06-20: vivo is announcing 120W superfast charging technology; A special team within Apple has allegedly been tasked with investigating the costs of moving 15%~30% of iPhone; etc.
Chipsets
Samsung Electronics has announced that it will strengthen its neural processing unit (NPU) capabilities to further extend the reach of its artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. In line with its focus on next-generation NPU technologies, Samsung plans to create over 2,000 related jobs worldwide by 2030. (Android Authority, Samsung, Sohu)
He Gang, the president of Huawei’s consumer mobile business unit has announced that Huawei will be the first mobile phone company with two 7nm SoC chips. HiSilicon Kirin 810 is the successor to the 12nm Kirin 710 and will appear first in the Nova 5. (Gizmo China, Weibo, CN Beta)
Xilinx hopes that its adaptive compute acceleration platform (ACAP) will help datacenters deal with computing demands from artificial intelligence (AI). Xilinx is announcing it is shipping Versal ACAP, its first chips that use the technology. Xilinx has spent more than UD1B and 4 years of development time to make the new kind of programmable chip. (Xilinx, VentureBeat, Sohu, OfWeek)
Touch Display
Samsung has filed an application with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) for the trademark Digital Bezel. Samsung will reportedly release devices in the future with pressure or touch sensitive keys replacing physical buttons, which is believed where Digital Bezel applies. (CN Beta, Sam Mobile, Kipris)
A Chinese-Taiwanese consortium formed to invest in Japan Display Inc (JDI) has said a Chinese provincial government has pledged support for its proposed panel plant. The consortium “has solidified Zhejiang government support in the planned USD6B OLED plant construction and its capital syndication”. The consortium has previously said it intends make OLED panels in China using Japan Display technology. (CN Beta, Reuters)
Camera
Xiaomi is reportedly working on a smartphone with a 64MP primary camera. Found in the latest MIUI 10 China Developer ROM for the Redmi K20 Pro, the strings reference a 64MP “ultra-pixel” mode several times. (XDA-Developers, Android Authority, Weibo, CN Beta)
Sony is reportedly developing a smartphone with 6 cameras, with the following specs: 20MP (f/2.4) + 48MP (f/1.2-f/2.4) + 16MP (f/2.4) + 8MP (f/2.4) + 12MP (f/1.2-f/2.4) + 0.5MP ToF. (GizChina, IT Home, Twitter, Sina)
Battery
vivo is announcing 120W superfast charging technology, which can jack up a 4000mAh mobile phone to 50% in 5 minutes, and to 100% in 13 minutes, making it the fastest in the industry. (GizChina, My Drivers)
Connectivity
Dish Network is allegedly in talks to pay at least USD6 B for assets that T-Mobile US and Sprint are unloading to win regulatory approval for their merger. (CN Beta, The Verge, Bloomberg)
After racking up USD59B of net debt to survive a brutal war in the world’s second-biggest phone-services market, some of India’s billionaires are bracing for more as their next battle looms: 5G. ndia seeks to raise $84 billion this year from a sale of airwaves — most of it for the latest technology tipped to revolutionize connectivity — posing a conundrum for the carriers controlled by tycoons including Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s wealthiest man. (CN Beta, Bloomberg, Economic Times)
Phone
A recent SUMO Heavy survey of just over 1,000 US adults found that nearly half (46%) never use virtual assistants with only 19% saying they use one rarely. A full 6% of respondents said they use a voice assistant monthly while 13% use weekly and 16% do so on a daily basis. (Search Engine Land, Techspot, CN Beta)
Newzoo has outlined the top 35 public companies connected with gaming, with Apple firmly seated in the top 5 firms, beaten only by Tencent, Sony, and Microsoft and just ahead of Activision Blizzard. The top 35 public game companies generated USD114B in 2018, up from USD100.2B in 2017. (Apple Insider, Newzoo, report, Macx)
A special team within Apple has allegedly been tasked with investigating the costs of moving 15%~30% of iPhone, iPad and AirPod to other countries to reduce the impact of US / China tariffs. Apple’s 90% of all products are reportedly assembled in China. (Apple Insider, Nikkei, 36Kr)
Huawei’s founder and president, Ren Zhengfei, has indicated that intellectual property rights are created through labor, so cross-licensing and mutual payment between us and other companies are necessary, but we cannot use it as a weapon to suppress the development of human society. (GizChina, C114, CN Beta)
Counterpoint Research reports that the market for premium smartphones shrunk 8% globally during 1Q19. It defines smartphones as “premium” based on their price – over USD400. Apple’s shipment has dropped 20% on year in 1Q19, resulting in the decline for the global premium segment. (GSM Arena, Counterpoint Research)
PC / Tablet
Education computer company Kano has partnered with Microsoft to offer a full 2-in-1 laptop and tablet solution that kids can build themselves. The Kano PC has am 11.6” touchscreen, transparent case back and full-sized keyboard cover. The kit contains everything needed to build the notebook, including step-by-step instructions ideal for younger students to follow. (The Verge, Teller China, VentureBeat, CNET, Pocket Lint)
Artificial Intelligence
MIT’s new study in deep neural networking, titled “How to make a pizza: Learning a compositional layer-based GAN model”, explores how machine learning can be used to transform a single image of a dish into a step-by-step guide on how to create it. The PizzaGAN project is described as an experiment in how to teach a machine to make a pizza by recognizing aspects of cooking, such as adding and subtracting ingredients or cooking the dish. (Engadget, MIT, ZDNet, Gizmodo, CN Beta, Epoch Times)
IBM has developed an AI model that can predict malignant breast cancer within a year with an 87% accuracy rate comparable to human radiologists. While there are already AI prediction methods that rely on either mammogram images or medical records, IBM’s stands out by using both — and it is potentially more reliable as a result. (Engadget, IBM, OfWeek, QQ)
