IF / News

AMD has announced plans to buy Xilinx in a deal worth USD35B, which would lead to further consolidation of the semiconductor space while making AMD a significant player in the FPGA space. Xilinx is a company known for producing field-programmable gate arrays, or FGPAs. (Liliputing, AMD, Apple Insider, NY Times, CN Beta)

Qualcomm has unveiled the Qualcomm Immersive Home Platforms, a successor to the company’s mesh networking platforms. The platform blends WiFi 6 and 6E together and it takes a “novel modular architecture approach”. Qualcomm says the platform delivers 2.5 times the throughput per watt, which should help keep routers cool. It claims to offer low latency of under 3ms too. (Android Central, Qualcomm, Engadget)

OPPO is allegedly testing a high-frequency version of Qualcomm Snapdragon 865. It will be exclusively available for OPPO and its main frequency is around 3.2GHz. Theoretically, the performance of the chip is stronger than Snapdragon 865. Hence, it could be called Snapdragon 870. (GSM Arena, Playful Droid, Gizmo China)

Imagination Technologies has announced the IMG B-Series, a new expanded range of GPU IP. Per the company, featuring advanced multi-core architecture, B-Series enables Imagination customers to reduce power while reaching higher levels of performance than any other GPU IP on the market. Also, per the company, the GPU IP delivers up to 6 TFLOPS of compute, with an up to 30% reduction in power and 25% area reduction over previous generations and up to 2.5x higher fill rate than competing IP cores. (Laoyaoba, Imagination, Embedded Computing Design)

Microsoft’s new patent indicates that the company is considering a foldable phone with multi-sided electromagnetic access in a reverse-closed position. The hinge mechanism is also included and it uses an S-shaped path internally when user place the displays in a tablet position (unfolded). The device also comes with a feature called “plan view” that will hide the primary display under cover glass so that an edge of the computing device remains visible. (CN Beta, Windows Latest,  Free Patents Online)

Samsung and Stanford have created an OLED display with a pixel density of roughly 10,000PPI. In other words, even a 6” display with 32K resolution (30,720×17,280) would not match up, topping out at nearly 6,000PPI. They have used an OLED film to beam out white light to two reflective layers, with one being a silver film and the other being a “metasurface.” This metasurface features a “forest of microscopic pillars,” which serve as pixels measuring 2.4 microns in size. (IEEE, Android Authority, Sohu, IT Home)

Samsung Display has reportedly received approval from the U.S. government to supply certain display products to Huawei. Samsung Display recently acquired a license from the U.S. Commerce Department to export some of its smartphone OLED displays to Huawei.  (CN Beta, Android Authority, YNA)

BOE has indicated that the company has mass-produced a variety of foldable products. BOE is seeking cooperation and talks with several domestic UTG-related material suppliers, component manufacturers and equipment manufacturing companies. BOE has said that the main products of the Wuhan Gen 10.5 line are planned to be 32”, 43”, 55”, 65”, and 75”. The main product sizes of the Hefei Gen 10.5 lines are 43”, 65”, and 75”. In addition, the Wuhan Gen 10.5 line and the Hefei Gen 10.5 line have a differentiated layout in terms of product resolution / refresh rate / frame specifications. (Laoyaoba, Sohu)

Samsung Electro-Mechanics (SEMCO) will increase the number of camera modules for budget model smartphones to account for over 10% of its sales in 2021. More budget model smartphones were requesting high-end camera modules such as those for optical zoom. The company has begun supplying 3x optical zoom modules with optical image stabilization (OIS) in 3Q20 but this will increase to more models of mid-tier smartphones going forward. SEMCO is also planning to supply the main cameras of Galaxy A52 and Galaxy A72. (Gizmo China, The Elec)

Qin Fei, who is a Dean of vivo Communications Research Institute, says 6G requires smartphones, AR, VR, and Robotics to build a better wireless network. vivo has begun the 6G research and subsequent scenarios.  (My Drivers, IT Home, CN Techpost, Gizmo China)

Italy has reportedly prevented telecoms group Fastweb from signing a deal for Huawei to supply equipment for its 5G core network. Huawei strongly rejects the charges, and its Italian unit said it is ready to undergo any scrutiny to show that its technology is safe. (Gizmo China, Reuters, RFI)

Samsung has confirmed that its chairman, Lee Kun-hee passed away died on 25 Oct 2020. The cause of his death is not clear but Lee Kun-hee, 78, was bedridden and out of public limelight after suffering a heart attack 6.5 years ago. (Sammy Hub, DW, CN Beta)

Xiaomi has been asked to replace the smartphone of an Indian customer. The commission called out the company for selling products with subpar quality in India. The Bandra Consumer Redressal Commission ordered the company and its authorized service centers to provide an Andheri resident, with a brand new smartphone. The brand will also need to pay compensation and costs of INR10,000 (USD135). (GizChina, Free Press Journal)

HMD Global has the goal to become one of the top 3 smartphone players in the next 3 to 5 years. Nokia will focus on marketing its handsets with the latest Google innovations and try to master “the Google offer”. HMD Global’s key selling point is that Nokia devices are “Pixels for every price category” with clean Android. (GSM Arena, Nokia Mob, India Today)

Cheng Uei Precision Industry (or Foxlink), a Taiwan-based cable and connector maker, will start mass production for Apple later in 2020 from its new plant in India. As trade tensions with China continue, many major Apple suppliers are attempting to establish new manufacturing and assembly plants elsewhere. (Apple Insider, Bloomberg)

LG Q52 is announced in South Korea – 6.59” 720×1600 HD+ IPS LCD HiD, MediaTek Helio P35, rear quad 48MP-5MP ultrawide-2MP macro-2MP depth + front 13MP, 4+64GB, Android 10.0, side fingerprint, 4000mAh, KRW330K (USD292).  (GSM Arena, LG, Gizmo China)

OnePlus Nord N10 5G and N100 announced: N10 5G – 6.49” 1080×2400 FHD+ IPS LCD 90Hz HiD, Qualcomm Snapdragon 690, rear quad 64MP-8MP ultrawide-5MP depth-2MP macro + front 16MP, 6+128 / 8+128GB, Android 10.0, rear fingerprint, 4300mAh 30W, EUR330 / EUR380.  N100 – 6.517” 720×1560 HD+ IPS LCD HiD, Qualcomm Snapdragon 460, rear tri 13MP-2MP macro-2MP depth + front 8MP, 4+64GB, Android 10.0, rear fingerprint, 5000mAh, EUR180.  (Android Central, GSM Arena, Android Authority)

Xiaomi Redmi K30S is announced in China – 6.67” 1080×2400 FHD+ IPS LCD 144Hz HDR10 HiD, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, rear tri 64MP-13MP ultrawide-5MP macro + front 20MP, 8+128 / 8+256GB, Android 10.0, side fingerprint, 5000mAh 33W, CNY2,599 (USD390) / CNY2,799 (USD415).  (Android Authority, GSM Arena, Mi.com)

TCL 10 5G UW is launched exclusively with US Verizon supporting the operator’s 5G Ultra Wideband (mmWave) – 6.53” 1080×2340 FHD+ IPS LCD HDR10 HiD, Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G, rear tri 48MP-8MP ultrawide-5MP macro + front 16MP, 6+128GB, Android 10.0, rear fingerprint, 4500mAh 18W, USD400.  (GSM Arena, Engadget)

Doogee S96 Pro is launched – 6.217” 720×1520 HD+ v-notch, MediaTek Helio G90, rear quad 48MP-20MP ultra light-sensitive-8MP ultrawide 130º FoV-2MP macro + front 16MP, 8+128GB, Android 10.0, 6350mAh 24W, 10W wireless charging, IP68 / IP69K / MIL-STD 810G rating, USD300.  (Gizmo China, GSM Arena)

LG has announced a new member of its Tone Free family of truly wireless earbuds HBS-FN7, which features active noise cancellation (ANC). The charging case is equipped with UV technology to help kill bacteria on the surface. The company offers an EQ app with a handful of sound tuning options. (Pocket-Lint, Neowin, Phone Arena)

Apple reportedly plans to update its AirPods line in 2021 with 2 new models including third-generation ‌AirPods‌ and second-generation AirPods Pro. For the second generation of ‌AirPods Pro‌, Apple aims to make the earbuds more compact by eliminating the short stem that currently sticks out from the bottom, and is said to be testing a design with “a more rounded shape that fills more of a user’s ear”.  (Bloomberg, Mac Rumors, Gizmo China)

The latest Canalys forecast expects the global smart speaker market, including smart displays, to reach 163M units in 2021, a growth of 21%. In 2020, Mainland China, which has the COVID-19 pandemic under control, will lead, growing 16%, while the rest of the market is expected to grow 3% as countries continue to battle the coronavirus.  (Laoyaoba, Canalys)

The Swedish home appliance manufacturer Electrolux has signed a patent licensing deal with LG Electronics regarding its ice-making technology for French-door refrigerators. Signing contracts with multinational home appliances manufacturers such as GE and Miele about letting them use its patented technologies once again proves that its technologies especially when it comes to home appliances are recognized as one of the bests in the world. (Laoyaoba, Korea Times, Korea Herald, The Elec)

Earlier in 2020, Apple reportedly purchased Barcelona startup Vilynx, gaining expertise and technologies related to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision. Apple is intending to apply the technology to Siri and search. Apple’s Photos could be improved with the technology to search stored video, and possibly for News and Apple TV apps for a recommendation engine. (CN Beta, Bloomberg, Apple Insider)

Ant Group, the Chinese financial technology titan, is set to raise around USD34B when its shares begin trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which would make its initial public offering the largest on record. The deal is expected to top the record USD29.4B IPO in 2019 of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company. (CN Beta, NY Times, FT)