08-20: MediaTek will reportedly supply Huawei with low-end 5G chips in the future; Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO have come together to create a cross-brand file transfer system; etc.
Chipsets
MediaTek will reportedly supply Huawei with low-end 5G chips in the future. In addition to orders from OPPO and vivo, MediaTek now also have Huawei’s orders. The company will supply 5G chips to Huawei in 2020. With better demand, MediaTek is now adding orders for TSMC chips. The orders for 1Q20 could reach 12,000 wafers in 2020 and the chip codename is MT6885. (Digital Trends, GizChina, My Drivers, China Times)
Smartphone application processor (AP) shipments to China vendors registered a larger-than-expected increase sequentially in 2Q19, thanks to deliveries made in advance to avoid the burden of potential tariffs from the US, according to Digitimes Research. Smartphone AP shipments to China surged 39.1% sequentially in 2Q19, according to Digitimes Research. Looking into 3Q19, Digitimes Research forecast smartphone AP shipments to China will increase by a mere 0.2% sequentially but decline 7.6% on year. (Digitimes, press)
Huawei has already announced a range of Ascend products, including Ascend 310, Ascend 910 and Kirin 810. based on its in-house machine learning architecture, Da Vinci. The core is divided into 3 types – the most complete Max, next is Lite and then Tiny. (CN Beta, AnandTech, Huawei)
Qualcomm has announced that it has entered into a new five-year patent license agreement with LG Electronics to develop, manufacture and sell 3G, 4G and 5G smartphones. (CN Beta, Reuters)
Touch Display
Samsung Display is moving to cut its production of LCD panels, the company is making significant efforts to produce quantum dot organic light-emitting diode (QD-OLED) panels. Samsung Display CEO Lee Dong-hoon has revealed that “the company is making good efforts” to launch QD-OLED panels in the near future. (Korea Herald, TME.net, Sohu, Sina)
Camera
LG Electronics has filed a design patent with KIPO, which provides 7 designs, illustrating a camera with rear quad-cam. LG plans to arrange 4 camera sensors around a flash LED light. (CN Beta, LetsGoDigital)
Storage
Marvell and Toshiba have shown off a fully integrated Ethernet SSD that adds the Marvell 88SN2400 converter to Toshiba’s existing SSD design. Mechanically, this drive appears to be a 2.5” U.2 or U.3 SSD, but electrically its host interface is a pair of 25Gb Ethernet links instead of four PCIe lanes. (My Drivers, AnandTech, IT Home)
Battery
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced the relaunch of its solar panel division, which now includes 3 new no-contract rental packages. Since acquiring SolarCity for USD2.6B in 2016, Tesla has made several strategic changes which resulted in the company losing market share. (Neowin, Twitter, Sohu)
Connectivity
Xiaomi, vivo, and OPPO have come together to create a cross-brand file transfer system. The solution will allow consumers to transfer files between their phones with speeds of up to 20MB/s. It is highly likely that some more Android OEMs will join the alliance in the future. (Android Central, MIUI, GizChina, CN Beta)
Phone
TCL’s 2019 / 2020 roadmap shows two 5G phones T1 5G / T1 Pro 5G in 2Q20 and a flexible tablet Flextab that is schedule for 3Q20. Others phones include 6.53” FHD+ ‘Dotch’ display and rear tri-cam T1, and edge AMOLED and quad-cam T1 Pro. (Android Central, Twitter)
According to BayStreet Research, US wireless network operators sold just 29,000 5G devices by the end of the second quarter. And the firm predicts that the number will not grow much throughout 2019. The firm’s founder Cliff Maldonado indicates that “the value proposition (for 5G devices) is not clear (to the consumers). (CN Beta, Light Reading, Comsoc)
The United States Department of Commerce has announced the addition of 46 Huawei affiliates to its Entity List. Effective 20 Aug 2019, the companies join more than 100 entries added to the list over connections to the embattled Huawei. (CN Beta, MSN, TechCrunch, Commerce)
Redmi has announced that its Note 7 series has been sold over 20M units globally. Redmi has only achieved this milestone in 7 months. (GizChina, Sohu, 163)
Xiaomi’s 2Q19 revenue hit CNY52B (USD7.3B), up 15% year-on-year. The adjusted net profit was CNY3.64B (USD516M). Its smartphone shipments for 1H19 hit 60M units. (GizChina, My Drivers, CN Beta)
Supreme has announced a 3G feature phone manufactured by BLU, featuring 2.4” display, 128MB storage and built-in camera, priced at USD30. (CN Beta, The Verge, My Drivers)
Realme 5 series is announced in India: 5 – 6.5” 720×1600 HD+ IPS, Qualcomm Snapdragon 665, rear quad 12MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro-2MP depth + front 13MP, 3+32 / 4+64 / 4+128GB, Android 9.0, rear fingerprint scanner, 5000mAh 10W, INR9,999~11,999 (USD139~167). 5 Pro – 6.3” 1080×2340 FHD+ IPS, Qualcomm Snapdragon 712, rear quad 48MP-8MP ultrawide-2MP macro-2MP depth + front 16MP, 4+64 / 6+64 / 8+128GB, Android 9.0, rear fingerprint scanner, 4035mAh 20W, INR13,999~16,999 (USD195~237). (GSM Arena, GizChina, The Verge)
