6-3: U.S. Department of Commerce has subpoenaed Huawei; Micromax plans to sell smartphones in China in 2017; Foxconn integrating Sharp smartphone and Nokia feature phone businesses; etc.
U.S. Department of Commerce has subpoenaed Huawei; Micromax plans to sell smartphones in China in 2017; Foxconn integrating Sharp smartphone and Nokia feature phone businesses; Worldwide tablet shipments are expected to decline for the second straight year in 2016, dropping 9.6% compared to 2015 volumes; By 2021 monthly data traffic per smartphone would reach 8.9GB; etc.
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Memory |
| Silicon Motion has announced what the company claims to be the world’s first turnkey 6Gb/s SSD controller with support for 3D TLC NAND. The company named its piece of silicon the SM2258, and says that when coupled with 3D TLC NAND, it should allow OEMs to create “cost-competitive, high-capacity and high-performance” SSDs. (CN Beta, Legit Reviews, Tech Report, Silicon Motion)
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Connectivity |
| According to Ericsson latest Mobility Report, by 2021 monthly data traffic per smartphone would reach 8.9GB. For comparison, currently this number is 1.4GB. North America and Western Europe will become the most mobile data traffic consumer regions. (Ericsson, report, CN Beta, Indian Express, ZDNet)
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Smartphones |
| The U.S. Department of Commerce has ordered Huawei to turn over internal documents as part of an investigation into whether its business violated U.S. export laws with shipments to Iran, North Korea and other tightly monitored ports. (Reuters, Law360, NY Times, 163, My Drivers, Android Headlines) |
| Goldman Sachs’s Simona Jankowski cuts her 2016 estimate for smartphone growth to 5% from a prior 6% growth forecast. For 2017, she sees 4% growth, down from 7%. Jankowski’s numbers for 2016 fiscal year ending in September go to 211.3 million Apple iPhone units, from a prior 212.1 million. (Barron’s, blog, CN Beta) |
| Foxconn Electronics has begun to integrate the marketing and sales efforts of Sharp’s smartphones and Nokia’s feature phones after taking control of the 2 brands recently. (Digitimes, press, CN Beta) |
| Micromax announced that they are making plans to begin selling smartphones in China during 2017 and considering going public by 2018. (Android Authority, WSJ, ZOL, 163) |
| Apple will be making Bollywood film star Shah Rukh Khan a brand ambassador for India, intensifying the company’s profile in the country. (Apple Insider, DNA India, TechWeb)
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| The invalidation of two more Smartflash patents may put Apple in a good position to avoid paying a USD532.9 million patent verdict rendered in February 2015. (Bloomberg, Apple Insider, CN Beta)
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Tablets |
| Worldwide tablet shipments are expected to decline for the second straight year in 2016, dropping 9.6% compared to 2015 volumes, according to IDC. The tablet market in totality has seen its peak and will face down years in 2016 and 2017, followed by a slight rebound in 2018 and beyond driven by detachable tablet growth. (CN Beta, IDC, press)
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| The landscape of the global OEM AIO (all-in-one) PC market will undergo a dramatic change in 2016 as number-two maker TPV-Inventa Technology (after Quanta Computer) gradually exits this segment. (Digitimes, press) |
| Amazon Silver Aluminium version of Fire HD 10 tablet is launched – 10.1” 1280×800 IPS LCD display, 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 5MP + VGA cameras, 1GB RAM, 16/32/64GB storage, Fire OS 5 UI, from USD229.99. (CN Beta, GSM Arena, Engadget, The Verge, Amazon)
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| LG G Pad X 8.0 is officially launched with T-Mobile – 8” 1920×1200 display, 1.5GHz octa-core processor, 5MP + 5MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 6, USD240. (T-Mobile, GSM Arena)
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Wearables |
| Nintendo NX is scheduled to enter mass production in early 2017, delaying from original planned mid-2016. The delay was reportedly because it is to add VR function into the system to gain advantages in the upcoming video game and mobile game competitions. (CN Beta, TechRadar, Geek, Yahoo, Digitimes) |
| Samsung wireless earbuds Gear IconX is launched – a standard pair of Bluetooth headphones, 4GB of memory for storing and playing music, has basic fitness tracking capabilities that sync with S Health and provide verbal feedback. (CN Beta, GSM Arena, Samsung, 9to5Google)
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| Samsung Gear Fit 2 is launched – 1.5” curved Super AMOLED, 1GHz dual-core processor, 4GB storage, optical heart-rate sensor, GPS, IP68 rated, 200mAh battery, USD179. (CN Beta, GSM Arena, Samsung, 9to5Google, Mac Rumors)
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Internet of Things |
| Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands “Robot Baby” project makes robotics “mate” via Wi-Fi and using 3D printing technology to “procreate” a next generation robots. (CN Beta, Daily Mail, 3D Print, VU, TechCrunch)
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| IBM is buying an Israeli-based start-up to help companies understand and make changes to the mainframe code in cloud apps. The company in question is called EZ Legacy Ltd. (CN Beta, Geek Wire, IBM, IT Portal)
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| The software engineer Sinisa Durekovic who led development of satellite navigation systems for a variety of luxury carmakers including Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, has been working for Apple since Oct 2015. (Apple Insider, Bloomberg, Tencent, 163)
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| BMW is relaunching its “i” division to concentrate on self-driving vehicles, with “Project i Next”. (Reuters, Apple Insider, 163, TechWeb) |
