06-15: Huawei has indicated that its foldable phone Mate X will launch in Sept 2019; Huawei Technologies has told Verizon Communications that the U.S. carrier should pay licensing fees; etc.
Chipsets
The chairman of MediaTek, Cai Mingjie has said that MediaTek is the first company in the world to release an independent 5G SoC. MediaTek has announced the launch of a multimode 5G SoC chip with a 7nm process and built-in Helio M70 modem independently developed by MediaTek. It uses an energy-saving package. (GizChina, CN Beta, UDN)
According to IC Insights, China’s IC market (IC sales into China) amounted to USD155B in 2018. Of the USD155B worth of ICs sold in China in 2018, only USD24.0B (15.5%) was manufactured in China. However, of the USD24.0B worth of ICs manufactured in China in 2018, China-headquartered companies produced only USD6.5B (27.0%), accounting for only 4.2% of the country’s USD155B IC market. (IC Insights, press, CN Beta)
Touch Display
Samsung’s patent shows that the company may want to make a phone with all the sides curved including the top and bottom. The patent says the back which is also curved on all sides can be made of metal. (Gizmo China, WIPO, LetsGoDigital, Phone Arena, CN Beta)
Huawei has indicated that its foldable phone Mate X will launch in Sept 2019, slightly later than it was reportedly set to, as it does extra tests following the debacle Samsung went through with its rival device. (CNBC, Sohu)
Granted to Apple by the US Patent and Trademark Office, the patent for “Devices, methods, and user interfaces for interacting with user interface objects via proximity-based and contact-based inputs” describes one or more sensors used to detect proximity of an input object, such as a stylus or a finger, above a touch-sensitive surface, as well as for detecting the intensity of contact with the display. (My Drivers, Patently Apple, Apple Insider)
Memory
In Jul 2018, Samsung announced the industry’s first LPDDR5-6400 memory chip based on 10nm process with a single capacity of 8Gb (1GB). In Oct 2018, Samsung revealed LPDDR5 is planned to be commercially available in 2020. At the end of Feb 2019, JEDEC (Solid State Storage Association) officially released JESD209-5, the new standard for Low Power Double Data Rate 5 (LPDDR5). Samsung has later announced the LPDDR5 physical layer chip of the 8nm process, which increases the rate to 7.3Gbps and consumes only 790mW. Additionally, Samsung continues to increase the speed of LPDDR4X memory. Currently, LPDDR4X-4266Mbps memory is available. Samsung’s target is 5Gbps LPDDR4X memory. (My Drivers, Sina, Design Reuse)
Battery
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has briefly mentioned the integration of the battery technology recently acquired from Maxwell. He has also revealed that Tesla has been increasingly involved down the supply chain by making deals directly with mining companies and when it comes to battery production. (CN Beta, Electrek)
Connectivity
Huawei Technologies has told Verizon Communications that the U.S. carrier should pay licensing fees for more than 230 of the Chinese telecoms equipment maker’s patents and in aggregate is seeking more than USD1B. (CN Beta, GSM Arena, Reuters, GizChina, SCMP)
Phone
Xiaomi has announced the restructuring of the China region. It has established the offline business committee of China, appointing Zhang Jianhui as the chairman of the offline business committee, and reported to the CEO Lei Jun; appointing Yu Wei as the vice chairman and reporting to Zhang Jianhui. (CN Beta, Sina, SCMP)
Huawei CEO Guo Ping has reportedly discussed the possibility of using Sailfish OS on Huawei devices with Konstantin Noskov, the minister of digital development, communications, and mass media of Russia. (Android Authority, The Bell, OfWeek, XDA Developers, RFA, OS China)
Augmented / Virtual Reality
Redpill VR and Sensorium have teamed up to bring music experiences to social virtual reality (VR). Using its social music platform, Redpill VR has live interactive broadcast capabilities, real-time music source separation technology, and a modular, cross-platform approach enabling unique integration and content opportunities with other platforms and digital communities. (VentureBeat, VRZhiJia)
Automotive
Toyota has announced that two new safety systems that will come standard on all Toyota products beginning in 2020: the aptly named Automatic Park and Automatic Shut Off features. (My Drivers, Car and Driver, Motor 1)
Volvo has announced a commercial first for its electric autonomous trucks. The Swedish automotive titan has partnered with ferry and logistics giant DFDS to use Volvo Trucks’ “Vera” to transport goods between a logistics hub and a port in Sweden. (Digital Trends, TechCrunch, CNET, VentureBeat, CN Beta)
Argo.ai, a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based driverless car startup, has unveiled its third-generation test vehicle: a modified Ford Fusion Hybrid. It boasts mechanical, sensing, compute, and software upgrades and replaces the fleet currently on the road in Miami; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; and Palo Alto. (VentureBeat, Medium, Cheyun)
Artificial Intelligence
Realeyes, a UK-based emotion AI company that helps big brands such as AT&T, Mars, Hershey’s, and Coca-Cola gauge human emotions through desktop computers’ and mobile devices’ cameras. The London-based startup, which was founded in 2007, has announced a fresh USD12.4M round of funding. (VentureBeat, FINSMEs, Telegraph)
Fintech
Synapse, a San Francisco-based startup that operates a platform enabling banks and fintech companies to easily develop financial services, has closed a UD33M Series B to develop new products and go after international expansion. The company aims to become the “AWS of banking”. (TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Finextra)