IF / News

Qualcomm will unveil the first Snapdragon 4-series chipset with a 5G modem in 1Q21. Motorola, OPPO and Xiaomi will be the first makers to use of the affordable chip and should release phones in early 2021. The 4-series chip aims to bring next-gen connectivity to regions with 3.5B smartphone users combined.  (GSM Arena, Android Authority, Android Central, Neowin, Qualcomm)

Qualcomm is unveiling Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G. It offers better AI performance. Other new features on the 8cx Gen 2 include built-in support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1, Qualcomm’s Aqstic audio technology (which is used for “echo-cancellation and noise suppression”), and support for dual 4K external monitors at 60fps. (GSM Arena, Neowin, The Verge, Engadget, Qualcomm)

Qualcomm QCC514x Bluetooth SoCs are designed to elevate the truly wireless listening experience by combining robust connectivity, extended playtime, premium audio quality, voice assistants, and integrated active noise cancellation (ANC) with natural leak-through capability. Qualcomm’s latest Adaptive ANC technology is designed to improve comfort for users by reducing the dependency on forming a tight seal when placing earbuds into the ear.  (CN Beta, Engadget, Qualcomm)

Guo Ping, the rotating chairman of Huawei, has stated that the company will continue to maintain investment in HiSilicon, which he believes will help the company’s Kirin chips. He believes by maintaining investment within Huawei’s chip designing subsidiary will have the firm bounce back stronger than before and help its proprietary Kirin chips overcome recent obstacles. (Sohu, OfWeek, CPW, Gizmo China)

MediaTek has announced its T750 5G chipset to power next generation 5G CPE wireless products, like fixed wireless access routers (FWA) and mobile hotspots, to bring fast 5G connectivity into homes, businesses and anyone on the go. The highly integrated, 7nm compact chip design comes with an integrated 5G radio and quad-core ARM CPU. (CN Beta, VentureBeat, PR Newswire)

MediaTek has denied the news of “cancels 5nm 5G platform originally built for Huawei”, saying that the 5nm chipset is proceeding as planned and will not change its product plans due to a single customer. MediaTek has also confirmed that it will launch a new generation of 5G chips at the end of this year, positioning higher than the Dimensity 1000 series. The company said it will not be absent from the high-end 5G market in the future.  (CN Beta, TechNews, CNYES, CNTechpost)

MediaTek has announced a new chipset for 5G smartphones —Dimensity 1000C in the United States. This newly launched chipset will be powering the LG Velvet 5G in the U.S. on T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G network. The Dimensity 1000C is manufactured using a 7nm process node and features four ARM Cortex-A77 CPU cores and four power-efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores operating up to 2GHz, with a large, low-latency communal cache that improves performance and power-efficiency even further. (Laoyaoba, Gizmo China, MediaTek)

Xiaomi’s foldable smartphone reportedly will be released in 2021. The president of the company, Lin Bin, has showcased a foldable phone prototype early 2019. (GizChina, My Drivers)

TCL is introducing the company’s newest display technology, NXTPAPER. The display technology is paired with a reflective screen to repurpose natural light, making it the world’s first “zero eye strain” display that can be used for larger screen surfaces such as tablets. This display technology provides Full-HD definition that offers a paper-like visual experience in full color with no flicker and no harmful blue light.  (Engadget, Tech Advisor)

vivo has showcased a technology that could change the colours of the phone battery cover. The technology is based on electrochromism – a phenomenon that allows the glass to change its color or opacity when voltage is applied to it. it is a sandwich of two glass sheets and two transparent electrode sheets, having electrochromatic film in-between, along with an ion conductor and ion storage film. In practice, when low voltage is applied, the ions change their consistency, changing the light and how it bends when it passes through the EC film, creating different colors. (GSM Arena, My Drivers, Droid.news)

BOE has claimed that it has shipped around 16M units of Gen-6 flexible OLED panels in 1H20. Over 24M units is projected to be shipped in 2H20, so that total shipment for the year will exceed 40M units. According to BOE, 4M units was moved from Jul to Aug in 2020. BOE said that out of the 16M it made in 1H20, the B11 line produced 4M panels, which is otherwise called the Apple Line. (Gizmo China, Sohu, EE World)

Regarding the news that Huawei’s OLED display supplies have been cut off, BOE has pointed out that the cooperation with Huawei is very smooth and has not heard about the cut off. It will provide services according to Huawei’s policies and strategies. (Laoyaoba, IT Home)

Since the announcement of the US’s new policy against Huawei on 17 Aug 2020, Huawei has begun to require component manufacturers to catch up with the goods, hoping to pull as many goods as possible before 15 Sept,. Under the premise of other customers, the suppliers will coordinate and give priority to Huawei as much as possible. Among them, Focaltech supplies the touch and drive integration IC (TDDI) for Huawei. The company’s recent urgent order supply price to Huawei has increased by about 5%~10%. (Sohu, UDN, Laoyaoba)

Japan Display Inc (JDI) has recently sued Tianma Microelectronics in the United States District Court in conjunction with Panasonic, alleging Tianma infringed their LCD panel patent. JDI and Panasonic have accused Tianma of patent infringement on LCD panel image quality technologies such as viewing angle and image contrast. It involves 9 patents jointly owned by JDI and Panasonic and 6 patents of JDI. (Laoyaoba, Sohu)

vivo has has patented a smartphone design with a periscope lens. At the back, the smartphone shows a two-tone design – the separation of the two colors happens exactly in the center. In the upper part, there is a block of the main camera for four lenses, cut into a circle, which includes the main sensor, a periscope camera and two more sensors. (GizChina, LetsGoDigital, Sina, Sohu)

Samsung reportedly may produce up to 800K Galaxy Z Fold 2 foldable smartphones. Eugene Investment & Securities analyst Roh Kyoung-tak believes that with a diversified foldable product lineup, Samsung’s foldable smartphone sales could expand to 8M units in 2021. (Gizmo China, Sam Mobile, YNA)

realme’s VP and president of global marketing Xu Qi has stated that  global sales target for 2020 is 50M. realme has basically entered the top 4 in Southeast Asia and other countries, and has achieved global sales in 13 countries and regions. (Sohu, IT Home, Sina, GizChina)

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has pointed out the good performance of the mobile phone business: (1) Stand firmly at the high-end segment. At early 2020, Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro exceeded expectations. Mi 10 Extreme Edition has been selling well after the release; (2) The first phase of Xiaomi Smart Factory was completed, the  “Black Light Factory”, which produced the Mi 10 Extreme Transparent Edition; and (3) Mainly entering the European market in the last 2 years and has entered the top 3 market share. (Laoyaoba, IT Home, Sohu)

Smartphone shipments from ODM/IDH (Original Design Manufacturer / Independent Design House) companies grew 12% YoY in 1H20 against the declining trend in the overall smartphone market (-18% YoY), according to Counterpoint Research. Growth of the ODM market was primarily driven by increasing orders from key clients Samsung, OPPO/realme and LG. Market share of the top 3 ODMs – Wingtech, Huaqin and Longcheer – grew to 76% in 1H20, compared to 62% in 2018 and 68% in 2019. (Counterpoint Research, press)

Walter Ji, President of Huawei Consumer BG Europe has revealed that Huawei has planned to open 8 new flagships and 42 consumer stores in Europe by the end of 2020. The flagship stores will open in France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, the UK, and Spain. Some of these markets will get more than one flagship store. Huawei has now reached 460M monthly active users around the globe, of which 33M resides in the EU. (CN Beta, Huawei Central, GizChina)

GREE has announced that the company has entered a strategic collaboration agreement with Xiaomi and CITIC Bank. The 3 parties agree to commence deep cooperation in industrial funds, financial services, industrial investment, project cooperation, resource sharing and so on. GREE will contribute CNY3.545B to join investment and management of Xiaomi Industrial Fund set up by Xiaomi. (Laoyaoba, My Drivers, AA Stock)

realme 7 and 7 Pro are announced in India: 7 – 6.5” 1080×2400 FHD+ IPS HiD, MediaTek Helio G95, rear quad 64MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro-2MP depth + front 16MP, 6+64 / 8+128GB, Android 10.0, side fingerprint, 5000mAh 30W, INR14,999 (USD205) / INR16,999 (USD230). 7 Pro – 6.4” 1080×2400 FHD+ Super AMOLED HiD, Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G, rear quad 64MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro-2MP depth + front 32MP, 6+128 / 8+128GB, Android 10.0, fingerprint on display, 4500mAh 65W, INR19,999 (USD270) / INR21,999 (USD300).  (Android Authority, GSM Arena, Android Central, Neowin, realme, realme)

Huawei Enjoy 20 5G and Enjoy 20 Plus 5G are announced in China: Enjoy 20 5G – 6.59” 1600×720 HD+ u-notch, MediaTek MT6853, rear tri 13MP-5MP ultrawide-2MP depth + front 8MP, 4+128 / 6+128GB, Android (HMS), side fingerprint scanner, 5000mAh 10W, CNY1,699 (USD248) / CNY1,899 (USD278). Enjoy 20 Plus 5G – 6.63” 2400×1080 FHD+ IPS 90Hz, MediaTek MT6853, rear tri 48MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro + motorized pop-up 16MP, 6+128 / 8+128GB, Android (HMS), side fingerprint scanner, 4200mAh 40W, CNY2,299 (USD336) / CNY2,499 (USD365). (Gizmo China, CN Beta, Huawei)

Wiko View 5 and View 5 Plus are announced: View 5 – 6.55” 720×1600 HD+ HiD, MediaTek MT6762D, rear quad 48MP-8MP ultrawide-5MP macro-2MP depth + front 8MP, 3+64GB, Android 10.0, rear fingerprint scanner, 5000mAh, EUR170. View 5 Plus – 6.55” 720×1600 HD+ HiD, MedkaTek MT6765, rear quad 48MP-8MP ultrawide-5MP macro-2MP deph + front 8MP, 4+128GB, Android 10.0, rear fingerprint scanner, 5000mAh, EUR200.  (GSM Arena, Next Pit)

TCL 10 TABMAX 4G and TABMID 4G are announced: TABMAX 4G – 10.36” 2000×1200 FHD+ NXTVISION LCD, MediaTek MT8768T, rear 13MP + front 8MP, 4+64GB, Android 10.0, 8000mAh 18W, supports stylus pen, EUR249 (Wi-Fi) / EUR299 (4G). TABMID 4G – 8” 1200×1290 HD+ NXTVISION LCD, Qualcomm Snapdragon 665, rear 8MP + front 5MP, 4+64GB, Android 10.0, 4G / Wi-Fi, 5500mAh, EUR229. (The Verge, Android Central, Engadget, GSM Arena)

Samsung Galaxy Fit 2 is announced, which can last for at least 15 days on a single charge and up to 3 weeks. It provides advanced tracking features as it is capable of automatically detecting and tracking up to 5 different types of activity. It features IP68 water resistance. It is priced at EUR46.  (GSM Arena, Sam Mobile, The Verge)

TCL Move Time family watch is announced – 1.41” 320×260 AMOLED, Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2500, 600mAh battery, features all detection, LTE connectivity, heart rate monitoring, sleep monitoring, navigation, an AI voice assistant, and more. It is priced at EUR229. (Android Central, The Verge)

TCL Move Audio S200 is announced, which uses 12mm moving coil drivers and 4 MEMS beamforming microphones. They come with Google Fast Pair 2.0 support and are also IP54 rated for water and dust resistance. It can provide up to 3 and a half hours of continuous playback time. It is priced below EUR100.  (Android Central, The Verge)

JBL is announcing 3 new TWS. JBL Live FREE NC+ and Reflect MINI TWS feature Active Noise Cancelling, while JBL’s Smart Ambient technology keeps user aware of surroundings when needed. The new earbuds feature IPX7 waterproofing for greater durability, and strong battery life, fast pairing, and, of course, incredible JBL Sound to complete the package. JBL Tune 225TWS keeps the best bits of the popular earbuds and adds new features of its predecessor Tune 220TWS, boosted battery life and improved sound. (CN Beta, Sina, JBL, Trusted Reviews)

TCL has showcased its wearable prototype Project Archery 3.0. The device is a pair of smart glasses that feature 2 OLED displays that can trick users into thinking they are watching a movie at a theater. The new model is much lighter than the company’s previous prototype and looks more like a pair of sunglasses. (Engadget, Yahoo, CNET)

Vuzix is showcasing new smart glasses that actually look like regular glasses. Vuzix is still packing transparent displays. The basis is a new type of ultra-slim, binocular waveguide, one for each lens. They are used with new micro-LED projectors. For sound, there are multiple microphones used for ambient noise-cancelation, along with acoustic chambers integrated into the rear of the frames. (CN Beta, Slash Gear, Vuzix)

General Motors and Honda have announced an agreement that will entail the companies sharing basic vehicle designs to be sold under their respective brands. With this new alliance, both companies will work together to develop a range of electric and petroleum-powered vehicles, but it will also allow for “cooperation in purchasing, research and development and connected service”. (CN Beta, Detroit News, CNN)