Apple Reportedly Plans to Produce 10 Million Foldable iPhones This Year
July 2 – Apple has reportedly told its suppliers to gear up for making around 10 million foldable iPhones this year, a number that’s higher than the earlier 7–8 million forecast. On top of that, Apple is cooking up an ambitious iPhone rollout plan spanning from the second half of this year to the first half of 2027, with at least five new models in the pipeline. Even though the tech world is still wrestling with component shortages, Apple is doubling down on foldable phone output, which caught the market by surprise.
Anker Innovations Breaks Below IPO Price on Hong Kong Debut
July 2 – Dubbed the “power bank king,” Anker Innovations (00668.HK) officially debuted on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, completing its dual A+H listing. But the stock immediately opened below its IPO price of HK$99.32. By midday, Anker shares were trading at HK$94.05, down 5.31%, with a market cap of HK$54.823 billion.
The company raised net proceeds of about HK$4.523 billion, which will go toward global channel expansion, supply chain upgrades, hardware R&D, and brand building. Looking at the subscription details, the Hong Kong public offering was 27.57 times oversubscribed, with a 30% hit rate for one lot, showing strong retail enthusiasm. However, the international placement only achieved 10.24 times subscription, signaling a much more cautious stance from institutional investors. This hot-and-cold split in demand foreshadowed the weak performance on the first trading day.
Google Loses EU Antitrust Appeal Over €4.1 Billion Fine
According to NUPIAO, the EU’s highest court ruled on Thursday (July 2) to dismiss the appeal by Google and its parent Alphabet, upholding the fine for abusing its search dominance on Android. Back in 2018, the European Commission accused Google of using Android’s market dominance to force phone makers to pre-install Google Search and Chrome, stifling competition, and slapped it with a €4.3 billion fine. In 2022, the EU General Court largely upheld the decision but slightly reduced the fine to €4.125 billion. Google then appealed to the EU’s top court, but ultimately lost the case.
Musk Shares Optimus Production Line Photo, A-Share Robot Stocks Surge
NUPIAO has learned that on July 1 local time, Elon Musk posted a group photo with the caption that he visited the Optimus robot production line at the Fremont factory. This could mean Tesla’s (TSLA) humanoid robot Optimus is entering a critical mass-production phase. Some users pointed out that Tesla has reduced public demos of Optimus recently, possibly because production progress has already exceeded market expectations. Musk responded, “No, Optimus production will be extremely slow at first because everything is new. It’s not like building cars.” Boosted by the news, A-share robot concept stocks kept climbing on July 2, with multiple stocks hitting the 20% daily limit, including Zhaofeng Co., Ltd., Hongchang Technology, and others such as Leisai Intelligent, Xinjie Electric, Fangzheng Motor, Jack Technology, and Riyin Electronics also surging sharply.
Insta360 Dual-Lens Camera Sparks Buying Frenzy in Tokyo’s Shibuya
Recently, a video showing crowds lining up to buy a Chinese dual-lens camera in Shibuya, Tokyo, went viral. The video shows that the event started at 3 p.m. local time, but a large number of Japanese consumers had already formed queues early in the morning. The event was Insta360’s offline launch of the Luna Ultra in Japan, held on June 12–13. On July 2, Insta360 told NUPIAO that the two-day event attracted over a thousand Japanese consumers, and the pre-sale cameras sold out quickly. The camera is still out of stock in Japan.
Digital China Subsidiary Wins Tens of Billions in China Mobile Server Procurement
Digital China announced on July 2 that its holding subsidiary, Beijing Digital China KunTai Information Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as “Digital China KunTai”), has been selected as the supplier for China Mobile’s 2026–2027 centralized procurement of PC servers. The winning bid includes ARM-based balanced computing servers, ARM-based storage servers, ARM-based high-performance computing balanced servers, and ARM-based public cloud servers, with a total bid value of approximately RMB 10.94 billion (excluding tax), and the capped total contract amount of RMB 1.341 billion including tax.
SK Hynix to Spend 80 Trillion Won on New NAND Fab by 2029
South Korean chip giant SK Hynix announced on July 2 that it plans to invest 100 trillion won in a massive expansion in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, to alleviate chip shortages fueled by the AI boom. Specifically, SK Hynix will start construction of a new fab, “M17,” next year, with plans to invest 80 trillion won (about $51.46 billion) in NAND flash production by 2029. The company also plans to spend an additional 20 trillion won to build an advanced chip packaging facility in Cheongju by the end of 2027.
