Xiaomi just launched the Mi A1 smartphone in collaboration with Alphabet’s Google, the first Xiaomi device to run on the evolved Android One program. Priced from INR 14,999 in India (US$233.90), Mi A1 combines hardware innovations, including an optical zoom dual camera setup, with Google-designed software.
HMD Global, the parent company of Nokia phones, has unveiled the Nokia 8, a high performance smartphone designed with content creators in mind. It’s the first “premium” smartphone to be launched by HMD Global. The device introduces a “world first” in enabling Dual-Sight video to be live-streamed natively and in real-time to social feeds such as Facebook and YouTube.
At IFA 2017 in Berlin, Huawei unveiled its vision for the future of artificial intelligence (AI) with the launch of the Kirin 970 chipset. Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group, said the company is committed to turning smart devices into intelligence devices by building end-to-end capabilities that support coordinated development of chips, devices and the cloud.
Qualcomm has released additional findings of a landmark study, The 5G Economy. The new research, conducted by leading industry and economic analysis firm IHS Markit, examines the potential economic impact of 5G for the Taiwan market.
Sony Mobile Communications announced a new addition to its Xperia smartphone portfolio on August 21: Xperia XZ1, the first smartphone capable of scanning 3D objects. The product unveiling follows Sony Mobile’s recent Q1 2017 financial results, which saw operating income reach 3.6 billion yen (US$32.9 million).
Japanese telco KDDI has deployed a new solution, Kentik Detect, for real-time network operations and planning efficiencies. With Kentik, KDDI gains the ability to make faster operational decisions and frees up engineering teams to spend more time on business innovation.
Samsung launched the Galaxy Note8 on August 23, to replace the previous faulty Note7 model that had to be recalled last year. Samsung hasn’t held back from redeeming the Note family, releasing a smartphone that features an Infinity Display, an improved S Pen, and Samsung’s best smartphone camera yet.
A Chinese firm is currently under investigation following reports its CEO tested a driverless vehicle on public roads. Baidu, which is China’s equivalent to Google, is its biggest search engine provider in the country and the organization announced earlier this week that it intends to invest in self-driving technology.
South Korean conglomerate Samsung have announced that its voice-based assistant entitled ‘Bixby’ is now available for Galaxy S8 users in over 200 countries worldwide following its release in the US last month.
China Mobile, SAIC Motor, and Huawei Technologies jointly demoed the world's first 5G-based remote driving technology with a consumer car at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017. Their demonstration verified the high-bandwidth, low-latency potential in C-band frequency, laying a foundation for future development of connected smart vehicles. This demo marks an important milestone in improving the reliability of autonomous and driverless vehicles, and also a major step forward in commercial application.
