Qualcomm, the company behind the all-conquering Snapdragon processors, said today that it will cut $1.4 billion in costs and restructure its board after being pressured by an activist investor to make changes. The move could see the chip-maker cut thousands of jobs as it seeks to streamline its operations. Qualcomm’s revenue is significantly lower than it was 12 months ago, and its chip business isn’t the powerhouse it used to be.
The onslaught of OnePlus posts teasing out each individual facts about its upcoming phone, the OnePlus 2, continues. Today the company is responding to more concerns about overheating, as well as about the price of the OnePlus 2.
In a post to its community forums, OnePlus today unveiled which CPU its much-anticipated OnePlus 2 will use – Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810. The company said that the Snapdragon 810’s unmatched speed and ability to multitask while maintaining battery performance had them coming back to it over and over again during their search for the right processor. But don’t worry, the company says it will be version 2.1 of the chipset, a version that they collaborated on with Qualcomm engineers to integrate and fine-tune for the OnePlus 2’s hardware and software, and that (apparently) won’t overheat.
HTC hasn’t been having the best run lately and that continues today. After promising this past Wednesday at an investor meeting to reinvigorate its line through a new product in October and “improved design and innovation,” the Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer has posted bleak earnings results for the month of May with revenue of NT$10.79 billion (US$347 million), down 50% over the same month last year and down 11% from April’s revenue of NT$13.5 billion (US$440 million). Revenue for April was down itself 33% from the month prior and 38% from April 2014.
Earlier this week, Google made its Project Tango tablet available to everyone via the Google Store for $512. While many expected this price drop and public availability to lead to a successor at Google I/O, the company kept quiet and didn’t address its Tango initiative. Nevertheless, Qualcomm this evening has taken the wraps off of its own Tango smartphone platform powered by the Snapdragon 810.
Following speculation since March of weaker-than-hoped-for sales by HTC of its flagship One M9 smartphone, rumors are spreading that the Taiwanese company has just cut component orders for the phone by ~30%. Expand Expanding Close
HTC has just released its lowest revenue figures for the month of April in 6 years, attributable to lackluster sales of the new flagship HTC One M9, according to an analyst from Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co.
The company’s consolidated revenue was NT$13.5 billion (US$440 million) in April, down 38 percent year-over-year from NT$22.07 a year earlier. This figure is also down 33 percent from promising revenue of NT$20.02 billion posted only the month prior, in March. This is HTC’s lowest monthly revenue for April since 2009’s result of NT$11.4 billion.
The Snapdragon 810-equpiped HTC One M9 lights up like a Christmas tree during a benchmark
You may recall reports earlier this year about the HTC One M9 overheating during benchmark tests, with many claiming the issue was due to a flaw in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 processor. Tim McDonough, the chipmaker’s VP of marketing has finally spoken out about the problem, claiming that the rumors are untrue and there is, in fact, no problem with the chip overheating…
The LG G4 was (purportedly) seen in some leaked renders earlier this month, but today the upcoming handset from LG seems to have made its way through benchmarking software for the first time. As usual, GFXBench seems to be the culprit in this leak, revealing many of the upcoming device’s specs—and interestingly, the phone might be going with the Snapdragon 808 system-on-a-chip.
It looks like there is definitely some truth to evidence suggesting that the Snapdragon 810 has been facing some problems with overheating. Dutch site Tweakers has taken the HTC One M9 through a series of tests, and it looks like overheating problems with Qualcomm’s processor are still very much a valid concern. Specifically, while running GFXBench, the site has recorded the HTC One M9 to have a surface temperature of around 55 degrees Celsius—or 131 degrees Fahrenheit.
Software maker Cyanogen announced today that it has made a deal with Qualcomm to pre-load its partially-proprietary, Android-based Cyanogen OS (not to be confused with CyanogenMod) onto some of Qualcomm’s reference hardware. Reference devices for the Snapdragon 200, 400, and 600 series chips will now be powered by the Android-based operating system.
These reference devices previously ran customized versions of Android compiled by Qualcomm, with some tweaks for their own purposes. The move to Cyanogen OS could potentially put the software onto a large number of devices very quickly. It could also mean that many more reference devices will be able to receive software updates and run the latest version of Android.
Cyanogen also announced new branding (seen above) to help fit with its focus on open software:
As our values have evolved and advanced, we’ve realized that our identity as a team and a company should reflect that change.
Today we’re announcing a new look that we hope captures our commitment to openness. This new approach celebrates space, with minimal letterforms that don’t quite connect, giving the logo a sense of motion and a feeling of inherent energy.
The new Cyanogen feels open: fresh, expansive, and free.
One of the worst-kept tech secrets in recent memory, the HTC One M9 was finally announced today on stage by CEO Peter Chou at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. None of the specs were much of a surprise though the 20 megapixel sapphire camera and new configurable DotView cover will make some headlines. Under the hood is Qualcom’s new flagship 810 processor which HTC calls the fastest mobile processor in the world.
As for the appearance, I’m not sure I’m a fan of the Dual-Tone finish tweeted below but that beats the Pink version of the M9 IMHO.
Qualcomm this morning has taken the wraps off of four new processors that it says are destined for mid-range devices. The company has revealed the Snapdragon 620, 618, 425, and 415 chips which it says can bring the performance of a high-end device to more affordable, mid-tier phones.
Samsung this morning has taken the wraps off of a new octa-core Exynos processor that is widely expected to be the processor used in the upcoming Galaxy S6 flagship. Samsung says that the Exynos 7 processor is built on a 14nm processor and has eight cores. The company touts that it is “designed for next-generation flagships.”
Bloomberg is reporting that the Samsung Galaxy S6 will be released in two versions, one of them with a wraparound screen similar to the Note Edge but curving around both left and right sides of the display.
Samsung Electronics Co. plans to release two new versions of its top-tier Galaxy smartphone next month, including a model with a display covering three sides, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter […] The second model to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Spain will only have a front-facing display.
Earlier claimed renders had also suggested a curved screen, though with some confusion about whether the wraparound would be on only one side, like the Edge, or both sides as now claimed by Bloomberg … Expand Expanding Close
Qualcomm, which licenses 3G and 4G communications patents to smartphone manufacturers, has been fined almost a billion dollars by the Chinese government in an anti-trust case. The company was found to have abused its dominant position in wireless chip technology by charging “unfairly high” licensing fees to manufacturers of smartphones and tablets.
The 6B Yuan ($960M) fine is the largest fine ever imposed on a foreign company, reports the Guardian. China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that the fine was calculated as 8% of Qualcomm’s 2013 revenue in China. China is responsible for around half of Qualcomm’s total revenue.
Chinese regulators said that Qualcomm bundled together patent licenses, forcing Chinese companies to buy unwanted licenses in order to get the core 3G and 4G ones they needed. Qualcomm said that it was disappointed by the ruling, but has agreed to separate out its licenses to allow companies to purchase only the ones they need.
The ruling should reduce costs for Chinese smartphone makers, but it isn’t known how significant the saving may be, and it’s unlikely to show up as a price-reduction for consumers.
Rumors regarding overheating issues with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 processor have plagued the chip since it was introduced last year. A report back in December claimed that the issues of the Snapdragon 810 could cause delays to the Galaxy S6, LG G4, and Sony Xperia Z4. In its earnings report today, Qualcomm has seemingly confirmed issues with the processor, adding that it has lowered its outlook for the second half of 2015 because of the problems.
Qualcomm has come out on Twitter to say that at least one device powered by the Snapdragon 800 series of processors will be launching next week at CES, and has attached an image that doesn’t really tell us much. It looks a bit like the back of an LG phone, considering the top center location of what I assume are the volume and power buttons. Additionally, you can see what looks to be a backplate made of brushed metal, but if this is indeed an LG phone, we all know that it’s not actually going to be brushed metal…
Of course, it’s possible that this isn’t an LG phone at all, with many manufacturers expected to introduce phones. For example, ASUS is expected to be launching some devices, Sony is expected to be showing off some kind of super slim device, and—as for some further reaching rumors—VAIO might also be launching a smartphone. This teased handset could be anything, really, but if we were to take a guess, we would say it’s an LG device based purely off of its physical appearance. With that said, it’s not time for the LG G4 just yet, so it’s likely one of the company’s other lines.
In a developer blog post this morning, Sony announced that developers can now build custom versions of Android for all 2014 Xperia devices with a Qualcomm processor. This is made possible through Google’s AOSP (Android Open Source Project), a project dedicated to keeping Android open and giving developers the power to build their own custom ROMs.
Qualcomm is experiencing problems with its upcoming Snapdragon 810 chip, expected to power several of next year’s flagship smartphones – potentially delaying their launch. The high-powered chip is expected to be used in the Samsung Galaxy S6, LG G4 and Sony Xperia Z4, and has also been slated for a new Motorola phablet.
Business Korea cites an unnamed industry source in reporting that testing of the chip has revealed several issues.
The Snapdragon 810 overheats when it reaches a specific voltage. It also slows down owing to problems with the RAM controller connected to the AP. In addition, there is an error in the driver of the Adreno 430 GPU.
The 810 is a 64-bit octa-core chip supporting 4K displays, and hence a likely bet for the next generation of top-tier phones … Expand Expanding Close
The Wall Street Journal reports that Google’s ultrafast Internet service Fiber has a new leader running the show, and not just any new leader. Dennis Kish, a former executive at semiconductor company Qualcomm, is replacing Milo Medin to head Google Fiber going forward. The Journal reports that Medlin will remain “an adviser to the Google Fiber team,” but the Google vice president will begin work on other unspecified projects.
Kish was brought in for his operational expertise and will lead Google Fiber as the high-speed Internet and television service expands to new cities.
Amidst today’s plethora of exciting announcements from Motorola—including the Moto 360, Moto Hint, new Moto X, and Moto G—there’s still at least one more new product that the company didn’t really bring to the limelight. As can be found on the company’s website, Motorola is launching a new charger soon (via Android Police), and it claims to give today’s announced smartphones 8 hours of battery on a 15 minute charge.
While Samsung has been producing its own in-house smartphone chips for a while now, its last few flagship smartphones have used a Qualcomm chips. According to a new report out of SamMobile, however, Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 4 flagship might shift back to Samsung’s in-house Exynos processors. Samsung Exynos devices have been available in select markets recently, but availability has been scattered due to the chip’s lack of support for LTE.
The G Pro 2 also features a 13MP camera that is capable of 12oFPS slow-motion video recording, in addition to standard 4k recording. The camera also includes a variety of shooting modes, including a “Flash for Selfie” mode that offers more “soft” lighting for self-portraits.
In terms of power, the device features a 2.26GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor with an Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB of RAM. It has a 3200mAh battery, as well as a microSD card slot for up to 64GB of additional storage. The G Pro 2 itself will be sold in 16GB and 32GB variants. It will ship with Android 4.4 KitKat.
LG is also touting a new “Knock Code” feature that supposedly makes unlocking and using your phone even easier. Knock Code allows users to unlock their G Pro 2 by simply tapping their screens using one of the 86,367 “knock” combinations.
As far as availability goes, the device is available in Korea now, but LG says it does not know when it will launch in other areas. Full press release after the jump.
