5G

As 5G networks go live in more and more markets with each month, some questions regarding the health hazards that might come with this new technology remain unanswered. However, most 5G dangers that some websites have been warning us about for years are nothing more than myths that can be easily debunked.

Akash Palkhiwala is Qualcomm's new CFO (or chief financial officer). His appointment comes following a stint as the company's interim CFO, as well as the senior vice president and finance head of its CDMA tech division. Palkhiwala will now be in a position to help lead the chipmaker into its 5G era.

The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has conferred a number of CES 2020 Awards on some OEMs ahead of this event. They include OnePlus, LG and Acer, who have won recognition for their latest flagship devices, (or, in some cases, upcoming releases) in various categories. The actual show will run from January 7, 2020 in Las Vegas as usual.

Samsung has sneaked a 3D form of Face Unlock into the 5G version of the Galaxy S10 with its latest update. It works on this variant only as it has a time-of-flight (TOF) sensor in its front-facing punch-hole. Therefore, this phone's facial recognition may now approach iPhone-like levels of security and accuracy.

The OEM Vivo held a press conference today (November 7, 2019) to introduce its X30, a phone that will ship with the dual-mode 5G chipset, Samsung's Exynos 980. Oddly, the phone itself was not displayed, nor was its spec-sheet. However, new leaks point to a 90 hertz (Hz) AMOLED display, a 4500mAh battery and a Pro variant.

Qualcomm has announced the results for its fiscal year, which ended on September 29, 2019. Its revenues came in at US$24.3 billion, or 7% more year-on-year (YoY). The company also made a total of $4.8 billion in the last quarter of this year (4Q2019), although this is a 50% reduction compared to 3Q2019.

Although tomorrow's conference is expected to focus on the introduction of Samsung's dual-mode 5G AI chipset, Vivo is also supposed to unveil the Exynos 980-driven X30 phablet. Its specs will allegedly include a 90 Hz 6.5-inch AMOLED display, a 64 MP quad main camera, as well as a 32 MP selfie shooter.

91Mobiles claims to have heard from a "trusted source" that the next-gen Huawei Nova will have a 5G variant. Furthermore, it will have 2 selfie cameras that are visible through the display, as with that of the Samsung Galaxy S10+. This putative phone may be released in December 2019.

Riot Games has announced that League of Legends is finally getting a version for phones and tablets. This new form of the title is to be called Wild Rift, and is billed as completely optimized and refreshed for its new platform. It will start rolling out in 2020, with Android phones getting first whack at its installation.

Nokia has reportedly hired nearly 400 new staff members to build its latest 5G-focused team. These employees are to be based in the company's native Finland. 240 of them will start on equipment pitched at carriers, whereas some of the rest are SoC engineers.

OnePlus originally introduced the 7T Pro McLaren Edition in the absence of US availability or pricing. However, T-Mobile has just announced that it is to stock this phone in the country. Moreover, this carrier’s version will support 5G.

Intel has released its new low-power solution in full today (October 24, 2019). It is an x86 microarchitecture associated with "significant" IPC enhancements compared to its predecessor. Tremont can also support an L2 cache of up to 4.5MB, as well as crypto acceleration that includes dual 128-bit AES units. It is pitched at IoT, server, client and connectivity applications.

Qualcomm's Venture division has announced the implementation of the 5G Ecosystem Fund, a source of investment worth up to US$200 million. As the name suggests, it will help support start-ups involved in new, innovative and potentially lucrative applications of the new mobile-data standard. The company also intends the new fund to help get 5G in devices besides smartphones.

Samsung has officially launched the Exynos 990 SoC along with a new 5G Exynos Modem 5123. Both are expected to find their way into the Samsung Galaxy S11 and other high-end devices from the company in 2020.

Qualcomm has commissioned a Signals Research Group (SRG) study of 5G performance, efficiency and general UX in those countries and cities to which the new radio bands have been rolled out. It reportedly found that 5G can achieve up to 10X performance compared to 4G/LTE. In addition, it is also capable of 5 times the download speeds than the older standard.

Huawei opened up pre-orders for the foldable Mate X today, but the phone will only be sold in China. Shipments and retail sales will begin on November 15th. Priced at roughly US $2400, the Mate X is an expensive piece of kit, especially considering it's unlikely to be sold in Western markets. Additionally, Huawei announced a more powerful foldable, the Mate Xs, which is set to be launched in March 2020.

TSMC started sampling the A14 Bionic SoCs earlier than usual, as a recent Chinese report claims Apple already received the first engineering samples in late September. Apparently, there is also a downside to making the jump from 7 nm to 5 nm: the net die per wafer ratio gets reduced and 2020 iPhone prices could end up being even higher than the current gen.

Some new details about Samsung’s Galaxy S11 series have been shared online concerning the amount of SKUs that will be part of the lineup, the communication abilities of the devices, and the expected screen design. While some may have been hoping for a notch-free S11, it appears Samsung is saving that for a different series.

A device called the "OPPO PCCT30" has posted scores on the Geekbench 5 website. This model number is currently believed to belong to a second-gen Reno 5G smartphone. Its new benchmarking scores reveal that it is powered by the Snapdragon 855 processor, but could have done better by this chipset.

Qualcomm has announced that over 30 manufacturers have taken the Snapdragon X55 modem up in order to produce their 5G fixed wireless broadband consumer-premises hardware. This means the equipment carriers and ISPs will install in homes in order to access this relatively new form of broadband is highly likely to integrate this modem.

A source familiar with the matter claims that Apple is developing an in-house 5G modem for release in 2022, according to a report from Fast Company earlier today. The source says that a 2022 release date is "really pushing it," but it is likely that Apple plans to design and manufacture its own custom 5G modem.

LG is not ready to experiment with folding displays and decided to stick with a more conventional approach that is not as seamless, yet yields similar results. The 6.4-inch dual-screen setup on the new V50S ThinQ handheld can work as one display or as independent sections and is powered by the Snapdragon 855 SoC coupled with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage.

Samsung has announced that it will start a new beta program for One UI 2.0, its latest software skin based on Android 10. Unfortunately, it may only apply to those who own Galaxy S10-line devices in South Korea to start off with. However, this is a good indication that it will spread worldwide before too long.

Samsung has been helping to blaze the 5G smartphone trail and it looks set to do the same for tablets. A new Galaxy Tab S6 variant has been spotted going through a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth certification process that also carries the label Galaxy Tab S6 5G suggesting a release isn’t far away.

TSMC strikes back with a "retaliatory litigation", claiming that GlobalFoundries infringed on 25 of its patents that include FinFET designs for the 40 through 12 nm nodes. Unlike GlobalFoundries who sued TSMC's fab-less companies like Apple and Nvidia, TSMC is looking to halt all GlobalFoundries production and sale processes for the infringed nodes.

Preliminary benchmarks proved that the Kirin 990 is almost on par with all other major brands, but Huawei is clearly not content with parity. The Chinese company is already planning to release a 5 nm successor allegedly known as Kirin 1000, which will use ARM's Cortex-A77 cores plus a faster NPU, and it should be launched with the Mate 40 in Q3 2020.

Despite all the bans and restrictions imposed on Huawei that ultimately lead to a delay of the Mate X, the company is considering the release of improved versions that also includes a stylus, as revealed by the latest published patent. The stylus option really makes much more sense for the larger screen integrated in foldable devices, and, with this move, Huawei could provide a serious competitor for Samsung's Galaxy Note.

On the outside, the Mi 9 Pro is identical with the non-Pro version; however, the internals have been refreshed with a Snapdragon 855+ SoC, up to 12 GB RAM and up to 512 GB storage, while the 4,000 mAh battery now supports 45 W wired / 30 W wireless / 10 W reverse charging options. There is also an improved speaker with the largest sound chamber among all Xiaomi handhelds.

The Wi-Fi Alliance has certified a device called the Samsung SM-W2020. As the SM-W2019 is a high-end flip phone released last year, it appears that this new model number will conforn to the same form-factor. If so, it may have a new product name on its release as well .

Huawei has unveiled its latest line of flagship phablets on stage today in Germany as scheduled. It is powered by the new Kirin 990 processor, and also has variants based on the 5G version of the same. However, the complete lack of Google apps and services during the EMUI 10 parts of the show was inescapable.

HTC has confirmed that Yves Maitre, a former executive at the telecommunications company Orange, is its new chief executive officer (CEO). His predecessor, Cher Wang, will remain at the Taiwanese OEM as the head of its board. This executive will focus on products such as the VIVE XR ecosystem and the HTC 5G Hub.

Vivo launched its new flagship, the Nex 3, today in China. It is an impressive device, particularly as it is the first phone with a waterfall-type display. Furthermore, the OEM outlined its advance plans for what will come after 5G.

Qualcomm and TDK have clubbed together to acquire a remaining interest in the Singaporean body RF360 Holdings. This has enabled the 2 companies to produce a new kind of multi-mode radiofrequency front-end (RFFE) filter. It may contribute to improved switching between 4G and 5G in the Qualcomm modems of the future.

A revealing leaked image of an exhibition poster has shown that Samsung is preparing to unleash another foldable device onto the market. However, this is not about a successor to the now somewhat notorious Samsung Galaxy Fold, as the poster in the photo is actually for promoting the Galaxy W20 5G flip-phone.

The Kirin 990 SoC is the latest LTE chipset released by Huawei. A phone that purports to be a new model from this OEM has appeared on the Geekbench results database. It suggest that this new processor is a good match for the Snapdragon 855 Plus.