Here’s a summary of recent news that I think is noteworthy:

Companies and Products

Apple is adding an R&D center in Shenzhen to “work even more closely and collaboratively with our manufacturing partners.” This follows an earlier announcement of an R&D center in Beijing. Doug Young, China business blogger, assesses Apple’s announcement, i.e., the motivation and likely outcome.

At their 12th annual conference, COMSOL announced an update to their multiphysics software. The release includes a new rotordynamics module, an add-on to the structural mechanics module.

Ericsson released preliminary Q3 results, reporting total revenue down 14 percent from the prior year’s quarter. The networks segment dropped 19 percent year-over-year.

HUBER+SUHNER, Radiall and Rosenberger are developing a new RF connector system for small cells. Design goals: small size, low PIM, robustness and flexibility of different coupling mechanisms, such as torque/screw and push-pull.

Many of MACOM’s MMICs are now available as building blocks in X-Microwave’s online simulation and prototyping platform.

Bloomberg reported on the acquisition discussions between NXP and Qualcomm, saying both companies are within 10 percent on their respective estimates of NXP’s value.

Jeff Killian will be the new CFO of filter start-up Resonant on October 24. He comes from Cascade Microtech, where he was CFO, and TriQuint.

Samsung halted production of the Galaxy Note 7 after replacement phones apparently caught fire. Phil Crosby, one of the quality gurus of the 1980s, coined the phrase quality is free, which was the title of his book advocating a quality culture of zero defects. Samsung is painfully and very visibly relearning the lesson of the cost of nonconformance.

WIN Semiconductors reported September and Q3 revenue, reflecting near-term softness yet strong year-over-year growth.

Markets and Technology

Cellular — Nokia Bell Labs envisions deploying self-organizing, solar-powered small cells by drone. No wires are required for power or backhaul.

5G — Nokia and KT plan to deploy a so-called 5G network in Korea next year (i.e., 2017). The network will operate at 28 GHz. Channel modeling and simulation are underway.

NYU Wireless released the results of field trials on the feasibility of 73 GHz links in rural areas. They demonstrated 10 km links using 27 dBi antennas and PAs with less than 1 W output power.

IoT — Enabled by the ubiquity of LTE, semiconductor supplier Altair sees IoT applications expanding to such interesting products as smart contacts and swallowable sensors. Read their blog post.

Broadband — Do we need 10 Gbps to the home? Doug Dawson, author of the POTs and PANs blog, writes that the need for 10 Gbps is not as far fetched as it sounds. Part of his rationale comes from this vision of the future:

GaN — In a new report, research firm Yole says that the GaN power market was less than $10 million in 2015, yet Yole forecasts it to reach $280 million in 2021, an 86 percent compound annual growth rate.

Forbes published an interesting profile of Alex Lidow, CEO of EPC, who aims to replace Si with GaN, “at least in the world of power.”

Export Regulations — From Tom McVey, export attorney in Washington, a recent court case rules that if you have “reason to know” that an export may go to the wrong place, you're liable. Read the details.

Cyber Security — DARPA is exploring whether blockchains can expose hacking, a means to help ensure data integrity.

Your feedback about content is always welcome. If you have a topic that you’d like to see in the weekly report, please send it to me at glerude@mwjournal.com.