10-26: Apple, HTC financial report – Apple earns less, HTC loses less; Google Pixel XL costs USD285.75; etc.
| Chipset |
| Intel launching Atom E3900 processor series, focusing on the Internet of Things. At its core there are 2 or 4 Goldmont CPU cores, paired with 12 or 18 EU configurations of Intel’s Gen9 iGPU, and they have TDP ratings of 6 watts to 12 watts. (CN Beta, Linkwan, Liliputing, Intel, AnandTech, article)
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| ARM’s partners shipped more than 15B in 2015, generating USD50B in chip sales. ARM CEO Masayoshi Son expects that the Internet of Things (IoT), or enabling everyday objects to be smart and connected, will lead to an explosion of new technologies. It will lead to 1T connected IoT devices. (CN Beta, Venture Beat, ARM)
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| ARM has announced a comprehensive portfolio of products and services including core, OS and cloud-based SaaS that promises to greatly simplify the creation of secure IoT systems—TrustZone technology, mbed OS and mbed Cloud. (EE Times, PC Mag, PC World, SanWen8, Digitimes)
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| AMD has announced revenues for 3Q16 of USD1.307B, up 27% on quarter, up 23% on year primarily due to record semi-custom SoC and higher GPU and mobile APU sales, partially offset by client desktop processor and chipset sales. Operating losses of USD293M, and a net loss of USD406M. (Digitimes, HPC Wire, AMD, Tencent, 163, EE Focus, TechWeb)
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| Memory |
| SK Hynix has reported operating profits of KRW726B (USD640.5M) for 3Q16, up 60% sequentially, while consolidated revenues increased 8% on quarter to KRW4.24T. SK Hynix credited its revenue growth to improving market conditions thanks to roll-outs of new mobile products and steady demand from the PC segment. (Barron’s, TechNews, SK Hynix, Digitimes, Yonhap News)
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| Sensory |
| Google has acquired virtual reality eye-tracking software developer Eyefluence. Founded in 2013, Eyefluence offers eye-tracking software that can be integrated with head-mounted VR and AR displays. To date, the company has raised USD21.6M in 2 rounds. (CN Beta, eWeek, Digital Trends, Business Insider)
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| Battery |
| Avant Garde Innovations has developed a low-cost wind turbine that can generate sufficient electricity that can power a modern home for an entire lifetime at a cost of just USD750. The device can reportedly generate as much as 3~5kWh per day — more than enough to power a household in under-developed regions. (Next Shark, Electronic Products, Economic Times)
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| Apple’s patent titled “Induction charging system” describes method to improve energy transmission by disposing a layer of ferrofluids between an inductive unit’s transceiver and receiver coils. (Apple Insider, USPTO, 163)
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| Solid-state battery technology with solid-state electrolytes is much safer than lithium ion batteries that rely on liquid-based electrolytes. They have higher energy densities and longer life cycles than traditional lithium ion batteries too. But solid-state electrolytes are expensive to make. (CN Beta, Android Authority, IDTechEx)
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| Renewables are the leading source of global energy, surpassing coal in 2015. According to International Energy Agency, 2015-2021 the world expects the he share of renewable energy to increase 13%. Most of that growth will take place in China and India, with the United States also poised to add more energy from renewables. (CN Beta, UPI, BBC, Planet Experts, Planet Save)
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| Connectivity |
| The Wi-Fi Alliance has officially certified WiGig, also known as 802.11ad. Though operating within a limited range of just under 33ft., WiGig employs beamforming for transfers up to 8Gbps. (Apple Insider, Wi-Fi, 163)
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| Link is bringing its public access points to London in 2017, making it the first market outside of New York it will enter. The LinkUK ‘Links’ kiosks are the product of a partnership with BT and will offer a number of free services, including gigabit Wi-Fi, etc. (CN Beta, Business Insider, BBC, TNW)
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| Google Fiber, which launched a few years ago to bring 1Gbps Internet access to many cities across the US, has decided to curtail its once ambitious expansion plans. (Android Authority, Google Fiber, Dahe, CN Beta) |
| Apple’s patent titled “Power management in crowd-sourced lost-and-found service” details an invention that enlists the power of the digital community to locate commonly misplaced items, from backpacks to keys. (CN Beta, Apple Insider, Tom’s Guide)
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| Smartphones |
| According to GfK, global smartphone demand totaled 353M units in 3Q16, up 7% on quarter and up 7% on year. This was driven by continued strong growth in China, together with increases in all other regions, except North America. Smartphone revenues in the quarter totaled USD104B (up 4% on quarter and 9% on year). (Android Headlines, GfK, press, Pocket Now, CJN)
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| According to Counterpoint Research, the demand for smartphones in China grew a healthy 8% annually and 7% sequentially in 3Q16. OPPO and vivo became the number one and two smartphone brands in China capturing 17% and16% share, respectively. (Android Authority, CNET, Android Headlines, Counterpoint, press, 10JQKA)
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| The bill of materials (BOM) cost, including component costs and assembly costs, for the new Google Pixel XL 5.5” phone with 32GB of NAND flash memory comes to USD285.75, according to a preliminary teardown estimate from IHS Markit. (Android Headlines, GSM Arena, IHS Markit, press, iFeng)
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| Apple announced Q4 fiscal 2016 (Jul.~Sept. 2016) – 45.5M iPhones sold, USD46.9B revenues (down 9% from same period last year), USD9B net income, revenues of Apple services including Apple Music and Apple Pay jumps 24% to USD6.325B. (Apple Insider, Apple Insider, Apple Insider, Financial Times, Apple)
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| Apple CEO Tim Cook indicates that the company is interested in boosting original entertainment content as it looks to build on its early forays into TV-style programming. (CN Beta, Variety, Inverse, Yahoo) |
| Apple reportedly increase production of iPhone 7 to 25% aiming to grab the demand of Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Samsung also increase the production of Galaxy S7 series hoping to compensate the loss from Note 7. (CN Beta, Bloomberg, Apple Insider, Yahoo) |
| Apple CEO Tim Cook ‘not sure’ Apple will meet iPhone 7 Plus demand by the end of 2016. (CN Beta, TechCrunch) |
| Samsung’s decision to scrap its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone likely erased 0.1~0.2 percentage points from 3Q16 GDP growth in quarterly terms in Korea. (CN Beta, Reuters, Channel News Asia, Yahoo) |
| Google is reportedly unable to fulfill all Pixel and Pixel XL orders in a timely manner— “shipping department is running 3 weeks behind”. (Phone Arena, 9to5Google, USA Today) |
| HTC managed to narrow its net losses to NTD1.8B (USD57.1M) in 3Q16, down from NTD3.1B recorded a quarter earlier. For the first 3 quarters of 2016, net losses totaled NTD7.5B. (TechNews, Digitimes, Reuters, Seeking Alpha, Yahoo, China Times, HTC) |
| Xiaomi Mi Note 2 and MIX are announced in China, powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor: Mi Note 2 – 5.7” FHD OLED with curved edges display, 22.56MP EIS + 8MP cameras, 4 / 6GB RAM, 64 / 128GB ROM, Android 6.0 (MIUI 8), LTE (37 bands), fingerprint scanner, 4070mAh battery, from CNY2799. Mi MIX – 6.4” 2040×1080 edgeless display (91.3% screen-to-body ratio), 16MP PDAF + 5MP cameras, 4 / 6GB RAM, 64 / 128GB ROM, fingerprint scanner, 4400mAh battery, from CNY3499. (Android Central, Android Authority, Android Authority, CN Beta, GizChina, Gizmo China, CN Beta)
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| vivo Y67 is official in China – 5.5” HD IPS LCD display, MediaTek MT6750 processor, 13MP + 16MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 32GB storage, LTE Cat. 6, dual-SIM, 3000mAh battery, CNY1798. (Android Headlines, GSM Dome, ZOL)
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| BlackBerry DTEK60 is official – 5.5” QHD IPS LCD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 processor, 21MP PDAF + 8MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 32GB storage, Android 6.0, USB Type-C, fingerprint sensor, 3000mAh battery, USD499. (CN Beta, Engadget, Digital Trends, Android Central, TechCrunch) |
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Tablets |
| Loop serves as a video communication device, family media player, voice-and-gesture-controlled smart screen, and video-sharing hub. It is targeted as a kitchen screen or as a second screen in the living room. It has a 9.7” 1024×768 display, with a high quality speaker. It is priced at USD199. (CN Beta, Venture Beat, The Verge, Loop)
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Wearables |
| Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella indicates that the ultimate computer for him is the mixed reality world (MR). He also admits that the company clearly has missed the “mobile boom”. (CN Beta, Engadget, Softpedia) |
| Xiaomi Mi VR is official with CNY199 – includes a hardware-level motion sensor, and it has a 16ms ultra-low latency, while the 9-axis inertial motion controller is also included in the package. (Android Headlines, Leiphone, Road to VR, NDTV)
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| The Zotac VR Go Backpack is a wearable computer with GeForce GTX 1070 graphics and a hot swappable, 2×9000mAh battery system. The system features a Core i5-6400T processor, 8GB of RAM, a 120GB M.2 SSD, and a 1TB 2.5 inch hard drive. (Liliputing, Zotac, Tom’s Hardware, VR Focus, ZOL, 163)
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| New York City startup IrisVR is announcing that it has raised USD8M in Series A funding. The company has built virtual reality tools for the architecture and design industries. (TechCrunch, PR Newswire, Baidu VR)
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| Magic Leap’s new patent “virtual or augmented reality headsets having adjustable interpupillary distance” describes a VR / AR headset with a dial that can change the distance between the device’s images and the wearer’s eyes. The headset is much sleeker and slimmer than what is currently available on the market. (TechNews, UploadVR, Shack News)
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| Fossil Group launched more than 40 new smartwatch hybrids across its accessory brands like Emporio Armani, Kate Spade New York, Michael Kors, Diesel and Chaps. (CN Beta, CNN, Ars Technica, Android Headlines)
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Internet of Things |
| Apple has reportedly hired away many engineers from BlackBerry’s QNX project to work on the new Apple initiative. Now based on Kanata, an Ottawa suburb, the effort is said to be focusing on self-driving cars, with an AR heads-up display integrating apps supported by Siri and other hands-off technologies. (Bloomberg, Apple Insider, 163) |
| IBM has announced an extension of the MobileFirst for iOS program that integrates Watson cognitive computing technology to bring natural language processing, deep data analytics and more to iOS 10. (Apple Insider, Yahoo, ZDNet, Sohu) |
| Apple CEO Tim Cook does not think the future of artificial intelligence will infringe on users’ privacy, the way it does now. (CN Beta, Quartz, Mac Rumors) |
| Microsoft is open-sourcing the Cognitive Toolkit that has led to many key developments such as Skype Translator and Cortana coming out of its dedicated AI division. (Engadget, Microsoft, Cognitive Toolkit, GitHub, 163, 10JQKA)
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| Uber’s self-driving truck company Otto just completed its first shipment: 18-wheeler tractor trailer with 50,000 cans of Budweiser for 120 miles. (TechNews, The Verge)
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