08-01: Huawei increased the global research and development budget by 20% in UK reaching USD18B; OPPO and Intel have signed a patent transfer agreement; etc.
Chipsets
Samsung Foundry formally started to produce chips using its 7LPP (7nm low power plus) fabrication process in Oct 2019 and has not slowdown development of its manufacturing technologies since then. The company is on track to start mass production using its refined 6LPP (6nm low power plus) technology in 2H19. In addition, the company said that it would tape out its first 5LPE (5nm low power early) SoCs and would complete development of its 4LPE (4 nm low power early) process in the coming months too. (CN Beta, AnandTech, Samsung)
Lenovo is reportedly unveiling 5G connected laptops with all-day battery lives by Dec 2019. Lenovo is working closely with Intel and Qualcomm to produce laptops with all-day battery life. Lenovo laptops may be included in Intel Project Athena, which aims to make Windows 10 laptops faster, thinner and with day-long battery lives. Meanwhile, Qualcomm has been partnering with laptop makers to produce machines running on Snapdragon platform. (CN Beta, TechRadar, 91Mobiles)
TSMC has quietly introduced a performance-enhancing version of the 7nm deep-UV DUV (N7) and 5nm EUV E-UV (N5) manufacturing processes. The company’s N7P and N5P technologies are for customers who need a 7nm design to run faster or consume less power. TSMC’s new N7P process uses the same design rules as the N7 to optimize front-end (FEOL) and mid-range (MOL). This can increase performance by 7% at the same power or 10% at the same frequency. (GizChina, TechWeb, TechNews, AnandTech, Wikichip)
Steve Mollenkopf, CEO of Qualcomm, has revealed that with regards to Huawei, they continue to pursue a negotiated resolution of the dispute, focused on a final agreement. Huawei has allegedly been withholding royalties from Qualcomm. Huawei has been making good-faith payments and negotiations have inched forward, but Mollenkopf said no further payments are included in Qualcomm’s fiscal 4Q19 guidance. (My Drivers, Market Watch, CNBC, Reuters)
Touch Display
Citi Research has included “support for iPhone pencil/stylus” in the list of features it is expecting to see in Apple’s 2019 iPhones, alongside a bezel-free screen, larger batteries, and the triple rear camera setup on two of the models. (Apple Insider, Business Insider, Sina, Sohu)
Memory
Samsung Electronics has reported financial results for 2Q19 ended 30 Jun 2019. The Company posted KRW 56.13T in consolidated quarterly revenue and KRW 6.6T in quarterly operating profit. The weakness and price declines in the memory chip market persisted as effects of inventory adjustments by major datacenter customers in the previous quarters continued, despite a limited recovery in demand. (GSM Arena, Samsung, CN Beta)
Connectivity
Victor Zhang, Huawei’s President for Global Government Affairs, has revealed that after the strong performance in 1H19, Huawei increased the global research and development budget by 20%, reaching USD18B. They rank as the fifth biggest company for research and development, according to European Commission. (GizChina, Sohu, HQEW, iFeng)
Phone
According to Counterpoint Research, the combined global smartphone market share of Chinese majors Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, and Realme reached 42% in 2Q19, the highest it has ever been. This is even as global smartphone shipments fell 1.2% year-on-year (YoY) to 360M units during 2Q19, making it the seventh consecutive quarter of decline. (Android Authority, Counterpoint Research)
Worldwide smartphones shipments declined 2.3% year over year in 2Q19 for the strongest quarterly performance since 2Q18, according to IDC. Smartphone vendors shipped a total of 333.2M phones in 2Q19, which is up 6.5% over the previous quarter. Samsung maintains the top position in the market for 2Q19 and returned to annual growth of 5.5% with a total of 75.5M smartphones shipped. (VentureBeat, IDC, press)
Samsung will reportedly bring back its Active line of rugged smartphones with the simply-titled Samsung Galaxy Active. (Android Authority, Android Headlines)
Spotify has announced that its paid Premium subscribers climbed 30% year-over-year in the Jun 2019 quarter to 108M, while total listenership — including its free ad-based tier — rose 29% to 232M. (Apple Insider, Reuters)
OPPO and Intel have signed a patent transfer agreement, of which 58 core patents cover related fields of cellular mobile communication technology. In addition, OPPO has acquired more than 500 patents of Ericsson, covering the United States, Europe, China, India and other countries and regions. The introduction of Intel and Ericsson’s communication patents will help OPPO’s technology accumulation in related fields and help OPPO expand its global market. (CN Beta, TechNode, Iam-Media)
Foxconn has already acquired a piece of land in Vietnam to set up shop. Vietnam is working hard on developing its infrastructure and signing trade deals with the E.U. According to the statistics of the Vietnamese government, in Jan~May 2019, the number of electronic and mechanical equipment imported from China is 80.8% more than that in the same period of 2018. Industrial zone operators say that the current US-China trade friction also brings business opportunities to Vietnam. (CN Beta, Techspot, NY Times, NY Times, UDN, Money DJ)
vivo Z5 is announced in China – 6.38” 1080×2340 FHD+ Super AMOLED, Qualcomm Snapdragon 712, rear tri 48MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP + front 32MP, 6+64/128/256GB or 8+128GB, Android 9.0, under display fingerprint scanner, 4500mAh 22.5W fast charging, supports reverse charging, CNY1,598 ~ CNY2,298. (CN Beta, GSM Arena, vivo)
BlackShark 2 Pro is launched – 6.4” 1080×2340 FHD+ Super AMOLED, Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+, rear dual 48MP-12MP + front 20MP, 12+128/256GB, Android 9.0, under display fingerprint scanner, 4000mAh 27W fast charging, CNY2,999 / CNY3,499. (The Verge, Liliputing, BlackShark)
PC / Tablet
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 is announced – 10.5” 1600×2560 Super AMOLED, Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, rear dual 13MP-5MP ultrawide + front 8MP, 6+128GB or 8/256GB, Android 9.0, under display fingerprint scanner, AKG speakers, Dolby Atmos, 7040mAh 18W fast charging, supports S Pen, USD649 / USD729. (CN Beta, GSM Arena)
Robotics
DJI has announced a new equipment kit for first-person view (FPV) and racing drones. The kit is mainly comprised of new FPV goggles and a small, high-definition camera and “air unit” (or transmitter) that can be attached to pretty much whatever you like. DJI’s promise for the new kit is the ability to basically “FPV anything,” from racing drones to remote-controlled cars or boats. (TechCrunch, The Verge, DJI, CN Beta)
