and fifth. (Huaan Research report)

Huaan Securities has counted the number of rear cameras in the models released by major vendors in 2019 and the first 4 months of 2020. In 2019, tri-cam models accounted for 53.1%, while quad-cam models accounted for 25.1%. As of Apr 2020, among the models released by major mainstream vendors in 2020, tri-cam models accounted for 27.1%, quad-camera models 61%. (Huaan Research report)

Huaan Securities takes global smartphone shipments as the core variable, and gives an analysis of the sensitivity of camera shipments as follows: 2020/2021/2022, pessimistic forecast, smartphone camera shipments growth rate is 0.73%, 25.13%, 12.74%; Neutral forecast, smartphone camera shipment growth rate is 9.89%, 25.13%, 12.74%; Optimistic forecast, smartphone camera shipment growth rate is 19.04%, 25.13%, 12.74%. (Huaan Research report)

Biometrics

Microsoft’s patent has indicated a design for a headphone with an integrated fingerprint reader. In the patent filing, Microsoft has noted that its headphone will provide a “dual-mode” with fingerprint authentication apparatus and ability to login to the user account. It is possible that the headset will use Windows Hello, which gives an alternative way to log into devices and applications using a fingerprint. (FPO, Windows Latest, Pocket-Lint)

Battery

BYD has launched a brand new “blade battery” and successfully passed the most stringent “acupuncture test” in the battery industry. Even BYD Group Chairman and President Wang Chuanfu has said that there is never “spontaneous combustion” in blade batteries, and the safety is evident. However, CATL has allegedly stated that BYD’s blade batteries are not necessarily 100% safe. (CN Beta, China Daily, Sohu, Sina)

General Motors (GM) and LG Chem have named their joint venture Ultium Cells. The new factory is a USD2.3B plant being built in Ohio, near a factory that was controversially closed in 2019. LG Chem will invest KRW1T by 2023. When the Ultium Cells plant is put into production, LG Chem will establish two production bases in the United States with a production capacity of 30GWh/year. (Laoyaoba, Business Insider, Forbes, GM)

Connectivity

RCS messaging is being viewed as the true successor to SMS and MMS messages and an open competitor to Apple iMessage. Google Messages, which has surpassed 1B downloads on the Play Store, might soon add end-to-end encryption for RCS messaging. (CN Beta, Engadget, Neowin, 9to5Google)

Conservative members of the United Kingdom’s government have allegedly pushed Prime Minister Boris Johnson to draw up plans to remove telecom equipment made by Huawei from the nation’s 5G networks by 2023. (The Verge, Financial Times, TechCrunch, The Guardian, The Telegraph, BBC, Reuters)

Huawei has released a new technology for antennas CableFree. The new technology will enable base station antennas to significantly improve in multiple key capabilities, including integration, radiation efficiency, and power capacity. This marks a new stage of antenna development in the 5G era. (Gizmo China, Huawei, Sina, 163)

Phone

Due to the pandemic, sales of the Samsung Galaxy S20 series are poor. After the S20 series was launched, the domestic sales are only 60% of the previous generation S10 series. Due to inventory accumulation has recently, Samsung has notified the supply chain to suspend supply. It is mainly to digest inventory, which has impacted the manufacturers such as Largan, Auras, CICC, Taisol, GIS-KY, and other suppliers. (UDN, Laoyaoba)

The worldwide top-3 smartphone ODMs are China-based Wingtech, Huaqin and Longcheer, and the three manufacturers are expected to continue expanding production capacities in China, Southeast Asia and India in 2020. The three ODMs’ combined share of global smartphone shipments in 2020 is expected to rise to a new record, but according to Digitimes Research, each of them will see shipments in the year slip over 10% on year because of the pandemic’s impact on end-market demand for smartphones. (Digitimes, press, Laoyaoba, Digitimes)

Redmi K30i 5G is launched in China – 6.67” 1080×2400 FHD+ IPS 2xHiD, Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, rear quad 48MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro-2MP depth + front dual 20MP-2MP depth, 6+128GB, Android 10.0, side fingerprint scanner, 4500mAh 30W, CNY1,999 (USD280). (GSM Arena, Gizmo China, Mi.com)

Huawei Enjoy Z 5G is announced in China – 6.5” 1080×2400 FHD+ IPS u-notch, MediaTek Dimensity 800 MT6873V, rear tri 48MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro + front 16MP, 6+64 / 6+128 / 8+128GB, Android 10.0 (HMS), side fingerprint scanner, 4000mAh 22.5W, CNY1,699 (USD238) / CNY1,899 (USD266) / CNY2,199 (USD308).  (GSM Arena, Huawei)

realme X50 Pro Player Edition is announced – 6.44” 1080×2400 FHD+ Super AMOLED 2xHiD, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, rear quad 48MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro-2MP depth + front dual 16MP-2MP depth, 6+128 / 8+128 / 12+128GB, Android 10.0, fingerprint on display, 4200mAh 65W, CNY2,699 (USD380) / CNY2,999 (USD420) / CNY3,299 (USD460). (GSM Arena, Weibo, TechNode)

Wearables

realme Watch is launched in India priced at INR3,999 (USD52). It features 1.4” 320×320 TFT LCD. Its system seems to be customized based on Android, which can display notifications, control music playback, make and receive calls, support heart rate and sleep monitoring, and perform other typical functions. The official claims that the standard battery life of realme Watch is 7~9 days, but it can last for 20 days in energy saving mode. (Android Authority, CN Beta, GSM Arena)

Augmented / Virtual Reality

Facebook has announced that its enterprise-edition Oculus Quest that sells for USD1,000 as part of its Oculus for Business platform is now available for all companies to purchase. Oculus Quest is specifically designed with enterprise-focused features like a kiosk demo mode and 2 years of enterprise-quality support via phone, live chat, or email. (VentureBeat, Oculus, Sina, CN Beta)

Home

realme Smart TV is announced in India with 2 sizes, 32” (80cm) and 43” (108cm). It comes with bezel-less LED display, Android TV, Dolby speakers, and a quad-core CPU, and the TV is priced at INR12,999 (USD170). It is powered by a customized quad-core chipset from MediaTek, and equipped with 1GB RAM and 8GB internal storage.  (Android Central, realme, NDTV, Indian Express, CN Beta)

E-Commerce

Reliance has finally launched its e-commerce portal JioMart for several cities across India including Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan after running a pilot for limited pin codes in Mumbai, a move that is set to change the current positioning of the online grocery delivery service in India which is currently dominated by Bigbasket and Grofers. (TechCrunch, NDTV, Entrackr, Live Mint, Indian Express)