5-17: 8 out of the top 20 companies in the global semiconductor market are restructuring; An curved OLED display Apple iPhone to debut in 2018; A Xiaomi smartphone with a curved display to be launched soon; etc.
8 out of the top 20 companies in the global semiconductor market are restructuring; An OLED Apple iPhone with a curved screen would debut in 2018; A Xiaomi smartphone with a curved display to be launched soon; Manufacture of phones are going into mainland of China or India; Total shipment volumes of wearables reached 19.7 million units in 1Q16; etc.
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Chipsets |
| Worldwide semiconductor revenues for 2016 will fall for a second consecutive year to USD324 billion, down 2.3% from the previous year according to IDC. Revenues are forecast to log a CAGR of 1.9% from 2015-2020, reaching USD364 billion in 2020. (Digitimes, IDC, press) |
| According to industry sources, 8 out of the top 20 companies in the global semiconductor market are carrying out or planning to or carry out restructuring. North American companies such as Intel, Qualcomm and AMD, in particular, are predicted to let go of more than 30,000 employees in total. (TechNews, Business Korea) |
| Qualcomm CTO Matt Grob indicates that the company is hoping to get its 5G chips out earlier than 2020, which is critical for Qualcomm to boost revenue from the new generation of products as fast as possible because smartphone sales have slowed. Qualcomm estimates that the smartphone chipset market will grow by less than 10% a year for the next 4 years. (Android Authority, The Information)
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| China’s Tsinghua Holdings Co. has revealed that it has acquired an unspecified stake in chip maker Marvell Technology. The revelation was made in a filing with the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on May 6. (TechNews, WSJ, NASDAQ, Design Reuse, Electronics Weekly)
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| Co-developed by researchers at MIT, the University of Sheffield, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology developed a new folding origami robot, which is designed to retrieve foreign objects, among other tasks from inside human body. (Gizmodo, MIT, TechNews, Tencent)
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Display |
| The global production capacity of small- and mid-size AMOLED panels by area is projected to grow 16.5% annually to 5.9 million square meters in 2016, according to TrendForce. The total capacity of small- and mid-size AMOLED panels will continue to expand to 14.4 million square meters in 2019, increasing at CAGR of 30% from 2015 through 2019. (TechNews, TrendForce[cn], press, TrendForce, press)
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| Chief analyst of UBI Research Lee Choong-hoon predicts that an OLED Apple iPhone with a curved screen would debut in 2018, saying OLED models would make up 30% or 100 million units of total iPhone shipments in the year and the figure could surge to 80% by 2020. (Ubergzimo, Pocket Now, Korea Herald, CN Beta) |
| Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun has confirmed that there will be a Xiaomi smartphone with a curved display, which is 5.7” curved OLED display made by LG Display. (Mobipicker, iFeng, Yesky, IT168)
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Smartphones |
| Shenzhen Mobile Communications Association chairman Wenping Shun indicates that currently Pearl River Delta of China still presents the most developed supply chain for mobile phone manufacture, but this is changing. He indicates that the manufacture cost in that region is getting higher, and in the future, the supply chain might shift to a lower-cost region. Going into mainland is because of the attraction of land property, low tax and subsidy, and going to India is because of the tax adjustment in that region. (CN Beta, press, Tencent, East Day)
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| Production of the Apple iPhone 7 has reportedly started at facilities owned by contract manufacturers Pegatron and Foxconn. Three variations of the iPhone 7 are being manufactured – regular model, an Apple iPhone 7 Plus and an Apple iPhone 7 Pro or Plus Premium. (Phone Arena, Mobipicker, CN Beta)
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| Apple reportedly will set up three of its own retail stores — the iconic Apple Store — in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai within the next 18 months. (CN Beta, 9to5Mac, Factor Daily) |
| Though smartphone market is saturated, but Google can still gain great benefits. Smartphone market in developed countries tends to be saturated, but there is still room for growth in developing countries. Google Android system covers a variety of product at all price segments. In a slowdown in the smartphone market, Google is still able to matain the growth of Android, and also to improve its cost per click indicators. (TechNews, WSJ) |
| Sony Xperia XA Ultra is official – 6” FHD edge-to-edge display, MediaTek Helio P10 processor, 21.5MP + 16MP OIS cameras, 3GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 6.0. (Gizmodo, GSM Arena, Digital Trends, CNET)
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| Lenovo Vibe C is official – 5” HD IPS LCD display, quad-core processor, 5MP + 2MP cameras, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, Android 5.1.1, LTE, 2300mAh battery. (Digital Trends, Ubergizmo, Phones Review)
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| Coolpad officially launches 2 smartphones with “World’s First Dual Space” feature enabling users to separate their personal and professional life in Indonesia: Coolpad MAX – 5.5” FHD curved 2.5D display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 MSM8952 processor, 13MP PDAF + 5MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, Android 5.1 (Cool UI), IDR4,999,000 . Coolpad MAX Lite – 5.5” HD curved 2.5D display, Qualcomm MSM8929 processor, 3GB RAM, Android 5.1, IDR2,999,000. (CN Beta, BGR, Yahoo, PR Newswire)
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| HTC unveils Desire 628 Dual SIM in Vietnam – 5” HD display, MediaTek MT6753 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, Android 6.0, LTE, dual-SIM, 2200mAh battery. (Android Headlines)
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Tablets |
| Global tablet shipments are expected to drop 4.6% sequentially to reach 42.84 million units in the second quarter, which is still the slow season for the table market, according to Digitimes Research. (Digitimes, press)
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Wearables |
| According to IDC, total shipment volumes of wearables reached 19.7 million units in 1Q16, an increase of 67.2% from the 11.8 million units shipped in 1Q15. Fitbit shipment increased 25.4% from 1Q15, reached 4.8 million units. And, Apple is the leader in smartwatch segment. (IDC, press, CN Beta)
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| Samsung is targeting Europe by offering new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge owners a chance to acquire the Gear VR for “a special price”. (Ubergizmo, Samsung) |
| Garmin Vivosmart HR+ is officially launched, featuring standby GPS tracking function, heart rate monitoring , a touch-screen display, and the ability to track steps, distance, calories, and floors climbed, priced at USD219.99. (CN Beta, Ubergzimo, PC Mag)
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Internet of Things |
| Meizu is making an entry into the United States by selling a crowd-funded Wi-Fi speaker called Gravity. It is working with Dirac, which is also Bose and JBL components supplier. (CN Beta, Ubergizmo, Indiegogo)
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| Disney Research presents a new type of hydrostatic transmission that uses a hybrid air-water configuration, analogous to N+1 cable-tendon transmissions, using N hydraulic lines and 1 pneumatic line for a system with N degrees of freedom (DOFs). This enables robots with more human-like grace and precision. (Quadrangle Online, HNGN, Teleprecense Options, CN Beta)
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| LG Group is moving to continue active investment in its auto parts business, regardless of the rise of electric vehicles (EV). LG Group vice chairman Koo Bon-joon indicates that it is not expecting any tangible results from its vehicle component (VC) division this year due to its infancy. (CN Beta, Korea Times) |
| Chinese Special Economic Zone of Shenzhen is set to become a global hub for IoT hardware manufacturing. (Read/Write)
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