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Qualcomm has shown it is still working on Mirasol displays, by demonstrating a prototype screen at SID Display Week in Vancouver, Canada. The 5.1-inch display had a resolution of 2560x1440, giving it a pixel density of 577 pixels per inch, and was accompanied by a 1.5-inch panel used in an "always-on" smartwatch.
Nvidia’s forthcoming Tegra 4 chip may have received an early benchmark if an AnTuTu score that has been posted online is to be believed. According to the post, the Tegra 4 produced a score of over 32,000 points, outgunning the 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 found in the Samsung Galaxy S4. By comparison, the Galaxy S4’s Snapdragon chip produces a score of 25,000 points, while the HTC One with the same Snapdragon chip clocked at 1.7GHz scores 23,600 points.
Qualcomm today announced the election of Jonathan Rubinstein to its Board of Directors. Rubinstein brings more than 30 years of experience in the mobile, computing and consumer electronics industries to the position, including a tenure at Apple in which he was referred to as "The Podfather" for his role on the iPod team. He last served as Senior Vice President of Product Innovation for Hewlett-Packard until January 2012.
Qualcomm is preparing to put the Snapdragon 800 processor into mass production, starting in late May. The system-on-chip follows on from the highly sought-after Snapdragon 600, which has been used in such devices as the LG Optimus G Pro and reportedly had "strong traction" in recent quarterly results, and promises to provide a significant speed boost compared to its 1.7GHz predecessor.
Chip designer Qualcomm has filed its second quarter of 2013 fiscal earnings. The company exceeded revenue expectations, and is raising its estimated 2013 device shipments and projected earnings for 2013 based on the strength of the quarter. Year over year, Qualcomm saw a 24 percent increase in revenues to $6.12 billion from $4.94 billion. Earnings per share climbed 16 percent tp $1.17 per share, up from $1.01 in 2012.
Google is said to be launching a revised Nexus 7 tablet by July, according to a report. The new tablet will apparently replace the Nvidia Tegra 3 inside the current generation with a Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm, citing a reduction in power consumption, as well as having a higher resolution screen and thinner bezel, and may also cut the price down to $150.
A $60 million payment to Sharp from Qualcomm as part of an investment agreement has been delayed, due to a looming deadline set to be missed. The second half of the $120 million deal had a number of requirements in order to be paid on time, including making an operating profit in the second half of its financial year, holding net assets worth at least 100 billion yen ($1.05), and to prepare for the production of new display panels, requirements which Sharp has failed to accomplish.
Chip manufacturer Qualcomm confirmed on Friday that the US version of the recently announced Galaxy S 4 smartphone will come with a 1.9Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor, rather than the "octo-core" 8/4 processor Exynos 5 chip used in the international versions. The move is similar to the situation with the Galaxy S III, which in the US is a dual-core processor, with a quad-core model internationally.
Apple is planning to use a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor in the low-cost iPhone, and manufacture it using TSMC's 28nm production lines, claims an industry watcher quoted by the China Times. The move would be unusual, since Apple currently relies on its own A-series processors for iOS devices, which are produced at a Samsung facility in Texas. The Times' report does say, though, that Apple will continue to use A-series chips in other devices.
ZTE has continued its upmarket push with its new Android flagship, the Grand Memo, which will be one of the first devices to arrive with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 800 processor. We stopped by ZTE's Mobile World Congress booth ahead of the company's press conference to handle the new device ahead of its public launch.
The long-awaited possibility of a single, unified chipset that would allow a phone to be truly "global" for LTE users and let manufacturers release a single, worldwide version of various phone models may be at hand. Apple's primary LTE and 3G radio chipset provider, Qualcomm, debuted its RF360 Front End Solution line of chips which support all current LTE and 2G/3G bands. In addition to providing universal LTE/3G capability, the new line also improves overall RF performance.
Qualcomm has announced several new Snapdragon technologies ahead of Mobile World Congress, including a voice-wake feature and improvements to Quick Charge. Voice Activation, limited to Snapdragon 800-powered devices, enables a device to wake from standby after hearing a spoken phrase set by the device manufacturer, such as "Hey Snapdragon."
Broadcom on Tuesday announced that it has commenced testing of a new LTE chip with its largest customers. The chip is the first of its kind from the manufacturer, and is aimed at competing products from LTE leader and pioneer Qualcomm. Broadcom said today that it expects devices with its LTE chip to go into production in 2014.
A leaked roadmap concerning the future of Android has appeared online, forcing Qualcomm company officials to demand it's removal. Technology blogs have been ordered to remove the image due to it containing "confidential and copyrighted information" posted without the authorization of Qualcomm, despite the information revealed in the image to have already been expected by some parties.
In its quarterly report, chip manufacturer Qualcomm has reported record quarterly revenues which it claims are driven by the industry's demand for smartphones and the Qualcomm assortment of 3G/LTE chipsets. The company has posted $1.91 billion in profit, on revenues of $6 billion -- a 29 percent increase from the same quarter a year ago. It has announced a cash dividend payment of $428 million, along with $250 million in stock repurchases.
Qualcomm Atheros has revealed its new intelligent bandwidth management technology for Wi-Fi routers and gateways. StreamBoost will allocate data to various Internet-connected devices on a network, automatically managing and shaping network traffic and giving specific applications traffic priority over others, such as gaming or video-on-demand applications.
A letter condemning Apple as a habitual patent infringer filed by Qualcomm with the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) has been completely withdrawn by the communications chip manufacturer. Qualcomm claims the letter wasn't "appropriately authorized" and that it doesn't want the commission to consider the submission in any way, and to act if it never received the missive.
(Updated with news of Qualcomm's retraction) In response to some questions posed by the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), wireless baseband supplier Qualcomm has torn into Apple in a court filing, saying that apple "should be embarassed" at the length and depth of the iPad makers' patent infringement. The move is curious, as Apple has been Qualcomm's largest customer for three years. Qualcomm and other stakeholders were encouraged, not required, to comment on a few questions the ITC commission posed in an Apple versus Samsung complaint. Submitters were asked to remark on the availability of injunctive relief over standards-essential patents, and the criteria for a fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory (FRAND) royalty rate.
Sharp has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Pixtronix, a subsidiary of Qualcomm, for the development of its MEMS display technology. As part of the deal, Qualcomm will take a stake in Sharp for a total of 9.9 billion yen (around $120m). The deal will see Sharp commercialize MEMS technology by integrating with its vaunted IGZO display tech, while further collaboration between two companies on chipsets and displays has also been mooted.
A new Nextel Mexico ad spotted online reveals a new BlackBerry handset will soon be released. However, the phone, called Patagonia 9620, will arrive at Nextel Mexico sometime in December, though pricing nor release dates aren't revealed. The ad does reveal the phone's specs, which include OS 7.1, a 1.2GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor and 768MB of RAM.
Qualcomm, manufacturer of many of the ARM-based chipsets powering some of the most popular mobile gadgets in the world, has pulled about even with processor giant Intel in terms of market cap. Shares of the San Diego-based system-on-a-chip manufacturer have gone as high as $61.99 in trading today, giving the mobile chipmaker a market capitalization of $105.5 billion. As of 3:28 PM EST, Qualcomm shares are up $2.49 on the day for a total market cap of $103.32 billion. Intel's shares, meanwhile, are nearly flat on the day, giving the traditional chip market leader a market cap of $104.16 billion.
Wilocity, developer of 60 GHz multi-gigabit wireless chipsets, announced today that it is jointly providing tri-band wireless chipsets with Qualcomm Atheros, for Dell's first WiGig enabled Ultrabook for business, the Latitude 6430u. Dell announced the Latitude 6430u last week and demonstrated its multi-gigabit wireless docking and networking capabilities at the Windows 8 launch attended by Dell and Microsoft executives in New York City.
Chinese phone maker Xiaomi said it will begin selling its Phone 2, or Mi Two, smartphone in its home market starting on October 30. Like in the past, the phone will be sold online, and if the performance of past sales is any indication, the initial 50,000-unit allotment should be sold out in mere minutes. Those who don't get in on the initial batch will get another chance in min-November when 250,000 more of the Mi Two phones are due to go on sale.
Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs will reprise his role from 2012 and 2010 and deliver the pre-show keynote address at next year's Consumer Electronics Show, it was announced today. Jacobs will speak at 6:30 p.m. PT on January 7, with the show kicking off the next day and running through January 11. The choice of the Qualcomm CEO struck some observers as peculiar, as some had expected CES' organizers to choose a representative from a more well-known company, given that Microsoft will not be in attendance.
Chipmaker Intel is looking to increase its branding efforts in an attempt to better compete with the ARM-based processors that currently dominate the mobile device market. As Reuters reports, Intel's placement of its "Intel Inside" logo on smartphones bearing Intel processors appears to be touching off a branding competition among other chipmakers, including Intel, Qualcomm, and Nvidia. Intel has struggled to compete in the mobile sector, having been too slow to approach the market initially, but persons within the company believe that the company may be able to carry over at least some of its brand cache from the personal computer sector to mobile devices.
Cellcom, a provider that uses Verizon's 4G LTE network, has launched its first 4G LTE smartphone on Friday, the HTC Desire 4G LTE. The high-speed network will be available in more than 370 cities across the US. Like the rebranded but otherwise identical Droid Incredible 4G LTE over at Verizon, the handset sports Android 4.0, a 4-inch display with 960x540 resolution, and a 1.2GHz, dual-core Qualcomm processor paired with 1GB of RAM.
ZTE's upcoming flagship phone, the Blade III that was leaked about a month ago is now official. As the original report noted, the phone will come to Finland's Verkkokauppa first, later in September, before arriving in Sweden sometime in October. It will be available in white at the former and black at the latter.
The HTC Accord that will be known as the Windows Phone 8X when it launches has now been spotted being used, suggesting it will arrive at Verizon and have LTE network support. The phone will be officially unveiled at an event in New York on Wednesday, so more official information regarding carriers and prices is expected then. The source who sent the image to PhoneArena made the LTE claim.
The LG Optimus G Android superphone is headed to the U.S. in November, following its home market launch next week. While the iPhone 5 appears to have leapfrogged the Samsung Galaxy S III quad-core variant in performance, it is likely that benchmarks will reveal that the Optimus G will beat out both. The Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro ‘Krait’ quad-core chip powering custom ARM-based design is clocked at 1.5GHz and is paired with 2GB of RAM.
An Italian blog has posted photos of what it claims is the logic board for the iPhone 5, set to be announced later today. The board notably uses an A6 chip, indicating that Apple is finally advancing beyond the A5 line. When the third-generation iPad was introduced in March Apple designated its processor the A5X, since the chip was little different from the A5 except for graphics power.
AT&T and Pantech have officially revealed an upcoming handset, the Flex. It will have LTE network support and sport a 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor running two cores. The 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED touchscreen will show the increasingly more common Android 4.0 interface.
Chinese phonemaker Huawei has just released its latest smartphone, the Ascend G600. It sports a large, 4.5-inch IPS LCD with 960x540 resolution and runs on Android 4.0. Processing power comes from a Qualcomm, 1.2GHz, dual-core processor paired with 768MB of RAM.
Apple and Qualcomm each recently made investment bids in excess of $1 billion trying to get exclusive access to chip supplies from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, according to Bloomberg. The bids were reportedly shot down because TSMC wanted to maintain flexibility in production. Qualcomm is thought to have been interested because chip shortages are limiting its earnings; Apple may have wanted a deal to reduce its dependence on Samsung.
LG has made its latest Android flagship smartphone, the Optimus G, official. The Optimus G is the new leading Android smartphone on the market based on its specifications alone and is possibly the most advanced smartphone yet made. It’s 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) with ‘Krait’ architecture is very similar to the Cortex-A15 architecture, but with performance that blows away the quad-core Exynos 4112 based on the older Cortex-A9 architecture used in the international version of the Samsung Galaxy S III.
Images of a handset identified as the LG Optimus G have appeared online. The leaked images from AndroidMx, who claim to have tried out the handset, are for the same smartphone teased by Qualcomm a few days ago, and is said to be using a 1.5Ghz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor supported by 2GB of RAM.
A number of handset manufacturers and technology companies are working together to standardize location services for inside buildings. The In-Location Alliance, made up of 22 companies including Nokia, Samsung, Sony Mobile and Qualcomm, will pool resources in an attempt to improve and push the services onto the mobile phone market.
During an earnings conference call last week, Qualcomm CEO Paul E. Jacobs revealed that the company will not focus on building many portable devices equipped with Mirasol touchscreens. The company, known better for its mobile chipsets, will instead focus on licensing the next generation of its technology. It will, however, continue to develop and sell some of its own Mirasol products.
A new Samsung Galaxy-series handset, the Reverb SPH-M950, has shown up on Twitter. The Reverb seems to be a version of the Jasper that also leaked from the same source a few days earlier. While the two appear similar, they have some detail differences in terms of the rumored specs.
Demand for the Snapdragon chipsets that power popular Android devices like Samsung's Galaxy S III and the HTC One X will apparently continue to outstrip manufacturer Qualcomm's ability to produce them. The chip designer confirmed to the BBC that it was unable to fully sate manufacturer demand, but said it was ramping up supply with a number of foundries to try to close the gap.
Demand for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 mobile processors has become so great that it has been forced to partner with mobile processor rival Samsung to produce additional supply. Qualcomm is a fabless chip designer and currently contracts Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) to build its latest design on its 28nm process. However, as it can’t meet demand, Qualcomm and Samsung have entered into an agreement that will now see Samsung also produce chips for Qualcomm in much the same way it continues to for Apple.
HTC will initially launch three Windows Phone 8-powered phones, TheVerge learned thanks to a tipster. The codenames include Rio, Accord, and Zenith, with the Rio being the entry-level device. It will reportedly sport a 4-inch, 480x800 touchscreen, a five-megapixel camera with 720p video capture, and a 14.4Mbps HSPA radio.
A number of chip makers have already started stocking parts intended to be used in production of Apple's next-generation iPhone, according to industry sources for DigiTimes. Qualcomm and Broadcom are said to be producing 4G and Wi-Fi chips using a 28nm process at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. OmniVision is also said to be hunting for production at TSMC's 12-inch fab, contributing to limited production capacity. OmniVision specializes in camera components, and has supplied cameras for Apple handhelds in the past.
At the Computex show in Taipei, Gigabyte showed off four smartphones that run on Android 4.0 and offer dual SIM card slots. The company is no stranger to such creations, with the G1355 introduced back in February, though it had Android 2.3 onboard. The range-topper from the newly-introduced phones is the GSmart M1420.
Qualcomm working on LTE chip with 7-band frequency support
A new FCC filing (PDF) from Qualcomm reveals the mobile chipmaker is hard at work on an upcoming LTE chip that support many wireless frequency bands. The chip promises to support three frequencies on either side of 1GHz and a seventh one in the high range that would be compatible with Clearwire's 2.5GHz 4G network. This spread would effectively get rid of North American operators' interoperability worries.
Samsung has detailed its launch plans for the Galaxy S III, bringing its flagship Android handset to five carriers. The Galaxy S III will arrive in June on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular priced from $199 on contract for the 16GB model. As expected, it will arrive sporting a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor with integrated 4G LTE, not the quad-core Exynos 4412 featured in the international version.
The Samsung Galaxy S III has gone on sale in Australia with the Exynos 4412 quad-core model on sale initially. The Marble White model in 16GB is available immediately, with the 32GB listed as coming soon. The Pebble Blue model, which Samsung recently confirmed as having issues with its special paint process, is listed as available for pre-order now although shipments won’t start for 10 days. Australians will also soon have the choice of the dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon LTE variant with 2GB with Telstra saying that it is currently negotiating with Samsung to bring it to its new 4G network.
An LG smartphone with the designation LS970 has been leaked courtesy of an anonymous Brief Mobile source. The ‘Eclipse 4G LTE’ is notable for its horsepower, which could make it most powerful smartphone on the market when it lands. Under the hood, the device packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 ‘Krait’ quad-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz and paired with a generous 2GB of RAM.
The official wireless charger for the Galaxy S III unveiled last week won't ship until September, learned from UK retailer Mobile Fun, who will sell the accessory. That's between about three and four months later than the phone's launch, depending on which market one's in. Included in the kit is a replacement rear battery cover that likely adds thickness to the handset and a desk cradle that will wirelessly charge the device.
Clearwire and Qualcomm have announced a new partnership that will bring support for Clearwire’s TDD-LTE frequency to its multi-mode LTE mobile chipsets towards the end of the year. Clearwire had taken a different tact to most of the other US carriers, who have opted for the FDD-LTE standard. However, the TDD-LTE specification has been widely adopted across the globe by heavyweights including China Mobile, Bharti-Airtel in India and Softbank in China giving Clearwire a unique opportunity to offer a global LTE smartphone.
Samsung and Qualcomm have formed the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) in order to mount a challenge to Qi’s Wireless Power Consortium. The move may result in a battle analogous to Sony’s battle with Toshiba over the Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats as one side seeks to establish its technology as the international standard. The Wireless Power Consortium, however, will present a formidable opponent -- it already has over 100 companies on its list of members, including heavy-weights like Energizer, HTC, Huawei, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Texas Instruments and Toshiba.
