The global smartphone applications processor (AP) market declined 5 percent in 2017 to $20.2 billion, Strategy Analytics reported. The top five companies in revenue were Qualcomm, Apple, MediaTek, Samsung LSI and HiSilicon, it said, with Qualcomm gaining share to finish the year at 42 percent revenue share. Apple had 22 percent and MediaTek 15 percent. The research firm estimated 64-bit smartphone AP shipments grew 15 percent, to 88 percent of total smartphone AP shipments, up from 71 percent in 2016. Analyst Sravan Kundojjala called 2017 a “very challenging year for low-cost and high volume players MediaTek and Spreadtrum,” which had sharp shipment declines due to slow road map progress and a steep decline in 3G AP demand. Qualcomm flagship and mid-range APs gained “strong acceptance” in 2017, said SA.

The Land Mobile Communications Council wants FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly to “help eliminate the sale of non-compliant radio devices” on eBay and Amazon, it said in a letter Friday. O’Rielly is pursuing a similar effort on unauthorized set-top boxes (see 1805250040), LMCC said. LMCC anticipates that the Enforcement Bureau will issue alerts proposed by LMCC about the sale of noncompliant devices, and wants O’Rielly to let Amazon and eBay know about the risks of non-compliant devices in the interim, said the letter.

The Free State Foundation urged the FCC to move forward on rules implementing Section 7 of the Communications Act, requiring prompt review of proposals for “innovative” new technologies and services. The FCC sought comment in February, over objections by Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Jessica Rosenworcel (see 1802220045). Initial comments were due Monday in docket 18-22. The IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee was more circumspect. “We agree with the goal of avoiding unnecessary delay in consideration of new technologies,” it commented. “In some cases an assessment of the impact of a new technology on existing technologies, including licensed incumbents, may be difficult to complete within one year. We urge the Commission to reiterate that the quality of such assessments will not be compromised.” The committee produces standards for wireless networking devices. FSF said the FCC should adopt “a rebuttable presumption that applications and permits determined by the Commission to offer a ‘new technology or service’ within the scope of Section 7 are in the public interest absent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.” It urged a “deemed granted” trigger if the FCC fails to act on the merits within one year.

Diodes announced a 10-watt stereo Class D audio amplifier for battery- or line-powered devices including LCD TVs, wireless speakers, portable stereos and game players. The PAM8106 operates from a range of 4.5 to 15 volts and can drive both 8-ohm and 4-ohm speakers, it said Wednesday. Non-clipping power limit technology automatically adjusts gain to eliminate clipping at the output signal due to high-level input signals, said the company.

Smartphone brands are expected to increasingly adopt under-display fingerprint sensors, which let phones have full-screen displays with an invisible fingerprint feature, said a Thursday IHS Markit report. Shipments of smartphones using under-display fingerprint sensors are forecast to reach at least 9 million units this year, jumping to more than 100 million units by 2019. Samsung, Vivo, Huawei and Xiaomi are some of the brands expected to incorporate the sensors. User preferences for a better viewing experience gave rise to larger, full-screen displays on smartphones, leading to fingerprint sensors placed outside the screen boundary, said the researcher. Rear-side fingerprint sensing was a design compromise to allow larger screen space, and now the under-display fingerprint solution allows the sensor to return to the front side of the smartphone, it said. Almost all fingerprint integrated circuit makers are interested in developing under-display fingerprint solutions due to higher profit margins, said the report. Among panel makers, Samsung Display -- with mature AMOLED panel manufacturing technology -- leads suppliers, followed by BOE, as the under-display fingerprint can be applied only to AMOLED for now, it said.

IEEE 802 raised concerns about a waiver Google is seeking for its Project Soli sensor technology. The tech uses the 57-64 GHz band and the company sought a waiver to operate at higher power levels consistent with what's allowed in Europe. The IEEE committee works on local area network and metropolitan area network standards. It isn't clear whether the proposal “incorporates sharing mechanisms for fair coexistence with other devices,” the committee said. It's also unclear whether at higher power levels, Soli devices would cause harmful interference to 802.11 devices, the committee said. Rules for the band were introduced in 1995 and were “designed with the understanding that multiple technologies that may be introduced in the future for operation in this band can share the spectrum,” the panel said: Google should have to produce more information. Comments were due Wednesday in docket 18-70 (see 1803120031). “Using a sensor that operates between 57 and 64 GHz, Project Soli devices capture motion in a three-dimensional space using a radar beam,” Google said, and such data can "enable touchless control of device functions or features.”

ON Semiconductor introduced a CMOS image sensor with its Near Infra-Red+ technology, combining HDR with enhanced low light performance for use in security cameras. The AR0431, with low-power modes and a frame rate up to 120 frames per second, is designed for slow-motion video capture for use in battery-powered security cameras, action cameras, in-car digital video recorders and surveillance cameras, said the company. Engineering samples will be available this month with mass production scheduled for July.

The FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau is asking for comment as it prepares a biennial report to Congress on compliance with the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. The CVAA report is due Oct. 8 and the bureau asked for comments through April 26 in docket 10-213. “Public comment will assist the Commission in assessing the level of compliance with statutory mandates for telecommunications and advanced communications services (ACS) and equipment used with these services -- as well as Internet browsers built into mobile phones -- to be accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, the extent to which accessibility barriers still exist with respect to new communications technologies, and the effect of CVAA recordkeeping and enforcement requirements on the development and deployment of new communications technologies,” the bureau said. This is the fourth such report. The 2016 one found “solutions were needed to make equipment used with interconnected VoIP services accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired,” the new public notice said. The bureau also found “little, if any, progress had been made since the 2014 … Report to make non-smartphones used for telecommunications services or ACS accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired.” But the bureau determined at the time accessibility of smartphones “and other devices had improved for people with a wide range of disabilities.”

Qualcomm announced a Snapdragon 5G module for smartphone OEMs looking to commercialize 5G in smartphones and major verticals quickly. It lets manufacturers combine a “few simple modules” for designs rather than using "more than a thousand components," said Qualcomm at Mobile World Congress Tuesday. Modules cover digital, RF, connectivity and front-end functionality, and key components include an application processor, baseband modem, memory, power management integrated circuit RF front-end, antennas and passive components. Sampling is due in 2019. Qualcomm unveiled its next Snapdragon mobile platform, the 700 series, with an artificial intelligence engine promising twice the performance of the 660 series. The 700 platform -- with a hexagon vector processor, Adreno visual processing subsystem, and Kryo CPU -- uses heterogeneous computing to capture and share videos, learn voice and speech and extend power efficiency by up to 30 percent, said the company. Additional features: Quick Charge 4+ technology, said to be capable of a 50 percent charge in 15 minutes, and Bluetooth 5. Commercial samples are expected in first half 2018.

Leica and pmdtechnologies, a supplier of time-of-flight depth-sensing technology, announced a strategic alliance to jointly develop and market 3D depth-sensing camera systems for mobile devices. The joint effort addresses the increasing demand in the mobile device segment for highly efficient and compact lenses, they said Monday. The system is expected to achieve superior data quality despite miniaturization in pixel, imager and module size, said the companies. First samples of the new lens are due in May.