IF / News

Chipsets

Horizon Robotics, a Chinese startup backed by chip giant Intel, has unveiled two artificial intelligence-tailored processors to power intelligent driving vehicles and image recognition-enabled smart cameras. Two types of AI chips — a Journey 1.0 processor for intelligent driving and a Sunrise 1.0 processor for intelligent cameras — were self-developed by Horizon, applying the company’s first generation BPU framework. (Sohu, My Drivers, Sina, Caijing, ECNS, China Daily, China Daily)

The US Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins has ordered Apple to pay USD25K per day until they succeed in turn over some documents related to the FTC’s lawsuit against Qualcomm. (Engadget, Bloomberg, GizChina, CN Beta, iFeng)

Touch Display

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo indicates that Pegatron is likely to assemble Apple’s new OLED iPhone in 2H18, which will break the exclusivity of Foxconn for the first time of assembly OLED iPhone. Also, the LCD iPhone in 2018 will be increased to 6.1”, which will drive the sales of LCD-version of iPhone. He anticipates in 2H18 new iPhone overall shipment would be 100M~120M units, and LCD version would have 45% of the shipment. (CN Beta, BGR, Mac Rumors, Asia Nikkei, Business Insider)

Japan-based Zeon Corporation is expanding its ZeonorFilm production capacity as demand from OLED display makers increases. Zeon says it will invest several tens of billions of Yen (tens of millions of USD) to add a 6^th production line in its Toyama factory for its films. (OLED-Info, Bloomberg)

Thanks to Samsung and Apple, OLED adoption for high-end smartphone in 2018 will be approaching 50% growth. According to IEK, 5.5” will be mainstream for high end smartphone (HD above), and estimates the shipment would approach 400M units in 2017, and will increase to 600M units in 2018. OLED production will drive the high-end brands battle in 2018. Currently more than 90% of production comes from Samsung, follows by LG Display (LGD) and Sharp, hoping to enter mass production in 1H18. BOE, Tianma and CSOT are actively investing, and hoping to start production in 2H18. (TechNews, Wealth, Laoyaoba)

Sensory

Haptx is working on “haptic” gloves that could enable users to feel things in virtual reality (VR)  world. The gloves enable tactile feedback, force feedback, and motion tracking. The company’s Haptx Skin is a microfluidic smart textile that delivers high fidelity tactile feedback.  (VentureBeat, Haptx, Abskillz, Baijiahao)

For more than a decade, Plantronics, a leader in audio communications in the enterprise, government and consumer spaces, has relied on Dialog Semiconductor to provide the audio and connectivity chipsets that underpin their industry-leading wireless audio products. (Laoyaoba, EEPW, Dialog, Electronic Design)

Battery

The CNRS, The National Center for Scientific Research in France, recently announced the creation of Tiamat, a start-up company based in Amiens, France, that will develop and bring to the market a sodium rechargeable battery by 2020. CNRS says the battery will be designed in the widespread industrial 18650 format. (CN Beta, Phys, IEEE)

Smartphones

A group from Nottingham Trent University and Thiagarajar School of Management recently confirmed that selfitis is an actual mental behavior that leads to obsessive selfie-taking. Individuals suffering from selfitis use selfies to try to boost their confidence or their mood, along with other motivations like conforming and social competition. The researchers say that taking selfies can be an addictive behavior that also points to more underlying mental health issues, like low self-confidence. (Digital Trends, Springer, IT Home, Lahoo)

After Huawei, OPPO and vivo have allegedly reduced their orders, which is about more than 10% decrease, news from supply chain again indicate that Apple and Samsung have also reduced their orders. Apple has already downsized their iPhone X orders, as well as iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. Samsung also follows by downgrade their 1Q18 orders by more than 2-digit points. (Laoyaoba, Sohu, Sohu, XCN News)

TCL Corp announces that it has completed the transfer of 49% of its smartphone unit to three strategic investors for HKD490M (USD62.7M). The company has also announced that TCL Corp chairman Li Dongsheng will also be the CEO of TCL Communication. (CN Beta, Caijing)

According to IHS analyst Kevin Wang, OPPO Find series will come back in 2018. The last launched is OPPO Find 7 in 2014. (CN Beta, My Drivers)

Wearables

Outrospectre, created by Dutch designer Frank Kolkman, is designed to provide therapy for terminally ill patients in hospitals, by allowing them to live out the feeling of dying. (CN Beta, Daily Mail)

Internet of Things

Amazon has acquired Blink, the wireless security camera company that launched back in 2014 and then subsequently closed a million-dollar Kickstarter campaign. (Android Headlines, TechCrunch, CNBC, SlashGear, Tencent, CNFOL)

Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, have embraced artificial intelligence (AI) with alacrity: setting up specialist labs at home and overseas and hiring top engineers. They are using machine learning to push into newer fields of autonomous driving, medical diagnosis, facial recognition for payments and AI-enabled hardware that can be operated by voice. (Laoyaoba, Financial Times, Sanvada)

Voice-controlled digital assistants are being incorporated into a wide range of consumer products, and nearly half of U.S. adults (46%) say they now use these applications to interact with smartphones and other devices, according to a Pew Research Center. 42% of U.S. adults use voice assistants in this way. Some 14% of the public has used a voice assistant on a computer or tablet, while 8% say they use them on a stand-alone device such as an Amazon Echo or Google Home. (Laoyaoba, Pew Research Center, Business Insider)

Mobvoi, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup backed by Google, launches TicHome Mini, which comes with a voice-activated digital assistant that can respond to voice commands, such as streaming music and newscasts. Priced at CNY499 in China, it comes with a IPX6 waterproofing design. (My Drivers, ZDNet, China Daily, Digital Trends, Xinhuanet, Sina)

Yulu will launch its bike-sharing service in Bangalore, India with a few hundred bicycles. Yulu is starting with regular, dockless bicycles that people can rent using their iOS or Android phone. The bikes unlock via QR codes and bill the rider for every 30 minutes of use. (TechCrunch, The Quint, 163, Sohu)

Cab-hailing platform Ola as well as a few other startups are preparing to roll out bicycle-rental services in India. Called ‘Ola Pedal’, the service is meant for distances not so far to book a cab and not too close to walk it out. Ola Pedal will focus on college campuses, townships, and IT parks.  (Economic Times, Recode, Versus, Tencent)