3-16: ARM and TSMC collaborates on 7nm; TSMC and MediaTek collaborates on IoT, Toshiba discovers 7 more financial errors; Samsung Galaxy S7 costs USD225; etc.
ARM and TSMC are working on 7nm chips; TSMC and MediaTek prolong collaboration on ultra-low power technology to capture the rising IoT market; Toshiba discovers 7 new accounting errors; Morgan Stanley forecasts 1Q16 Apple iPhone sales to reach 56.6 million units; Xiaomi is working on VR for the following 5 years; Sony Playstation VR is priced at USD399; etc.
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Chipsets |
| ARM and TSMC have agreed to join forces to develop a 7nm chip in the next few years. (Android Authority, Tom’s Hardware, IT Home, China Times) |
| Competition in the smartphone chipset solution market is expected to heat up in 2H16 when major players including Qualcomm, MediaTek, Spreadtrum and HiSilicon. (Digitimes, press)
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| TSMC and MediaTek prolong collaboration on ultra-low power technology to capture the rising IoT market. (TechNews, Yahoo) |
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Display |
| Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences invents glass that can turn from clear to opaque in less than a second. It is made by using a sheet of glass sandwiched between two sheets of clear, soft elastomer. These have been sprayed with a coating of silver nanowires. (CN Beta, Optics Letter, CNET)
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Memory |
| Toshiba has overstated past profits by JPY5.8 billion (USD51.30 million) on a pretax basis due to 7 new accounting errors, on top of the JPY224.8 billion in overstated profits it has already announced. (CN Beta, iFeng, Yahoo) |
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Smartphones |
| Emerging markets are at a turning point with a reversal in sight, said Mark Mobius, executive chairman at Templeton Emerging Markets Group, signaling optimism after the worst annual rout in four years. (News Max, TechNews, Business Standard) |
| Morgan Stanley’s AlphaWise iPhone Tracker is calling for 56.5 million units of Apple iPhones to be sold during the Jan-Mar quarter. According to Katy Huberty, the supply chain inventory digestion has come to an end, and China has been providing the strongest growth. (Street Insider, Phone Arena, Tencent, C114) |
| While the US Department of Commerce has placed sanctions on ZTE, Taiwan-based networking / communication device makers indicated that their shipments to ZTE will not be seriously impacted. (Digitimes) |
| According to an estimation by IHS, the components used in Samsung Galaxy S7 cost a total of USD255 (in US it is sold at USD670). . The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC from apparently costs USD62. IHS adds that the camera module on the Samsung Galaxy S7 costs USD13.70. (IHS, Yahoo, NDTV, TechNews) |
| UMi Touch is official – 5.5” FHD 2.5D curved glass display, MediaTek MT6753 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 6.0 / Windows 10, 4000mAh battery, USD149.99. (GSM Arena, UMi, MS Poweruser)
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| Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus is announced in India – 5” FHD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, LTE, dual-SIM, 2750mAh battery, INR8499. (GSM Arena, Android Central)
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| Vernee Apollo is to be released soon – 5.5” QHD display, MediaTek Helio X20 (MT6797) processor, 21MP + 8MP cameras, 6GB RAM, 128GB storage, USB Type-C. (Vernee, Phones Review, Android Headlines, GizChina)
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Wearables |
| Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun indicates that the company has established a R&D center for VR products, but it will not be launch in coming 5 years. (CN Beta, Nikkei) |
| Sony has announced that the PlayStation VR will cost USD399, and will be available in October 2016. (The Verge, CN Beta)
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| Fossil announces three new wearables, Android Wear Q Marshal and Q Wander, as well as a smart analog watch. (Pocket-Lint, Ubergizmo, Mashable, Fossil, PR Newswire)
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| Internet of Things |
| Juniper Research forecast that by 2020, 10% of American households would have at least one robot, up from just 4% this year. (Juniper Research, press, EE Times, OfWeek) |
