IF / News

The US government has reportedly managed to persuade MediaTek to reduce the flow of 5G chips to Huawei. Qualcomm may be trying to step in and replace those orders. Qualcomm is currently in talks with the US government to attain a license to supply Huawei with its chips and may receive it as early as mid Jul 2020.  MediaTek has reportedly denied the claims, for its part. In fact, MediaTek reportedly calls out news of a reduction in 5G chip sales to Huawei “groundless”. (Android Headlines, Gizmo China, UDN)

Samsung Electronics has indicated that it will spend KRW100B (USD83M) in 2020 to boost cooperation between industry and academia to better develop future chip and display technologies. Samsung opened its industry-academia cooperation center in Jul 2018, and has supported research projects in the chip and display sectors by more than 700 university professors and students. (YNA, Gizmo China, CN Beta)

SoftBank, the company that owns chip designer ARM Holdings, is exploring options that include a full or partial sale or a public offering. Apple has licensed technology from ARM Holdings for its A-series chips used in iPhones since 2006, and Apple is planning to expand the use of ARM-based chips to Macs, with the upcoming launch of Macs equipped with Apple Silicon. (CN Beta, WSJ, CNBC, Mac Rumors)

Samsung Electronics is allegedly in talks with LG Display for the purchase of display panels, amid its transition to production of next-generation display. Samsung Electronics and LG Display may sign a deal on LCD TV panel supply in the near future. Samsung has announced earlier 2020 that it will discontinue its LCD screen production from 2021 and will speed up its shift toward quantum-dot (QD) display. (Gizmo China, YNA)

Apple might have paid a penalty of around USD950M to Samsung Display for failing to purchase enough OLED panels to meet its contract. (CN Beta, CNET, Display Supply Chain)

Color filters will replace polarizers in foldable organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels in the future. According to UBI Research, major panel companies were working on such technology as color filters will allow the panels to become thinner and more brighter. Polarizers in OLED panels are used to deflect reflection from external lights. (Gizmo China, The Elec)

vivo iQOO has officially unveiled Super FlashCharge 120W, which is expected to arrive in smartphones as early as Aug 2020. The battery cells are lined up in a new specific array, and thanks to the new design, a 4,000mAh battery can reach 50% in 5 minutes.  (My Drivers, IT Home, GSM Arena, Weibo)

OPPO is preparing to introduce a technology that will allow up to 125W super flash charge.  (My Drivers, Android Central, GSM Arena, Weibo)

realme will introduce a 5G smartphone with 125W “Super Flash Charge”. realme has launched SuperDart Flash Charge 65W with X50 Pro 5G.  (GSM Arena, Weibo, Playful Droid)

Qualcomm Ventures has revealed that it will invest USD97M in Reliance Jio Platforms to acquire a 0.15% equity stake “on a fully diluted basis” in the top Indian telecom operator. Qualcomm has said it will help Jio Platforms “roll out advanced 5G infrastructure and services for Indian customers”. (TechCrunch, CN Beta)

Google is allegedly in advanced talks to buy a stake in Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms with about USD4B. The news comes a day after Google plans to spend USD10B over the next 5-7 years to help accelerate the adoption of digital technologies in India. (Android Central, Bloomberg Quint)

Samsung’s vision for 6G is to bring the next hyper-connected experience to every corner of life.  Samsung expects that the completion of the 6G standard and its earliest commercialization date could be as early as 2028, while mass commercialization may occur around 2030. Both humans and machines will be the main users of 6G, and 6G will be characterized by provision of advanced services such as truly immersive extended reality (XR), high-fidelity mobile hologram and digital replica. While 5G is designed to achieve 20Gbps peak data rate, 6G aims to provide the peak data rate of 1,000Gbps and a user experienced data rate of 1Gbps. (Gizmo China, Samsung, ZDNet)

UK prime minister Boris Johnson is allegedly preparing to begin phasing out the use of Huawei Technologies equipment in U.K.’s 5G telecom network as soon as 2020. Telecoms operators will not be allowed to buy new 5G telecoms equipment from the Chinese firm from Jan 2021, and will have 7 years to remove its existing technology from their 5G infrastructure at an expected cost of GBP2B.  (The Verge, Gov.UK, Android Central, Bloomberg, My Drivers)

Based on the latest 5G QCell 300MHz ultra-wideband product, ZTE has successfully tested the world’s first 5G digital room sub-capacity doubling technology to achieve a peak Pico RRU downlink traffic of 4.3Gbps, and the network capacity has increased by 3 times, providing users with the ultimate 5G Experience. ZTE’s latest 5G QCell ultra-wideband product has the industry’s highest 4*750mW transmit power and supports 3.3GHz to 3.6GHz continuous 300MHz ultra-large bandwidth. (CN Beta, ZTE)

Google has announced that it will be investing INR75,000 crores (approximately USD10B) in India over the coming 5-7 years to help boost the country’s digital economy. With its new Google for India Digitization Fund, the search giant will focus on four key areas that it believes are crucial for India’s digitization. (CN Beta, Android Central, Google)

Apple is rumoured developing another low-cost iPhone model after iPhone SE. The low-cost iPhone could be sold in between the USD200-300 range. This low-cost iPhone may be equipped with Apple A13 processor.  (CN Beta, My Drivers, WCCFtech)

TECNO Spark 5 Pro is launched in India – 6.6” 720×1600 HD+ HiD IPS LCD, MediaTek Helio A25, rear quad 16MP-2MP macro-2MP depth-AI lens + front 8MP, 4+64GB, Android 10.0, rear fingerprint scanner, 5000mAh, INR10,499 (USD140).  (Gizmo China, Tecno, NDTV)

realme C11 is launched in India (already announced in Malaysia) – 6.517” 720×1560 HD+ v-notch, MediaTek Helio G35, rear dual 13MP-2MP depth + front 5MP, 2+32GB, Android 10.0, no fingerprint scanner, 5000mAh 10W, INR7,499 (USD100). (Gizmo China, GSM Arena)

Amazon is launching smart shopping carts at its Woodland Hills, California, grocery store in 2020. Dash Carts are embedded with cameras, sensors and a smart display that automatically track a shopper’s order. Similar to Amazon’s cashierless Go stores, Dash Carts allow shoppers to avoid checkout lines as they exit the store. (Gizmo China, CNET, CNBC, New Atlas)

Skydio has raised a USD100M Series C funding round. This new funding will help the drone maker move faster on its product development efforts, and expand its go-to-market strategy to cover not only consumer applications, but also enterprise and public sector drone technology. Founded in 2014, Skydio has raised USD170M total and launched two consumer-focused drones to date, both of which employ artificial intelligence technology to give them autonomous navigation capabilities. (TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Business Wire)