Calendar 2020 estimates for “end-unit” sales of smartphones are “meaningfully lower” than pre-COVID-19, “even though estimates for enterprise laptops and Chromebooks have increased,” said Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. “Reduced level of global economic activity has also curtailed near-term demand.” The pandemic's impact on Micron’s production early in Q3, which ended May 28, was limited to two “back-end assembly and test sites” in Malaysia, he told investors Monday. See here for Q3 details.

New Jersey legislators supported extending an emergency telehealth law and executive order until 90 days after the end of the COVID-19 crisis. The Assembly voted 73-0 Monday to send S-2467 to Gov. Phil Murphy (D), whose office declined comment Tuesday. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed an executive order Monday trimming a previous telehealth EO because the legislature had codified some parts of it.

The Mississippi legislature cleared $150 million for rural broadband, responding to COVID-19, with the Senate voting 52-0 Monday to concur with House amendments to SB-3046. The House voted 109-0 Sunday for the bill supported by Mississippi Public Service Commissioner and NARUC President Brandon Presley (see 2006260059). “In the past three days, the state flag has been changed and $150,000,000 in broadband funding has been approved,” the Democratic commissioner tweeted. “Not a bad few days for Mississippi’s future.” Gov. Tate Reeves (R) still must sign the bill; he didn’t comment Tuesday.

Q1 smartphone panel revenue grew 3% globally, topping $9 billion, reported Strategy Analytics Monday. Samsung Display's revenue share was 51.8% in smartphone panels, followed by BOE (14.3%) and Tianma (8.2%), SA said. "We expect the display panel market to continue to observe a slowdown in smartphone panel demand due to disruptions in supply chains of customers along with a strong decline in demand for end-market products owing to COVID-19 pandemic.”

Despite concerns networks might buckle under the strain of a sustained spike in internet traffic during the COVID-19 pandemic, Comcast’s network averaged “above-advertised speeds," blogged Chief Network Officer Jan Hofmeyr Monday. As part of a $12 billion investment, Comcast has doubled capacity every 2.5 years, said the executive. In March and April, Comcast added more than 35 terabits per second peak capacity to regional network facilities and 1,700 100-gigabit links to the core network vs. 500 in the year-ago period. It invested in pushing fiber to customers’ homes, Hofmeyr said.

Sheltering-at-home spurred a record number of consumers to experiment with over-the-top video, reported Parks Associates Monday. The churn rate for OTT services grew to 41% in Q1 from 35% in Q1 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than two in five U.S. broadband households trialed an OTT service, and 8% of U.S. broadband households surveyed subscribed to at least one new OTT service. Stay-at-home orders helped newcomers Disney+ and Apple TV+ beef up their subscriber rosters in Q1, with 49% of new OTT subscribers joining Disney and 27% picking up Apple TV+, Parks said. A key question is whether subscribers will keep these service, said analyst Steve Nason. “A significant challenge, especially for services relying on original programming, is delivering new content since production on many series has halted.”

The COVID-19 pandemic is harming Sony “production, development, sale and distribution” of products and services in all segments, said the company’s annual report posted Monday at the SEC, saying Sony expects “this negative impact” to continue well into the future, but it doesn’t risk delaying the holiday launch of the PlayStation 5. Sony-owned factories in China and Thailand making digital cameras and smartphones “are currently operating as usual,” it said. Sony’s retail sales are down “significantly due to the closure of retail stores globally,” said the report. Work-from-home orders and the ban on international flights due to the coronavirus “presented some challenges” in bringing the PS5 to market in time for the holiday, said the report. Sony encountered delays in the PS5 “testing process and the qualification of production lines,” it said. Development is “progressing” well, and “no major problems have arisen in the game software development pipeline,” it said.

Automakers' enhanced connected car “functionalities” can help stem COVID-19's spread, reported Gartner Monday: Automated door locks and engine start/stop actions using a smartphone app “can reduce surface contact inside the vehicle.”

Auction 903 and rural broadband experiment funding recipients have a limited waiver until the end of 2021 from letter of credit rules, the Wireline Bureau said Friday. Skybeam and the Connect America Fund Phase II Coalition petitioned for waivers to conform with recent Rural Digital Opportunity Fund rules (see 2003110034). Staff said waiver is justified given how the pandemic has increased demand for broadband while impeding business.

World Wrestling Entertainment's annual shareholder meeting, postponed from April due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2004100003), will be held virtually on July 16 because of health concerns, it said Friday.