IF / News

Chipsets

Apple allegedly plans to launch more value-for-money “iPhone X alike” products. Qualcomm and HiSilicon will begin mass producing 7nm application processor (AP), and the market expects in 2018 the foundry Wuhan Jingce Electronic Technology revenues will increase gradually. (CSIA, China Times, Laoyaoba, Laoyaoba)

Touch Display

In Jan 2017 Novaled started constructing its new fab and office buildings in Dresden, which comprises of a renovated old mill that will be turned into a prestigious office building and a new 110m long R&D plant with state-of-the-art research areas, labs and clean rooms. Novaled has ordered OLED deposition systems from Sunic System for about USD3M. (OLED-Info, Evertiq)

In Jan 2018 OLED microdisplay maker eMagin announced that it plans to raise USD11.5M in an underwritten public offering. It turns out that eMagin’s SEC filing specifies 5 investors – Apple, LG Display (LGD), Valve Corporation, Stillwater Holdings and Immerex. (NASDAQ, OLED-Info, Boxuu)

Sensory

University of Colorado Boulder has recently created an electronic skin (e-skin) that is self-healing and recyclable. They have managed to develop a “malleable electronic skin enabled by dynamic covalent thermoset nanocomposite”.  In essence, the e-skin features sensors that measure pressure, temperature, humidity, and air flow.  (Digital Trends, Science Mag, Newsweek, Sina)

Connectivity

Sprint says it will launch its 5G network in the US in 1H19. This will follow early deployments from AT&T and Verizon toward the end of 2018, but will beat out T-Mobile which is aiming for full support by 2020. Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure says the company will launch its 5G network on the 2.5 GHz spectrum in 1H19.  (Laoyaoba, Forbes, Fierce Wireless, Android Authority)

Phones

The Competition Commission of India (CCI), which slapped a fine of INR136 crore on Google, ruled that the company “indulged in practices of search bias” that harms both competitors and users.  (Android Headlines, TechCrunch, Economic Times, BBC, Sina, iFeng)

Since 4Q17, China smartphone shipment has declined rapidly. However, new information reveals that the offseason of smartphones is leaving, some vendors have increased their orders on supply chain. In Mar 2018 a number of vendors are launching new models, and supply chain is positive with the performance from Mar 2018. (Laoyaoba, Digitimes, Yahoo, Sohu)

Smartphone shipments grew 3% annually to reach 1550M units in CY 2017. In 4Q17, 415M smartphones were shipped, down 5% from a year ago. Top 10 players now capture 77% of the market thereby leaving just below a quarter of segment for over 600+ brands to compete. (Counterpoint Research, press, Laoyaoba)

While Huawei is expected to continue to serve as the top smartphone vendor in China in 1Q18, Xiaomi is likely to replace OPPO to take 2nd place as it has continued expanding its sales in Russia and other markets in Eastern Europe, according to Digitimes Research. OPPO will rank 3rd, while vivo and Lenovo will take the 4th and 5th positions, respectively, in 1Q18, Digitimes Research estimates. (GizChina, Digitimes, press, Tencent, XCN News, Digitimes, press, Gizmo China, CN Beta)

According to “We Are Social” and “Hootsuite”, Internet user numbers increased 7% in the last 12 months to hit 4.021B, or 53% of the world’s population. Global social media usage has increased by 13% in the last 12 months, reaching 3.196B users. Mobile social media usage has increased by 14% year over year to 2.958B users, with 93% of social media users accessing social from mobile. (We Are Social, report, CN Beta, PR Newswire, Media Week)

Fuchsia OS is an operating system currently being developed by Google. It is the third operating system after Android and Chrome OS. Google reportedly already begun testing, and expects to launch the first device with this OS late in 2019 or early 2020. (Laoyaoba, Cult of Mac, Android Dish H)

Google is facing a class-action lawsuit over defects to its Pixel smartphones. The plaintiffs allege that Google knowingly sold defective Pixel and Pixel XL, which suffered from problems with the microphones that prevented them from being used for calling or voice assistant functionality. (My Drivers, The Guardian, Ars Technica, Gizmodo)

Panasonic P100 is launched in India – 5” HD, MediaTek MT6737, rear 8MP + front 5MP, 1/2GB + 16GB, Android 7.0, 2200mAh, INR5299 / INR5999. (Android Headlines, NDTV, BGR)

Wearables

China’s police have a new weapon in their surveillance arsenal: sunglasses with built-in facial recognition. The glasses are being tested at train stations in the “emerging megacity” of Zhengzhou, where they will be used to scan travelers during the upcoming Lunar New Year migration.  (WSJ, The Verge, Gizmo China)

Internet of Things

Uber and Waymo have reached a settlement over claims Uber stole trade secrets from the self-driving company. As part of the agreement, Uber is giving a 0.34% Uber stake to Waymo, worth approximately USD245M (GBP177M). Uber has also agreed not to use Waymo’s technology in its self-driving cars, though it maintains it never did. (Android Headlines, BBC, Wired, Financial Times, NY Times, Sina, Tencent, 163