In the first quarter of 2024, China’s smartphone market registered growth, ticking up by 1.5% compared to last year. This was the second quarter in a row where things looked up for the Chinese market, sparking some optimism in the industry.

Huawei was the standout brand in this quarter, registering an impressive growth of nearly 70%. Thanks to their new 5G Mate 60 series, it grabbed a big chunk of the high-end market. While Huawei was climbing the ranks, HONOR wasn’t far behind. It managed 11.5% growth, thanks to their popular X50 and Play 40 models.

On the other hand, Apple had a rough start to the year. Their sales dropped by over 19% in China. A couple of things hit them hard: a government ban on Apple devices for employees and Huawei’s strong comeback. Despite some big discounts and promotions, Apple struggled to keep up.

Looking ahead, there’s a possibility that Apple might bounce back in the next quarter. They’re rolling out new color options and pushing sales hard. Everyone’s waiting for May 2, when Apple will share their earnings report. It’s going to be a key moment for them as they try to regain their footing in China’s competitive market.

So, the big question now is, can Apple turn things around with their new strategies?

Read more in our story here.

US Is Nervous About China’s Growing Interest in RISC-V Chips

The US Department of Commerce is keeping a close eye on China’s growing interest in RISC-V chip technology, a rising star in the chip-making world. RISC-V is a free, open-source alternative to more controlled technologies like those from Arm Holdings, and it’s catching on everywhere, from smartphones to sophisticated AI chips.

China’s big tech players, like Alibaba, are really getting into RISC-V. This move has turned up the heat in the tech rivalry between the US and China, pushing 18 US lawmakers to press the Biden administration to make sure China doesn’t get the upper hand in this area.

The Commerce Department is on it, checking out the risks and figuring out the best steps to take. They want to be careful, though. They don’t want to mess up chances for US companies to work with others around the world on RISC-V projects. They’ve learned from past snags, like when US restrictions on sharing 5G tech with China made it tough for US firms in global tech groups, which could have knocked the US off its tech throne.

You can read more in our story here.

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Will BlueImage Force Vivo To End Ties With Zeiss?

Vivo has just announced its BlueImage brand, shaking up the smartphone photography game with its own imaging technology. This move has sparked curiosity about whether this signals the end of their collaboration with Zeiss, the optics giant.

Vivo’s BlueImage is all about taking smartphone photography up a notch. The company has pumped resources into research and development to create a system that enhances the photos you snap on your phone. They’ve even developed their own imaging chips, now in their third generation, to power this tech.

But fans of Vivo’s partnership with Zeiss can breathe easy. Vivo has made it clear that their work with Zeiss isn’t going anywhere. They’ve committed to a new joint R&D agreement with Zeiss, reinforcing their collaboration. An executive from Vivo even teased this on social media, showing off the BlueImage and Zeiss logos together, along with a sneak peek at an upcoming device.

More details are here.

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Huawei is planning to expand globally with HarmonyOS amidst the US sanctions

Last year, Huawei unveiled the “HarmonyOS NEXT” operating system exclusively for developers. This operating system does not support Android apps and could be the future of Huawei smartphones and other connected smart devices.

A previous report from Nikki Asia claimed that Huawei’s HarmonyOS NEXT (unveiled in January as the newest version of its proprietary operating system) could rival iOS and Android going forward.

The latest news is that Huawei is aiming to roll out the HarmonyOS ecosystem globally.

Xiaomi Robot Vacuum Cleaner S10, Handheld Garment Steamer launched in India

Xiaomi announced a couple of new products, such as the Redmi Pad SE, the Redmi Buds 5A, the Robot Vacuum Cleaner S10, and the Handheld Garment Steamer, in India through the 2024 Smarter Living launch event.

The Xiaomi Robot Vacuum Cleaner S10 and Handheld Garment Steamer will be available for pre-booking starting April 29 in India via Mi.com, Flipkart, and Amazon. On April 29, Mi.com will host the early access sale of these devices.

More details are here.

iQOO Z9 Turbo Debuts In China With Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, 16GB RAM, And More

The iQOO Z9 Turbo is the top-end model in the Z9 series smartphones that was announced yesterday in China. It is a new addition to the Z9 series. The latest offering packs mid-range flagship specifications. The Z9 Turbo is also quite different compared to its siblings.

More details here!

Huawei Pura 70 Ultra Retractable Camera Explained

The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra (unboxing & hands-on) boasts a revolutionary feature: a retractable main camera. This isn’t the first phone to feature a retractable lens, though.

The first commercial phone that came with this feature was the Tecno Phantom X2 Pro. Well, this innovative design offers a unique solution to the age-old challenge of balancing large sensor sizes with a sleek phone profile.

We try to explain the fascinating mechanism of this camera.

Apple expands supplier network in China despite US-China tensions

Apple has added 8 new suppliers from mainland China while removing 4, highlighting the country’s significance in its supply chain. With 157 contractors operating in mainland China, representing over a third of its disclosed suppliers, Apple reaffirms its reliance on the region for manufacturing and assembly.

More details here.

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Sipeed has just unveiled a brand new handheld gaming console. Handhelds have been all the rage in the console market recently, but the Lichee Pocket 4A stands out as it is powered by a RISC-V chipset and features some interesting specs. So let’s have a look.

Lichee Pocket 4A Specs

The new Lichee Pocket 4A sports a 7-inch touchscreen enabled LCD panel. Under the hood, the Pocket 4A uis equipped with the Sipeed LM4A module along with T-Head TH1520 CPU that flaunts four XuanTie C910 cores. This chip is based on the Open-Source RISC-V architecture. This processor is paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of eMMC storage. Notably, the chipset also has the Imagination Technologies BXM-4-64 GPU and an NPU that can deliver up to 4 TOPS of AI performance as well.

Another interesting feature is the inclusion of joy-con-like detachable controllers on the sides of the display. The Lichee Pocket 4A does not offer immense gaming prowess but it is a step towards games being emulated for RISC-V architecture based systems. In other words, more games could be developed for RISC-V platforms in the near future. Other notable features include WiFi 6, Gigabit Ethernet, and Bluetooth 5.4.

For Connectivity, the Lichee Pocket 4A offers one USB 2.0 Type-C port, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, and a microSD card slot. The front even houses a 5-megapixel camera, which is paired with a microphone and stereo speaker setup. The gaming handheld runs support both Debian Linux as well as Android operating systems. As of right now, the device is available for pre-orders, which you can check out by heading to their official website. You can even check out our coverage on other gaming handhelds by clicking here.

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The need for efficient and powerful computing systems will never change, since technology drives so many aspects of our life now. Recently, Alibaba Group Holding’s chip design subsidiary, T-Head, launched the Zhenyue 510, a controller integrated circuit (IC) for enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs). This new chip marks a significant step forward in Alibaba’s pursuit of technological independence.

RISC-V lets chip developers to customize their designs

The Zhenyue 510 is based on the RISC-V architecture, an open-standard instruction set architecture that allows chip developers to configure and customize their designs. This is a crucial factor for China as it seeks to reduce its dependence on foreign intellectual property (IP) providers amid an ongoing tech war with the US. In fact, US lawmakers are currently pushing for action on RISC-V on national security grounds, highlighting the importance of this technology standard.

The Zhenyue 510 will initially be deployed in Alibaba Cloud’s data centers, providing support for applications such as artificial intelligence (AI) training, online transactions, and big data analysis. According to Alibaba Cloud, the chip provides a 30% lower latency for input and output operations compared to other ICs on the market. This means that the chip will allow for faster data processing, ultimately leading to improved performance for the end user.

The launch of the Zhenyue 510 follows in the footsteps of other proprietary silicon designs by T-Head, including the Hanguang 800 neural processing unit and the Yitian 710, an Arm-based central processing unit for cloud servers. These chips, along with the Zhenyue 510, are primarily used in-house, highlighting Alibaba’s commitment to developing its own technology solutions.

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In a move that’s definitely surprising but quite welcome, Google and Qualcomm are partnering to boost the capabilities of future wearables through RISC-V, an open-source alternative to ARM and x86 architectures. The move is designed to redefine the Wear OS landscape by leveraging RISC-V’s openness and adaptability.

RISC-V comes with a reduced need for ARM licenses

At its core, RISC-V isn’t just an alternative; it’s a game changer. It’s an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) that permits any company to craft custom cores. This is like throwing open the gates for new players and urging them to bring their fresh ideas to the table. What this means for consumers is a market rich in innovation and competition.

One of the big draws of this transition to RISC-V is the reduced need for ARM licenses. By opting for RISC-V, companies are free to make their own rules—no strings attached. This step marks a “key milestone” in integrating RISC-V CPUs with Android, Google’s popular operating system, according to Qualcomm.

Why start with wearables? Well, Google seems to believe that Wear OS is the ideal testing ground for the RISC-V innovation. Both Google and Qualcomm are in the process of creating custom CPUs that are high on performance but low on power consumption. This is particularly essential for wearables, which require both durability and speed for optimum performance.

Don’t worry if you’re a fan of ARM-based Snapdragon Wear chips; they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. Qualcomm has expressed its commitment to continue investing in its existing platforms. However, with this collaboration on RISC-V, it’s clear that there’s a new sheriff in town aiming to revolutionize the way we look at smart wearables.

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As tensions escalate in the U.S.-China tech war, lawmakers are pushing the Biden administration to limit American companies’ involvement in RISC-V, an open-source chip technology. While cited as a national security move, experts warn that such actions could stymie technological advancement on a global scale.

RISC-V has the potential to bring down the cost of everything related to technology

RISC-V, which stands for “Reduced Instruction Set Computing-5,” competes with the proprietary chip technology from British firm Arm Holdings. It’s open-source nature means it could significantly cut down costs for everything from mobile phones to AI processors. However, lawmakers argue that this could be a backdoor for China to exploit U.S. intellectual property and catch up in the semiconductor race.

The regulation of RISC-V may sound like a smart strategic move at first glance, especially with the ongoing tech warfare between the U.S. and China. However, the open-source chip technology could, ironically, be a double-edged sword for the U.S. itself. While lawmakers like Senator Marco Rubio and Mark Warner are concerned that China could use RISC-V to bypass U.S. technological dominance, critics argue that putting restrictions on this technology would curtail global collaboration on chip innovation.

Jack Kang, a tech executive at California-based startup SiFive, likens the potential regulation of RISC-V to “banning us from working on the internet.” With the U.S. itself benefiting from this open-source technology—Google plans to make its Android system compatible with RISC-V, and Qualcomm is collaborating with European firms on RISC-V chips—the move could prove counterproductive.

Moreover, the possible restrictions would contradict the ethos of the open-source community, which thrives on collective input for rapid innovation. The impact would be far-reaching, affecting not just the U.S. and China, but also European efforts to create more efficient and economical chip technologies.

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Needs continue to shape modern technology trends. For instance, with the rise in demand for semiconductors in electric vehicles, high-end servers in data centers, and artificial intelligence applications, we see vast opportunities for RISC-V processors. In today’s world, where everything is becoming increasingly expensive, this techbology draws attention as a royalty-free architecture that can save chip designers money. Here are the details…

The future of China: What is RISC-V?

When it comes to semiconductor production, several complex and challenging processes emerge. As a result, few companies participate in the manufacturing process, and even fewer get involved in development. However, with the rapid advancement of technology and increasing demand, the capacity of the few existing manufacturers is being exceeded. This is where RISC-V steps in China. RISC-V is a royalty-free, open-source instruction set architecture.

There are several reasons for China’s adoption of RISC-V. First, it is a cost-effective option for chip designers. Second, being open-source, and offers greater flexibility and customization capabilities than proprietary architectures. Finally, RISC-V is a relatively new architecture that is continually evolving and can be adapted to cater to the needs of future applications.

RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture that is royalty-free. It is based on reduced instruction set computer (RISC) principles, which means that it is designed to be simple and efficient. RISC-V was developed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and its specifications were made available to developers in 2015.

RISC-V is gaining popularity in the global semiconductor industry, and China is a major driver of this growth. In 2022, eleven new RISC-V chips were launched by a dozen Chinese semiconductor companies. These chips are used in a variety of applications, including cars, computers, wireless communications, energy management, and security.

There are several reasons why China is adopting this techbology. First, the architecture is royalty-free, which can save chip designers money. Second, RISC-V is open-source, which means that it is more flexible and customizable than proprietary architectures. Third, RISC-V is a relatively new architecture, which means that it is still evolving and can be adapted to meet the needs of future applications.

The adoption of RISC-V in China is a major development in the global semiconductor industry. It is a sign that China is becoming a major player in the design and manufacture of chips. This techbology has the potential to disrupt the traditional semiconductor market, and China is well-positioned to be a leader in its development.

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The post How RISC-V is Empowering China’s Chipmakers: A Cost-Effective, Flexible, and Future-Proof Solution appeared first on Gizmochina.

Intel has recently announced that it is setting up a new fund that will help startups in developing new technologies from its Intel Foundry Services (IFS). This billion dollar fund is being offered to both large and small firms that are working on innovative chip tech that will not be limited by ISAs (instruction set architectures).

As per the official announcement (Via TomsHardware), the funds will help startups that are seeking to develop disruptive tech (technology that has a major impact on the market/industry) while also reducing the time it takes for these technologies to make it to the consumer market. Notably, the chip making giant won’t be limiting architecture for firms using its IFS. While Team Blue has been a major figure in the x86 architecture, the 1 billion US Dollar fund will embrace other instruction sets as well. This includes the x86, ARM, and even RISC-V.

The first two are known architectures that are used in PCs and smartphones, but the latter is an open sourced and free platform that has been rising in popularity in recent times. In other words, Intel will include RISC-V under its IFS fund to bring in more customers. Furthermore, the chipmaker is also betting on development of modular designs on chip architecture through advanced 3D packaging technologies. In simpler terms, it is expecting the semiconductor industry to shift towards chips that use multiple ISA in a single chip.

Intel CEO, Pat Gelsinger, stated that “Foundry customers are rapidly embracing a modular design approach to differentiate their products and accelerate time to market. Intel Foundry Services is well positioned to lead this major industry inflection. With our new investment fund and open chiplet platform, we can help drive the ecosystem to develop disruptive technologies across the full spectrum of chip architectures.” The sizeable fund will be streamlined in three aspects:

• Equity investments in disruptive startups.
• Strategic investments to accelerate partner scale up.
• Ecosystem investments to develop disruptive capabilities supporting IFS customers.

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SiFive has just appointed a former Qualcomm executive, Patrick Little, as the new CEO. The senior official has been hired to help establish the company’s RISC-V based processors as an alternative to Arm, which is being acquired by Nvidia for a 40 billion US Dollars deal.

For those unaware, SiFive is a chip designer that makes processors that can be customized for any purpose the customer requires it for. This has it make chips to meet low end to even some high end computing requirements. The processors used by the company are based on RISC-V, which is a free and open architecture that has been growing in popularity since its creation a decade ago.

The people behind the architecture were inspired by the philosophy of “hardware freedom” to offer alternatives to royalty-based processors that are licensed for a fee by a single company. According to an VentureBeat interview with Patrick Little, the senior executive said that “It’s just very clear that the world is moving away from generic processors to workload-focused and optimized solutions,” and that, “The industry is transforming away from general-purpose computing to something domain-focused. With the news this week, it’s now accelerating, and the magnitude has really picked up. Now there are many companies saying it’s time to look at open versus closed solutions.”

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Notably, despite Nvidia acquiring Arm, the former has pledged to still continue to offer the latter’s open licensing strategy. Although, the free and open nature of RISC-V is already a great deal for many. But the challenge still remains of growing its ecosystem of software, tools, and testing to make it a viable alternative to Arm. At the moment, the ARM architecture is found on about 95 percent of the smartphone market, with the industry shipping more than 22 billion chips a year.

Furthermore, SiFive is also planning on unveiling its first RISC-V based PC in October 2020, alongside new RISC-V chips. While this architecture isn’t as matured as others like the x86 and ARM, it has made great progress in recent years. SiFive will be targetting developers and professionals with this PC and not the commercial market. The ide ais to offer RISC-V based systems so that developers can make code software that was meant for RISC-V powered devices. The company plans to introduce new processors as well, which will be optimized for “high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and computer vision applications.”

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ARM has recently announced that it will be providing various silicon startups with zero cost access to its most widely used chip designs. The known semiconductor based company is offering this to advance innovation among chip startups that are facing the high barrier of entry through costs.

While the generous move from ARM is a great positive for the industry, it is also a method for the company to better compete with its rival RISC-V. The latter is an open sourced architecture that has become increasingly more popular in recent times and has begun affecting the market ARM had a hold on. In other words, a relatively new player in the chip design industry.

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The ARM Flexible Access for Startups will be grant nascent firms access to the company’s intellectual property portfolio, tools, training, and more. Furthermore, ARM will offer full support in early experimentation, design, and even help in prototype silicons. Previously, ARM’s customers had to pay license fees or royalty for using designs that used by them on their own chips.

According to ARM, the new program could potentially lower risks and accelarate the time to market by 6 to even 12 months. The company is also partnering up with Silicon Catalyst, who is a specialist in silicon startups, to offer members free access to all of ARM’s IPs, design tools, and other prototypes. Again, this move is likely a response to RISC-V, which is growing it’s open royalty free support regarding chip architecture.

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(Via)

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Xiaomi’s best selling Mi Band series is getting a new update tomorrow i.e. June 11. Before its official release, we have got some exciting news about the processor that powers the new Mi Band 4. Huami’s CEO, Wang Huang has just teased that the AI-powered Huangshang No.1 chip has been mass-produced. He’s likely talking about the Mi Band 4 since the official Mi Band page on Weibo has forwarded his post.

Huangshan No.1 was released late last year by Huami. The processor is said to be more efficient than ARM’s Cortex M4 based competitors. This is a really big move for Xiaomi since it would mean that the Chinese smartphone maker is trying its hands on an open-source RISC-V based processor instead of the more popular ARM alternative. The timing is also significant, since just a couple of days back, we reported that Qualcomm made a big investment in SiFive, the leading provider of RISC-V based processor IP. So, it looks like companies are increasingly looking for alternatives to ARM’s Cortex based chip designs.

The Huangshan No. 1 (MHS001) is the world’s first wearable processor that features an integrated AI-neural network. There are four core artificial intelligence engines — cardiac biometrics engine, ECG, ECG Pro, and Hearth Rhythm Abnormality Monitoring Engine.

It’s also an important milestone for Huami as well. Mi Band series has a tradition of selling millions of units. This means it will be the first time the Huangshan No.1 is mass produced in millions. Its departure from ARM-based Cortex IP is a big move, especially after what happened to Huawei and Hisilicon after the US ban.

The Mi Band 4 is already listed on Aliexpress on pre-order. You can read more about it from here.

(Source)

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ARM’s been in the news more and more lately. They are after all one of the leaders when it comes to processor instruction sets. Outside of Intel’s x86, we haven’t really seen any real competitor to ARM, at least until now. Sifive is a plucky startup that utilizes the open source RISC-V instruction set for their processors.

While they’ve been slowly growing over the past few years, the Californian company’s latest round of fundraising has been a staggering success. They managed to raise $65.4 million in a Series D round, the company said, bringing its total funding to more than $125 million. What’s most intriguing however is the listing of Qualcomm‘s venture group as an investor.

Qualcomm has long been of the biggest customers for ARM, so seeing them financially back a direct competitor is definitely very interesting. Granted, RISC-V can’t really compete with ARM yet when it comes to mobile phone processors. While RISC-V chips are becoming more prominent, they’re mainly used for IoT devices, smartwatches, network and wearables, and not smartphones and tablets.

Now, whether ARM should be worried about this recent development is another story. While RISC-V doesn’t post a threat to ARM right now, the sheer speed of RISC-V’s development could change this. On top of that, it’s clear that some part of ARM already sees the open-source architecture as a threat, so we can only imagine what they’re thinking now.

We’re eager to see more from SiFive in the future, as well as who else decides to invest in them. As of right now, we’ve got Qualcomm, as well as fellow chip manufacturer Intel and Korean giant Samsung. We expect more companies to push for the open source alternative soon. We could be in for some extremely interesting times in the tech world.

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(Source)

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