IF / News

TSMC has announced that it is actually a quarter ahead of schedule for the production of its 4nm chips. The 4nm chips will use the same design as the 5nm components but will feature enhanced performance, power consumption, and transistor density. Risk production is set for the 3Q21. TSMC has also announced that it had started construction on its USD12B fab being built in Arizona. The facility is expected to start production in 2024 by manufacturing 5nm chips. (Phone Arena, TSMC)

Qualcomm will allegedly continue to cooperate with Samsung, and both flagship CPUs will use Samsung’s 4nm process. Samsung Exynos 2200 will have integrated AMD RDNA2. Samsung’s next-gen flagship SoC will be equipped with custom graphics IP provided by AMD, supporting ray tracing and VRS variable shading rate. In addition, Qualcomm SM8450 (or Snapdragon 895) will reportedly be made by Samsung, at least there will be a Samsung version, which will use its 4nm LPE process, so is Samsung Exynos 2200. Qualcomm next-gen of Snapdragon X65 5G modem will use Samsung’s 4nm technology to mass produce. Qualcomm has paid Samsung USD850M for mass producing Snapdragon 888. (My Drivers, Sina, CN Beta)

According to Goldman Sachs, as many as 169 industries around the world are affected by the shortage of chips to some extent, ranging from steel products and concrete production to air-conditioning manufacturing, and even soap manufacturing. However, based on the overall views of many chip manufacturing industry professionals, the large gap between supply and demand for China’s chip production capacity will continue for 2 years or more. (Sina, First Post, Yahoo, The Conversation, CN Beta)

HannStar Display will start rolling out LPRD (low power reflective display) panels in 2021. HannStar will optimize production from its two Gen-5.3 LCD fabs, with one focusing on production TFT-LCD panels with a capacity of 140,000 substrates a month and the other on touch panels with a capacity of 80,000 substrates. Its panel shipments came to 4.37M 19” equivalent panels in 1Q21 with an ASP of USD64. (Digitimes, press)

Samsung System LSI, the logic chip unit of Samsung Electronics, has begun development of 3 timing controller (T-Con) for quantum dot (QD)-OLED panels being developed by Samsung Display. Samsung Display is planning to send its prototypes of QD-OLED TVs and a monitor to potential customers in Jun 2021. (Sina, The Elec, 163)

Samsung’s upcoming foldable phone Galaxy Z Fold3 is allegedly to feature under panel camera (UPC) technology. Its UPC transmittance will be as high as 40% or more. That is higher than any other UPC solutions available. (CN Beta, Android Headlines, Twitter, Android Community, Gizmo China)

Samsung Display will begin production of foldable OLED panels for customers Google, vivo and Xiaomi in Oct 2021. The 3 companies are planning to unveil their respective foldable phones in 4Q21. (GSM Arena, The Elec)

Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) has developed a stretchable OLED display that can attach to the wrist to offer fitness tracking information to users. It has integrated a PPG heart rate sensor, creating what Samsung calls the “stretchable electronic skin form factor”. The SAIT team has modified the composition and structure of elastomer, a polymer compound with high elasticity and resilience, and used existing semiconductor manufacturing processes to apply it to the substrates of stretchable OLED displays and optical blood-flow sensors. (Android Authority, Samsung, Business Korea, Donga)

Xiaomi first integrated an earthquake alert on its custom MIUI ROM for its phones and smart TVs in 2010. The feature is a collaboration with Chengdu High-tech Disaster Mitigation Institute. Xiaomi has recently released data showing that it had successfully warned about 35 earthquakes of magnitude 4.0 and above with a total of 12.64M warning messages sent since it was released in Nov 2019. (Gizmo China, My Drivers, Sohu, EET-China)

Ningbo-based ABAX Sensing chairman Lei Shuyu has indicated that by 2023, the company’s short- and long-distance lidar chip products will reach a certain scale of mass production. The company is currently in contact with related car companies through Tier-2 and Tier-1, and the company’s solid-state lidar chip products are also being tested. (Laoyaoba, East Money, IT Home)

German carrier Deutsche Telekom has announced that it has completed the first 5G Voice over New Radio (VoNR) call in partnership with Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm, Samsung and Xiaomi. The call is made over a 5G Standalone (SA) network set up at Deutsche Telekom’s lab in Warsaw, Poland. (CN Beta, RCR Wireless, Telecom Paper)

realme reportedly aims to sell 100M 5G smartphones in the next 3 years, according to Digitimes. Having launched 14 models of 5G phones in 21 markets, the vendor plans to release over 20 more models for sale in 50 markets before 2022. It plans to invest USD300M to develop related 5G technology and products in the next 2 years, including plans to develop sub-USD100 5G models. (Digitimes, Mobile World Live, PR Newswire)

Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Galaxy Z Flip 3 in Jul 2021. Both devices reportedly will be up to 20% cheaper than their predecessors. Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Flip in Feb 2020. The handset was priced at USD1,380 at launch. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 arrived in Sept 2020 for USD1,999. (Android Headlines, Sam Mobile)

The French Competition Authority has fined Google with a EUR220M (USD267M) for abusing its dominance in the digital advertising market. The regulator has accused the search giant of unfairly favoring its own ad marketplace over rivals. Google has announced that it will be making changes to its ad technology to “make it easier” for publishers to use its tools with alternative ad technologies. (Android Central, Google, Autorite de l aconcurrence, Android Headlines, Xinhuanet, Reuters)

After a steep decline in 2020, global smartphone sales to end users grew 26% in 1Q21, according to Gartner. Overall worldwide mobile phone sales to end users grew 22% YoY. The launch of mid-priced smartphones, such as phones priced under USD150, boosted Samsung’s unit sales globally. (CN Beta, Gartner)

Apple has announced iOS 15 with features upgrade including FaceTime with spatial audio and noise isolation; FaceTime Link for Windows and Android users to join FaceTime call via browser; “Shared with You” to share content with others easily; Notification summary; Live Text that unlocks text-based information from photos; etc. (Digital Trends, Neowin, Engadget, GizChina)

TCL has opened a factory in Turkey, which has already begun mass production of its smart devices. The factory which is a joint project between TCL and Arçelik, plans to reach a production capacity of 1M units by 2022. To increase sales, TCL partners with Arçelik, a Turkish multinational appliances manufacturer that owns Beko and Grundig, to start a factory that assembles its products. The factory currently has an annual production capacity of 450,000 units. (Gizmo China, AA.com, Sina, IT Home)

Infinix Note 10 series is launched in India: 10 – 6.95” 1080×2460 FHD+ HiD IPS LCD, MediaTek Helio G85, rear tri 48MP-2MP depth-2MP mono + front 16MP, 4+64 / 6+128GB, Android 11.0, side fingerprint, 5000mAh 18W, INR10,999 (USD151) / INR11,999(USD165). 10 Pro – 6.95” 1080×2460 FHD+ HiD IPS LCD 90Hz, MediaTek Helio G95, rear quad 64MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP depth-2MP mono + front 16MP, 8+256GB, Android 11.0, side fingerprint, 5000mAh 33W, INR16,999 (USD233). (Gizmo China, GSM Arena)

POCO M3 Pro 5G is announced in India – 6.5” 1080×2400 FHD+ HiD IPS LCD 90Hz, MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G, rear tri 48MP-2MP macro-2MP depth + front 8MP, 4+64 / 6+128GB, Android 11.0, side fingerprint, 5000mAh 18W, INR13,999 (USD192) / INR15,999 (USD220). (Gizmo China, Android Authority, Android Central)

realme C25s is announced in India – 6.5” 720×1600 HD+ v-notch IPS LCD, MediaTek Helio G85, rear tri 13MP-2MP macro-2MP depth + front 8MP, 4+64 / 4+128GB, Android 11.0, rear fingerprint, 6000mAh 18W, INR9,999 (USD137) / INR10,999 (USD150). (Gizmo China, GSM Arena, realme)

Apple has announced iPadOS 15 featuring major multitasking overhaul. Apple put a big focus on its widgets, which are now more powerful and more flexible. Another key area Apple discussed was multitasking. There is now a new control at the top of apps that reveals a new multitasking menu. (Digital Trends, Engadget)

Apple has announced MacOS Monterey, the newest version of the Macintosh operating system for MacBooks, iMacs, and Mac Mini devices. Some examples of these new productivity features include support for SharePlay, a new Focus Mode that will sync across devices, and support for Quick Note, all as seen on iPad OS 15. (Pocket-Lint, Digital Trends, CN Beta)

According to Counterpoint Research, producing an Apple Watch Series 6, Apple’s latest smartwatch model, costs the company around USD136, a bill of materials (BoM). The smartwatch’s application processor, display, sensors and casing together account for ~68% of the total device value. (GizChina, Counterpoint Research)

Fossil executives Greg McKelvey and Steve Prokup have revealed that the company’s existing Wear OS watches will not get upgraded to the new combined Wear software platform from Samsung and Google. Instead, Fossil is planning a premium watch that Prokup said would have “pretty major hardware upgrades”, and existing watches will probably be discounted as budget options. (The Verge, CNET)

Apple has announced WatchOS 8. It will introduce improved texting and photo sharing, new HomeKit integrations, and some smaller updates to health and fitness features. The Apple Watch’s Breathe app gets new animations and adds “Reflect” which pushes mindfulness prompts. These features are housed in the new Mindfulness app. (CN Beta, Digital Trends, Ars Technica)

Facebook has announced new capabilities for Spark AR, its flagship AR creation software. Since Spark AR is announced in 2017, more than 600,000 creators from 190 countries have published over 2M AR effects on Facebook and Instagram, making it the largest mobile AR platform. (TechCrunch, Facebook, ECNS)

In March 2018, Tencent announced the establishment of Robotics X in Shenzhen. Three robots have been launched before, including the self-balancing wheeled mobile robot small motorcycle, four-legged mobile robot Jamoca, and multi-modal quadruped robot dog Max. The fourth robot Ollie is officially unveiled. It is a wheel-legged robot with both wheeled advantages and leg capabilities. (My Drivers, CN Techpost, Sina, China Money Network)

As U.S. workers trickle back to the office, a new e-bike joining Lyft’s bike-share fleet is aimed at helping them get there. Launching in San Francisco on 6 Jun 2021, this updated model features a number of accessibility and durability improvements over the current battery-boosted bikes that Lyft rents by the minute in nine U.S. cities. (CN Beta, Wired, Bloomberg, TechCrunch)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made it official and publicly cancelled plans to produce the Model S Plaid+, a supercharged version of the upcoming Plaid version of the electric vehicle that will be delivered to the first customers in Jun 2021. (TechCrunch, Engadget, CNBC, Sina)

Huawei has invested CNY3B to establish Digital Energy, which is wholly-owned by Huawei Technologies. According to the company’s information, Huawei Digital Energy Technology is established. The legal representative is Hu Houkun with a registered capital of CNY3B. (My Drivers, Laoyaoba)