Image Source: Toyota Motor Corporation

Fellow Japanese automaker Honda Motor released its data on the same day, recording first-half new vehicle sales of 205,818 units in China, a 35% year-on-year decline. This marks five consecutive six-month periods of falling sales. Honda attributed the slump to the continuous shrinking market share of gasoline vehicles and its failure to roll out new models fast enough to keep pace with market shifts.

Samsung’s official social media channel officially announced today that the Samsung Galaxy global Unpacked event will kick off at 21:00 on July 22, with the brand teasing that “an all-new form factor is about to unfold.”

The lineup will feature three next-generation foldable devices: Galaxy Z Fold8, Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra and Galaxy Z Flip8.

The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra serves as the upgraded successor to the Galaxy Z Fold7, while the Galaxy Z Flip8 iterates on the Galaxy Z Flip7, both delivering routine generational upgrades.

Among them, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 is the most highly anticipated model and also the one that Samsung has been vigorously promoting. It is Samsung's first foldable phone with a large screen, and its size and aspect ratio are similar to those of the Huawei Pura X Max.
4. Broadcom and Apple have renewed their multi-year agreement, extending their technological cooperation until 2031.
Broadcom (Bohton) submitted a Form 8-K report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today, stating that the company has reached a new multi-year agreement with Apple, extending their long-standing technological cooperation until 2031.
Under this agreement, Broadcom will develop and supply a series of customized ASIC chips for multiple generations of Apple products.

5. PureCycle and Motherson have launched a prototype of recycled polypropylene bumpers, helping automakers meet the EU compliance requirements.
Motherson and PureCycle Technologies jointly developed a prototype of an A-grade surface automotive bumper. The product incorporates 30% pure polypropylene from the 5 series recycled material, marking a crucial step for automakers to meet the increasingly stringent regulations on recycled plastic content in automobiles in the European Union.

On July 2, 2026, two enterprises announced the technical details at the Startup Automotive Innovation Exhibition held in Stuttgart. This exhibition is a leading innovation exchange platform in the automotive industry. Both parties will present this cooperation outcome to global vehicle manufacturers and representatives from sustainable development-related industries at this event.
This prototype of the bumper was manufactured at Motherson's factory in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. The feasibility assessment and various performance tests were led by the company's global innovation team in Germany. Before the official exhibition, the product had completed climate aging tests and mechanical performance inspections.
6. Avantium has sold its core technology, and the new company focuses on producing glycolic acid and PLGA.
Avantium continues to deeply focus on its core business of renewable polymers, while Carbeau is fully committed to advancing the research and development of electrochemical carbon dioxide resource utilization technology and its industrialization implementation.
After transferring the Ray technology to UPM, Avantium has focused its business on implementation, with the core efforts directed towards the production of FDCA and PEF materials.
Therefore, the company separated its Volta carbon dioxide electrochemical conversion technology platform and established a new independent enterprise called Carbeau.
The name Carbeau combines the words "Carbon" (carbon) and "Beau" (beautiful).

7. The United States Seizes Opportunity to Acquire Lithium: Plans to Purchase 16,000 Tons of Lithium Carbonate Over 5 Years, with a Maximum Investment of Up to 300 Million US Dollars
The US Department of Defense is accelerating the establishment of a strategic reserve for critical minerals and has listed lithium as a priority procurement target.

According to Bloomberg, on July 2nd, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) of the US government released a tender document on its official website, seeking to purchase approximately 36 million pounds (about 1.6 million tons) of battery-grade lithium carbonate over the next five years. The total contract price could reach up to 300 million US dollars. The bid deadline is July 17th. The price of lithium carbonate has risen by more than a third so far this year, and the optimism in the market regarding the demand outlook, combined with the supply uncertainty in the main production areas, has driven this upward trend.
This tender was led by DLA, an agency responsible for managing the national defense reserve stockpile that provides support for the US military's needs. In terms of the tender terms, DLA required suppliers to submit fixed-price quotations for five-year contracts. The government's planned expenditure was set at a minimum of $1 million and a maximum of $300 million.
8. Ecopha files for international patent. Can integrated biorefining revolutionize the traditional bioplastics industry?
Companies manufacturing plastic products using bioplastics are embarking on a brand new technological development path. Australian company Ecopha Biotech Pty Ltd has submitted an international patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), covering a set of integrated biorefining processes that can simultaneously produce renewable oil-based chemicals and biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) bioplastics from shea butter oil.
This international patent submission comes at a time when Ecopha's integrated sustainable carbon platform has been officially launched. Ecopha stated that this move marks the company's transition from a specialized manufacturer of degradable PHA bioplastics to a technology platform company, with its core business being the conversion of sustainable carbon resources into renewable fuels, degradable materials, and green chemicals.

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