Previously, the U.S. Department of Commerce revoked Intel and Qualcomm’s export licenses to Huawei, leading to speculation that they are now prohibited from collaborating with Huawei. According to a report from TechNews, Qualcomm anticipates that after 2024, it will no longer receive product revenue from Huawei but will continue to collect patent royalties.

As per a report from global media outlet tom’s Hardware, on May 7, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce informed Qualcomm that it was revoking the company’s license to export 4G and certain other integrated circuit products, including Wi-Fi products, to Huawei. a nd its affiliates and subsidiaries, effective immediately.Consequently, Qualcomm expects no product revenue from Huawei after this year.

According to TechNews, while Qualcomm used to provide processors to Huawei for use in its smartphones, Huawei’s HiSilicon division has developed its own chipsets, Kirin 9000 and 9010, therefore barely needing the support from Snapdragon processors.

Qualcomm reportedly noted in another statement that Huawei has recently launched new 5G-supported devices using its own IC products. Although Qualcomm can still sell IC products to Huawei under the current license, it does not expect to receive any product revenue from Huawei after this year.

Despite having its own processors, Huawei lacks the alternative for Intel’s Core or Xeon CPUs from PCs and servers, and will likely continue using them for the foreseeable future, according to tom’s Hardware. Meanwhile, Qualcomm may continue to collect patent royalties from Huawei and other Chinese smartphone manufacturers.

Qualcomm also mentioned that it has recently extended, renewed, or signed licensing agreements with several major OEMs. Negotiations are ongoing with key OEMs, including Huawei, for agreements set to expire at the beginning of fiscal year 2025.

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• [News] As U.S. Export Restrictions Tighten, Qualcomm Reportedly Affirms Huawei May no Longer Need its Chips
• [News] Qualcomm Advances into AI PC Market, Reportedly Adopting 4nm Process

(Photo credit: Qualcomm)

Google reportedly collaborates with Samsung as its foundry partner for Tensor G4 in the Pixel 9 lineup, which is anticipated to hit the market later this year. However, the tech giant may possibly turn to TSMC in Pixel 10, using the latter’s 3nm node for Tensor G5, according to a report by Wccftech.

It is reported that, to facilitate this transition, Google has expanded its Taiwanese R&D center, enabling closer collaboration with TSMC to produce its most advanced silicon. In late April, Google opened its second hardware office in Taiwan for Pixel, Fitbit, and Nest development, located at the TPark campus in New Taipei City.

Wccftech stated that Google has changed its stance, as Tensor G3’s performance lags behind its competitors, and TSMC might help to resolve the problem. Tensor G3, manufactured utilizing Samsung’s 4LPP node, is reported to lag behind in CPU performance, if compared with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen2 and Apple’s A17 Pro.

The aforementioned report suggested that Google plans to utilize TSMC’s 3nm ‘N3E’ process for its advanced chipset, the same node employed in Apple’s M4 chips that power the latest iPad Pro models.

At the Google I/O 2024 developer conference on May 14th, Google unveiled its 6th generation custom chip, the Trillium TPU, rumored to be manufactured on a TSMC 3nm or 4nm process, according to a report by CTEE. It is also reported that Google has been aggressively working on its upcoming TPU models, collaborating with Taiwanese fabless companies MediaTek and Alchip. Taiwan’s largest PCB substrate manufacturer, Unimicron, is also said to be included in the Trillium TPU’s supply chain.

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• [News] Google Unveils 6th Generation TPU, Scheduled to Launch Later This Year

(Photo credit: TSMC)

Huawei, in collaboration with Orange Pi, an open source product brand of Shenzhen Xunlong Software, have unveiled their latest brandchild, OrangePi Kunpeng Pro development board. Though the specifics of the product have been hidden from public, an AI processor is said to be integrated into the package, indicating that Huawei’s Kunpeng chipsets have been progressing into the AI realm, according to a report from tom’s Hardware.

The Kunpeng Pro development board, an alternative of Raspberry Pi, is reported to be powered by a quad-core 64-bit Arm processor and an AI processor integrated into the same package. However, details of these processors remain undisclosed.

This is a tactic Huawei has employed previously to deter Western scrutiny. Huawei has been facing strict sanctions from the U.S. government, restricting its access to certain chips and chip-making technologies. On May 7th, the U.S. authority revoked the licenses of Intel and Qualcomm to supply semiconductor chips used in laptops and handsets to Huawei, which took immediate effect.

The development board is reported to be designed for a diverse user base, including consumers, developers, and students. It comes preinstalled with the openEuler OS, the openGauss database, and a range of internet, productivity, and software development tools.

Tom’s Hardware has learned that Kunpeng Pro uses a custom Huawei Kunpeng CPU that is paired with an AI FPGA processor. The CPU is believed to be a quad-core ARM model, while the AI FPGA processor is reportedly to offer 8 TOPS (Trillions or Tera Operations per Second) of AI computing power.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite, launched in late 2023, delivers peak AI computing performance of 45 TOPS, while Apple’s M4, released in early May, is rated at 38 TOPS.

(Photo credit: Orange Pi)

Apple’s Vision Pro, which went on sale in the United States in February this year, is reportedly gearing up for sales outside the US to test the waters! China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and France are among the nations expected to join this wave of availability.

According to reports from the CTEE and Bloomberg, Apple has flown retail employees from various countries to its headquarter in Cupertino, California for training. The training program, started last week, lasted four days and focused on teaching staff how to demonstrate Vision Pros to customers. Participants in the training came from Germany, France, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and China.

Though Apple has not disclosed the actual debut date or the countries where the Vision Pro will be launched outside the US, in March, a report by MacRumors suggested that code within VisionOS might hint the potential sequence of international sales for the Vision Pro.

Apple has added 12 new languages to the Vision Pro’s virtual keyboard and auto-correction features, including English versions for five regions (Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and the UK), French for two regions (France and Canada), German (Germany), as well as Japanese, Korean, Traditional Cantonese, and Simplified Chinese, which indicates that nine countries, including China, Japan, and Korea, may be among the first markets Vision Pro could potentially make its debut.

According to a January estimate by TrendForce, if initial sales are strong, Vision Pro shipments could reach between 500–600 thousand units in 2024. 

Apple’s Vision Pro features a Micro OLED display, currently exclusively supplied through a process that uses TSMC’s CMOS backplanes in combination with Sony’s deposition process.

(Photo credit: Apple)

Samsung’s planned launch of its budget model version for the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 6 foldable phone may be cancelled, according to information obtained by South Korea’s media outlet TheElec.

According to sources cited by TheElec, component suppliers to Samsung, which were gearing up for mass production of parts for these foldable devices, indicated that they have not received orders for the budget model Fold 6.

Initially, the South Korean tech giant had planned to unveil three foldable phones this summer: the Galaxy Z Fold 6, the Galaxy Z Flip 6, and an affordable version of the Fold 6.

The Fold 6 features a digitizer layer on the screen to support the S-Pen stylus, but the budget model was intended to be thinner and omit this feature.

It is reported that Samsung, after conducting a durability test of 200,000 folds for the budget model, with water and dust resistance functions added, has founded out that the product turned out not to be thinner than its Chinese rival Huawei’s equivalent, thus lacking significant differentiating points from these rival products.

Huawei’s Mate X3 and X5, launched last year, were both around 11.08mm thick, according to information obtained on Huawei’s website. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 was 13.4mm thick, while Xiaomi’s Mix Fold 3 was 10.9mm thick.

According to analysis from TrendForce, global shipments of foldable phones reached 15.9 million units in 2023, marking a 25% YoY increase and accounting for approximately 1.4% of the overall smartphone market. In 2024, shipments are expected to rise to about 17.7 million units, growing by 11% and slightly increasing the market share to 1.5%. However, this growth rate remains below market expectations, with the segment’s share predicted to exceed 2% only by 2025.

Trendforce points out that the slowdown in the growth of foldable phones could be attributed to two main factors: Firstly, consumer retention is low due to frequent maintenance issues faced by first-time foldable phone users, leading to a lack of confidence in the product. As a result, users may opt for high-end flagship smartphones when considering replacements. Secondly, the current price points of foldable phones have yet to reach the sweet spot for consumers, making it challenging to meet sales targets based solely on pricing.

(Photo credit: Samsung)