10-29: Apologize for yesterday absence – Samsung, LG mobile 3Q16 finance – one earned less, one lost a lot; OPPO offline retails in China and Asia amount to 320,000; etc.
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Chipset |
| In China, consolidation will also take place within the three broad sections of the semiconductor sector, namely foundry, IC testing/packaging and fabless design. According to TrendForce, various Chinese semiconductor enterprises will be integrated under the “virtual IDM” model during 2017. At the same time, the trend of integration will also become more noticeable among Chinese providers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. (TrendForce, press, TrendForce[cn], press)
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| ARM announced 2 chipset designs for IoT, namely the ARM Cortex-M23 and ARM Cortex-M33, integrating ARM TrustZone technology. Cortex-M23 is low power small footprint core, and Cortex-M33 core is with processing power similar to Cortex-M3/M4 cores, as well as Cordio Radio IP for Bluetooth 5 and 802.15.4 connectivity. (Android Headlines, CNX Software, Electronic Design, D1Net)
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| Samsung has announced 2 new family with ARTIK 0 modules powered by an ARM Cortex-M MCU and destined to be used in HVAC, lighting, industrial sensors, personal health monitoring and more, as well as ARTIK 7 family powered by an Octa-core Cortex A53 processor, and targeting IoT gateways. (CN Beta, Samsung, IoT.do, eWeek, IoT Business Week, CNX Software)
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| Qualcomm is buying NXP Semiconductors for roughly USD38B. The companies pinned the total value of the deal, including debt, at USD47B. (Apple Insider, Reuters, Forbes, CN Beta, EE Focus, IT Home) |
| United Microelectronics (UMC) is expected to move its 14nm FinFET process to volume production in 2Q17, with Bitcoin mining company BitFury being the first customer. (Digitimes, press, EEPW) |
| Sales generated from 28nm process technology accounted for 21% of UMC’s total wafer sales in 3Q16 compared with 17% in 2Q16 and 10% 3Q15. UMC is looking to expand its 28nm process capacity to 35,000 12” wafers monthly in 2017 from the current 30,000 units. (Digitimes, press, China Times, 51Touch)
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Touch Display |
| Samsung Display is betting on panels for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) to further expand its presence in the mobile OLED market. Park Won-sang, Samsung Display’s principal engineer indicates that the shipment of VR devices connected with smartphones would rise more than 10-fold to 66M units in 2017 from 4M units in 2013 (citing ABI Research). (Korea Herald, Sam Mobile, Fudzilla, Cheaa) |
| Samsung Display and LSI have performed well in 3Q16, with operating profit KRW1.02T and KRW3.37T, with 10% and -9% growth, respectively. Samsung is reportedly investing USD24B in its semiconductor division for expansion. (CN Beta, eWeek, Samsung) |
| LG Display posted KRW189B won (USD167M) in net profit for 3Q16, compared with a profit of KRW198B for 3Q15. Its operating profit shed 2.9% on-year to KRW323B, and sales also declined 6.1% to KRW6.72T. (iTer News, Reuters, Yonhap News, Sohu, TechNews)
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| Apple is allegedly to launch 3 models of iPhone in 2017 with 4.7”, 5” and 5.5” display size. The 3 new iPhone models are likely to sport glass backs supplied by China’s Biel Crystal Manufactory and Lens Technology. (Asia Nikkei, CN Beta) |
| New report refutes Apple intends to release 3 new iPhone models in 2017, including a 5” iteration. (Apple Insider, Ubergizmo, Tencent) |
| Based on existing development and established supply chain of Micro-LED, the possibility of successful development in terms of commercial applicability is about 50%, according to general director Wu Chih-I for Electronic and Optoelectronic System Research Laboratories (EOSRL) under the government-sponsored Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). (Digitimes, press) |
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Camera |
| SK Hynix is going to mass-produce 13MP CIS at M10, which is 300mm plant in Icheon, starting from 2017 and reduce production of low-priced CIS with low pixels that are produced from M8, which is 200mm plant in Cheongju. Instead it is going to fill that void by expanding system semiconductor foundries such as DDIC and PMIC. (TechNews, ET News) |
| Samsung VP of mobile Lee Kyeong-tae revealed that the upcoming Galaxy S8 will feature “slick design”, an improved camera, and an enhanced AI service. (GSM Arena, WSJ, Android Headlines, Phone Arena, 163, CNMO) |
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Memory |
| Toshiba introducing new eMMC and UFC embedded memory solution—new ‘Supreme+’ e-MMC (JEDEC ver. 5.1) and UFS (JEDEC ver. 2.1) offerings deliver significant read and write speed improvements to demanding applications. They are based on the company’s 15nm process technology. (CN Beta, PR Newswire, New Electronics, Tech Powerup)
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| SK Hynix plans to produce 10 nm-class DRAM starting from 2Q17. The company said that 20nm geometry DRAM chips account for 20% of its total DRAM production in 3Q16, but plans to lift up to 40%. (iTer News, CEB2B) |
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Biometrics |
| Samsung Galaxy S8 in 2017 reportedly is going to be “full-screen” and to feature optical fingerprint recognition technology with a fingerprint scanner beneath the home button. (CN Beta, BGR, NDTV, Sam Mobile) |
| Samsung has reportedly just recently filed for a patent that revolves around fingerprint swipe gestures. The patent shows that users will be able to access different applications or perform specific activities with a swipe at the fingerprint scanner. (Android Headlines, Phandroid, Sam Mobile, 163)
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| Hitachi has developed an improved method for finger-vein authentication that makes use of a smartphone’s camera, and software that can analyze and identify an individual’s fingers from the vein patterns visible through their skin, making it easier to verify identities for online financial transactions. (CN Beta, IB Times, Asahi)
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Battery |
| China’s Amperex Technology Limited (ATL) has unveiled a new battery that has the capacity to support 40W quick charge and can be fully charged in just 34 minutes. ATL will make the new battery available in 3 sizes, including one variant of 3,000mAh which can be charged to 80% in 17 minutes and 100% in 34 minutes. (CN Beta, Softpedia News, Gizmo China)
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| According to Samsung’s official data, there are 2 batches of recall for Galaxy Note 7 – 1st batch 1.59M units, and 2nd batch, which is to replace the 1st batch, 1.47M units, in total 3.06M. Among the problematic units, there are 117 units in 1st batch, and 90 units in 2nd batch. After analysis, most are the problems of the battery, and there are still other problems that are yet to be found out. (TechNews)
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Material |
| According to Kevin Wang, the director of research at IHS Electronics, production of the Xiaomi Mi Mix will likely be limited to 10,000 units per month since yield rates for the phone’s ceramic body will be extremely low. (Phone Arena, Phandroid, Softpedia, Gizmo China, ChinaZ)
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Connectivity |
| LG Electronics is reportedly introducing Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) -method payment technology to its strategic Smartphone that is expected to be released in spring of 2017. (Android Authority, ET News)
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| Samsung and KT Corporation (formerly Korea Terlecom) announced joint success in establishing and demonstrating the world’s first 5G connection through a network built from end-to-end 5G technologies. The test took place in Suwon, South Korea at Samsung Electronics’ Digital City Campus. (Digital Trends, Samsung, Phone Arena, OfWeek) |
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Smartphones |
| According to IDC, vendors shipped a total of 362.9M smartphones worldwide in 3Q16. Despite the recall of Samsung Galaxy Note 7, volumes were up 1.0% compared to 3Q15 when vendors shipped 359.3M units. Sequentially, shipments grew 5.3% from 344.7 million in 2Q16. (IDC, press, CN Beta, 199IT, Sina)
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| According to BayStreet Research, the vast majority (70%) will remain with Samsung and likely choose a Galaxy S7 device alternative after the Galaxy Note 7 incident. The base case assumes roughly half of switchers (or 15% of total) will choose an Apple iOS device, which equates to only a 200-300K increase to 4Q16 iPhone sales. (Android Headlines, Fierce Wireless) |
| Lee Jae-yong, vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, is set to join the boardroom responsible for the management of the company. (Android Headlines, 163, C114, Candou, Korea Herald)
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| Samsung Electronics’ revenue for 3Q16 was KRW47.82T, a decrease of KRW3.87T YoY, while operating profit for the quarter was KRW5.20T, a decrease of KRW2.19T YoY. Because of Galaxy Note 7, the mobile division posted KRW22.54T in consolidated revenue and KRW0.10T (USD87.8M) in operating profit, which is the lowest figure in the past 8 years. (GSM Arena, Samsung, Tencent) |
| Samsung has acquired Tachyon, an enterprise mobile device configuration and development software provider. (TechCrunch, PR, Apps Tech News) |
| LG has reported that the operating profit for 3Q16 stood at KRW283.2B (USD250.9M), compared with a profit of KRW293.9B for the same quarter last year. Compared to the previous quarter, LG’s operating profit sank 51.6%. Revenue for the third quarter fell 5.7% on year to KRW13.2T. LG’s mobile division posted an operating loss of KRW463.4B, marking its 6th consecutive quarterly loss for its smartphone business. (Android Headlines, CN Beta, Android Police, Softpedia, Phone Arena, Korea Times) |
| Foxconn allegedly plans to build an assembly plant to produce Apple iPhone scheduled to start volume production in 4Q17. (CN Beta, Patently Apple, Digitimes) |
| KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo indicates that as the financial forecast for 1Q17 is pessimistic, Apple might pressure the supply chain to further reduce the cost. He also expects that according to Apple’s 4Q16 (or fiscal 1Q17) forecast, iPhone’s ASP will increase from 3Q16’s USD619 to USD680~700. By then, iPhone would contribute 60~70% of the company’s whole revenue. (CN Beta, Asia Nikkei, 91.com, 163) |
| Throughout China and other Asia countries, OPPO has built a dense sales network. The number of its offline retails is about 320,000. (CN Beta, iFeng, PE Daily) |
| 360 N4S is launched in China – 5.5” FHD display with in-cell, Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, 16MP + 8MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, LTE, dual-SIM, 5000mAh battery, CNY1299. (CN Beta, Gizmo China)
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| ZTE Axon 7 Max is official in China – 6” FHD “Naked 3D” 2.5D curved display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, 2×13MP + 8MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, Android 6.0 (MiFavor 4.0), AK 4962 Codec HIFI chip, USB Type-C, fingerprint scanner, 4100mAh battery, CNY2999. (Gizmo China, GSM Arena, Phone Radar)
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| Huawei Enjoy 6 is announced in China – 5” HD Super AMOLED display, MediaTek MT6750 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 6.0 (EMUI 4.1), 4100mAh battery, CNY1299. (Tencent, South Money, Gizmo China)
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Tablets and PCs |
| Fujitsu and Lenovo have confirmed that both companies are currently in talks over a possible cooperation to design and manufacture PCs, and that ideally the outcome would be that Fujitsu will continue to keep its brand. (Ubergizmo, Reuters, Xinhuanet) |
| Apple announces new MacBook Pro – 13.3” 2560×1600 / 15.4” 2880×1800 IPS LCD display , Intel Core i5 / i7 processor, 8GB / 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, OLED TouchBar with Touch ID, Thunderbolt 3 ports, USD1799 / USD2399. (The Verge, CNET, PC Mag, Gizmodo, Engadget, ZDNET)
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| Microsoft Surface Studio is officially unveiled – 28” 4500×3000 (192dpi) PixelSense touch screen, Intel Core i5 / i7 processor, Wind0ws Hello-enabled 5MP camera, 8GB / 16GB / 32GB RAM, 1TB / 2TB hybrid drive storage, Surface Pen, Keyboard and Mouse, Surface Dial, Windows 10 Pro, USB 3.0 ports, from USD2999. (The Verge, Microsoft, Beta News, Yahoo, PC Mag)
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Wearables |
| Microsoft is partnering with HP, Lenovo, Dell, Asus, and Acer to make VR headsets as a part the new Windows 10 Creator’s Update. The headsets are meant to be affordable and will start at USD299. It features inside-out tracking. (163, CN Beta, Liliputing, Inquisitr, Road to VR, i4U,Geek)
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Internet of Things |
| Chief of research Daryl Plummer delivered Gartner’s 10 strategic predictions for the next 3~5 years. (CN Beta, Network World, Computer World, Gartner full report)
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| Google parent Alphabet is promoting its self-driving car effort from a project at its experimental lab X to its own business under the Alphabet umbrella. (Android Headlines, WSJ, CNET, ET Net) |
| Uber just published a white paper detailing its plan to launch an “on demand aviation” service called Uber Elevate, which is a flying car project. (Ubergizmo, Medium, The Verge, CNET, Uber, 163)
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| Google’s parent company, Alphabet recorded USD5.1B in net income for the 3Q16, 27% increase on year. Revenues came in at USD22.5B for the quarter, 20% increase on year. (Android Authority, Alphabet, Business Times, 4-Traders, First Post, East Money, Sina) |
| Chinese webcam manufacturer Xiongmai has issued a recall of around 10,000 compromised webcams, which were linked to a serious U.S. cyberattack on 21-22 Oct. 2016. (Read/Write, Reuters, 163) |
