401: Chapter 401 The Isolated and Helpless San Sang

However, Shen Fei intended to leave this matter to Mr. Adebayo...

After all, he trusted Mr. Adebayo to get things done.

Following that, Shen Fei turned his attention back to honor of kings.

"Has the public beta date been set for PopCap?"

"It has! The full-platform public beta is on January 1st."

"By then, other phones will be able to play honor of kings as well." Shen Fei leaned back in his chair. "Oh, and keep a close eye on Pony Ma's moves.

I suspect he won't be able to hold back!"

"Boss, President Ma should..."

"They have two trump cards, QQ and wechat. Pony Ma won't be able to resist!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ocean.

At the Qualcomm headquarters, CEO Steve Mollenkopf was reprimanding the chip R&D director.

The R&D director's expression was like that of an elementary school student being called into the head teacher's office for a talk.

"120,000 benchmark score, temperature 43 degrees.

Our Fire Dragon 800 is lagging behind theirs by more than just a little."

Mollenkopf slammed the report in front of the head of chip R&D.

"Both are public ARM architectures, yet the gap is over double. Can you explain that to me?"

Faced with Mollenkopf's question, the R&D director actually became defensive.

"Mr. Steve, I need to correct you on one point.

Transsion uses a self-developed architecture. Although it looks like ARM on the surface, they have completely modified the A7 architecture. Even the latest A57 architecture can't compare to their modified version.

It's normal for the performance to be powerful!

And the public version we use is already outdated; poor performance and high power consumption are expected.

Even with the newly updated A57, we might not necessarily outperform Transsion.

Additionally, in terms of manufacturing processes, Transsion has 14nm, 22nm, and 28nm. Every one of their processes is a positive upgrade, and so far, not a single chip has shown any risk of leakage.

Whereas our 28nm process is already two full generations behind.

With outdated architecture and outdated processes, what do you expect me to catch up with?"

Watching the R&D director complain, Steve Mollenkopf had to admit that the reality was indeed a bit difficult—oh, they really were a bit behind.

But that wasn't an excuse for Qualcomm's constant failures; they were the world's number one chip company.

It was just architectural modification; if Transsion could do it, why couldn't they? After all, Huaxin Investment was their shareholder; theoretically, they were the same company.

So, inheriting a little bit...

However, when the words reached his lips, he switched to a gentler tone: "Can the benchmark score for next year's Fire Dragon 810 catch up?"

The R&D director was silent for a moment: "For the 810, we are preparing to try Transsion's octa-core architecture. However, this design plan is a bit risky with 28nm; it would be best to use 22nm or even 14nm..."

Steve Mollenkopf nodded: "I believe in your design capabilities."

However, the public architecture is still a bit behind. I hope you will also start modifying the architecture in sync."

The R&D director nodded silently, effectively accepting the task.

Meanwhile, at the Samsung headquarters, due to the release of transsion s5, strategic meetings were being held in multiple conference rooms.

Such as the discussion meeting for the panel department's diamond-like optimization scheme, the full-screen production discussion meeting, the large-sensor lens production meeting, and the Under-display Fingerprint meeting.

However, as the new president of the mobile business, Koh Dong-jin was most focused on the teardown report of the S5.

Apart from the departments with project plans, he was also most concerned about the fingerprint technology.

What he valued was what his subordinates should prioritize solving, so in this conference room, there was the director of the legal team, the head of the R&D department, and a supervisor from the screen business unit.

"This Under-display Fingerprint technology, I think it should be standard on upcoming flagship phones. Can we bypass it?"

The R&D lead shook his head.

"We've analyzed the teardown. Their solution, from the sensor structure to the algorithm architecture, is completely new and entirely different from traditional capacitive fingerprints.

We have searched the global patent database. Transsion has filed 137 core patents in the field of Under-display Fingerprint, with the earliest one filed in March 2010.

Our earliest Under-display Fingerprint patent was filed in December 2011, and it's not a core patent."

"In other words, if we want to implement it, we must use their patents for the fingerprint?"

Koh Dong-jin looked at them!

"Yes and no. We have two choices."

A wry smile appeared on the R&D lead's face.

"First, purchase the license directly from Transsion and pay royalties based on a percentage.

Second, develop a completely new solution from scratch to avoid all their patents.

However, based on the current technological path, avoiding Transsion's patent barrier is almost impossible.

They have patented all feasible optical fingerprint paths, covering everything from microlens arrays to CMOS sensors, and from collimation layer structures to green light layer designs."

Koh Dong-jin, who had been smoking and worrying, directly stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray. Because it was too violent, many sparks landed on the teardown report.

Fortunately, these sparks didn't cause any massive disaster, but it seemed to signify something.

Just as he was dazed, the legal director spoke from his professional perspective.

"Actually, there is one more way.

That is to sue!

Sue them everywhere—in South Korea, the United States, Europe, China, etc. Use patents to drag them out for a while, so that other customers won't dare to buy.

Even if we don't win in the end, the litigation period alone can drag things out for a while.

During this time, we can develop a better alternative solution."

Koh Dong-jin also felt this method was feasible. That said, he also gave a suggestion:

"See if Qualcomm and Apple have any relevant patents. If the three of us sue together, our chances of winning will be greater."

The legal director nodded, preparing to contact them in the afternoon.

But they overlooked a fact: Qualcomm and Apple both have a common shareholder called Huaxin Technology. Although they don't interfere, they can interfere.

...

That afternoon, the Samsung legal director dialed Qualcomm's number.

It was answered by Qualcomm's Vice President of Legal Affairs.

"We have a patent dispute with Transsion regarding Under-display Fingerprint and are preparing to sue.

Is Qualcomm interested in joining?"

The response from the other side was extremely fast, with almost no hesitation, giving a direct refusal:

"Sorry, we are not participating!"

"Why?" The Samsung legal director frowned. "Once Transsion's Under-display Fingerprint technology becomes popular, it will be a direct threat to your fingerprint market.

Aren't you considering your own interests?"

"It is precisely because we have relevant business that we cannot sue."

Qualcomm's Vice President of Legal Affairs didn't want to talk to them at all. After all, the last person to play dirty with Transsion was already the President of the United States.

Having said that, he hung up the phone directly...

The Samsung director still wanted to persuade him, but heard a buzzing sound in his ear.

So he had no choice but to dial Apple's number again, hoping to get some good news.