Archives of “smartphones” tag

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US weighs new move to limit China’s access to chip technology – report

  
  Analysis
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US continues to target Huawei with proposed changes to restrict its use of chip-making equipment from the US

US China

The WSJ reports that the US is weighing new trade restrictions against China to cut off Huawei access to key semiconductor technology, citing people familiar with the plan.

It is reported that the Commerce Department is drafting changes to the foreign direct product rule, to make it so that chip factories overseas would need licenses if they intend to use American equipment to produce chips for Huawei. The full report can be found here.
That will be quite the change if it goes through as I reckon it won’t only add to more tensions between the US and China but also lead to further supply chain disruption in the industry as there will be a chunk of companies who will be restricted to do business.
But this once again goes to show that any real conciliation between the US and China on trade and other matters is still far away. The fact that the US wants to cut China off one of its key imports goes to show that these two are still clearly “at war”.

Sources: Apple mobilizes suppliers to launch first 5G iPhone range

  
  Analysis
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 In a quest to reclaim its crown as the world’s most innovative tech company, Apple is mobilizing suppliers to produce its first ever 5G iPhones next year, with the three flagship models also set to include the most advanced mobile processors available and leading-edge screens, the Nikkei Asian Review has learned.

The upgraded iPhones, which Apple hopes will vault the company over Huawei’s current position as the second-biggest smartphone maker, will also likely accelerate global carriers to roll out 5G telecoms infrastructure — especially outside China, which has already invested heavily in the nascent technology.

Apple has been slow to embrace 5G; its iPhone 11 series this year only features 4G wireless technology. However Apple will push to reclaim its former glory as the maker of the world’s “must-have” smartphone with the major product line overhaul in 2020, sources told Nikkei. The iPhone, first launched in 2007, still accounts for around half of company revenues.

Apple plans to ship at least 80 million of the new 5G phones, one of the sources said. Rivals such as Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone supplier, China’s Huawei Technologies and second-tier competitors such as Oppo and Xiaomi, have already launched 5G phones.

“It will be the first time Apple introduces 5G iPhones … There will be three of them and the company has set an aggressive sales target,” one of the people familiar with the company’s thinking said.

Apple reports fourth quarter earnings after the U.S. stock market closes on Wednesday. (more…)

Huawei unveils own mobile operating system to rival Google’s Android

  
  Analysis
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China’s Huawei Technologies on Friday unveiled its own smartphone operating system which it said could replace Google’s Android in just “one to two days” if access to the world’s most popular mobile platform were blocked by the U.S.

The tech giant said its Harmony OS — pronounced Hongmeng in Chinese — was more flexible than Google’s Android, capable of supporting all devices from smartphones and smart speakers to wearables, smart displays and next generation automobiles. The system was revealed at Huawei’s annual developers’ conference in Dongguan by Huawei’s Consumer Electronics Group CEO Richard Yu.

“We can start using our Harmony OS anytime for smartphone and the migration from Google’s Android to our own Harmony OS is not that difficult… We can do it in one to two days,” Yu said.

Harmony OS is a key weapon in Huawei’s fightback against the campaign by the U.S. government to restrict the technological development of the world’s second biggest smartphone maker. It will allow the group to offer a common ecosystem of services and applications across all of its consumer devices.

However, in an implicit admission that Harmony OS could struggle in a consumer segment where 80% of all smartphones carry the Google system, Yu said Huawei would continue to prioritize using Android for its smartphones if allowed. (more…)

Samsung estimates operating profit down by 56% in second quarter

  
  Analysis
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Samsung Electronics estimated its operating profit more than halved in the second quarter, amid growing concerns over US trade sanctions on Huawei and Japan’s export controls of high tech materials to South Korea. The poor earnings guidance comes as the semiconductor industry is buffeted by the slowing global economy, the US-China trade war and US export controls on Huawei. The US campaign against Huawei has increased chip inventories as the Chinese telecoms maker is one of the Korean tech sector’s biggest customers.  South Korean chipmakers face a gloomy outlook following Japan’s decision this week to impose tighter restrictions on exports of key chemicals used for chips and smartphones amid political disputes over wartime labour compensation.  Operating profit at the world’s largest maker of memory chips and smartphones was estimated at Won6.5tn ($5.6bn) for the April-June period, down 56.3 per cent from Won14.9tn a year earlier. Still, Samsung’s guidance was better than market estimates of Won6tn provided by Reuters. Sales were estimated to have fallen 4.2 per cent year on year to Won56tn. The company is set to announce detailed earnings later this month.  Chip prices have continued to fall since late last year, but shares of Samsung have gained nearly 20 per cent so far this year on expectations of a second-half recovery in the chip cycle. However, the downturn is expected to continue through the second half as external headwinds grow.

An IBM Hard Drive Being Loaded Onto An Airplane In 1956

  
Education, Life
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IBM-HARD DISK
 

This is a picture of an IBM hard drive being loaded onto an airplane in 1956. According to @HistoricalPics, which tweeted the picture, it’s a 5 mega-byte drive, and it weighed more than 2,000 pounds. 

To put that in context, 55 years later, the weakest iPhone 5S has a 16 gigabyte drive, about 3,200-times as big. And it weighs a quarter of a pound. The IBM hard drive could have stored exactly one iPhone picture, and nothing more.

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