IF / News

Qualcomm has allegedly explored the possibility of acquiring portions of Intel’s design business to boost the company’s product portfolio. Qualcomm  has examined acquiring different pieces of Intel, which is struggling to generate cash and looking to shed business units and sell off other assets. Other pieces of Intel such as the server segment would make less sense for Qualcomm to acquire. Intel has responded that Qualcomm has not approached Intel about a potential acquisition. Intel is “deeply committed to our PC business”. (Android Headlines, Reuters)

Qualcomm introduces Snapdragon 6 Gen 3, which brings improved AI performance for tasks like activity tracking and noise cancellation during calls. Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 comes with an octa-core CPU – four 2.4GHz Cortex-A78 cores and four 1.8GHz Cortex-A55 cores. Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 supports displays with up to Full HD+ resolution at 120Hz refresh rate. Qualcomm used an Adreno 710 GPU, and the chip supports both the older LPDDR4X and newer LPDDR5 RAM versions but only UFS 3.1 storage. Connectivity support on the new chip also includes Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6E.(GSM Arena, Qualcomm)

TF Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo indicates that Apple’s in-house 5G chip shipments will grow rapidly and replace Qualcomm’s 5G chips. It’s estimated that Apple’s in-house 5G chip shipments will reach 35-40M units in 2025, 90-110M in 2026, and 160-180M in 2027. This trend will significantly impact Qualcomm’s 5G chip shipments and licensing sales. (Apple Insider, Twitter)

The US Justice Department sent subpoenas to Nvidia and other companies as it seeks evidence that the chip maker violated antitrust laws, an escalation of its investigation into the dominant provider of AI processors. The DOJ, which had previously delivered questionnaires to companies, is now sending legally binding requests that oblige recipients to provide information. Antitrust officials are concerned that Nvidia is making it harder to switch to other suppliers and penalises buyers that do not exclusively use its artificial intelligence chips. (Android Headlines, Bloomberg, Digitimes, SCMP, CNBC)

Intel has indicated that it is spinning off its chipmaking business. The Intel Foundry will now be a separate business unit. It will have its operating board. Intel Foundry will report its financial earnings separately from Intel. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said the Intel Foundry will become an independent subsidiary with “clearer separation and independence” from Intel. Intel implied its financial condition could improve owing to the USD3B fund infusion by the Biden administration under the CHIPS Act. However, Intel had recently indicated that some of the funds were yet to be credited.(Android Headlines, The Verge, Intel)

LG Display (LGD) has announced that it is presenting its Stretchable displays, which can be freely stretched, folded, and twisted, at one of the world’s most exciting fashion events. The industry’s first Stretchable prototype could extend 12”-14” while maintaining a high resolution of 100ppi, at the level of a regular monitor, and a full color spectrum.(Engadget, LG)

Honor CEO Zhao Ming has revealed that Honor is ready for the three-fold screen mobile phone technology, and the key now is to determine the timing of commercialization according to market demand. Honor’s tri-fold screen mobile phone is highly completed and will adopt a thin and light design and built-in large-capacity battery to meet users’ dual needs for portability and battery life.(Android Headlines, Twitter, MSN)

Samsung is allegedly developing a smartphone with a rollable display and the company will launch it by 2025. The size of the rollable screen on the upcoming phone is 12.4”. (Android Central, The Elec, SamMobile)

Samsung has reportedly shown interest in acquiring Nokia’s telecom equipment business. Nokia has struggled to compete with major players like Ericsson and Huawei over the past few years. Nokia’s telecom equipment business is reportedly worth USD10B. Samsung Electronics has shown interest in the acquisition to improve its Radio Access Network (RAN) segment. RAN helps connect smartphones to the rest of the telecom infrastructure. Samsung Networks, an arm of Samsung Electronics, is among the world’s top telecom network infrastructure firms but still nowhere close to Ericsson and Huawei. If it successfully acquires Nokia’s mobile network business, Samsung’s RAN market share would leapfrog from 6.1% last year to 25.6%. That would make Samsung the world’s second-biggest RAN supplier. (GSM Arena, SamMobile, Yahoo)

Samsung Electronics is allegedly cutting up to 30% of its overseas staff at some divisions. Samsung has instructed subsidiaries worldwide to reduce sales and marketing staff by about 15% and the administrative staff by up to 30%.  The plan will be implemented by the end of 2024 and would impact jobs across the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. Samsung said workforce adjustments conducted at some overseas operations were routine, and aimed at improving efficiency. It said there are no specific targets for the plans, adding that they are not impacting its production staff. Samsung employed a total of 267,800 people as of the end of 2023, and more than half, or 147,000 employees, are based overseas. (Android Headlines, Reuters)

The investigation of Competition Commission of India (CCI) has revealed that the Indian units of Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, realme, and OnePlus were “involved in the practice of exclusive” phone launches with Amazon, while Samsung, Xiaomi, Motorola, vivo, Lenovo, and realme engaged in similar practices with Flipkart. The findings are a major setback for Amazon and Flipkart in a key growth market where they have faced criticism from small retailers for hurting their offline businesses. India’s e-retail market is set to exceed USD160B by 2028, up from USD57-60B in 2023. Both the CCI reports said that during investigations Amazon and Flipkart “deliberately downplayed” allegations of exclusive launches, but officials found the practice was “rampant”. (GSM Arena, Reuters, India Times)

Google and Apple have been slapped with astronomical fines in the EU. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has fined Apple with EUR13B (USD14.3B) because of unpaid taxes to Ireland. The ECJ said that “Ireland granted Apple unlawful aid which Ireland is required to recover”. Google has been fined EUR2.4B (USD2.6B) for abusing the market dominance of its shopping comparison service. The ECJ said that the European Commission was right to find Google’s conduct “discriminatory”, and that Google’s appeal “must be dismissed in its entirety”.(Android Headlines, BBC, BBC, Politico)

Google has announced partnership with Masimo to bring more variety to the Wear OS ecosystem. The deal results in Masimo, a company specializing in medical-grade health monitoring devices, offering a “reference platform” that other smartwatch manufacturers can use. This includes both underlying hardware (health sensors) and a smartphone app. Manufacturers will also have access to Masimo’s advanced health monitoring technologies. The Masimo W1 Sport is currently the reference platform. This device is so focused on professional health tracking that it doesn’t offer typical smartwatch features.(Android Headlines, Business Wire, Masimo)

EssilorLuxottica has announced that it has extended its partnership with Meta Platforms by entering into a new long term agreement, under which the parties will collaborate into the next decade to develop multi-generational smart eyewear products. The two companies have been collaborating successfully since 2019, resulting in two generations of Ray-Ban branded smart glasses.(Neowin, EssilorLuxottica)