IF / News

Chipsets

Tsinghua Unigroup’s chipmaking arm Unisoc expects to have its Ivy 510-series 5G solution featured in customers’ terminal devices that are slated for launch by the end of 2019. Unisoc has also had its 5G chip solution validated for 26GHz mmWave networks. (Digitimes, press, Sina)

Touch Display

Apple is reportedly considering a switchable 60Hz/120Hz refresh rate screen on the iPhone in 2020, and is discussing with Samsung and LG. On the iPad Pro, ProMotion can dynamically scale refresh rates as needed for the sake of performance and battery life. (Apple Insider, CN Beta)

ZTE has applied for a new dual-screen patent with the secondary screen on the rear being a smaller one. A triple camera setup, dual bottom speakers, and a USB Type-C can be seen easily. (GizChina, Mobielkopen, LetsGoDigital, CN Beta, CNMO)

Camera

Largan Precision has allegedly decided to end development and production of automotive lens modules it has undertaken for over 5 years. Largan wants to focus more on the smartphone-use lens modules amid fast growing adoption of dual- and tri-lens modules used in rear cameras. (China Times, Yahoo, Digitimes, press, China Times)

Memory

SK Hynix CEO Lee Seok-hee is visiting Japan to meet with local companies to find ways to supply semiconductor materials. Since the Japanese government tightened export regulations on high-purity hydrogen fluoride, photoresist and fluorine polyimide from 4 Apr 2019 exports of such materials have not been approved. (CN Beta, YNA, Vaaju, MT)

Battery

The Washington-based startup XNRGI is ready to ship a “porous” silicon battery that has better energy density and lower manufacturing costs than traditional lithium-ion batteries, and is also safer to use. The company plans to take their patented battery technology to market in 2020, with a project to build grid-scale batteries for the North-American power market. (CN Beta, Techspot)

Material

OPPO’s trademark patent “FinShell” indicates that OPPO is creating a new protective case for Reno. The trademark is submitted to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) by GLP S.R.L, commissioned by Guangdong OPPO Mobile Communications Corporation. (CN Beta, LetsGoDigital, Sohu)

Phone

Samsung is rumored working on a 10th-anniversary smartphone that would push the boundaries by being all screen and lacking any buttons, to be replaced by pressure-sensitive areas. While part of the A series of devices, the handset would have been powered the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855. Samsung may have cancelled the project. (CN Beta, Samsung, MS Poweruser, Twitter)

Huawei Founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei has revealed that under the premise that HiSilicon Kirin is already a complete solution, Huawei still purchased 50M Qualcomm chipsets in 2018. In 2019, the company has authorized the consumer business to purchase a sufficient number of Qualcomm chips, and it is expected that the total shipment of smartphones will reach 270M units. (My Drivers, CN Beta, Huawei Central, Yahoo)

Samsung mobile is allegedly closing its last mobile phone factory in Guangzhou Huizhou, China.  Samsung has been shifting the phone production to India and Vietnam, especially the latter. Till Apr 2018, Samsung has invested USD17,3B, constructing 8 factories mainly for smartphones and electronic components in Vietnam. (CN Beta, SCMP, GizChina, My Drivers)

In the memo addressed to Coolpad employees by the CEO Chen Jiajun, he has revealed that the company will launch new phones in Sept 2019, focusing on R&D and improving their position in the market. The company also will enter the 5G market. (Gizmo China, IT Home)

Wearables

Google will soon roll out updates to Android’s Fast Pair feature that will improve the operating system’s support for true wireless earbuds. Google has acknowledged the importance of building up support for true wireless earbuds. One of the upcoming features for Android is the ability to display the battery information not just for each wireless earbud, but also that of their charging case. (Digital Trends, Google, Teller China)

Augmented / Virtual Reality

The XR Association (XRA), now counts Microsoft among its membership, joining founding members Google, Facebook, Sony, HTC Vive, and Samsung. The trade association represents the shared interests of key companies enabling augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies. (VentureBeat, Upload VR, XRA, VR Tuoluo)

Home

Puls says that it has hundreds of appliance repair technicians operating in over 25 major metro areas in the US. The company says that approximately 20% of its technicians completed the survey. They ranked all of the major brands for things like reliability, value and ease of use. The top recommended brands overall: Whirlpool, Maytag and KitchenAid, in that order. (CN Beta, CNET, Yahoo, Puls, report)