I came across a very interesting article/blog written over the weekend by Jean-Louis Gassée on Intel and mobile. It covers some similar ground to several of my blog posts on the topic but also has some new facts. And it has additional credibility since Jean-Louis was head of product development and worldwide marketing at Apple (pre-iPhone).… Read More
Tag: samsung
What Will Drive Smartphone Market Now?
Whenever a market matures, either it gets plagued by substitutes or it looks for complementary products or technologies which can fuel its maturation curve into further growth opportunities. While PCs and Notebooks got substituted by smartphones, there is no other device in foresight to substitute smartphones. The reason … Read More
More Apple A9 Ridiculousness!
File this one under funny things journalists are paid to say. Last week the Korea Times reported that Apple had “designated” Samsung as the primary supplier of the next Apple SoC. In response, the Chinese Commercial Times reported that TSMC is to supply the Apple A9 chip despite competition from Samsung. Since SemiWiki readers … Read More
Can Android1 Lead the Way for Google in New Smartphone Market?
I had been wanting to write about it since Google’sbig bang announcement of Android1 in India in Sep this year and their associated strategy to capture some of the large pockets of Smartphone market within a matured or declining cell phone market and maturing overall market of Smartphone. Since I wrote my last article hereon maturation… Read More
Look who is Leading the World Semiconductor Business
A couple of days ago I was reading a news article which said how long the world economy will be dependent on a single engine to drive it; obviously that single engine is USA. If we consider the overall economy, definitely USA is driving it, and semiconductor is a large part of it. The semiconductor is driving electronics and that is attracting… Read More
Xiaomi Already #3 in Smartphones Behind Samsung and Apple
The Q3 results are mostly in now and there are two big stories. The iPhone 6 of course, which started shipping just before the end of the quarter. The other story is China, now the #1 mobile market in the world. These have led to very different stories for different companies.
Samsung is basically flat with Q2, but that was a big drop. … Read More
In-Design DFM Signoff for 14nm FinFET Designs
While FinFET yield controversy is going on, I see a lot being done to improve that yield by various means. One prime trend today, it must be, it’s worthwhile, is to pull up various signoffs as early as possible during the design cycle. And DFM signoff is a must with respect to yield of fabrication. This reminds me about my patents filed… Read More
Intel: Spectacular PC, Some Progress in Mobile
Intel announced their quarterly results today. They beat consensus by a cent. Not surprisingly their business is driven heavily by the microprocessor businesses, what Intel calls PC and Datacenter. Revenue and earnings both set new records in both groups.
As Brian Krzanich, the CEO, said:In the Data Center, we saw double-digit… Read More
Samsung Profits Fall 60%
Samsung’s profits fell to $3.8B which is 60% down on where they were a year ago. They said this is primarily due to a shortfall in smartphone sales. Samsung’s problem is not that it competes with Apple, their phones seem close enough that the Galaxy line has been doing very well in places like the US. It’s problem… Read More
The Apple Samsung TSMC Intel 14nm Mashup!
One of the strengths of the fabless semiconductor ecosystem is competition since it keeps innovation high and prices low. One of the challenges of fostering competition is that you have to make good on a threat of using a competing product during a pricing negotiation. Well, in my opinion, for the next version of the iPhone, Apple… Read More