In January this year, OnePlus announced the merger of its research and development (R&D) arm with that of OPPO. While both companies had planned to share merge their R&D team, OnePlus did clarify that its software won’t be touched. In a new twist, OnePlus has announced the full integration of its smartphone brand with OPPO. The company will now function as a brand under OPPO but it still retains its independence.

In a press release to fans posted on its forum, OnePlus CEO Pete Lau disclosed that the move would open up more resources to the company which could be deployed to create better products. He also stated that the integration would make OnePlus become more efficient in aspects such as faster and more stable software updates for OnePlus users.

Recall that in August 2020 that Pete Lau, the founder, and CEO of OnePlus, returned to OPPO as senior vice president and the company’s head of product strategy. But even before now, it was common to notice that OnePlus’ flagship models were sometimes rebadged OPPO models.

The OnePlus CEO further stated that the brand will continue to operate independently, maintaining its focus on providing its fans with the best possible products and experience. The company will continue to launch OnePlus products and will equally hold separate launch events. The OnePlus community will equally be retained for closer feedback on all channels. However, we may continue to see models launched under the OPPO brand in some markets and under the Oneplus brand subsequently in other markets.

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(source)

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Earlier this week, a new report had surfaced that stated that OnePlus and OPPO have merged their respective research and development departments into one. Both brands have now merged their R&D but will still offer unique features and software.

As per a new report, an insider source from OPPO had told DoNews (Via ITHome) that the research and development departments for both Chinese smartphone makers have now been merged. Reportedly, both companies had made this as early as December 2020. In other words, either companies’ R&D is no longer separate, although, both OEMs would still offer unique software and features and the merger is not mirrored at the product level.

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Apparently, this was adopted to bring a relationship, which is similar to the one shared by Xiaomi and its subsidiary Redmi. Both companies just share a research and development system. Furthermore, this move also brings OnePlus and OPPO closer together under the Ouga Group. The rumors of the merger of R&D had first emerged back in June 2020, and now, it seems that both companies have finally gone ahead with the decision.

The merging of the companies’ research and development could also have both firms benefit, especially in regards to certain innovations or breakthroughs despite being independent brands. However, this is still an unconfirmed report so take it with a pinch of salt for now and stay tuned for more, as we will be providing more updates when additional information is available.

UP NEXT: Master Lu ranks ColorOS as the smoothest UI of 2020, Huawei remains the performance king!

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Chinese smartphone and consumer electronics major, Xiaomi may have started its journey off with China and India, but the company has been steadily trying to increase its grip-hold in the European market as well. Xiaomi has recently registered a research and development company in Tampere, Finland to focus on camera technology. The city is home to camera experts, thanks to Nokia having a research center for years in this area.

Xiaomi follows the steps of Huawei which in 2016, also opened a development and research center in this Finnish city. At the time, the Chinese manufacturer has been hiring several Nokia experts for its ranks and has also partnered with Leica, putting its top-of-the-range smartphones as the best smartphone cameras on the market as proven by ranking DxOMark, that places four Huawei smartphones in the top six.

This may also be part of a Nokia and Xiaomi collaboration from two years ago. Both companies has a collaboration agreement which was centered around licensing patents between the two companies. Nokia agreed to provide network infrastructure equipment to its Chinese partner and give access to its patent-rich portfolio. This new expansion by the Chinese company might be a result from that partnership to at least some extent.

Xiaomi will definitely be doing research on products inside this facility as well, but the company has decided to start the R&D arm with camera technology research. This means in the near future, it’s fully possible that we’ll be seeing Xiaomi devices with vastly better cameras on the company’s devices. Until then, stay around on Gizmochina.com for all you Chinese technology news.

UP NEXT: Huawei confirms Hongmeng OS moniker, Increased its Revenue in H1 2019

(Source)

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Huawei is now among the top 5 biggest spenders on R&D. A report has revealed the Chinese telecommunications giant spent 15.3 billion USD on R&D last year, beating Microsoft, Apple, and Intel.

According to Bloomberg, that amount is double what Huawei spent five years ago. The increase in spending is said to give Huawei an edge in 5G technology. It is also investing in mobile technology, cloud services, and its chip business.

On the list of top spenders on R&D for 2018, Amazon tops with 28.8 billion USD and is followed by Alphabet and Samsung with 21.4 billion USD and 16.7 billion USD respectively.

Xiang Ligang, a telecoms consultant, said Huawei’s success in business is as a result of its large investment in research and development. Huawei’s spending on R&D is 14% of its revenue for the year. Only Alphabet spent a larger percentage of its annual revenue.

READ MORE: Huawei P30 Pro Camera Review: We test out its incredible camera performance!

Huawei hasn’t had it easy in the past year or so. It is currently banned from involving in 5G infrastructure in the US and some of its ally countries. The US government believes the tech giant is working with the Chinese government in espionage. Huawei has denied the allegations and has been working on making its business more transparent.

(Source)

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Nowadays, in-display fingerprint sensor has become a trendy feature and is not just limited to flagship smartphones. Even the premium mid-range smartphones have also started offering the in-display fingerprint sensor.

But to offer the in-display fingerprint sensor, the smartphone manufacturer needs to use an OLED display. So what happens is that with the help of the visible light camera and the display panel, light transmittance of the OLED panel is used to “photograph” the fingerprint.

However, the LCD panels are not naturally capable of transmitting light thus, instead of using the LCD panel, the smartphone manufacturers have to rely on the OLED panels to offer in-display fingerprint scanner feature. But, that could change soon.

After continuous efforts from the manufacturers, a major breakthrough has been achieved in the LCD-based in-display fingerprint sensor solution. Fortsense has announced that it has successfully developed in-display fingerprint sensor for the LCD panels.

The R&D team of R&S claims that they revised and improved the fingerprint optical path scheme through continuous modification and improvement of the LCD backlight panel. This solved the display effect, fingerprint imaging effect and other related issues.

Further, the company seems to have adopted an algorithm-based approach. It uses the deep learning neural network algorithm for optimization and recognition of fingerprints quickly on the LCD panel. As per the company, the fingerprint recognition rate is comparable to the traditional fingerprint sensors.

Read More: Lu Weibing reveals that the upcoming Redmi SD855 flagship smartphone will be the king of price/performance ratio

This is a major breakthrough as the costing of LCD panel is much cheaper than the OLED panels. Also, the usage of LCD panels is also much more than OLED displays. If this works out well, then we should be getting a budget smartphone with in-display fingerprint sensors by the end of next year.

(Via)

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Research and Development or R&D as it is commonly called is an important part of any industry. Every year, companies set a budget for the department whose job includes creating new materials, developing new solutions and lots more.

The European Commission has released a list ranking the top R&D investors for 2018 and the list shows China’s Huawei beating companies like America’s Apple, Qualcomm, and Facebook.

The EU list puts Huawei as the Chinese company with the highest investment in R&D with a sum of €11.33 billion (¥89 billion). Globally, Huawei ranks 5th on the list. However, Huawei’s investment in R&D is said to have decreased slightly compared to last year’s.

There are a total of 438 Chinese companies on the list and they all invested a total of €71.2 billion, an increase of 20% when compared to the preceding year. 44% of the companies invested in ICT, 11.4% invested in the automotive industry and just 3.4% invested in health-related research.

On the global scene, Samsung is top on the EU’s list with a figure of €13.4 billion and is closely followed by Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Germany’s Volkswagen comes in at the third spot and Microsoft is 4th. Apple is trailing behind Huawei and Intel and claims the 7th spot with a total investment of €9.7 billion.

READ MORE: Counterpoint: Huawei joins list of contributors to 2018’s high-end smartphone market growth

Switzerland’s Roche is the first healthcare company on the list and claims the 8th position with a sum of €8.9 billion. Qualcomm is far down at number 28 with just €4.6 billion but the EU says it has moved up 64 spots since 2004.

(Sources: 1, 2)

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In a bid to make deeper in-roads in India’s smartphone market, China-based smartphone manufacturer Oppo has today announced that it is setting up a  new Research and Development (R&D) facility in Hyderabad.

This first R&D centre in India from Oppo will be the company’s largest facility outside its home country. The facility will contribute towards bringing exciting innovation and advanced technologies to India, says the company.

Currently, the site has 50 people on the development side and another 50 on quality control. However, the company says that it plans to increase the workforce to about 500 in the next three to five years. Further, the company has revealed that its first R&D centre in India will focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI), camera, fast charging technology, and 5G.

It appears that Oppo is seeing Research & Development as a key to the company’s plans to dominate the global smartphone market. The company has increased its focus on innovation and R&D and recently announced a global investment of RMB 10 billion towards the R&D space for 2019. Oppo currently has 3000 engineers working at its R&D centres across all locations.

Tasleem Arif, Vice-President and R&D Head, Oppo India, said that the company will mainly emphasis on deeper consumer insight. He added that the new R&D centre in India will work on a number of local features that will help improve the experience on its phones, including User Experience (UX). In a statement, he said:

The opening of our R&D centre in Hyderabad will help us implement innovative and exciting technologies in future products that we introduce in India as well as help us build a local ecosystem for smartphone devices. As India is an extremely important market for us we aim to drive innovation locally through the R&D centre in Hyderabad to deliver an insightful revolutionary, and seamless smartphone experience that caters to the demands of our consumers. We are looking forward to filing new patents for new technologies for our consumers to truly experience the best of technology.

Read More: OPPO R17 Pro and OPPO R17 launched in India; check out the phone’s specifications, features, and pricing

With this new local facility in Hyderabad, India, Oppo has now become the third smartphone player, after Samsung and Huawei, to have the Research & Development centre in India. Another Chinese brand OnePlus too is planning to setup the R&D centre in India.

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Huawei in early 2017 promised to invest between $10 billion to $20 billion annually on R&D. At the end of last year, the Chinese manufacturing giant revealed it spent $13.23 billion(CNY 89.7 billion) in R&D which accounted for 14.9 percent of its total revenue. Due to its quest to be a global leader in 5G technology, the Chinese company has pledged to increase its investment in research and development (R&D) to between $15 billion and $20 billion.

US companies Amazon and Alphabet (Google) are the two biggest spenders when it comes to R&D, and the reports from financial data company show that both companies spent $22.6 billion and $16.6 billion, respectively On R&D. Huawei has been one of the top spenders, and with this recent release is getting close to being very close to the number one position. The company also published on Thursday, stating that 20-30 percent of that amount would be dedicated to basic science research which is higher than the previous expectation of 10 percent.

Read Also: Huawei Honor Note 10 teaser confirms 5,000mAh battery

The United States, Australia, and Britain have been pushing back against Huawei’s network communications technology on the bases of security grounds. It is believed that this scenario prompted Huawei to increase its spending on R&D. Last week, a UK government report said technical and supply-chain issues with Huawei’s network equipment exposed Britain’s telecom networks to security risks, reversing a previous endorsement. When it comes to 5G worldwide network, Chinese companies led by Huawei are estimated to own about 10 percent of the essential patents. This is on the high side if compared to their share in the 4G and 3G eras. But that underscores the company’s drive and investment in research and development. With an increase n its R&D spending, we expect to see more leading technologies from the Chinese giant.

(via)

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A few years back, Huawei was just a big networking and telecommunications giant from China. A regular phone user might have never even heard of this company. Fast forward to 2018, and Huawei’s smartphones are found in most of the top markets in the world. The company has slowly but steadily climbed up the smartphone rankings, now occupying the third place in the ever competitive smartphone market, just behind Samsung and Apple.

How did Huawei manage such a feat? Well, some of this credit has to go to its R&D department and it looks like this department will further fuel the company’s growth in the coming years.

Now, iFeng reports that Huawei has a formidable technology under development that will be launched very soon. The company has been making billions of dollars in investment in its R&D department, with the spending rising to nearly $14 billion last year. This makes Huawei one of the top companies to spend in R&D in the world. No wonder the company has managed to churn out innovative features and technologies like the triple camera setup found on the Huawei P20 Pro!

RELATED: World Intellectual Property Day: Huawei Reveals It Had 74,397 Patents As At Dec. 2017

Recent reports claim that the company’s R&D spending in the coming years would reach as much as $20 billion! With so much money being invested in this department, we are expecting some exciting features on upcoming Huawei smartphones. Unfortunately, iFeng wasn’t able to get more information on this new formidable technology from the company.

We don’t even know whether the company’s new breakthrough is in the hardware or the software department. If it’s in the hardware department, it could be something related to an independent NPU module alongside its processors for its phones for faster and efficient Machine learning, but at this moment, this is just a speculation.

RELATED: Huawei Said to Launch World’s First Foldable Smartphone in November

If its in the software department, it could be something related to its OS. Remember the Honor Magic smartphone that launched at the end of 2016? The phone had a lot of sensors that ensured privacy and special features such as WiseScreen, and FaceCode Intelligent Recognition. Then there was the Magic Live Assistant which added an extra layer of AI-based software for special tasks.

We are not sure of what exactly this breakthrough technology might be, but I’m sure it’s going to be something exciting. Maybe the company finally perfected foldable smartphones? We can’t be sure but stay tuned for more updates.

iFeng reports that the technology will launch alongside an Honor smartphone in the near future. An exact time frame wasn’t given, but it should be before the end of this year.

(Source)

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Xiaomi’s CEO, Lei Jun, was at the 4th World Internet Conference and he revealed some interesting details about the company. According to him, the total number of active MIUI users across the globe exceeded 300 million as at December 2017. A large number of these users are based in China which isn’t much of a surprise.

Seeing as there are so many MIUI users, it will be nice to know how many workers are serving this large number of customers. The figures of Xiaomi’s total workforce were obtained from documents made available to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ahead of its public offering.

It was revealed that Xiaomi has a total of 14,513 full-time employees. Most are based in Beijing, Mainland China, while the others are split between India, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Hong Kong.

Of these 14,513 workers, 2,275 of them work in the MIUI department. That number pales in comparison to that of Sales and Services which has 6,048 workers. The mobile phone department has the third largest workforce with 1,292 employees.

Other notable mentions are Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Technology department which has 700 workers, TV department with 435 workers, and Mi Ecological Chain (Mijia) which has 955 workers.

READ MORE: Xiaomi Mi 7 Video Render Highlights The Notch

A number of the workers from the various departments are involved in R&D. Xiaomi puts that number at 5,515 which is about 38% of its total workforce.

(Source)

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ZTE, the Chinese network giant is going through rough times. Recently, the U.S. government banned American firms from sales to ZTE for seven years. Taiwanese government also ordered companies that sell to the China-based company to suspend shipments until they obtain approval.

With the company having troubles in the United States and Taiwan, ZTE is now looking at the faster development of domestic and self-developed chips. The Chinese company has now decided that it will continue to increase its investment for the Research & Development (R&D) of core chips and other products. With this, the company is aiming to become the leader in the development of 5G technology.

To support its ambitious goal of leading the 5G development, the company has decided to more than double its investment for the Research & Development compared to what it spent on the same last year. The company’s R&D expenditure last year stood at 12.96 billion yuan, which accounted for about 11.9 percent of the company’s operating revenue.

According to the reports, the company will specifically Research & Development investments for the products such as Pre-5G, 5G, high-end routers, SDN, OTN, and core chips.

US-based companies were banned from sales to ZTE for seven years. According to the US government, this step was taken because the company had failed to comply with a settlement related to ZTE shipping U.S.-made goods to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

In response to that, ZTE has said the ban, which has been imposed as the United States and China spar over import tariffs, has threatened its survival.

Further, the Taiwanese government has ordered all of its companies that sell to ZTE Corp to suspend shipments until they obtain approval. Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek has said that it will comply with a government order to apply for a permit to export products to Chinse telecom equipment maker.

Read More: ZTE Releases Q1 2018 Financial Report: Will This Be Its Last Profitable Report?

A MediaTek representative has said that the order from the Taiwanese economic ministry’s foreign trade bureau was more a routine measure to protect Taiwanese firms than about Sino-U.S. trade relations.

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This is an excerpt from the company release.

The new lab, located at Leica’s global HQ in Wetzlar, Germany, will drive further development of optical systems and software-based technologies to improve imaging quality in a wide range of photographic and mobile device applications. Additional outcomes will include the creation of computational imaging, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) solutions. In addition to R&D resources from both companies, Huawei and Leica plan to collaborate with German and international universities and research institutions.

This is definitely good news for Huawei fans as deeper co-operation with Leica could result into more powerful cameras on upcoming flagships. In fact, IHS Analyst Kevin Wang had already hinted that the Huawei Mate 9 would feature better cameras than the Huawei P9. According to rumors, the flagship should feature a 20MP dual camera setup with OIS. Other rumored features of the device include a 6-inch 1080p display, rear fingerprint, Kirin 960 and Android 7.

RELATED: Dual Camera Battle: iPhone 7 Plus Vs Huawei P9

Huawei P9 has already got pretty good reviews when it comes to the camera department, and it could very well be one of the best camera phones in the market right now. So, an even better dual camera setup on the Mate 9 would be really amazing.

Even the pricing of the Mate 9 has been leaked. The Standard Mate 9 Edition is said to start at 3199 Yuan ($480), while the full network supported version is said to retail at 3399 Yuan ($509). There are other versions expected as well, like a high-end version priced at 3899 Yuan ($584), another version at 4699 Yuan ($704) and the ultra-powerful top-end edition priced with smart watch bundled priced at 7388 Yuan ($1108). Exact details of these versions were not revealed.

To be honest, it’s too early to say whether these prices are going to be final. But the release date is said to be on November 8 this year, which is more than a month away. In that time, we can expect more details about the upcoming flagship. Let’s hope Leica and Huawei can surprise us with the Mate 9.

(source)

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