6-9: Qualcomm has announced its new Connected Car Reference Platform; Huawei’s 5-year ambition may cause Qualcomm shipment drops; Samsung Galaxy S8 is likely to come with a 5.5″ 4K UHD display; etc.
Qualcomm has announced its new Connected Car Reference Platform; Huawei’s 5-year ambition may cause Qualcomm shipment drops; Samsung Galaxy S8 is likely to come with a 5.5″ 4K UHD display; The cost of ownership of an Apple iPhone is significantly lower than competing ‘high end’ smartphones; Global top 100 value brands in 2016; etc.
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Chipset |
| Qualcomm has announced its new Connected Car Reference Platform, which is designed to make it easier for automakers to move to advanced and complex connectivity in the next-generation of connected cars. Qualcomm has so far shipped more than 340 million car chips and can be found in models from over 20 car makers. (Android Authority, Qualcomm, Hexun) |
| Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt indicates that Qualcomm has reason to be concerned with Huawei’s ambition to be number one in 5 years, as a supplier to Samsung and Apple. Huawei is not only wants to sell more devices, it has its own internal chip effort, and share gains for Huawei could mean share declines in phones for Qualcomm’s parts. (Barron’s, blog, TechNews) |
| China’s tablet-use application processor (AP) shipments will increase 6% sequentially to 20.4 million units in 2Q16, according to Digitimes Research. (Digitimes, press, HC360)
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| The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has announced worldwide sales of semiconductors reached USD25.8 billion for the month of April 2016, a decrease of 1.0% from last month’s total of USD26.1 billion and 6.2% lower than the April 2015 total of USD27.6 billion. (SIA, press, Digitimes) |
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Touch Display |
| According to UBI Research, Samsung next flagship smartphone, tentatively dubbed Galaxy S8, is likely to come with a 5.5-inch, 4K UHD display. The display size of the Galaxy lineup increased by around 30% to 5.5” since the first Galaxy model. The picture resolution of the Galaxy lineup has improved 9.6 times from wide VGA (480×800) to QHD (1440×2560). (CN Beta, BGR, Softpedia, Korea Herald)
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Sensors |
| Matthew Fernandez and Akash Krishnan has invented an algorithm that can listen to human speech and detect dozens of emotions. The pair are using their algorithm – the center-piece of a company called Simple Emotion. (CN Beta, Tech Insider)
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| A new fitness tracker called Naked Fitness Tracker 3D is a rotating scale and smart mirror that syncs with an app to display user data. The sensors inside the mirror continuously stitch together images to create a 3D body model that is then displayed on the app. Users can view their 3D avatar and access precise measurements of their body. (Naked, IT Business, CNET, CN Beta)
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Smartphones |
| The world’s 100 biggest brands still command a significant premium over others and that value increased by 3% to USD3.4 trillion this year, according to the latest BrandZ rankings compiled by Millward Brown, the research agency. (World Economic Forum, report, Fortunes, CN Beta)
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| Research from fellow SA contributor Sustainable Free Cash Flow indicates that the cost of ownership of an Apple iPhone is significantly lower than competing ‘high end’ smartphones. This is due to iPhone’s much higher resale value. The lower cost of ownership speaks not only to iPhone’s cost competitiveness against its peers, but most importantly to Apple’s growth potential in emerging markets. (CN Beta, Seeking Alpha, Mac Daily News)
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| HTC appoints Peter Shen as its new CFO. (CN Beta, Android Authority, Phandroid, Android Headlines)
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| Yahoo is selling its 3,000 patents, which are likely to bring in as much a USD1 billion for the ailing company. (Ubergizmo, WSJ, iFeng, Tencent) |
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Internet of Things |
| According to the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Study 2016 just released by Millward Brown, Tesla was helped by its pending Model 3 entering the top 10 most valuable car brand, with USD4.4 billion value. (CN Beta, Auto News, Hybrid Cars, Automobile Mag, report)
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| The co-founder of Google Larry Page reportedly has been secretly investing in Zee.Aero and Kitty Hawk, two California start-ups working on developing a serious flying car. (Engadget, Bloomberg, BGR, Kejixun)
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| A new report suggests that drone pilots are now flying more responsibly amid heightened public concerns over the dangers of the unmanned aerial vehicles. The Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) analyzed FAA data and found that even as drone sales surge, drone sightings by airplane pilots have declined. (CN Beta, Washington Post, FAA, USA Today) |
| Withings Body Cardio connected scale is launched managing the usual weight, body mass index (BMI), body composition (fat, muscle, water, and bone mass), and standing heart rate, the device measures Pulse Wave Velocity (PWV)—a key indicator of cardiac strength. (CN Beta, PC Mag, Forbes)
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| Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos said that the company would invest an additional USD3 billion in India, boosting the company’s committed investment in the country to USD5 billion. (TechNews, First Post)
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