Global smartphone shipments have trended positively in recent quarters though “the supply chain situation hasn't drastically improved,” reported IDC Monday. It forecast 7.4% shipment growth to 1.37 billion handsets in 2021, followed by 3.4% growth in 2022. Those were slight downgrades from IDC’s May 26 forecasts when it projected 7.7% growth in 2021 to 1.38 billion units and 3.8% growth in 2022.

The FCC's next steps on open radio access networks are unclear, three months after the agency wrapped up a comment cycle on a notice of inquiry, industry experts told us. The big question they have is what the FCC could propose in an NPRM that would help speed the deployment of ORAN. Experts said acting Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel and other commissioners see open networks as offering an alternative to an equipment market with a limited number of players, but a decision may have to wait for a permanent chair and full contingent of commissioners.

Strength in the custom electronics channel drove a 34% sales increase to $253 million in Q2 at Snap One, which rebranded from SnapAV in June, said management Thursday on the company’s first earnings call. The company completed an initial public offering in July that generated $270 million. Cost of sales grew 39% to $152.1 million year on year due to net sales growth and higher costs from suppliers and inbound freight costs, said the company. Net loss for the quarter ended June 25 was $1.1 million vs. a net loss of $3.2 million in the comparable year-ago period.

Dell is faring significantly better than HP in navigating industry supply chain woes and component shortages, as evidenced in senior executives’ comments on back-to-back earnings calls Thursday for their respective July fiscal quarters. Dell shipped a “record number” of PCs in its fiscal Q2 ended July 30, “despite industry supply shortages,” said co-Chief Operating Officer Jeff Clarke. But HP is rethinking its outsourcing model through original design manufacturers after PC unit growth was flat in its fiscal Q3 ended July 31, said CEO Enrique Lores.

The FCC unanimously approved an order and NPRM on FY2021 regulatory fees released Thursday, shelving a proposed increase to broadcaster fees (see 2108260050), adopting subcategories of non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite regulatory fees based on system complexity, and seeking comment in docket 21-190 on getting regulatory fees from tech companies and unlicensed device manufacturers in the future. A proceeding on extending the payer base of fees is likely to be a struggle, said Pillsbury broadcast attorney Scott Flick, who represented state broadcast associations in the reg fee proceeding. “Almost any result would be better than the current approach,” he said.

MediaTek is working with several “tier 2" TV vendors to bring ATSC 3.0 “solutions” to market, Alfred Chan, vice president of MediaTek’s TV business unit, said in a prerecorded workshop video shown to ATSC’s in-person NextGen Broadcast Conference Thursday. MediaTek is the world’s fourth-largest semiconductor company but the market leader in TV SoCs, with an estimated 65% share, he said.

Shorter attention spans, competition for entertainment time share and continually rising rights fees are ongoing challenges as the TV sports world straddles traditional pay-TV and over-the-top video models, said panelists on a Thursday FierceVideo webcast on TV monetization in the sports industry.

State and congressional lawmakers are trying to build momentum for passing right-to-repair legislation, after renewed focus from the FTC and the White House (see 2107210061) and 2107090010). Microsoft and TechNet told us industry-authorized repair services are the best, safest option, but advocates accused industry of profit-seeking self-interest.

There’s an "imbalance” in the FCC’s handling of annual regulatory fees, said FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr during an in-person Q&A at Thursday’s 2021 NextGen Broadcast Conference. Also at the conference, FCC and broadcast industry officials discussed use cases for 3.0 and emergency alerting. “We need to take a much stronger position when it comes to accountability” for “big tech” on benefiting from FCC activities, Carr said.

The FTC’s amended case against Facebook should survive a new motion to dismiss and go to trial due to solid evidence in the amended complaint demonstrating market power and the rising price of advertising, former FTC officials said in interviews.