Revenue in the global smart appliances market is projected to expand to $76.4 billion by 2026, from $33.8 billion this year, reported MarketsandMarkets Friday. Rising energy prices, changing consumer lifestyles and increasing use of wireless connectivity will be top growth drivers, it said: COVID-19 cut the market's growth rate in 2020 and 2021.
Nearly 90% of movie theater locations are open globally for the first time since COVID-19, said Comscore Wednesday: Openings coincide with the release of blockbusters including Universal's F9, which has generated over $500 million. Paramount's A Quiet Place Part II, Disney's Cruella, Warner Bros.' The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, Sony's Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway and Lionsgate's The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard collectively generated over $1.3 billion at the box office, it said.
Global chip industry sales were $43.6 billion in May, up 26.2% year on year and 4.1% up from April, reported the Semiconductor Industry Association Tuesday. Demand remained high across major regional markets, said SIA President John Neuffer. “The industry shipped more units on a three-month moving basis in May than during any previous month in the market’s history.” Neuffer said production has ramped up significantly to address rising demand.
Energy technology startup Ion Energy raised $3.6 million in pre-series A funding from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Climate Capital, YourNest Venture Capital, Riso Capital, Venture Catalysts and other angel investors, Ion said Thursday. It’s the first investment in India for Amazon’s $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund. Ion’s primary technology is a smart battery management system (BMS) that uses proprietary algorithms to improve battery life and performance, blogged Amazon Thursday. The BMS is typically sold as a product or a technology license to OEMs that are developing lithium-ion batteries or electric vehicles, it said. The funds will be used to grow employment to 125 from 70, invest in product development and expand the software business in North America and Europe, it said.
Thursday's launch of 36 OneWeb satellites, the company's eighth launch, will let it start providing broadband connectivity across the Northern Hemisphere north of the 50th parallel, it said in a series of tweets. The launch brought the size of its constellation to 254, it said. It said it received a signal from all 36.
Qualcomm launched a successor to the flagship Snapdragon 888 mobile platform at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona Monday, and bolstered support for 5G millimeter-wave networks with a contingent of ecosystem supporters. Qualcomm’s next-generation 5G mobile platform for Android devices delivers the entertainment “users expect from flagship devices,” said Lekha Motiwala, director-product management, on an embargoed call Thursday announcing the launch of the Snapdragon 888 Plus. The follow-on to the 888 platform launched in December has step-up prime core performance to 3 GHz for faster app response time, and a 32 tera-operations-per-second AI engine that enables multiple neural networks to operate simultaneously, said Motiwala. Improved AI performance makes video calls and entertainment experiences more intelligent and immersive, she said. On the imaging side, the 888 Plus supports 8K video capture at 30 frames per second and 4K video with 64-megapixel stills. HDR support includes HDR10+, HDR10, hybrid log gamma and Dolby Vision; it can capture 4K HDR video at 120 frames per second and 4K HDR video with bokeh. Audio includes Bluetooth 5.2 with 24-bit/96kHz music streaming and low latency of under 90 milliseconds. “The global deployment of 5G mmWave is now inevitable,” said Qualcomm CEO-elect Cristiano Amon. Support from additional companies in the ecosystem “demonstrates the global scale and maturity of 5G mmWave,” he said. The Barcelona show, the first MWC since February 2019, is a hybrid event with 35,000 in-person attendees expected, said GSMA Monday. The number of 5G networks since last MWC has grown from three in South Korea to 165 in 65 countries, said the GSMA's global mobile economy update report. This year, 5G networks were launched in Indonesia, Kenya and Tajikistan. By 2025, 5G will be more than a fifth of total mobile connections, and more than 40% of people around the world will live in a 5G network coverage area, it said. GSMA thinks 4G still has “significant headroom” for growth, said the report. 4G is expected to peak at 60% penetration by 2023 when 5G gains additional traction in new markets. 4G has peaked, and in some cases begun to decline, in leading 5G markets such as China, South Korea and the U.S., it said.
Nearly 4 billion people, half the world’s population, use a smartphone daily, 27 years after IBM’s Simon was launched in the U.S., said Strategy Analytics Thursday. Analyst Neil Mawston called the smartphone “the most successful computer.” Apple’s iPhone “popularized the smartphone in 2007, while Google Android democratized the smartphone with an affordable software platform from 2008,” said analyst Linda Sui. SA predicts 5 billion people will use a smartphone by 2030.
TCL announced smart display glasses at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, positioning them as ideal for movie watching, gaming or providing “a private space at home, work, or on your commute.” The Nxtwear G glasses use dual Sony 1080p full HD Micro OLED panels to emulate a 140-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, said TCL Thursday. The Nxtwear Gs are compatible with 100 smartphones, convertible two-in-one tablets and laptops, and will be available in Australia beginning next month, with market availability to follow in other regions.
Qualcomm captured 70% unit share of the global 5G cellular baseband market in Q1, reported Strategy Analytics Wednesday: That market grew 27% from last year to $7.4 billion in Q1, with Qualcomm capturing 53% share to MediaTek’s 25% and Samsung’s 10%. Design wins for the iPhone 12 and across Android 5G smartphone OEMs drove Qualcomm’s baseband share dominance, said SA.
About half of all “knowledge workers” globally will work remotely at year's end, compared with 27% in 2019, reported Gartner Tuesday. The hybrid workforce will continue to increase demand for PCs and tablets, shipments of which are expected to exceed 500 million units this year for the first time, it said. Gartner estimates remote workers will be 32% of employees worldwide by Dec. 31, up from 17% in 2019. It defines knowledge workers as those in “knowledge-intensive” occupations, such as writers, accountants and engineers. Remote workers by Gartner's definition spend at least one day a week working from home. The U.S. will lead other regions with 53% of its workforce working remotely in 2022, followed by the U.K. (52%), Germany (37%), France (33%), India (30%) and China (28%).