Here is my collection of relevant trend for smart phones in 2018:
It seems that crazy growth times in smart phone markets are over at least for some time. The eight-year-long smartphone bubble in China has abruptly come to an end, in yet another warning sign that the global synchronized growth narrative is merely an illusion. China’s smartphone market suffered its first ever annual decline, with shipments down 4 percent from 2016 to 459 million phones in 2017. Canalys blames the weakness on a terrible y/y performance in the industry during the Q4 2017 period, with shipments crashing by over 14 percent to around 113 million phones. Anshul Gupta, a research director at Gartner, said in a statement that customers are choosing higher quality models and keeping them longer, lengthening the replacement cycle for smartphones. 1.9 billion mobile phones were sold in 2017.
Smartphone unit volumes are likely to return to low single-digit percentage growth in 2018 after unit sales declined in the fourth quarter for the first time ever, according to market research firm IDC. Gartner Says Worldwide Device Shipments Will Increase 2.1 Percent in 2018. Overall market is predicted to reach a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8 percent over period from 2017 to 2022. Taiwan-based IC design houses expect orders from China’s smartphone industry to pick up in the second quarter of 2018, with customer orders likely to register double-digit sequential growth. The processor market is now growing thanks to cell phones – cellular processors account for 28 percent of all processor sales.
Apple is the biggest money maker. Apple took over half of all mobile phone revenue in the end of 2017. During October-December, Apple took over 51 percent of the total net sales of its mobile phone through its iPhone. During the quarter, Apple made more sales on its phones than all other manufacturers in total (total net sales of mobile phone manufacturers were $ 120.2 billion and Apple got$ 61.4 billion). Samsung sold for $ 18.9 billion. Huawei sold three million units for $ 8.4 billion. Apple took also the lead from Samsung in smartphone shipments volume: Apple iPhone volumes reached 77.3 million units compared with 74.1 million for Samsung during the last quarter of 2017, according to the Feb. 1 IDC report.
Wireless charging has finally hit the mainstream. At the moment Qi seems to be the winning technology as it is mostly widely adopted and even Apple selected to use it. According to IHS, in 2017 year, 500 million devices with wireless charging were sold (40 percent higher than in the previous year). Mobile phones were the largest single product group. Next year, a billion devices with wireless charging will be introduced, estimates IHS.
New camera features are coming. More lenses to smart phones are coming. A few phones now have four camera lenses, with two on the back and two on the front, but an upcoming Nokia handset could go one better with five. HMD Global isn’t the only company working on the photography-focused smartphone. The Chinese company Huawei is planning to launch its P-20 flagship phone, featuring five cameras in total. Samsung’s upcoming Exynos 7 processor model 9610 is capable of recording slow motion video at 480 frames per second.
Smartphone users seem to be spending less time but more money each time they visit a website. Each time Americans visit retail websites on their phones, they’re spending less time but more money. According to Adobe Analytics the time smartphone users spend on websites per visit has decreased by 10% since 2015 but the amount of money spent per visit has increased by 27%.
People have their phones with them all the time and watch their phones very often. According to Huawei’s Smartphone Relationships survey, 49 percent of respondents think they view their phone several times in one hour. More than half (58%) of the respondents carry the phone with them over 13 hours a day. Most phones are still used to send messages (86%), even though photography (85%) and social media usage (81%) attracted almost the same. 27% of respondents actively use the phone for 3-4 hours a day. 61 percent of users read emails or browse social media first when they are awakened in the morning.
Android and iOS have taken practically almost all of the smart phone OS market. Android 7 is the most common operating system version, as it spins 18.4 percent of all devices on the market. Android 6 is close to the same figures, accounting for 17.6 percent. Of all smartphones, 17.5 percent already run iOS 11. Windows Phone devices accounted for 0.87 percent and is decreasing, so Windows phone is dead. Microsoft has practically ended Windows Phone platform.
Android P brings new features like indoor positioning, privacy features, multi-camera support and easier to support the cutout in the display. Android P developer preview is now available for testing.
There is no more Android Wear. Android Wear has been rebranded as Wear OS to reflect the fact that it works with both Android and iOS smartphone.
Android Go is stripped down version of Android for low-end devices. Android Go phones, which are mostly low-end devices for ~$100 with 1GB RAM or less, were announced at MWC.
Security chip technologies designed for computers are pushing to smart phones. Purism is working on a Librem5 smartphone that can be run on virtually any Linux operating system and all data on the phone will be protected with a Trusted Platofrm Module (TPM).
AI is coming to smart phones with applications like taking decisions, recognizing text, speech and images, or translating foreign languages. Mobile AI Race Unfolds at MWC. The performance of smartphone application processors is constantly increasing, especially in image processing and artificial intelligence. While Apple and Samsung, both armed with home-grown apps processors, have a lock on the premium smartphone market, MediaTek, seeking to rebound in smartphones, is rolling out at the Mobile World Congress its Helio P60 chipset. Samsung develops its own neural network processor (invested last year in China’s DeePhi Technologies). Samsung has not told whether the new Exonys circuit is integrated with a separate neural network processor like Huawei’s Kirin or Apple processors. LG’s opening in AI is the V30S model that is based on the V30 platform. The device is part of LG’s new artificial intelligence ThinQ brand. Telecom operators are looking to artificial intelligence as a potential money-spinner to combat stagnating mobile service revenues. Tirias Research believes that by 2025, 95 percent of all new devices or platforms will leverage artificial intelligence in the cloud or with some form of native machine learning.
5G is coming faster than anyone expected. 5G phones are getting more and more popular in a couple of years. Market research company Gartner predicts that 5G networks will become more common in smart phones in the early 2020s. 5G is coming to newest phones with advanced chip technology. Qualcomm said it will continue to work with longtime foundry supplier Samsung Electronics on Snapdragon 5G chipsets using Samsung’s 7nm Low Power Plus (LPP) process technology with extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. The X24 modem is the first volume-to-output circuit that is manufactured using a 7 nanometer process. Intel, TSMC and Globalfoundries are targeting EUV production sometime in 2019. Gartner says that by 2021, 9 Percent of Smartphones Sold Will Support 5G.
Cisco projects that by 2020, the average smartphone will generate 4.4GB of network traffic every month (up from less than 1GB per month in 2015). And by 2021, smartphone traffic will exceed PC traffic.
Wireless Technology is becoming The Existential Necessity of Life. Technologies like LTE, 5G, and Wi-Fi are continuing to improve. The wireless technologies we all use daily are cellular LTE and Wi-Fi. LTE is gradually morphing into 5G and Wi-Fi continues to get better. Long Term Evolution is our current 4G worldwide cellular standard. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is still working on 5G, but concurrently companies are testing 5G New Radio (NR) equipment. Wi-Fi, LTE, and 5G all have one thing in common. Their increases in data rate and user capacity have come primarily from advanced antenna techniques.
Current and future smartphones that combine spectrum from several frequency bands can function without a typical antenna, thanks to a tiny “booster” device that can radiate RF signals from the smartphone itself. Microstrip patch antennas became well received in wireless communications systems due to their low cost of fabrication and effectiveness in those systems. A number of approaches have been developed to overcome the limits of traditional antenna designs.
Electromagnetic Radiation Is Decreasing in New Generations of Smartphones. While there’s no evidence that phone-produced RF radiation is carcinogenic, new phones are emitting less of it.
Traditional SIM will be replaced in the near future. It is expected that the traditional SIM card format becomes unnecessary, as in the coming years, all devices will be manufactured with eSIM capability. ESIM allows many things for both the consumer and the operator. For example the same subscriber contract, it is possible to tie up several devices. Also according to the operators, the current network roaming will disappear within the next 3-5 years.
NFC specifications are updates and usage is increasing. Apple’s iOS 11 announcement last spring opening the iPhone 7 and following models to use NFC technology beyond Apple Pay had significant impact across many markets. The 2017 Technical Specification Release from the NFC Forum is made up of 21 new or updated near field communication (NFC) technical specifications. The new specifications are a big step toward ensuring interoperability between NFC solutions in the market with various existing infrastructures, unifying new and existing specs to ensure interoperability and functionality across all solutions using NFC technology (ISO/IEC 14443 or ISO/IEC 18092 specifications).
Smart Glasses are still not ready to wear. Talks give skeptical takes on AR, 5G. Ans we have this this confusion of Smart Glasses vs. Augmented Reality Goggles vs. Virtual Reality Headsets.
Finger sensor integrated to display tries to push to market. Japan Display Inc. (JDI) unveiled a transparent glass-based capacitive fingerprint sensor. Although its TFT-based fingerprint sensors have certain advantages over silicon-based solutions, JDI might be arriving too late with too little. But it could be too little too late as manufacturers are eyeing to other solutions.
Now that Samsung’s Galaxy S9 is already on the market and Huawei’s P20 announcement is looming large, imaging experts have declared 3D sensing the new battleground for the mobile industry. It is left to be seen whether either Samsung or Huawei will be able to catch up with Apple’s iPhone X. The bar set by Apple’s TrueDepth camera is very high. According to Digitimes, the TrueDepth module module costs $ 30-50, which makes the component too expensive for a few hundred dollars in Chinese-speaking phones. TrueDepth-like solutions have very few component suppliers, so prices are not yet coming down. The TrueDepth module is based on five subsystems or modules: infrared camera, proximity sensor, infrared light, RGB camera and point the projector.
Large-scale use of biometric authentication is primarily tied to smartphones. The wide-range of sensors built into these handheld and ubiquitous devices make them an ideal tool for face and iris recognition (camera), voice (microphone), and touch (fingerprint). Banks are increasingly using voice and face recognition via smartphones for mobile banking purposes. Biometric authentication has several distinct advantages over passwords, including advantages and disadvantages that they are difficult to change. But Are Biometrics as a Form of Authentication Over-hyped and Unreliable? “Whether a particular biometric method is useful or not depends on the sensor quality and ease of duplicating a particular biometric,”
Smart phone display size seems to be growing. Now, it looks like the size of the iPhone screen will grow clearly this year. As manufacturers shrink bezels and the front-facing sensors leave a notch on your display, Android P will make it easier to support the cutout in the display.
New display technologies are pushing to replace LCD. The AMOLED display is rapidly expanding on smartphones and in particular a flexible version. Last year, flexible displays in the AMOLED market grew to nearly 55 per cent. The X-model is Apple’s first AMOLED display phone. Samsung, LG Display, BOE and Kunshan Optoelectronics began supplying their own flexible screens for smartphones. In near future is it not just LCD and OLED. Sources detail Apple’s initiative to develop tech to mass-produce MicroLED displays, an OLED successor, still at least two years from shipping in its devices.
Nokia brand has returned to smart phone market. Nokia CEO Suri was surprised at Nokia’s return to success: “I would not have thought it a year ago”. HMD has sold last year 70 million phones. Nokia’s basic phone deliveries last year had some 60 million and around 10 million smartphones. Nokia is now receiving money from HMD Global’s Nokia phone sales in royalties.
Smart phone sensors are used more and more for medical diagnostics applications. Most smartphones include an accelerometer and many other sensors. As almost all of us have a smartphone almost all the time, it gives many opportunities for health monitoring. For example a novel method allows screening of stroke-causing cardiac atrial fibrillation using a standard smartphone was developed by the University of Turku.
Smart phones contains a lot of information that is protected in many ways. Authorities want to take a look at this data sometimes. Getting the data from protected phones has became a business of it’s own. Israeli Cellebrite sells the service to get data from secured smartphone for $ 5,000. GrayShift is selling for $15,000 a device that opens all iPhones.
Traditional 3.5 mm audio jack seems to be disappearing from smart phones. Overwhelming impression from CES 2018 was that headphone companies have, without exception, bid a silent goodbye to the 3.5mm audio plug. Many manufacturers are leaving 3.5 mm audio jacks out of their high end phones while mainly offering wireless audio and USB-C and Lightning as the alternatives. The ACI headphone jack plugged into a traditional 3,5 mm audio connector with data features challenges USB-C. The Austrian ams company has now developed a new interface standard for 3.5 mm audio socket, offering full compatibility backwards to the current 3.5-mm sockets. The new Accessory Communication Interface (ACI) uses the microphone MIC signal line to provide additional features and turn it into a bidirectional digital connection. Sony’s working hard on promoting a new 4.4mm Pentaconn connector as the next wired standard for dedicated audio lovers. But maybe the battle with 3.5 mm audio jack is already lost to USB-C? Let’s see. The future of headphones seems to be messy. Buying headphones in 2018 is going to be a fragmented mess.
Mobile Malware Attacks Surged in 2017. Machine learning is used to fight against harmful Android Apps. According to Google’s Android Security 2017 Year in Review report 60.3 percent of Potentially Harmful Apps (PHAs) were detected via machine learning. The detection is done by a service called Google Play Protect, which is enabled on over 2 billion devices (running Android 4.3 and up) to constantly scan Android apps for malicious activity. Play Protect reviews 50B+ apps every day.
We will start experiencing the fundamental flaw of too many listening devices. A “first world problem,” at least for the moment is that all kinds of devices capable of acting as a voice-powered digital assistant expands, and as they’re sold over an expanding footprint of the overall international market, it’ll increasingly become an “all-world problem.” For example when you say “Ok Google,” all several widgets can wake up and respond to what you say next.
Sources:
https://www.androidcentral.com/android-p
https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/18/16903516/headphones-wireless-analog-jack-future-ces-2018
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7477&via=n&datum=2018-01-30_15:32:36
https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3849063
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7544-huawei-puhelintaa-katsotaan-useita-kertoja-tunnissa
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7568&via=n&datum=2018-02-15_15:01:17
https://www.is.fi/digitoday/mobiili/art-2000005600539.html?ref=rss
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7560&via=n&datum=2018-02-14_15:22:43
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332970
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7509-prosessorimarkkina-kasvaa-nyt-kannykoiden-ansiosta
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332930
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7544&via=n&datum=2018-02-12_14:23:45
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20180222PD208.html
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7570&via=n&datum=2018-02-16_15:00:38
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7616-lg-hyppasi-tekoalyjunaan
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7618-rajeev-suri-5g-tulee-nopeammin-kuin-kukaan-odotti
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333009
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7752&via=n&datum=2018-03-23_14:10:57
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333002
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7579&via=n&datum=2018-02-19_14:48:02
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333021
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/02/new-android-go-phones-show-how-much-you-can-get-for-100/
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332996
https://www.recode.net/2018/2/28/17058560/smartphone-users-spending-money-website-visits-adobe
http://www.securityweek.com/can-biometrics-solve-authentication-problem
https://www.is.fi/digitoday/mobiili/art-2000005535369.html
http://www.techradar.com/news/next-nokia-flagship-could-have-five-camera-lenses
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7429&via=n&datum=2018-01-19_15:53:09
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7449&via=n&datum=2018-01-24_15:29:17
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1332898
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332890
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7653&via=n&datum=2018-03-05_15:39:52
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7683&via=n&datum=2018-03-09_14:55:36
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332879
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-28/did-smartphone-bubble-china-just-pop
http://investmentwatchblog.com/did-the-chinese-smartphone-bubble-just-pop/
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7467-iphonen-naytto-kasvaa
https://www.securityweek.com/mobile-malware-attacks-surged-2017-kaspersky
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7686-taman-takia-iphonen-face-id-ei-tule-androidiin
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/7714-vanha-audioplugi-haastaa-usb-c-n-digitalisoituna
http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7752&via=n&datum=2018-03-23_14:10:57
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333098
531 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s latest products: processor upgrades all around
https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/brians-brain/4461345/Apple-s-latest-products–processor-upgrades-all-around?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=link&utm_medium=EDNFunFriday-20181130
Tomi Engdahl says:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google to expand eSIM support for Pixel 3 to Sprint and carriers in Germany, the UK, and India in the coming months — With eSIM technology, users no longer have to manage the tiny-sized card thanks to all the necessary information becoming digitized. Google today announced expanded eSIM support …
More carriers to support Pixel 3 eSIM as Google helping build more eSIM Android phones
https://9to5google.com/2018/12/03/google-pixel-3-esim-support/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:
IDC: in Q3 2018, global wearables shipment volume was 32M units, up 21.7% YoY, as Xiaomi became the top vendor by shipments, shipping 6.9M units, up 90.9% YoY
IDC: Wearables grew 21.7% in Q3 2018, Xiaomi now leads Apple and Fitbit
https://venturebeat.com/2018/12/03/idc-wearables-grew-21-7-in-q3-2018-xiaomi-now-leads-apple-and-fitbit/
While IDC’s latest report on wearables highlights continued growth in international demand, largely coming from the resurgent basic wearables category, rather than premium smartwatches. Chinese device maker Xiaomi saw 90.9 percent year-over-year growth in the third quarter of 2018, becoming the world’s leading wearables vendor by shipments and overtaking Apple as Fitbit remained in third place.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Gartner: 389M smartphones were sold to end users in Q3, up 1.4% YoY, but market leader Samsung dropped 14% YoY to 73M units, now at 18.9% marketshare
Gartner: Global smartphone shipments grew 1.4% in Q3 2018
https://venturebeat.com/2018/12/03/gartner-global-smartphone-shipments-grew-1-4-in-q3-2018/
Tomi Engdahl says:
What separates China and the West in mobile?
http://www.gamerefinery.com/what-separates-china-and-the-west-in-mobile/
Western developers/publishers continue to make efforts to find the right partner or strategy to crack into what is now the worlds largest market for mobile games. While a few have succeeded through the right partnerships or sheer brute force, most Western games fail in China.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jessica Dolcourt / CNET:
Qualcomm announces 3D Sonic Sensor, a new under-display fingerprint sensor for smartphones that uses sound waves to map fingerprints — After years of prototypes and fine-tuning, Qualcomm on Tuesday finally announced a fingerprint reader that uses sound to unlock your phone.
Qualcomm announces first ultrasonic fingerprint reader: Headed to the Galaxy S10?
https://www.cnet.com/news/qualcomm-announces-first-ultrasonic-fingerprint-reader-headed-to-the-galaxy-s10/
The 3D Sonic Sensor will live within your screen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 855, which supports “multi-gigabit 5G” and promises up to 3X better AI performance than last gen — This week, Qualcomm is hosting press and analysts on Maui for its annual Snapdragon Summit. Sadly, we’re not there, but a couple of weeks ago, Qualcomm gave us a preview of the news.
Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon 855 and its new under-display fingerprint sensor
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/04/qualcomm-announces-the-snapdragon-855-and-its-new-under-display-fingerprint-sensor/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google launches Flutter 1.0, its cross-platform UI toolkit and SDK for building Android and iOS apps, as Square announces two new Flutter SDKs for easy payments — At Flutter Live in London today, Google launched version 1. of Flutter, the company’s open source mobile UI framework …
Google launches Flutter 1.0, its Android and iOS mobile app SDK
https://venturebeat.com/2018/12/04/google-launches-flutter-1-0-its-android-and-ios-mobile-app-sdk/
Tomi Engdahl says:
SAMSUNG USED MY DSLR PHOTO TO FAKE THEIR PHONE’S “PORTRAIT MODE”
https://www.diyphotography.net/samsung-used-my-dslr-photo-to-fake-their-phones-portrait-mode/
Earlier this year, Samsung was busted for using stock photos to show off capabilities of Galaxy A8’s camera. And now they did it again – they used a stock image taken with a DSLR to fake the camera’s portrait mode. How do I know this, you may wonder? Well, it’s because Samsung used MY photo to do it.
My first reaction was to burst out into laughter. Just look at the Photoshop job they did
Since I’d made my first sale on EyeEm and saw the image on Samsung Malaysia’s website right after that, I didn’t even assume that they’d stolen the image. I mean, why would they? It’s not expensive for a huge company like that to buy one stock photo.
it’s impossible to do it via its website unless you have a problem with some of the company’s devices.
Sadly, it’s nothing new that smartphone companies use DSLR photos to fake phone camera’s capabilities.
this is false advertising.
definitely shouldn’t trust the ads showing off their capabilities
Tomi Engdahl says:
Secure eSIM Technology with flexibility and convenience
https://wireless.electronicspecifier.com/wireless/secure-esim-technology-with-flexibility-and-convenience
Infineon has been supplying approximately 10 billion security chips for plug-in SIM cards since the late 1990s and has shipped more than 200 million embedded SIM chips for emerging applications such as M2M communication or emergency Call for cars.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Watch’s ECG feature is already proving its worth
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/08/apple-watchs-ecg-feature-is-already-proving-its-worth/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
Apple announced its latest Series 4 Watch with electrocardiogram features
The ECG feature, which monitors your heart rhythm and can detect AFib,* went live just two days ago. Already, at least one person has benefited from it.
Yesterday, a person on Reddit shared how their Apple Watch notified them of an abnormal heart rate. From there, they ran the ECG app and found out it was AFib. They went to urgent care and saw a doctor who they say said, “You should buy Apple stock. This probably saved you.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8823-android-lippulaivat-saavat-merkittavasti-lisaa-tehoa
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Kills Headphone Jack For First Time with Galaxy A8s
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/galaxy-a8s-specs-price-headphone-jack,news-28801.html
This is the new Galaxy A8s. Samsung has officially launched the phone at an event in China — and it’s the first phone ever with Samsung’s Infinity-O display.
The headphone jack is dead
After making so much fun of Apple and making its support for the 3.5-mm headphone jack one of its battle cries against the Cupertino company — the Samsung Galaxy A8s does not have a headphone jack.
you will need Bluetooth headphones or a USB-C to 3.5mm audio port adapter
the reaction on the internet is not very positive. These are just some of the top Reddit comments so far:
“First you laugh at them, then you join them.”
“1. Don’t be evil. 2. Nevermind.”
“Boooooooooooooooo”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ina Fried / Axios:
Chinese court issues a preliminary injunction against Apple for infringing Qualcomm patents, banning sale and import of iPhones 6s to X in China; Apple appeals — A Chinese court has banned the sale of a number of recent iPhone models citing infringement of two Qualcomm patents, the San Diego chipmaker said on Monday.
China bans many iPhone models in Qualcomm patent dispute
https://www.axios.com/china-injunction-iphone-patents-qualcomm-apple-9492f4c8-d031-45aa-af22-ca41d846144f.html
A Chinese court has banned the sale of a number of recent iPhone models citing infringement of two Qualcomm patents, the San Diego chipmaker said on Monday.
Why it matters: The preliminary injunction blocks the sale and import of iPhones into China, but not the manufacture or export of the devices, so the direct impact is limited to the domestic Chinese market. Still, it represents a significant disruption to Apple’s business and could bring the two parties to the negotiating table in their long litigation war. Apple said Monday it has filed a request for reconsideration with the court, the first step in appealing the preliminary injunction.
Details:
The order prevents the sale and import of the iPhone 6s, 6s Plus, 7, 7 Plus, iPhone 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X.
The injunction relates to a pair of patents, one covering the way applications are managed on a smartphone and the other about how customers adjust and reformat photos.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BBC:
Huawei debuts Honor View 20 with a 48MP rear camera and Samsung unveils A8s with a 6.4″ Infinity-O display, both with a hole-punch camera cutout in the screen — Two smartphone-makers have unveiled handsets featuring a “hole-punch” selfie camera. — The screens of the Samsung A8s …
Huawei Honor View20 and Samsung A8s have hole-punch cameras
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-46508054
Two smartphone-makers have unveiled handsets featuring a “hole-punch” selfie camera.
The screens of the Samsung A8s and Huawei Honor View20 both feature a small circular space for the component.
The design is intended to be less obtrusive than a “notch” – as popularised by Apple and later by many Android smartphone manufacturers.
One expert said the innovation highlighted how competitive the market for mid-range devices had become.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Move over notch, the hole-punch smartphone camera is coming
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/11/smartphone-hole-punch-camera/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
First it was the notch, now the hole-punch has emerged as the latest tech for concealing selfie cameras whilst keeping our smartphones as free of bezel as possible to maximize the screen space.
This week, Samsung and Huawei both unveiled new phones that dispense with the iconic ‘notch’ — pioneered by Apple but popularized by everyone — in favor of positioning the front-facing camera in a small “Infinity-O” hole located on the top left side of the screen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8839-lg-patentoi-3d-kannykkakameran
3D-kamera ei ole mikään uusi innovaatio. LG esitteli jo vuonna 2011 Optimus 3D -mallin, jolla voitiin ottaa kolmiulotteisia kuvia ja videota ja myös toistaa niitä. Nyt kuva-anturien tekniikka on kuitenkin aivan toisella tasolla. Ehkäpä 3D-kuvaus on nyt valmis lyömään läpi markkinoilla.
Hollantilaisen LetsGoDigital-sivuston mukaan korealaisyrityksen 3D-kameraa koskeva patentti hyväksyttiin WIPO:ssa marraskuun lopulla.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mike Wuerthele / AppleInsider:
Qualcomm’s win in China over the import and sale of iPhones only applies to iOS 11 devices; sources: Apple believes iOS 12 solves Qualcomm patent violations
There is a lot of needless investor panic about the Chinese iPhone ‘ban’
By Mike Wuerthele
Tuesday, December 11, 2018, 12:10 pm PT (03:10 pm ET)
http://appleinsider.com/articles/18/12/11/there-is-a-lot-of-needless-investor-panic-about-the-chinese-iphone-ban
News broke on Monday about a ban on iPhone imports and sales in China —and as you’d expect, a chorus of analysts freaked out about it immediately. Here’s why they’re wrong, and that the ruling isn’t anything more than a negotiating tool by Qualcomm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Capture lets you grab real 3D models with your iPhone X’s powerful camera
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/11/capture-lets-you-grab-real-3d-models-with-your-iphone-xs-powerful-camera/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analyzer aids mobile display development
https://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4461334/Analyzer-aids-mobile-display-development?utm_source=Aspencore&utm_medium=EDN&utm_campaign=social
Envision X84 from Teledyne LeCroy is one of the first protocol analyzers to support MIPI Camera Serial Interface CSI-2 and Display Serial Interface DSI-2 specifications over both C-PHY and D-PHY buses in a single platform.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Automatic continuous development and delivery of a hybrid mobile app
https://opensource.com/article/18/12/hybrid-mobile-app-development?sc_cid=7016000000127ECAAY
Hybrid apps are a good middle ground between native and web apps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s cross-platform Flutter UI toolkit hits version 1.0
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/04/googles-cross-platform-flutter-ui-toolkit-hits-version-1-0/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
Tomi Engdahl says:
What happend to Phonebloks? –5 years later
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wwrIpv38nE
3D print your own phone – with KiteBoard
https://davehakkens.nl/community/forums/topic/3d-print-your-own-phone-with-kiteboard/
I am working on a small SBC called “KiteBoard”. This board is best considered as the heart of a smartphone. It includes 4G/3G/2G, WiFi/BT, 9 axis sensor, 1.2GHz processor, 1 GB RAM, battery charger…
Cool thing about it is that you can build a custom 3D printed phone with it(choose battery, antenna, sensors/electronics). We have a kit that has a 5″ display + touch running off the native MIPI interface. Also an 8 MP camera mnodule with autofocus.
The board natively works at 1.8V. However, we also provide compatibility option for Raspberry Pi HATs & pHATs
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Water” Cooled Smartphone – S#!t Manufacturers Say
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2VvpSUyPpQ
We investigate what a “water cooled” phone ACTUALLY is.
Comments:
Watching a phone teardown without hearing the words ” plastic pry tool” “like little legos” “heat gun” is kinda unusual
“It was only like 400 bucks”
“It feels pretty phoney”
-Linus while holding a phone
Tomi Engdahl says:
John Timmer / Ars Technica:
Hands-on with the ECG feature in Apple Watch Series 4: taking an ECG is easy, but to review ECG traces you view them on the iPhone, not the watch itself
A look at the Apple Watch’s ECG, from someone who needs it
Early impressions about the heart monitoring recently added to the Apple Watch.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/12/an-ecg-on-your-wrist-apples-new-heart-monitoring-software/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mediatek Targets China, Snapdragon
Helio P90 aims just below flagship handsets
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334072
Mediatek announced its next-generation smartphone SoC just one week after archrival Qualcomm did the same. The Helio P90 falls short of the Snapdragon 855 in many respects but is likely to provide fierce competition a notch below flagship handsets, especially among China’s cost-conscious OEMs.
Made in a 12-nm node, the P90 sports two Cortex-75 cores running at up to 2.2 GHz and six A55 cores at 2.0 GHz. By contrast, the 7-nm Snapdragon 855 uses four large cores, one running up to 2.84 GHz and three at 2.42 GHz, and four of the A55 cores at 1.80 GHz.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Parents vs. Kids: Using High Frequencies to Fight Back
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/max-maxfield/articles/parents-vs-kids-using-high-frequencies-to-fight-back
Youngsters often download high-frequency ringtones to their smartphones, thereby allowing themselves to be alerted to calls and texts in a way that is inaudible to their elders.
The term “ultrasonic” is defined as: “being of or involving sound waves with a frequency above the upper limit of human hearing.” The problem here, of course, is deciding whose hearing and limits we are talking about. Generally speaking, the range of human hearing is said to be 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Daniel Oberhaus / Motherboard:
How Jolla’s Sailfish has survived as an independent mobile OS by targeting government and enterprise sectors in Russia and China which are wary of Google
The Last Independent Mobile OS
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pa5x9z/the-last-independent-mobile-os-sailfish-jolla
Alternative mobile operating systems have come and gone over the years, but only Sailfish has survived the iOS and Android duopoly.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple overtook Fitbit as the world wearables leader during the fourth quarter of 2017, according to IDC. Apple retained that crown during the first half of 2018, only to be dethroned in the third quarter by Xiaomi.
https://semiengineering.com/week-in-review-iot-security-auto-23/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Does Google Maps use GPS as well as GLONASS in Android smartphones?
https://www.quora.com/Does-Google-Maps-use-GPS-as-well-as-GLONASS-in-Android-smartphones
Google Maps uses GPS, GLONASS, BDS, QZSS, etc. It uses whatever GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) the phone has inside and most of the time it uses at least two of them simultaneously.
How it works
If a location App wants to use the location service of a phone, it requests the system which grants it access to the location services. It wont matter whether the phone uses GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS, etc. What matters is returning location data that the app understands and all those GNSS systems return data that can be understood by apps. Its standard location data whether the system is American, Chinese, Russian or European.
The App doesn’t have the liberty to discriminate which hardware brand is doing the service it wants.
Tomi Engdahl says:
2018 was a weird notch year — what’s next?
Android phones are already moving on
https://www.theverge.com/2018/12/18/18146094/phone-notch-iphone-pixel-android-apple-2018-future
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Apple says it will stop selling iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in its 15 retail stores across Germany after Qualcomm was granted an injunction by a Munich court — – Last week, a Chinese court ordered an injunction against Apple over an alleged patent violation filed by chipmaker Qualcomm.
Apple will stop selling some iPhone models in its stores in Germany following ruling in Qualcomm patent case
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/20/qualcomm-reportedly-wins-injunction-against-apple-in-munich.html
Last week, a Chinese court ordered an injunction against Apple over an alleged patent violation filed by chipmaker Qualcomm.
Now, a Munich court has ordered an injunction against Apple for another claim in Germany.
Apple says it will stop selling the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 at its stores in Germany. But all iPhone models will be available at third-party retailers in the country.
Tomi Engdahl says:
German iPhone Ruling Strengthens Qualcomm’s Hand
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1334112
pple was dealt another setback in its multi-jurisdiction legal war with longtime supplier Qualcomm, saying it would pull some iPhones from German stores while it appealed a ruling that some models violate a Qualcomm patent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2018/12/21/mehupurkista-nakyy-lisatty-ar-todellisuus/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kitty Yeung On Tech-Fashion Designs and the Wearables Industry
https://hackaday.com/2018/12/20/kitty-yeung-on-tech-fashion-designs-and-the-wearables-industry/
If there is a field which has promise verging on a true breakout, it is that of wearable electronics. We regularly see 3D printing, retrocomputing, robotics, lasers, and electric vehicle projects whose advances are immediately obvious. These are all exciting fields in which the Hackaday community continually push the boundaries, and from which come the astounding pieces of work you read on these pages daily.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Does Library Bloat Make Your Smartphone App Look Fat?
https://hackaday.com/2018/12/18/does-library-bloat-make-your-smartphone-app-look-fat/
While earlier smartphones seemed to manage well enough with individual applications that only weighed in at a few megabytes, a perusal of the modern smartphone software store uncovers some positively monstrous file sizes. The fact that we’ve become accustomed to mobile applications requiring 100+ MB downloads on what’s often a metered Internet connection in only a few short years is pretty crazy if you stop to think about it.
Seeing reports that the Nest app for iOS tipped the scales at nearly 250 MB, [Alexandre Colucci] decided to investigate
https://blog.timac.org/2018/1211-analysis-of-the-nest-app-for-ios/
Tomi Engdahl says:
These are the top 7 smartphones of 2018
https://www.businessinsider.com/best-smartphones-2018-google-pixel-3-iphone-xs-review-2018-12?r=US&IR=T&IR=T
Tomi Engdahl says:
Teardown: Smartwatch embeds dual power sources
https://www.edn.com/design/consumer/4461388/Teardown–Smartwatch-embeds-dual-power-sources?utm_source=Aspencore&utm_medium=EDN&utm_campaign=social
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Fined as Customers Win a Right-to-Repair Fight
https://www.wsj.com/articles/apple-fined-as-customers-win-a-right-to-repair-fight-1529399713
An Australian court ruled the company couldn’t cease consumer guarantees because a third party serviced an iPhone or iPad
Tomi Engdahl says:
We finally started taking screen time seriously in 2018
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/25/we-finally-started-taking-screen-time-seriously-in-2018/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
But will we actually reclaim our time from smartphones?
Tomi Engdahl says:
Abrar Al-Heeti / CNET:
Despite challenges in penetrating the US market, Huawei says it has shipped over 200M smartphones in 2018 globally, up from last year’s 153M units
Huawei exceeds 200 million smartphone shipments, setting company record
https://www.cnet.com/news/huawei-exceeds-200-million-smartphone-shipments-setting-company-record/
It credits the success of its P20 and Honor 10 phones, among others.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Parents alarmed as TikTok videos hit primetime for teens
https://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/family-and-health/1601138/
Millions of teenagers seeking their 15 seconds of fame are flocking to TikTok, but many of their parents are only now learning about the express-yourself video app — often to their dismay.
The social network became the most downloaded on Apple’s App Store in the first half of this year according to market analysis firm Sensor Tower, beating out titans like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. It was the most-downloaded free mobile app in Thailand on Jan 23, 2018, according to Wikipedia, although it came in at No.21 on Dec 23.
“TikTok capitalises on short-term creative content that other platforms don’t encourage, by their design and community,”
Yet critics say its surging popularity among young girls in particular exposes them to caustic comments and other potential abuse by their peers, while offering a choice hunting ground for sexual predators.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Dai / South China Morning Post:
China announces global rollout of its BeiDou satellite navigation system a year ahead of schedule; BeiDou has an accuracy of 5m in Asia-Pacific, 10m elsewhere
China ramps up global coverage for domestic Beidou satellite navigation system as rival to GPS
https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/2179802/china-rolls-out-global-coverage-its-home-grown-beidou-satellite
Beidou’s location service has an accuracy of 5 metres in Asia-Pacific and 10 metres in other parts of the world
Tomi Engdahl says:
Two years later, I still miss the headphone port
https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/25/i-still-miss-the-headphone-port/?utm_source=tcfbpage&sr_share=facebook
Two years ago, Apple killed the headphone port. I still haven’t forgiven them for it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2019/01/02/viime-vuoden-myydyimmat-kannykat/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone User Experience Analysis – Audio (II)
http://www.technical-direct.com/en/smartphone-user-experience-analysis-audio-ii/
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://www.puhelinvertailu.com/uutiset/2018/02/18/paras-talvipuhelin-pakkanen-kylmyys
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple losses trigger a plunge in US markets
https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/03/apple-losses-trigger-a-plunge-in-u-s-markets/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
Bad news from Apple and signs of slowing international and domestic growth sent stocks tumbling in Thursday trading on all of the major markets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xiaomi’s Wild Foldable Phone Puts Galaxy F on Notice
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/xiaomi-foldable-phone-leak,news-28963.html
A leaked video of a folding smartphone might be proof that Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has also been working on a foldable phone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HTC had a truly terrible 2018
https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/04/the-hurt-thus-continues/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
If you think times are bad at Apple, spare a thought for HTC, the once king-of-the-hill phone maker that continues to struggle very badly.
The Taiwanese smartphone company, which offloaded a portion of its business to Google for $1.1 billion and is pivoting to VR, laid off yet more staff in 2018 and had its worst year of sales ever.