Commissioner Rhonda Schmidtlein is recusing herself and her staff from participating in the International Trade Commission’s Tariff Act Section 337 investigation into Sonos allegations that Google smart speakers and other devices infringed Sonos multiroom audio patents, said her memorandum (login required) dated Wednesday and posted Thursday in docket 337-TA-1191. Schmidtlein, a Democrat, also recused herself from the ITC’s Feb. 5 vote to open the investigation (see 2002060070). The agency declined comment on her recusals.
Citing the coronavirus outbreak, TCL went online to launch its 2019 TV series Wednesday at its streamed spring product launch event in Hong Kong. The 13 TVs, divided into three categories, included a quantum dot QLED, P9 “Hollywood theater” TV and AI TV, said the company. TCL outlined a two-pronged strategy around technology and connectivity with other product categories, including appliances. During the Chinese Lunar New Year, when the coronavirus outbreak was at a peak in China, consumers spent 35% more time watching TCL TVs vs. the corresponding period last year, it said. The average daily click rate of the “Against the Epidemic" channel on TCL smart TVs registered over 50%, “indicating that an increasing number of users choose TV as the news source of the epidemic.”
ACT|The App Association said 5G means some “8.5 million jobs will be created over 2019-2025 compared to a counterfactual 4G-only world,” in a report released Tuesday: “These workers will earn more than $560 billion during that time, create $1.7 trillion in additional output, and add over $900 billion to U.S. GDP.”
The “growing concern over the coronavirus” forced Nvidia to cancel its March 22-26 GPU Technology Conference at the San Jose Convention Center and run an online event instead, blogged the company Monday. CEO Jensen Huang will still keynote, it said. “We will be working with our conference speakers to begin publishing their talks online beginning in the weeks ahead.” Registrants who paid for a conference pass will get a full refund, said Nvidia. It thanks conference participants for their “understanding during these unusual times,” it said.
The coronavirus outbreak negates the previously expected “recovery” in global smartphone shipments this year, reported IDC Thursday. It’s forecasting a 2.3% decline in 2020 to 1.3 billion: The outbreak will “stress the short-term scenario,” shipments declining 10.6% in 2020's first half. The market will return to growth in 2021, “driven by accelerated 5G efforts,” it said. “Our current forecasts are aligned with the probable scenario, which ascribes a multi-quarter recovery for manufacturing and logistics given a more gradual return of Chinese workers to factories." For the Chinese “epicenter” of the outbreak, “we forecast the domestic market to drop by nearly 40% year over year for first quarter and even with a potential March recovery it will still be difficult to reach last year's levels," said IDC.
Consumers have a lot of questions about 5G, Best Buy CEO Corie Barry told investors on a quarterly call Thursday. The retailer's product category focus will include foldable smartphones, connected fitness, next-generation gaming consoles and products that leverage 5G networks, she said. Sales of cellphones and other tech products fueled a 2.6% Q4 comparable sales increase vs. the year-ago quarter, offsetting soft sales in gaming and smart home, said management on the company’s call. Domestic online revenue grew 18.7% to $3.42 billion on higher average order values, increased traffic and higher conversion rates, said Chief Financial Officer Matt Bilunas. Online revenue increased to 25.4% of total domestic revenue, up from 21.9% last year, he said.
LG unveiled a 5G smartphone Wednesday, the V60 ThinQ 5G with Dual Screen, slated for availability “in coming weeks” on AT&T, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon. LG said that features include 6.8-inch, 2,460x1,080 “cinematic” displays based on a thinner OLED panel, a 64-megapixel main camera and a 13-megapixel super-wide-angle lens. The phone is LG’s first to support 8K video recording, and it includes HDR10 Plus video capture. Four mics allow for recording sounds from different directions. Based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, it includes Quick Charge 4 Plus and Bluetooth 5.1.
Without Mobile World Congress as a stage due to its cancellation last week (see 2002120056) on coronavirus concerns, Qualcomm announced from San Diego Tuesday OEMs and brands using its Snapdragon 865 platform for their 5G phone releases. 5G smartphones announced, or coming soon, based on the 865 mobile platform include Black Shark 3; FCNT arrows 5G; iQoo 3; Legion Gaming Phone; Nubia Red Magic 5G; Oppo Find X2; realme X50 Pro; Redmi K30 Pro; Rog Phone 3; Samsung Galaxy S20, S20 Plus, and S20 Ultra; Sharp Aquos R5G; Sony Xperia 1 II; vivo Apex 2020 Concept Phone; Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro; ZenFone 7; and ZTE Axon 10s Pro, it said.
A Lenbrook executive "could see 5G becoming more common in homes instead of Wi-Fi." That might require systems updates for customers, said Greg Stidsen, director-technology and product planning. Lenbrook's coming digital-to-analog converter/amplifier M33 supports 20 streaming services including high-res offerings from Amazon HD and Tidal, he noted in an interview and media Q&A last week. Production interruptions due to the coronavirus in its China-based supply chain could delay the product's arrival from March to perhaps May, Stidsen told us.
Universal Electronics, Inc. shares bounced 15.2% Friday to close at $51.80 after the company’s Thursday Q4 earnings report showing 68 percent growth in earnings per share. For full-year 2019, net sales grew to $751.7 million, the highest in company history, up 11% over 2018, said Chief Financial Officer Bryan Hackworth on an earnings call. A rebalancing of the remote control maker’s product line away from low-margin devices to advanced, differentiated high-margin solutions contributed to the company’s strongest year ever, said CEO Paul Arling. Q4 revenue of $174.7 million compared with $170.3 million in the 2018 quarter. Slower top-line growth reflects a “shift away from low margin business, a tradeoff we would gladly take and sets the company up for additional margin expansion,” Dougherty & Co. analyst Steven Frankel wrote investors Friday, issuing a “buy” rating on the stock. UEI’s three China factories have resumed operations after the extended Lunar New Year holiday, but with a reduced labor force, said Hackworth. There are no known cases of the virus among UEI workers, and the company expects to be fully online “within weeks.” UEI’s component suppliers are also coming back online, but with similar labor and logistics issues. Arling reviewed the company’s CES 2020 introductions including the fifth generation of its QuickSet Cloud platform that enables CE devices to discover and control devices and services in the home. He said Nevo Butler, UEI’s digital assistant, can be built into customers’ devices; they don’t have to buy the Nevo Butler hub from the company. UEI's hit from Section 301 tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on electronics imported from China narrowed in 2019 to $530,000 vs. $1.5 million in 2018. The company moved some production from China to its Monterrey, Mexico, facility last year to curb exposure to tariffs for goods sold in the U.S.