11-9: LeEco allegedly owed 18 corps, in total CNY4.5B; Moto rumored will be the only one phone brand for Lenovo in the future; etc.
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Chipset |
| Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) winning sole supplier status for Apple’s A10 chip has seen the company’s revenue in 2016 to surge 32%. TSMC currently has a current market value of USD156B and accounts for 16% of Taiwan’s entire equity market value. (9to5Mac, Bloomberg, WCCF Tech, Mac Rumors) |
| The board of TSMC has approved capital appropriations of approximately USD4.91B to expand capacity for advanced-node manufacturing, as well as upgrading advanced packaging capacity to next-generation technology, R&D capital investments and sustaining capital expenditure for 1Q17. (Digitimes, press, OfWeek) |
| UC San Diego has built the first semiconductor-free, laser-controlled microelectronics device that uses free electrons, much as vacuum tubes do. The research could result in better solar panels and faster microelectronic devices that can carry more power. (Engadget, Digital Trends, UC San Diego, 163)
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Touch Panel |
| Samsung Display aims to ship out more than 550M units of small- and medium-sized organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels in 2017, up over 35% from 2016 output target. According to IHS Markit, OLED is expected to make up 52% of the market in 2020 to share the market equally with current mainstream liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. (OfWeek, FPDisplay, Pulse News)
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| According to TrendForce, global shipments of large-size LCD panels (≥7”) will continue to contract in 2017, registering an annual decline of 2.4% to around 725M units. On the other hand, the supply area of large-size panels will expand next year on account of strong demand for large monitors and TV sets. TrendForce forecasts that global supply area of large-size panels will post an annual increase of 3.8% in 2017. (TrendForce, press, TrendForce[cn], press, TechNews)
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| Taiwan-based makers shipped 62.29M large-size (9” and above) TFT-LCD panels in 3Q16, increasing 6.7% on quarter and 6.2% on year, and accounting for 34.3% of the global total, according to Digitimes Research. Taiwan-based makers’ shipments in 4Q16 will decline 4.4% sequentially to 59.53M panels. (Digitimes, press) |
| Huawei is allegedly working on a concept phone with ‘quad-edge screen’ and scheduled for release in Dec. 2016. The said Huawei Concept phone is not just a new product but a new product line or brand which perhaps would bore many offspring in the future. (Android Headlines, Newhua, iFeng, Gizmo China, My Drivers) |
| J. P. Morgan has delved deeply into Apple’s most recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 10-K filing, and sees purchase orders extending over 1 year in duration which suggests to them that Apple is in the middle of a big OLED buy from Samsung. J.P. Morgan has noted that Apple has placed a purchase order with more than 1 year duration for the first time, and totals around USD4B. (CN Beta, Apple Insider) |
| Samsung has launched SUHD (super Ultra HD) TVs, a QD (quantum dot) TV, to compete with OLED TVs launched by LG, but Samsung’s development of QD display technology is geared toward QLED (quantum dot LED), according to Digitimes Research. Samsung plans to begin production of QLED TVs in 2019. (Digitimes, press, OfWeek, EE Focus) |
| Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) has disclosed it shipped 35.94M small- to medium-size LCD panels and 84K large-size units in Oct. 2016, the former slipping 3.8% on month but rising 9.1% on year, and the latter growing 0.9% but falling 36.2% respectively. (Digitimes, press, Sina) |
| AU Optronics (AUO) has disclosed it shipped 9.40M large-size LCD panels and 11.59M small- to medium-size ones in Oct. 2016, shrinking 4.8% and 10.9% respectively on month. (Digitimes, press) |
| Graphene Flagship has found a new potential application for graphene: mechanical pixels. By applying a pressure difference across graphene membranes, the perceived color of the graphene can be shifted continuously from red to blue. This effect could be exploited for use as colored pixels in e-readers and other low-powered screens. The research was a collaborative effort from researchers at TU Delft, Netherlands, and Graphenea, Spain. (CN Beta, eeDesignIt, Phys)
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Camera |
| Digital Photography Review has reviewed Apple iPhone 7 Plus dual-camera, and indicates that Apple has taken an existing technology and lift it up to the next level. The Apple version is the first to provide real added value, at least as long as you are shooting in relatively bright light. (CN Beta, Digital Photography Review, CIO)
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Memory |
| SK Hynix will start mass-producing the 48-layer 3D-NAND chips from later in Nov. 2016, becoming the world’s 2nd chipmaker to do so following Samsung. With the planned production, the company’s NAND chip output is expected to more than double from the current 10K units of the 12” wafers per month to some 20K~30K units at the end of 2016. (The Investor, Elecfans)
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| Toshiba is set to build a brand new fabrication plant in Yokkaichi Operations in Mie, Japan, dedicated to the production of 3D Flash memory. With construction set to begin in early 2017, the fab. will sit alongside a new Memory research and development centre that will also be constructed over the next couple of years. (Kit Guru, TechNews) |
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Battery |
| Dialog Semiconductor to make a USD10M investment in Energous and become the exclusive component supplier of the WattUp integrated circuits (ICs), while Energous is able to leverage Dialog’s broad sales and distribution channels to accelerate market adoption. (Digitimes, Reuters, Asia Today, Street Insider) |
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Connectivity |
| Google’s latest Android 7.0 Nougat Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) has expanded upon implementations for a USB port in both peripheral and host modes. There are specific recommendations and requirements now applied in support of the USB Battery Charging specifications, revision 1.2, including USB Power Delivery. (Android Headlines, Android Police, Android and Me, Pocket Now)
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| Market watchers expect Apple’s decision to fully adopt USB Type-C connectors for its new MacBook Pros to accelerate other notebook vendors’ adoption of USB Type-C technology in their products which should benefit connector makers including BizLink Holding, Good Way Technology and Foxlink, according to Digitimes. (Digitimes, press) |
| “We have a number of businesses that will be touched by 5G,” from mobile devices to consumer electronics, said Alok Shah, VP of strategy, business development and marketing in Samsung Electronics America’s Networks Division. He thinks Samsung is well positioned to be a contributor and drive the success of 5G forward. (Android Headlines, Fierce Wireless) |
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Smartphones |
| According to Canalys, Huawei has shipped over 10M units in EMEA in 3Q16. It accounted for 14% of smart phone shipments in the region, behind Apple at 15% and Samsung at 37%. Huawei has already shipped just over 26M smartphones in EMEA in 2016. (CN Beta, Canalys, press)
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| LeEco North American operations lead Brian Hui indicates that LeEco is focusing on building more healthy financial operation; car was a “highest priority” and would continue – not anticipating layoffs on the U.S. team; LeEco was not carrying debt to its suppliers; all of the phones in U.S. sold in a little over 4 hours but declined to say exactly how many units were sold. (CN Beta, TechNode, TechCrunch)
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| According to 21st Century Economy Report, based on 2016 half-year report disclosure and investor interactive platform, LeEco falls into the top-5 companies to collect debt for 18 companies, which amounts to CNY450M. (CN Beta, iFeng, Sohu, 21Jingji)
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| Qihoo 360 founder Zhou Hongyi deems that some hardware vendors, which sell devices at lost, is a “shameful action”, because this contradicts the basic law of business development. (CN Beta, 163, Sohu) |
| Prosecutors raided Samsung ‘s offices in Seoul on Tuesday amid allegations that it provided illicit favors to the daughter of Choi Soon-sil, President Park Geun-hye’s close friend at the center of an influence-peddling scandal. The prosecution said it raided the offices in charge of external affairs, located in Samsung Group’s headquarters in southern Seoul, and confiscated documents related to the tech giant’s business with the Korea Equestrian Federation. (CN Beta, BBC, Daily Sun, Korea Herald) |
| Samsung has updated the Samsung Print Service to provide support for the Mopria wireless printing platform. The service will ultimately mean that many Samsung Galaxy smartphone customers will be able to wirelessly print to over 88 million printers. (Android Headlines, Financial Channel, Yahoo, Samsung Printing Solutions, Dadou)
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| Apple has begun selling refurbished iPhones from its U.S. online store. At the moment, the company is only selling a few models of the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. (Apple Insider, Sina, My Drivers)
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| Lenovo will no longer market phones under its own brand name; all future handsets will be ‘Moto’ phones. (GSM Arena, Campaign Asia, Droid Life, Hexun, Sina, 163) |
| Lenovo launching Moto M – 5.5” FHD Super AMOLED display, MediaTek Helio P15 MT6755T processor, 16MP PDAF + 8MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 32GB storage, Android 6.0, LTE, dual-SIM, fingerprint sensor, 3050mAh battery, CNY1999. (Gizmo China, CN Beta, Phone Radar)
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Tablets and PCs |
| Apple has been placing orders for new MacBook Pros recently and the strong shipments are expected to last until the end of 2016, since Apple is optimistic about the sales in 4Q16. MacBook shipments in 2017 are also expected to stay at the same level as in 2016— Apple’s MacBook shipments to reach 15M units in 2016, with shipments staying at that level in 2017. (Digitimes, press, TechWeb, Tencent, IT Home) |
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Wearables |
| As published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple’s patent for “Augmented reality maps” describes a mapping app capable of tapping into iPhone’s advanced sensor suite to present users with real-time augmented views of their surrounding environment. (Apple Insider, USPTO, Tencent, 163)
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Internet of Things |
| Xiaomi launching Mi Air Mask with an inbuilt fan and an air purifier that has a 99% success rate in filtering particles of PM 2.5. It is priced at CNY89. (Android Headlines, India.com, My Drivers, Kejixun, 163)
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| London School of Economics found that aggressive drivers will try to ‘bully’ the occupants of self-driving cars as they will be seen as ‘easy prey’, because they will follow the Highway Code. Erik Coelingh, the senior technical leader at Volvo, has said the cars will be unmarked ‘to be on the safe side’. (CN Beta, The Guardian, Daily Mail, The Observer)
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| Google’s parent company Alphabet is being forced to scale back its drone delivery program, Project Wing. Some Project Wing staffers are being laid off or reassigned within Alphabet. The company also canceled a plan to deliver Starbucks coffee via drone (Android Headlines, CN Beta, Business Insider, Bloomberg)
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Economic |
| A new animation from the American Museum of Natural History shows the exponential growth of human species, from less than 1M people when modern humans began migrating out of Africa about 100,000 years ago to more than 7.2B alive today. (CN Beta, Daily Mail)
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