With Apple expected to launch three new iPhone models next year, a new report suggests the company could slash prices on the 4.7- and 5.5-inch models with legacy LCD technology, allowing them to appeal to a new segment of consumers.

China has become the first country to receive more than 1m patent applications in a single year - a record the World Intellectual Property Organisation said reflected "extraordinary" levels of innovation in the world's most populous nation.

Apple is cutting orders for assembly of iPhone for the March quarter, which raises some risk to sales outlook, Rosenblatt Securities's Jin Zhang said.

South Korean authorities have raided the offices of Samsung and the national pension fund as part of a corruption investigation linked to the president.

Apple's iPhone secured 103.6% of the smartphone industry's profits during the third quarter, BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long said in a research note on Thursday. That's the highest share of profits Apple has nabbed in recent memory and easily topped its approximately 70% share of profits in the second quarter. In the third quarter of 2015, Apple's iPhone profit share hovered above 90%.

Some insiders of the company are suggesting to reorganize the System LSI division in order to systematically grow the system semiconductor business. They are planning to separate the design and manufacturing sectors in the division and separate or spin off to fabless and foundry business divisions.

A 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck Iwaki City, in Japan's Fukushima prefecture, early Tuesday morning.

Analog chipmaker Macom Technology Solutions Holdings said on Monday it would buy fellow chipmaker Applied Micro Circuits for about $770 million to expand its data center connectivity business.

For the second time in a little more than a year, the secretive US agency that vets global deals on national-security grounds is objecting to a Chinese takeover of a European company.

Intel is denying that the company is stepping back from wearables, though has not directly commented on the layoff news.

Applied Materials, the biggest maker of machinery used to produce chips and displays, predicted a jump in sales as customers spend on equipment needed to modernize production. The stock fell on concern that orders may have peaked.

According to the Korea International Trade Association, South Korea recorded a trade surplus of US$29.8 billion in its trade with China for the first 10 months of this year. The amount fell 24% from a year ago whereas South Korea's total exports showed a negative growth of 12% during the same period. The trade surplus is estimated to reach US$35.7 billion at the end of this year. For reference, South Korea posted its all-time high trade surplus with respect to China, US$62.8 billion, in 2013.

Nikon plans to eliminate about 1,000 jobs in Japan, or 10% of its domestic workforce, as the company shifts resources away from once core businesses to medical devices and other growth areas.

RCS is a messaging standard set by GSMA that allows the sending of texts, group chat, and the sharing of large multimedia files. Unlike other messaging apps, it allows users to communicate on any network by telcos who have RCS infrastructure.

IBM researchers have finally unlocked the secret to creating microchips using carbon nanotubes. The innovation could lead us to some of the most powerful microchips ever created paving the way for injectable microchips and bendy computers.

Google is to open a new headquarters building in London which could see 3,000 new jobs created by 2020.

According to the latest rumor from its home country of South Korea, Samsung is thinking about making the Galaxy S8 come with a pressure-sensitive display. If you're wondering what that means, just think Apple's 3D Touch on iPhones - that's basically it. The technology detects how hard you press on the screen, and this can be used by software to enable different functionality depending on the pressure level applied. The rumor is reportedly coming from multiple industry sources, as well as a senior executive at Samsung's component division.

Qualcomm US$39 billion deal to buy NXP Semiconductors helped push US announced deal volume this month to US$248.9 billion, according to data provider Dealogic.

Europe's largest economy grew by 0.2% between July and September, half the 0.4% rate seen in the previous three months.

Siemens' planned acquisition of automation and industrial software provider Mentor Graphics is the German giant's latest play to stay competitive in the race to digitize heavy industry.

Advances in semiconductor technology will be on display at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). Samsung and TSMC will describe 7nm SRAMs, Mediatek will show a 10nm SoC and STMicroelectronics will unveil a neural network accelerator made in a fully depleted silicon-on-insulator process.

Dolby has dragged Vivo and Oppo to court for illegally selling phones with Dolby technology. The court has ordered the two companies to deposit Rs 32 per infringing device manufactured, imported and sold in escrow while royalty terms are discussed.

Siemens, Europe's biggest industrial group, is nearing a deal to buy Mentor Graphics, which makes software for designing semiconductors, for $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion in cash, according to people familiar with the matter.

Will fingerprint swiping and gestures be the next big thing? We don't know for sure. But Google took a chance with it on the Google Pixel smartphones. And now it seems like Samsung will be having this technology in their phones soon, probably on the Samsung Galaxy S8 if all things go right.

As the scale of Trump's success became clear, Asian stocks fell sharply, the dollar weakened and gold prices rallied as investors raced for cover amid anxiety about his economic policies.

An investment firm has delved deeply into Apple's most recent Securities and Exchange Commission 10-K filing, and sees purchase orders extending over one year in duration which suggests to them that Apple is in the middle of a big OLED buy from Samsung -the main supplier of the technology.

The influence-peddling scandal shadowing South Korean President Park Geun-hye is raising fresh questions about decades of cozy ties between the nation's big conglomerates and those in power.

Sony (China) has signed a binding definitive agreement to transfer to Shen Zhen O-Film Tech all equity interest in its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sony Electronics Huanan, which manufactures camera modules. The sales price is approximately US$95 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments.

Reporters from Reuters and the Nikkei Asian Review were denied access to a post-event group interview with Qualcomm executive chairman Paul Jacobs, to which only journalists from Taiwan's local press were invited.

South Korean prosecutors have raided the offices of Samsung Electronics as part of a probe into the political scandal around President Park Geun-hye.

The status of Samsung Electronics' light-emitting diode (LED) business has dramatically changed. The company's LED business was considered the first unit to sell until recently due to China's low-priced competitors. However, it recently succeeded in turning a profit and is strengthening its workforce.