3-16: ARM and TSMC collaborates on 7nm; TSMC and MediaTek collaborates on IoT, Toshiba discovers 7 more financial errors; Samsung Galaxy S7 costs USD225; etc.

ARM and TSMC are working on 7nm chips; TSMC and MediaTek prolong collaboration on ultra-low power technology to capture the rising IoT market; Toshiba discovers 7 new accounting errors; Morgan Stanley forecasts 1Q16 Apple iPhone sales to reach 56.6 million units; Xiaomi is working on VR for the following 5 years; Sony Playstation VR is priced at USD399; etc.

Chipsets

ARM and TSMC have agreed to join forces to develop a 7nm chip in the next few years. (Android Authority, Tom’s Hardware, IT Home, China Times)
Competition in the smartphone chipset solution market is expected to heat up in 2H16 when major players including Qualcomm, MediaTek, Spreadtrum and HiSilicon. (Digitimes, press)

digitimes-competition-soc-2h16

TSMC and MediaTek prolong collaboration on ultra-low power technology to capture the rising IoT market. (TechNews, Yahoo)

Display

Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences invents glass that can turn from clear to opaque in less than a second. It is made by using a sheet of glass sandwiched between two sheets of clear, soft elastomer. These have been sprayed with a coating of silver nanowires. (CN Beta, Optics Letter, CNET)

opaque-to-clear-glass

Memory

Toshiba has overstated past profits by JPY5.8 billion (USD51.30 million) on a pretax basis due to 7 new accounting errors, on top of the JPY224.8 billion in overstated profits it has already announced. (CN Beta, iFeng, Yahoo)

Smartphones

Emerging markets are at a turning point with a reversal in sight, said Mark Mobius, executive chairman at Templeton Emerging Markets Group, signaling optimism after the worst annual rout in four years. (News Max, TechNews, Business Standard)
Morgan Stanley’s AlphaWise iPhone Tracker is calling for 56.5 million units of Apple iPhones to be sold during the Jan-Mar quarter. According to Katy Huberty, the supply chain inventory digestion has come to an end, and China has been providing the strongest growth. (Street Insider, Phone Arena, Tencent, C114)
While the US Department of Commerce has placed sanctions on ZTE, Taiwan-based networking / communication device makers indicated that their shipments to ZTE will not be seriously impacted. (Digitimes)
According to an estimation by IHS, the components used in Samsung Galaxy S7 cost a total of USD255 (in US it is sold at USD670). . The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC from apparently costs USD62. IHS adds that the camera module on the Samsung Galaxy S7 costs USD13.70. (IHS, Yahoo, NDTV, TechNews)
UMi Touch is official – 5.5” FHD 2.5D curved glass display, MediaTek MT6753 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 3GB RAM, 16GB storage, Android 6.0 / Windows 10, 4000mAh battery, USD149.99. (GSM Arena, UMi, MS Poweruser)

umi-touch

Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus is announced in India – 5” FHD display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 processor, 13MP + 5MP cameras, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, LTE, dual-SIM, 2750mAh battery, INR8499. (GSM Arena, Android Central)

lenovo-vibe-k5-plus

Vernee Apollo is to be released soon – 5.5” QHD display, MediaTek Helio X20 (MT6797) processor, 21MP + 8MP cameras, 6GB RAM, 128GB storage, USB Type-C. (Vernee, Phones Review, Android Headlines, GizChina)

vernee-apollo

Wearables

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun indicates that the company has established a R&D center for VR products, but it will not be launch in coming 5 years. (CN Beta, Nikkei)
Sony has announced that the PlayStation VR will cost USD399, and will be available in October 2016. (The Verge, CN Beta)

sony-playstation-vr-price-release-date

Fossil announces three new wearables, Android Wear Q Marshal and Q Wander, as well as a smart analog watch. (Pocket-Lint, Ubergizmo, Mashable, Fossil, PR Newswire)

fossil-q-wander-marshal

Internet of Things
Juniper Research forecast that by 2020, 10% of American households would have at least one robot, up from just 4% this year. (Juniper Research, press, EE Times, OfWeek)

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