IF / News

Qualcomm will be announcing its Snapdragon 875 next-generation flagship mobile chipset by the end of 2020. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has officially entered the production stage. It is based on the 5nm process and also includes the Snapdragon X60 5G baseband. (Android Headlines, Gizmo China, My Drivers, UDN)

Apple CEO Tim Cook has announced a shift to Apple Silicon, with technologies in place to run existing Intel apps with Rosetta 2. Apple also notes that there are an assortment of custom technologies that it will use for Apple Silicon, including neural networking, GPU, the Secure Enclave, and more. Cook has also revealed that that the first Mac with Apple Silicon will ship by the end of 2020, with the entire transition taking “about 2 years”. (TechCrunch, Apple, Apple Insider, CN Beta)

Huawei and Xiaomi have allegedly purchased “ultra-thin flexible glass.” Furthermore, the two brands could use it for products with foldable screens or wrap-around display.  ​​​​(Android Authority, Weibo)

Apple is rumored to launch its foldable iPhone at the soonest in 2021. The upcoming foldable iPhone will be ditching the notched front panel and thus, there will be no facial recognition support. Instead, the company will be opting for a side-mounted fingerprint sensor for the first time. Its supply chain Hon Han Precision, Largan, Catcher Technology, etc. will be beneficial.  (Gizmo China, UDN)

Japanese OLED panel manufacturer JOLED has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Samsung Electronics in the United States, claiming that the latter’s Galaxy series of smartphones infringe the company’s OLED related patents and demanded damages. JOLED is an OLED jointly established by Japan Display Inc (JDI), Panasonic and Sony under the leadership of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan. (Laoyaoba, Sohu, IAM-Media)

Samsung has completed the construction of its P2 semiconductor plant in Pyeongtaek not long ago. The company is now preparing to build its 3rd ‘P3’ semiconductor factory in the same city in the Gyeonggi Province. Samsung wants to start constructing the P3 plant in Sept 2020 and make it fully operational by the end of 2021. It is believed that the P3 facility might be turned into a ‘total semiconductor factory’ capable of producing DRAM and NAND flash chips, as well as system semiconductors including application processors and image sensors.  (CN Beta, Sam Mobile, ET News)

Xiaomi has officially revealed that Xiaomi’s acoustic voice technology has achieved full internally researched and developed, and continues to lead in some areas of technologies. They indicate that their acoustic voice technology has ushered in a new era. (Laoyaoba, OfWeek, IT Home)

Nissan Motor has revealed that it will start studying next-generation vehicle batteries with China’s Sunwoda Electric Vehicle Battery for its electric motor-driven cars carrying a gasoline engine used as a power generator. The two companies will also consider developing an efficient production system for the batteries for Nissan’s so-called e-Power vehicles, aiming to reach a final agreement by the end of the year. (Laoyaoba, Nissan, The Mainichi)

Redmi has revealed that the company has shipped over 19M units of Redmi 8 series devices globally. (GizChina, Gizmo China, Weibo, Sina, QQ)

Apple unveils iOS 14, iPadOS 14, watchOS 7, macOS 11.0 Big Sur and tvOS 14. (Apple Insider, Apple Insider, Apple Insider, Apple Insider, Apple, Android Authority)

OPPO realme has announced its new product strategy – “1+4+N”, which will spinning around the company’s core smartphone business and smart AIOT product range. 1 indicates smartphone, 4 indicates the sub-categories Smart TV, Smart Earphone, Smartwatch and Smart Speaker and the N indicates AIOT products. In India, realme has a ‘low-margin, high-volume’ strategy as part of which the company has kept its profit margin 4%~5%. (Android Authority, India Times, Fonearena)

OPPO Reno3 A is announced in Japan – 6.44” 1080×2400 FHD+ AMOLED v-notch, Qualcomm Snapdragon 665, rear quad 48MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP mono-2MP depth + front 16MP, 6+128GB, Android 10.0, fingerprint on display, IP68 rated, 4025mAh 30W, JPY39,800 (USD372). (Gizmo China, GSM Arena)

OPPO A11K is announced in India – 6.217” 720×1520 HD+ v-notch, MediaTek Helio P35, rear dual 13MP-2MP depth + front 5MP, 2+32GB, Android 9.0, rear fingerprint scanner, 4230mAh, INR8,990 (USD118). (NDTV, GizChina, 91Mobiles)

Apple AirPods software is being updated with new automatic device switching and a surround sound Spatial Audio mode for AirPods Pro. All AirPods models will now seamlessly move between devices without the need for a user to manually switch. (Apple Insider, TechCrunch, The Verge, 52Audio, EXP Review)

According to TF Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo’s forecast, benefiting from the removal of wired headsets from the inbox of 2H20 Apple’s new iPhone and the 1H21 new AirPods 3, the total AirPods shipments will reach 120M units in 2021, an increase of about 28% YoY. He has maintained his previous forecast of total AirPods shipments of 93.8M units in 2020, and increased AirPods Pro shipment estimates by 15.5% to 44.7M units, and lowered AirPods 2 shipment estimates by 10.9% to 49.1M units. Overall, he is positive with AirPods’ shipment momentum in 2H20. (Laoyaoba, TF Securities)

According to Canalys, worldwide shipments of smart audio devices, including smart speakers and smart personal audio devices, reached 96.2M units in 1Q20. The coronavirus pandemic caused the smart speaker category to suffer it first global decline, falling 1.9% as vendors shipped 20.3M units. In contrast, smart personal audio was more resilient, with shipments up 19.4% at 75.9M units. In 1Q20, true wireless stereo (TWS) headsets held a 38% market share, making it the largest smart audio device category.  (Laoyaoba, Canalys, press)