8-19 #Thankful: MediaTek has unveiled its third entry in the 800-series with the new Dimensity 800U; OPPO has announced the launch of a new generation of hybrid optical zoom technology; etc.
Photonics chip startup Lightmatter has revealed the first technical details about its upcoming P1 chip. The technology underpinning the P1, photonic integrated circuits, requires only a limited amount of energy because light produces less heat than electricity. Lightmatter claims that P1 chip has over 1B transistors that can process more than 2TB of data per second. (VentureBeat, ARVIX)
IBM has revealed the next generation of its IBM POWER central processing unit (CPU) family: IBM POWER10. It is The company’s first 7nm chip will be manufactured by Samsung and is 3x more efficient than POWER9. IBM has added “quadruple the number of AES encryption engines per core” while also anticipating “future cryptographic standards like quantum-safe cryptography and fully homomorphic encryption”. (CN Beta, Android Headlines, IBM, VentureBeat, PC Mag)
MediaTek has unveiled its third entry in the 800-series with the new Dimensity 800U. It is a slightly tweaked and more affordable version of the Dimensity 800 bringing an integrated 5G modem, dual 5G SIM support (SA & NSA modes) and higher CPU speeds. It is built on the same TSMC 7nm process and also comes with dual Voice over New Radio (VoNR), and 5G two carrier aggregation (2CC 5G-CA). (Android Authority, Neowin, MediaTek)
OPPO has announced the launch of a new generation of hybrid optical zoom technology to bring consumers a clear and lossless full focal length image experience. The technology adopts a revolutionary stepped periscopic zoom structure, coupled with a large size sensor and refined image algorithms, to comprehensively upgrade the performance and shooting experience at medium and long focal lengths. (GSM Arena, OPPO, Sparrow News)
Tsinghua Unigroup and its subsidiaries have showcased a series of new products, including 8Gb DDR4 memory chips and wafers from Xi’an Guoxin Micro, 128-layer QLC 3D NAND from Yangtze Memory Technologies Co (YMTC), EasyCore from H3C, and a series of smartphone and IoT chips from Unisoc. Guoxin Micro’s 8Gb DDR4 memory particle single chip has a maximum bandwidth of 10.4GB/S, supports TSV package and can be expanded to 16Gb capacity, and has built-in ECC self-correction protection. It is the industry’s first DDR4 that supports X32 IO specifications and is compatible with JEDEC. (My Drivers, CN Beta, Sina)
SK hynix has announced the release of the world’s first 128-layer NAND Flash-based consumer SSD — the SK hynix Gold P31. The drive supports the PCIe NVMe interface based on 4D NAND Flash technology and is now available for purchase in 1 TB and 500 GB capacities. The Gold P31 offers best-in-class read speeds of up to 3,500 MB/s and write speeds of up to 3,200 MB/s. (Laoyaoba, AnandTech, Business Korea)
ArcSoft has revealed that the company’s lens-based fingerprint on display (FoD) solution has been produced in small batch prototypes, and the quality and other aspects have reached the set goals. The company will actively begin the mass production phase. Hao Huimei, secretary of the board of directors of ArcSoft, has said that in 2020, in the smartphone business, the company will actively focus on 3D vision sensor TOF-related solutions, optical fingerprint on display solutions, and screen brightness ambient light sensor chip (ALS). (Laoyaoba, Sohu)
Huawei Rotating Chairman Guo Ping has revealed that the global 5G userbase has crossed 100M users, with over 92 operators working to develop 5G commercial networks. With success on the commercial side, the focus is now expected to shift towards industrial applications. (Gizmo China, Sohu, Sina)
Sony has announced the upcoming release of its high-precision Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver LSIs for use in IoT and wearable devices. Consuming only 9mW, Sony’s new LSIs—CXD5610GF and CXD5610GG—are set to boast the industry’s lowest power consumption figures for dual-band positioning operation. (CN Beta, Sony, Sony Semicon, Neowin)
Samsung may shift a major part of its smartphone production to India from Vietnam and other countries with the South Korean electronics major finalizing plans to produce devices worth over USD40B (INR3 lakh crore) in the country under the PLI scheme. Out of this, phones with factory price of over USD200 could account for over USD25B. (Android Headlines, Economic Times, CN Beta)
Samsung has announced that its research and development spending reached a record high in 2020. The company spent KRW10.58T (around USD8.9B) in R&D during 1H20 to focus on new growth areas. The company’s R&D spending is KRW500B higher than its numbers from 1H19. (Sam Mobile, YNA, GizChina)
The US government granted Temporary General License (TGL) to Huawei so that it could work with Google to provide security updates and Google apps updates to its older smartphones and tablets released before the ban. This license has expired on 13 Aug 2020. With the expiration of this license and unclear or no statements from the parties involved suggests older Huawei / Honor smartphones and tablets, which until now received security patches may not continue to do so. (Gizmo China, Washington Post, XDA-Developers)
Huawei has confirmed that there is no impact on the existing device with the Temporary General License has recently expired. Therefore, Huawei and Honor phones that come with Google Play pre-installed will continue to receive software updates. Meanwhile, devices pre-equipped with HMS will receive the updates as well. (Phone Arena, Android Headlines, Huawei Central)
TCL and BlackBerry have confirmed earlier 2020 that they have parted ways. BlackBerry name is poised to come back to the smartphone space courtesy of mobile security brand Onward Mobility. More specifically, the US brand’s website notes that “new Blackberry 5G phones” are coming in 2021. (Android Authority, Onward Mobility, Neowin, Sina)
vivo iQOO 5 5G and 5 Pro 5G are announced in China: iQOO 5 5G – 6.56” 1080×2376 FHD+ HiD AMOLED HDR10+ 120Hz, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, rear tri 50MP-13MP portrait 2x optical zoom-13MP ultrawide + front 16MP, 8+128 / 12+128 / 12+256GB, Android 10.0, fingerprint on display, 4500mAh 55W, CNY3,998 (USD576) / CNY4,298 (USD619) / CNY4598 (USD662). iQOO 5 Pro 5G – 6.56” 1080×2376 FHD+ HiD AMOLED HDR10+ 120Hz, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, rear tri 50MP OIS-13MP periscope telephoto 5x optical zoom OIS-13MP wide + front 16MP, 8+256 / 12+256GB, Android 10.0, fingerprint on display, 4000mAh 120W, CNY4,998 (USD720) / CNY5,498 (USD792). (GSM Arena, Gizmo China)
Sony may be developing next-generation virtual reality (VR) headset, based on new job posting that mentions Sony is developing a “next-generation VR head-mounted display”. (CN Beta, GizChina)
Huawei and GENTLE MONSTER have launched the second generation of the Eyewear II smart glasses. There are 13 styles in total, with titanium alloy hinges. As you guess, they are more comfortable to wear. The Eyewear II smart glasses come with a multi-sensor interactive system. They support 3D touch. They use customized 128mm2 ultra-thin large-diaphragm dual speakers. These speakers support open stereo sound field and provide excellent music effects. They are priced from CNY2,499 (USD361) to CNY2,699 (USD390). (Gizmo China, GizChina, CN Beta, Huawei)
JD.com spun out its healthcare unit into a subsidiary May 2019 for a potential initial public offering. JD Health, gained a valuation of USD7B fresh off its USD1B Series A round in Nov 2019. JD Health has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with private equity firm Hillhouse Capital, which plans to shell out over USD830M for the infant company’s Series B financing. (TechCrunch, 36Kr, Sina)
