7-5: Samsung is spinning off its OLED business; Samsung is working on developing QLED; Lenovo says bendable smartphones could be a reality in 5 years; etc.
Samsung is spinning off its OLED business, to protect the lucrative division; Samsung is working on developing QLED; Lenovo says bendable smartphones could be a reality in 5 years; Indian government has made it clear that Apple do not have to submit a fresh application for reconsideration under new norms; Samsung annual sustainability report revealed its sales decline in China has continued for the third consecutive year; Xiaomi will launch Xiaomi Pay third-party mobile payment services in China in late 3Q16 or early 4Q16; etc.
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Chipset |
| Swarm, a new chip design developed at MIT, could now come to the rescue and unleash the full power of parallel processing for up to 75-fold speedups, while requiring programmers to write a fraction of the code. (Gizmag, MIT, CN Beta)
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| China’s IC industry production value is forecast to rise 15% to USD66.64 billion in 2016, according to Digitimes Research. China’s IC industry production value grew to USD57.97 billion in 2015 from USD21.03 billion in 2010 representing a CAGR of 19.1% during the 5-year period. (Digitimes, press, EEPW) |
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Touch Display |
| Samsung new patent (filed with USPTO in Nov. 2015) shows that the foldable devices will come with touch gesture support while also revealing that users will have to touch an icon on the edge display before they unfold the tablet. An application will automatically launch when the tablet is unfolded. (CN Beta, Android Headlines, Patently Mobile, Softpedia)
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| Samsung is spinning off its OLED business, to protect the lucrative division and shield it from the general decline of the display market. The move is a part of wider restructuring efforts taking place inside the company. Samsung is initiating an exit strategy for LCDs, which are no longer promising and have become unprofitable. (Phone Arena, Korea Times, Neowin, Tencent, iFeng, 163) |
| According to TrendForce, shipments of LCD TV sets worldwide are projected to reach 219 million units in 2016, representing a YoY growth of about 1.5%. South Korean TV brands this year have shifted a significant portion of their orders away from domestic panel suppliers to the Taiwanese and Chinese. (TrendForce, press, TrendForce[cn], press, TechNews)
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| Samsung is working on developing QLED (quantum dot light emitting devices) TVs for consumer market. QLED has the potential to match the “infinite” contrast ratio of OLED, with better power efficiency, better color and more. Two of the big players in quantum dots, Nanosys (used in Samsung TVs) and QDVision (used in TCL and others), are working on QLED. (CNET, TechNews, Consumer Reports)
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| Aymar de Lencquesaing, co-president of Lenovo’s mobile business group says, bendable smartphones could be a reality in 5 years. (CNBC, CN Beta) |
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Camera |
| The proposals came closer to reality in Japan, which became one of the first markets allowing vehicles to use cameras instead of mirrors. The promise of mirrorless cars is sparking a rush of suppliers to the technology, including such entrants as Japan’s Ichikoh Industries and Germany’s Robert Bosch GmbH. (CN Beta, Auto News)
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Memory |
| Toshiba and U.S. partner Western Digital will commit JPY1.5 trillion (USD14.6 billion) over 3 years toward stepping up flash memory production at their jointly run Japanese plant, to widen global market share. (Nikkei) |
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Sensory |
| Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Germany, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and University of Georgia in the US have so far been able to train software to identify where a person is looking with an accuracy of about 1cm on a mobile phone and 1.7cm on a tablet. An app GazeCapture is created to gather data about how people look at their phones. (Deccan Chronicle, India Times, Technology Review, CN Beta)
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Smartphones |
| A total of JPY3.8 trillion (USD37 billion) was involved in plans to acquire Japanese businesses in 1H16, up 77% from the year-ago period and the most in nine years, according to Tokyo-based consultancy Recof. Meanwhile, the amount involved in Japanese companies making acquisitions abroad declined 70% to 1.92 trillion yen, a reversal from last year’s record level. (Nikkei, CN Beta) |
| According to Tech Pro Research, 51% of survey respondents rated the Apple iPhone as very good or excellent in security. Samsung is a distant second in respondents’ minds, with only 30 percent of respondents rating Samsung smartphone security as very good or excellent. (CN Beta, ZDNet, Tech Pro Research)
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| Indian government has made it clear that Apple do not have to submit a fresh application for reconsideration under new norms. Under the changes made last month, single-brand retailers selling ‘state of the art’ or ‘cutting edge technology’ products will not have to meet this condition for up to 3 years from the commencement of operations. (Economic Times, Tech Portal, CN Beta) |
| The Cyberspace Administration of China put national news outlets on notice, warning them not to base reports on social media sources without strict verification of the facts. (The Guardian, SCMP, CAC, Engadget, Tencent, East Day) |
| Samsung annual sustainability report revealed its sales decline in China has continued for the third consecutive year, dropping to 18%, 16%, and 15% consecutively. Expressed in terms of annual revenue decline, Samsung made KRW40.1 trillion (USD34.9 billion) in 2013, KRW33 trillion in 2014, and KRW31 trillion in 2015. (Phone Arena, Korea Herald, Sina) |
| Xiaomi will launch Xiaomi Pay third-party mobile payment services in China in late 3Q16 or early 4Q16. (Digitimes, My Drivers, Tencent) |
| KPMG 2016 Global CEO Outlook interviewed 1268 CEOs worldwide, from 10 main markets of 11 main industries. Globally, 72% of CEOs believe that the next 3 years will be more critical for their industry than the last 50 years. Change will be led by technology, connected consumers and sector convergence. (199IT, KPMG report)
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| ZTE nubia N1 is unveiled – 5.5” FHD LCD display, MediaTek Helio P10 MT6755 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, LTE (VoLTE), dual-SIM, USB Type-C, 5000mAh battery, CNY1699. (Sina, Phone Arena, VR-Zone, Pocket Now)
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| Oukitel K7000 is announced – 5” HD display, MediaTek Helio P10 MT6755 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 2/3GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 6.0, LTE, IP53 certified, 7000mAh battery (with only 4mm thick). (Gizmo China, IB Times, WCCF Tech, China Topix)
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Wearables |
| The VR market in China is expected to reach USD860 million in 2016 and accelerate to USD8.5 billion by 2020. In the last six months alone, the Chinese VR market has seen a flurry of investments, partnerships and new ventures involving both local and international players. With capabilities in low cost, mass scale manufacturing, a hot investment climate, and international support, China could become the epicenter of the global VR market’s growth. (Venture Beat, article, Bloomberg, CN Beta) |
| The Classon bike helmet from Broklyness is designed to improve safety and visibility with gesture-activated turn signals, automatic brake lights, blind spot detection, and more. (CN Beta, Tree Hugger, Gizmag)
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Internet of Things |
| Apple is reportedly going on discussion to produce cars by 2019, which will run 400-500 miles on per single charge. (CN Beta, The Hacked News, WSJ, Tech Insider) |
| Venture capitalist Jim Breyer believes that artificial intelligence (AI) is an area, which will create more wealth than that made for internet and social network investors. (CN Beta, CNBC) |
| The Nikkei’s 2015 global market share survey, which covered 55 major product and service categories, showing that Chinese companies are strengthening their presence in the global marketplace, boosting their market shares on the back of huge domestic demand. (Nikkei, Nikkei[cn])
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