IF / News

Chipsets

With the prospects of large 450mm wafers going nowhere, IC manufacturers are increasing efforts to maximize fabrication plants using 300mm and 200mm diameter silicon substrates.  The number of 300mm wafer production-class fabs in operation worldwide is expected to increase each year between now and 2021 to reach 123 compared to 98 in 2016, according to IC Insights. (Laoyaoba, IC Insights, press)

Intel announced its 3Q17 fiscal year ended by 30 Sept 2017, revenue was USD16.1B. Excluding McAfee, revenue was up 6% year-over-year and data-centric businesses grew 15% year-over-year. The data center, Internet of Things and memory businesses all achieved record revenue. (CN Beta, NASDAQ, Intel)

Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset reportedly will be powering the flagship releasing in 2018. It will allegedly be made on a 10nm FinFET manufacturing process. (Gizmo China, Fudzilla, Android Headlines)

Touch Display

Microsoft is reportedly working on a foldable device with an emphasis on pen and digital-ink functionality that runs Windows 10, and it could be here as soon as 2018. Two ongoing internal projects within Microsoft: Cshell and Windows Core OS, play an important part in Microsoft’s next rumored mobile device, which appears to be commonly referred to as “Andromeda”. (CN Beta, SlashGear, The Verge, Pocket Now, Windows Central)

BOE’s Chengdu factory is set to commence mass production of the G6 of flexible AMOLED displays. This is the China’s first and global second G6 flexible OLED panel mass production lines. BOE SVP Zhang Yu indicates that the total CNY45.6B G6 OLED line starts mass production on 26 Oct 2017, and plan to enter full capacity in 2018, which will reach monthly 48K substrates (1850×1500mm). BOE’s another G6 flexible OLED line in Mianyang will enter production in 2019. (My Drivers, Laoyaoba, Laoyaoba, Gizmo China, GizChina)

Camera

LG Innotek recently finished constructing its plant in Vietnam and started trial operations. This is part of investment worth USD230M. LG Innotek is planning to have a production capacity of 100,000 modules per day by end of 2017 and it seems that it will start supplying them on full-scale to Apple in 2018. (Apple Insider, ET News, Laoyaoba, CN Beta)

Smartphones

According to GfK, global smartphone demand reached 367M units in 3Q17, up three percent year-on-year. The record demand was primarily driven by Latin America (up 11% year-on-year) and Central and Eastern Europe (up 9% year-on-year). The average sale price of smartphone is increasing around the globe and has risen 7% in 3Q17 compared to 3Q16.  (Android Authority, GfK, press, Recode, iFeng)

According to Canalys, after a wobble in 2Q17, India’s smartphone market recovered quickly, with shipments growing 23% YoY in 3Q17 to reach just over 40M units. India has now overtaken the United States to become the world’s second largest smartphone market after China. Samsung and Xiaomi, which shipped 9.4M and 9.2M units respectively, accounted for almost half of the total market as the top 5 vendors continued to post strong growth in 3Q17. (GizChina, Canalys, press)

According to the data, over 26B apps were downloaded by Android and iOS users between June and September, an 8% increase on a yearly basis. Users spent nearly 325B  hours on Android apps, a 40% increase over the previous year. Consumers spent USD17B, with USD11B of them on the App Store. App Annie forecasts that users will spend over USD100B on apps by 2021. (GSM Arena, App Annie, press, TechNews)

Samsung, LG, and Sony are the most attractive brands in India in that order, according to the latest survey conducted by market research company TRA.  The research itself was based on data points from various consumer influencers and not consumers themselves, suggesting that its results may not be perfectly representative of reality, though Samsung also appears to be dominating the electronics segment in the South Asian country according to many other industry trackers.  (Android Headlines, Trusted Advisory, brand index)

Manu Kumar Jain, Global Vice President and the Managing Director of Xiaomi India, has announced that the company has managed to sell 4M smartphones in only 1 month (20 Sept 2017 – 19 Oct 2017) in honor of Diwali, a festival of light in India. (Android Headlines, Indian Express, NDTV, CNMO, iMobile, JRJ)

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, had yet another highly successful financial report. For 3Q17 that ended on 30 Sept 2017, it recorded a net income amount of USD6.73B, a 33% increase compared to the same quarter in 2016, when it recorded USD5.1B in net income. Revenues for the quarter came in at USD27.77B, up 24% compared to the USD22.5B amount from the same period a year ago. (CN Beta, Android Authority, Alphabet)

Baidu has announced up to 30 Sept 2017 3Q17 financial report—total revenues were CNY23.5B (USD3.53B), a 29% increase from the corresponding period in 2016. Mobile revenue represented 73% of total revenues for 3Q17, compared to 64% for the corresponding period in 2016. Operating profit was CNY4.7B (USD706M), a 69% increase from the corresponding period in 2016.  (CN Beta, CNBC, Reuters, PR Newswire, Baidu)

Microsoft has announced the following results for the quarter ended 30 Sept 2017 (fiscal year 1Q18): Revenue was USD24.5B and increased 12%, operating income was USD7.7B and increased 15% and net income was USD6.6B and increased 16%. (CN Beta, Microsoft, TechCrunch)

Huawei partners with Sygic and a number of other established mobile developers for the newly announced launch of its Huawei AppStore. The upcoming digital marketplace is hence set to feature two Sygic-made apps, one of which is presented as a leader in its respective category. (Android Headlines)

Koobee F1 is announced in China – 5.7” 1440×720 display, MediaTek MT6750 processor, rear 16MP (software support to 80MP) + front 16MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, Android 6.0 (dido OS 7.6),  3000mAh battery, CNY1799. (GizChina, CNMO)

Philips X596 is launched in China – 5.5” FHD 2.5D curved display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor, 16MP + 16MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 32 / 64GB storage, Android 8.0, 4000mAh battery, from CNY1299. (GizChina, Gizmo China)

OPPO F5 is announced in Philippines – 6” 2160×1080 FHD+ display, MediaTek Helio P23 MT6763T processor, rear 16MP f/1.8 + front 20MP AI-assistant cameras, 4 / 6GB RAM, 32 / 64GB storage, Android 7.1.2 (ColorOS 3.2), facial recognition, 3200mAh battery, from PHP15,990 (USD308). (Gizmo China, OPPO, GSM Arena, Neowin, Pocket-Lint)

Sony Xperia R1 / R1 Plus are launched in India – 5.2” HD TFT display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor, rear 13MP + front 8MP cameras, 2+16GB / 3+32 GB,  USB-C, 2620mAh battery, INR13,990 / 15,990. (GSM Arena, NDTV, Indian Express)

Tablets

Samsung Galaxy Tab A is announced – 8” 1280×800 display,  Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, rear 8MP + front 5MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 32GB storage, Android 7.1.1, 5000mAh battery, USD230. (Android Authority, Android Central)

Internet of Things

Google and Cisco have signed a technology partnership that will make it easier for Cisco customers to move their applications and data into the Google Cloud platform. The deal gives Google inroads with Cisco’s large enterprise customers, by helping them bridge their existing data center technology with the Google Cloud, in a model called “hybrid cloud”. (CN Beta, CNBC, Fortune, Business Insider)