7-1: Android Nougat is the official name of Android N; Qualcomm indicates that it has for more than a year negotiated in good faith with Meizu; ASE and SPIL have officially entered into a merger agreement reached on May 26; etc.
Android Nougat is the official name of Android N; Qualcomm indicates that it has for more than a year negotiated in good faith with Meizu; ASE and SPIL have officially entered into a merger agreement reached on May 26; Samsung reportedly plans to shut down its L7-1 (7G LCD) line by the end of 2016; Micron said it would lower costs, including by cutting jobs and focusing on fewer programs; Dell has decided to end distribution of its Android tabs and will instead focus on Windows 2-in-1 devices; etc.
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Chipset |
| Meizu says that the terms of a patent license offered by Qualcomm were neither fair nor reasonable. Qualcomm indicates that it has for more than a year negotiated in good faith with Meizu to sign a patent license agreement that are accepted by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in 2015, but Meizu has refused to engage in good faith negotiations. (CN Beta, 163, eWeek, PR Newswire, India Times) |
| MediaTek announced that its IoT chipset MT2503 has been adopted by China Mobile IoT on its new generation traffic guards DMU products. DMU can monitor, collect and transmit vehicles traffic data, to provide drivers safer and more convenient driving experience. (EE Trend, EEPW) |
| TSMC is reportedly forecast to grow revenues almost 20% sequentially in 3Q16, owing primarily to shipments of “A10” processors for Apple “iPhone 7”. (CN Beta, Apple Insider, Digitimes, press) |
| Intel, BMW and Mobileye may be team up working on self-driving cars. (Ubergizmo, Bloomberg, MSN, IB Times, Intel, Sohu, Tencent) |
| Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) and Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) jointly announced on June 30 they have officially entered into a merger agreement reached on May 26. The merger is expected to complete by 4Q17. (Digitimes, press, NoNews, China Times, China Flash Market, Sohu)
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Touch Display |
| A patent application from Samsung has emerged showing off a 3-in-1 device that transforms from a watch into a phone, and even a tablet. The device features a stretchable OLED display that helps the transformation. (CN Beta, Softpedia, IB Times, Android Headlines)
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| Nomura Securities sees OLED accounting for 1/3 of total smartphone displays by 2018. Analyst Yu Okazaki is worried about Japan Display and Sharp, both of which supplies LCD displays to Apple. (Barron’s, press, TechNews) |
| Samsung reportedly plans to shut down its L7-1 (7G LCD) line by the end of 2016. Samsung L7 line accounts for about 15% of Samsung’s total LCD capacity and 3% of global LCD capacity. Credit Suisse upgrades Taiwan’s Innolux and Au Optronics. (Barron’s, press, TechNews) |
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Memory |
| Micron said it would lower costs, including by cutting jobs and focusing on fewer programs, after its hopes of reversing its fortunes this year were thwarted by a persistently challenging market. Demand for Micron’s DRAM chips for PCs has continued to fall, while it faces stiff competition from rivals such as Samsung in the market of NAND chips for devices like smartphones. (CN Beta, Yahoo) |
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Battery |
| Google has bought future output from two yet to be built wind power farms in Norway and Sweden to power its data centers in Europe. Google has agreed to buy power from a smaller wind farm project in Sweden, putting the total newly acquired capacity at 236 megawatts (MW). (CN Beta, Yahoo, Bloomberg, Tech Week Europe) |
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Material |
| Taking advantage of the change of atomic angles in single-layer boron nitride, a new material developed by TU Wien, the University of Zurich, and KU Levin has been created that is able to switch from water-retaining to water-repellent, simply by the application of an electric current. (CN Beta, Gizmag, University of Zurich, Nature)
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Connectivity |
| VP of China Mobile Sha Yuejia indicates that the company has completed nationwide VoLTE deployment, covering 300+ cities, with 5 million active users. Till end of May 2016, there are more than 1.3 million China Mobile 4G base stations, with more than 400 million active users. (CN Beta, 163, Mobile World Live) |
| The global VoLTE user base is forecast to hit 1 billion by 2020, aided by China Mobile’s VoLTE migration, according to a report by IHS. There were 185 million VoLTE users in 2015, mostly coming from Japan, South Korea and the US, and this number is anticipated to grow to 310 million by year’s end. (Telecomlead, TelecomTalk, CC Time, Fiercewireless)
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Smartphones |
| The Brexit vote was a negative shock but the tragedy no longer looks like a ‘fait accompli’, George Soros said, it has created “positive momentum for a stronger and better Europe”. First danger is that it unleashed a crisis in the financial markets, comparable in severity only to 2007/8. Aggravating the refugee crisis is the second danger. (CNBC, Bloomberg, TechNews) |
| TrendForce finds that Chinese smartphone brands will continue to witness substantial increase in their production volumes through 2016, with their average year-on-year growth rate reaching 11%. Huawei, OPPO and Vivo will be able to maintain strong market performances this year. LeEco, which experienced a rapid rise last year, will post notable production volume growth as well. (TrendForce, press, TrendForce[cn], press)
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| China Mobile shares its “China Mobile Devices Big Data” report. Apple is ranked top 1 in “user base”, “loyalty”, and “user value” categories. Chinese brands including Xiaomi, Huawei, OPPO and vivo are also performing well. (CN Beta, My Drivers, 199IT)
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| Tax officials in Spain have raided the headquarters of Google in the city of Madrid as part of an ongoing investigation into tax evasion and fraud. A statement by the tax authority says the investigation centers on non-payment of VAT (value added tax) as well as non-resident tax. (CN Beta, CNN, NY Times, IB Times, Official Press)
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| Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Alphabet said it is unlikely for Google to change its operations in Europe after the Brexit referendum. (CN Beta, India Times, Bloomberg, Opp Trends) |
| Google officially names Android N, Android Nougat. (Phone Arena, CNN, CNET, Geek, iFeng, Tencent)
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| Nike appointed Apple CEO and longtime board member Tim Cook as its “lead independent director”. (Apple Insider, Engadget, Nike, 163, Sina) |
| Apple is reportedly in early talks to acquire Tidal, the music streaming service and Apple Music competitor purchased by rapper Jay-Z in 2015. (Apple Insider, WSJ, Engadget, CN Beta) |
| VP of vivo Feng Lei indicates that the board of directors have been using 3 KPIs: (1) Investment in brand building is 5% of the revenue every year; (2) R&D investment every year should not below to a specific share of the investment; and (3) Inventory and cash flow related issues cannot be longer than a specific number of days. There are no indicators for market size or money earned. (CN Beta, Huanqiu)
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| Huawei shipped 28.3 million smartphones globally in 1Q16, hiking 64% on year, and aims to ship 140 million units in 2016, cited Huawei’s end product manager Kevin Ho. (Digitimes, press, ZOL) |
| According to Russia biggest operator MTS’ data, 1Q16 Huawei smartphone sales in Russia exceeds 124,000 units, 800% growth YoY. Sales revenue has reached RUB1.5 billion (about USD23.39 million), and it is 10-fold of last year same period. (CN Beta, iFeng, Xinhuanet) |
| HTC is rumored making two Nexus phone, one of which coded Marlin with leaked specs – 5.5” QHD AMOLED display, 12MP + 8MP cameras, 4GB RAM, 32/128GB ROM, USB Type-C, 3250mAh battery. (CN Beta, Pocket-Lint, Android Police, Phone Arena) |
| Samsung launches Z3 Corporate Edition in Russia – 5” HD Super AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 MSM8916, 8MP + 5MP cameras, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, Tizen OS 2.4, LTE, 2600mAh battery. (CN Beta, Softpedia, Geeky Gadgets)
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| vivo X7 and X7 Plus are officially launched powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 MSM8976 processor, 4GB RAM, 64/128GB ROM, fingerprint sensor: X7 – 5.2” FHD Super AMOLED display, 16MP + 13MP cameras, 3000mAh battery, from CNY2498. X7 Plus – 5.7” FHD Super AMOLED display, 16MP + 16MP cameras, 4000mAh battery. (CN Beta, GSM Arena, Gizmo China)
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| China Mobile N2 is officially launched – 5.5” FHD 2.5D curved glass display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, 16MP + 8MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, LTE Cat. 7 CA (VoLTE), 4000mAh battery. (Kejixun, ZOL, CN Beta)
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Tablets |
| Dell has decided to end distribution of its Android tabs and will instead focus on Windows 2-in-1 devices. (Engadget, PC World, Phone Arena, ZOL, Gfan) |
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Wearables |
| Google is reportedly putting in virtual reality features in the Android version of its Chrome browser, which could enable VR experiences to be seen by a much larger audience. (Road to VR, Android Central, Tencent)
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| LeEco launches4G smartwatch for kids, Kido Watch – 1.4” full lamination retina display, Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, built-in SIM card slot, Broadcom GPS chipset, Kid OS based on Android, 800mAh battery, priced at CNY698. (CN Beta, DoNews, Tencent)
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| Bang & Olufsen’s first ever pair of wireless earphones Beoplay H5 featuring a single braided cable with a built-in remote, playback, and volume control. They are splash and dust resistant, and there are 50mAh batteries inside each earpiece which combine to offer five hours of continuous playback, GBP199. (The Verge, Ubergizmo, Beoplay, IMP3)
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| HTC has announced that it has teamed up with a total of 28 venture investment companies, including Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners, to form the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA) to promote the development of the global VR industry and its ecosystem. (FromGeek, Digitimes, press) |
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Internet of Things |
| Dr Ian Pearson, an inventor who has made a career out of predicting the future for PR firms, believes that sex with robots will become so popular that it will eventually overtake human intercourse by around 2050. He also believes that by 2030, most people will have some form of virtual sex. (CN Beta, Daily Mail, Metro, Mirror, Bondara report) |
| Midea Group announced that they had completed the previously announced transaction to acquire Toshiba’s Home Appliances Business. The transaction price for the 80.1% stake was determined at JPY51.4 billion. (CN Beta, AskCI, China Tech, China Daily, Public Now) |
| According to a survey covering 50,000 people worldwide conducted by Volvo, 79% of respondents said they thought carmakers should assume liability in the case of crashes and 55% of people said they wanted a steering wheel in their self-driving cars. (TechNews, CNET, Re/Code)
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