Samsung and Sony pulled their floor exhibits from the BrandSource and ProSource annual event that's ongoing in Las Vegas. They cited citing company travel restrictions, said Andy Orozco, ProSource vice president-business development. The group didn't have an estimated number of how many people canceled. Other events including in Washington are being postponed due to the coronavirus (see 2003090062). Stock market volatility from the virus “hasn’t up to this point” affected ProSource members’ businesses, CEO Dave Workman told a news conference Sunday. Purell hand-sanitizer dispensers were everywhere throughout the Venetian conference area. We saw Venetian workers wiping down surfaces and escalator handrails with anti-bacterial cloths. Preregistration was given as 2,900 for the summit.

A dozen models in four series spanning sizes 65-85 inches make up Samsung’s QLED 8K TV line for 2020, announced the vendor. All the 8K models will have ATSC 3.0 functionality "ready out of the box," emailed a spokesperson Friday. Samsung said at CES it will offer 3.0 across its 2020 8K QLED lineup but wasn't specific on the number of models or the screen sizes. Pricing wasn't available for most of the 2020 models, including for three sets in the flagship Q950T 8K series. Samsung is pricing one 65-inch 8K model at $3,499 for April 10 availability. It’s one of three models in the Q800T series at the bottom tier of the 2020 8K offerings.

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.