4-29: Samsung 1Q16 operating profit KRW6.68trn; SPL terminates its strategic alliance agreement with Tsinghua Unigroup; Motorola is sued for its poor customer service; etc.
SPL terminates its strategic alliance agreement with Tsinghua Unigroup; Motorola is sued for its poor customer service; This year AMOLED shipment would reach 395mln units; Samsung 1Q16 operating profit KRW6.68trn; LG Mobile suffered KRW200bln deficit due to marketing costs for G5; 1Q16 tablet shipment reached 39.6mln units; etc.
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Chipset |
| Movidius has a product it says will bring the capacity for powerful deep learning to everyone on a USB accessory called the Fathom Neural Compute Stick. It contains the Myriad 2 MA2450 VPU paired with 512MB of LPDDR3 RAM. (Engadget, Tom’s Hardware, TechCrunch, Tuicool, Movidius)
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| United Microelectronics (UMC) expects to post an about 5% sequential increase in wafer shipments for 2Q16, when the company’s capacity utilization rate will rise to 87-89% from 82% in the prior quarter. UMC’s wafer ASP for the second quarter is forecast to rise 1-2% on quarter, according to the pure-play foundry. (52RD, EE Focus, Digitimes, press) |
| Taiwan’s Siliconware Precision Industries ( SPIL ) terminates its strategic alliance agreement and share subscription agreement with Tsinghua Unigroup. (NASDAQ, TechNews, East Money, Stock, Yahoo) |
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Display |
| Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) employees have recently established a team to display and promote Sharp’s white goods at Foxconn’s plants, hoping to attract employees to purchase Sharp’s products and help boost their sales in Taiwan and China. (Digitimes, TechWeb, Tencent) |
| AU Optronics (AUO) has reported a net loss of NTD5.58 billion (USD172.53 million) for 1Q16 on consolidated revenues of NTD71.14 billion, which represents a sequential decline of 14.7%. (Digitimes, press, CINNO, TechNews)
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| According to IHS, AMOLED display shipments will grow 40% YoY, to reach 395 million units in 2016. AMOLED display revenue is expected to increase by 25%, to reach USD15 billion in 2016. AMOLED penetration in smartphone displays is expected to rise from 17% in 2015 to 21% this year. (IHS, press, OLED-Info, C114)
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Camera |
| Schematics showing a phone called Apple iPhone Pro were posted on a Japanese magazine called Mac Fan. It shows that the machine is equipped with a dual camera and without a headphone jack. (TechNews, Macotakara, Business Insider, Forbes)
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Memory |
| Microsoft is buying 10 million strands of long oligonucleotides (lab-made molecules of DNA) from startup Twist Bioscience. Microsoft is exploring using DNA molecules as a way to store massive amounts of data. (TechNews, Twist, Business Insider) |
| South Korea’s rear-end businesses such as outsourcing packaging and testing businesses including Hana Micron, SFA Semiconductor, WINPAC and Signetics, etc., which have Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as their major customers are reducing size of their businesses as market situation for memory is becoming worse due to de-growth of PC markets and stagnant sales of Smartphones. (ET News, TechNews) |
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Battery |
| Samsung is testing a new TouchWiz launcher leveraging the Vulkan API for power savings. (Android Central, The Verge, My Drivers, IT Home)
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Sensors |
| Alps Electric has developed a computer mouse that enables the user to check mental stress level at workplace. The mouse is equipped with a vital sensor and an environmental sensor. (CNET, Japan Today, CN Beta)
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Connectivity |
| AT&T will shutdown its 2G network by the year’s end for saving costs. (Android Authority, Wireless Week) |
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Smartphones |
| Google has hired former Motorola President Rick Osterloh as a senior vice president who will report directly to CEO Sundar Pichai. (Digital Trends, CN Beta) |
| Claim of poor customer service could cost Motorola USD5 million in a lawsuit. (Digital Trends, Trusted Reviews, 163) |
| Sony just posted its earnings for the 2015 financial year; the revenue was down 1.3% to JPY8.1 trillion (USD71.73 billion), but net profit grew 666.7% to JPY304.5 billion and operating profit was up 329 % to JPY294.2 billion (USD2.6 billion). Sony says the revenue dip was largely down to a major decline in smartphone sales, partially offset by the PlayStation division. (The Verge, Sony, Sina, ZOL, Huxiu)
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| Samsung Electronics reported 1Q16 operating profits of KRW6.68 trillion (USD5.81 billion) with KRW49.87 trillion (USD43.8 billion) in revenue, while its Mobile division reported KRW3.89 trillion (USD3.38 billion) in profits. As overall the company revenue jumps 12% from last year. (Apple Insider, The Verge, Samsung, CE, PC Online)
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| LG reported a 65.5% surge in operating profit to KRW505.2 billion (USD440 million) in 1Q16 from a year ago. LG indicates that its G5 shipments have exceeded 1.6 million units globally since its launch a month ago. Its mobile business division suffered a KRW200 billion deficit due to marketing costs for the G5. (Android Central, Pocket Now, LG, Korea Herald, 91, 21CN) |
| Shipments of Apple iPhone are expected to continue to decline to around 40 million units in 2Q16 (or Apple’s fiscal third quarter) after shipments dropped 16% on year to 51.19 million units in 1Q16, sources from the iPhone supply chain in Taiwan have estimated. (Digitimes, press) |
| LeEco now has a U.S headquarter and will start to bring products to the U.S market. “Customers will never again settle for less”, says Chief Administrative Officer Shawn Williams. (Ubergizmo, Business Insider)
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| Huawei Honor 5C is official – 5.2” FHD IPS LCD display, HiSilicon Kirin 650 processor, 13MP + 8MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 6.0 (EMUI 4.1), LTE, dual-SIM, fingerprint sensor, 3000mAh battery, CNY899 (China Mobile) / CNY999 (China Mobile + China Unicom). (GSM Arena, My Drivers, TechWeb, Honor)
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| Docoss Multimedia launches Docoss X1, priced at mere INR888 – 4” WVGA IPS display, 1.3GHz dual-core processor, 2MP + 0.2MP cameras, 1GB RAM, 4GB storage, Android 4.4, 3G, dual-SIM, 1300mAh battery, INR888 (USD13.3). (First Post, Financial Express, Tencent)
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Tablets |
| According to IDC, worldwide shipments of tablets (including slate and detachable form factors) reached 39.6 million units. Detachables experienced triple-digit year-over-year growth on shipments of more than 4.9 million units. (IDC, press, Windows Central, iFeng, Tencent)
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Wearables |
| According to Strategy Analytics, global smartwatch shipments grew 223% annually to reach 4.2 million units in 1Q16. Apple captured 52% global smartwatch market share, dipping from 63% share in 4Q15. (Strategy Analytics, press, Apple Insider, Sohu, My Drivers)
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| Samsung executive VP of Media Solutions John Pleasants indicates that Gear VR owners have already watched over 2 million hours of VR content to date. To put that into perspective that is over 228 years of time spent in the Gear VR experience. (Android Central)
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| New York Times is sending out another 300,000 Google Cardboard kits to digital subscribers. (Engadget, Business Wire)
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| Google announces MODE bands for Android Wear smartwatches, which are snap-and-swap watch bands that come in a variety of colors in leather and silicone. (GSM Arena, Google, Tencent, Hexun)
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| Xiaomi has confirmed that it has plans to release a smartwatch later this year. (Phone Arena, Gizmo China, Tencent, iFeng) |
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Internet of Things |
| Fiat Chrysler (FCA) and Google have reportedly reached the late stages of technical partnership negotiations. (WSJ, Digital Trends, 163) |
| Xiaomi Vice President, Liu De, said that Xiaomi wants their smart home devices to double in sales – an increase from CNY5 billion last year to a CNY10 billion (USD1.54 billion) this year. (Android Headlines, Xinmin, East Day) |
| Japan reckons that if the country does not take any initiative to prepare for new technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics, the country will lose 735 employment by 2030. If foreign corporations are advanced in those technologies, the Japanese corporations will have no choice but “work for them”. (TechNews, Nikkei, Economic Times) |
