10-16: Samsung has announced 2 new automotive solution brands — Samsung Exynos Auto and Samsung ISOCELL Auto; Foxconn allegedly has lose interest in Sharp’s mobile phone business in China; etc.

Chipsets

Samsung has announced 2 new automotive solution brands — Samsung Exynos Auto and Samsung ISOCELL Auto — to bring cutting-edge application processor and image sensor technology solutions to the road. Processors provided by Exynos Auto are sorted into 3 sub-categories: Exynos Auto V series for advanced in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) systems; Exynos Auto A series for ADAS; and Exynos Auto T series for telematics solutions. (Slash Gear, Samsung, Sam Mobile, CN Beta)

Qualcomm and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have asked a federal judge to delay a preliminary ruling in an antitrust case U.S. regulators brought against the mobile chip company in order to pursue settlement talks. The FTC originally filed the lawsuit in early 2017, alleging Qualcomm used anti-competitive practices to maintain a monopoly on the market for mobile phone chips. (CN Beta, Reuters, Mobile World Live)

Qualcomm has announced a family of 60GHz Wi-Fi chipsets, the QCA64x8 and QCA64x1, delivering 10+Gbps network speeds and wire-equivalent latency. Qualcomm said it is the first-to-market with a 60GHz Wi-Fi product with optimizations based on the 802.11ay specification.  (CN Beta, Qualcomm, VentureBeat, Telecom Paper)

Touch Display

TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests that Apple will continue to offer 5.8” and 6.5” OLED iPhone in 2019, along with one 6.1” LCD model.  (Mac Rumors, CN Beta)

Memory

As HyperX begins shipping Cloud Mix, its first Bluetooth-enabled gaming and lifestyle headset this month, the gaming division of Kingston Technology has announced that since its inception in 2002, it has shipped over 60M memory modules, billions of bytes of memory.  (Android Headlines, Business Wire, CN Beta)

Biometrics

VisionLabs, a Russian developer of facial recognition technology, introduced the facial identification function to cars, which will allow a vehicle to ‘recognize’ its owner from a distance, and as she gets closer it will confirm his identity and unlock the doors. The LUNA platform, which was developed by VisionLabs, was modified to operate on the Nvidia Drive IX platform.  (CN Beta, Future Five, TASS)

Battery

BMW is partnering with Swedish battery company Northvolt and Belgian materials and recycling group Umicore on a project to create a sustainable life cycle for batteries. The project aims to create a “closed life cycle loop” for battery cells, which will be manufactured using a recyclable design and used in electric vehicles. (CN Beta, Reuters, Auto Blog)

Material

According to TF Securities analyt Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple iPhone 2019 lineup is expected to retain the same level of water-resistance, which is IP68. Apple is not expected to infuse any additional layers of protection most likely because it will be a costly process and since the competition has not applied any such measures. (CN Beta, Sohu, Apple Insider, WCCF Tech, Mac Rumors, UDN)

Phone

Google hardware SVP rick Osterloh reveals that currently there are more than 75% of Pixel devices have upgraded to Android 9.0. Apple expects to reach 75% share with its latest iOS 12 by Nov 2018. According to IDC, Google sold 1.95M units of Pixel devices in 2016, 3.9M units in 2017. Not considering 2018 volume, currently there are 5.85M units of Pixel devices in the market. (My Drivers, CN Beta, BGR, Twitter)

Foxconn allegedly has lose interest in Sharp’s mobile phone business in China because with their current limited resources, the company has no enough resource to support Nokia and Sharp 2 brands at the same time. (My Drivers, Sina, 36Kr, CN Beta)

Apple has acquired Asaii, a music analytics company focused around the discovery of new and emerging artists. Asaii’s main product is a dashboard that pulls together data from both music services and social media.  (The Verge, Axios, CN Beta)

According to TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is now expected to ship 36M~38M iPhone XR units in 4Q18, up 10% from an original estimate of 33M~35M units. He forecasts that Apple iPhone XR shipments in 1Q19 will decline 25%~30% QoQ to 27M~30M units, and attribute the lower XR shipment QoQ decline to better replacement demand and production delay. Also, XR’s shipment QoQ decline in 1Q19 will be better than the iPhone 8 series’ 45%~50% in 1Q18. Total iPhone shipments in 1Q19 are expected to grow by 10% year-over-year to 55M~60M units thanks to the strength of the iPhone XR.  (Phone Arena, Apple Insider, Mac Rumors, LTN, Sohu, China Times)

President of Huawei Honor, Zhao Ming, reveals that according to GfK’s latest Aug 2018 data, Honor’s market share in Russia reached 18.9% in Aug 2018, ranking second in the market; compared with 2017, it has been increased by 300%. Zhao Ming further reveals that the number of Honor fans worldwide has been reached 120M.  (My Drivers, Sina, Sohu, CN Beta, Globe Mobiles)

Huawei consumer BG senior manager Shun Hao indicates that after 3 years and 4 generation of products, Enjoy series user base has exceeded 45M. (My Drivers, ChinaZ, Sohu)

Coolpad has launched Coolpad Note 8 in India – 5.99” 1080×2160 FHD+, MediaTek MT6750T, rear dual 16MP-0.3MP + front 8MP, 4+64GB, Android 8.0, 4000mAh, rear fingerprint scanner, face unlock, INR9,999. (Android Authority, NDTV, India Today, The Mobile Indian)

Huawei Enjoy 9 Plus is announced – 6.5” 2340×1080 FHD+, Huawei Kirin 710 supporting GPU Turbo, rear dual 13MP-2MP + front 16MP, 4+64/128GB, rear fingerprint scanner, 4000mAh, CNY1499 / CNY1699. (CN Beta, Sina)

Huawei Enjoy MAX is announced – 7.12” 2244×1080 FHD+ ‘Pearl Display’, Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, rear dual 16MP-2MP + front 8MP, 4+64/128GB, rear fingerprint scanner, 5000mAh, CNY1699 / CNY1999. (CN Beta, My Drivers, Sohu, Sina)

Palm phone is announced, acting as a companion to smartphone – 3.3” HD, Qualcomm Snapdragon 435, rear 12MP + front 8MP, 3+32GB, face unlock, IP68 rated, 800mAh, USD350 via Verizon. (Gizmo China, The Verge, GSM Arena, CNET, Sohu)

Nokia X7 (or Nokia 7.1 Plus) is announced in China – 6.18” 1080×2280 FHD+ IPS, Qualcomm Snapdragon 710, rear dual 12MP OIS-13MP + front 20MP, 4/6 + 64/128GB, Android 8.1, 3500mAh, from CNY1699. (CN Beta, Live Mint, GSM Arena, Nokia, GSM Arena)

Wearables

Montblanc Summit 2 is announced, featuring 1.2” 390×390 AMOLED, Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100, 1+8GB, WearOS, heart-rate sensor, 340mAh, from USD995. (CN Beta, Android Authority, Montblanc)

Fintech

Sony Corporation, Sony Music Entertainment (Japan), and Sony Global Education have announced the development of a rights management system for digital content that utilizes blockchain technology. This new system is based on Sony and Sony Global Education’s previously developed system for authenticating, sharing, and rights management of educational data, and additionally features functionality for processing rights-related information. (Engadget, Sony, Sohu)

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