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Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 brings on-device generative AI to more Android phones
Qualcomm has revealed its new chipset for mobile devices. Among other upgrades, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 supports on-device generative AI.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 will debut in mid-range phones this month
Qualcomm says its latest mobile chipset offers performance, AI and power efficiency improvements over the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. It will start to appear in mid-range phones this month.
NVIDIA reveals its next-gen chipset for autonomous vehicles
The Drive Thor SoC will first appear in 2025 models.
ARM introduces v9, its first new chip architecture in a decade
ARM's new v9 architecture promises security, AI and raw performance improvements.
Report: MediaTek takes over as world's largest smartphone chipset vendor
Move over, Qualcomm: According to a new report from research firm Counterpoint, MediaTek has overtaken the San Diego-based chipmaker to become the world’s biggest vendor of smartphone chipsets by market share. While Qualcomm (understandably) held onto its title as the biggest purveyor of 5G-friendly chipsets, Counterpoint’s data suggests that more than 100 million MediaTek-powered smartphones were sold in Q3 2020 — a roughly five percent increase compared to this time last year. Counterpoint’s report added some valuable context to MediaTek’s most recent earnings release, in which it reported revenues of NT$97,275 million — a boost of nearly 50 percent over the year-ago quarter.
Apple on designing the A14 Bionic for the iPad Air and beyond
The 2020 iPad Air is the first device announced by Apple to use the new A14 Bionic chipset. That silicon’s impact won't be limited to tablets, either -- it will almost certainly power the next generation of iPhones, which Apple will unveil on October 13th. In a conversation with Engadget, Apple VP of platform architecture Tim Millet and senior director of Mac and iPad Product Marketing Tom Boger shed some light on his team's approach to designing the A14, and what it means for the iPad Air and beyond.
Qualcomm is bringing 5G to its entry-level Snapdragon 4-series chipsets
Qualcomm plans to scale its 5G tech to entry-level 4-series chipsets.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 690 chipset brings 5G to cheaper phones
As far as 5G smartphone chipsets go, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 might be the best known, but there's one issue: It's as expensive as it is powerful. The company's new Snapdragon 690 chipset is a little different — instead of powering new flashy new flagships, it's going into much more reasonably priced phones.
Qualcomm reveals a reference headset to show off its XR2 chip
Qualcomm unveiled its XR2 platform at the end of last year, and chipheads were pretty impressed with how much power the company had packed into its newest slice of silicon. Its XR (extended reality) platform features 5G (a first, according to Qualcomm) and 8K 360-degree video playback, as well as a host of other features that double the CPU and GPU performance of its predecessors. Now, the company has revealed a reference design that demonstrates how the chipset will actually work in a headset.
Qualcomm's new mobile chipsets pack more features for the non-5G crowd
2020 is the year 5G will start making a difference for people, but 4G LTE networks aren't going anywhere. If anything, they'll remain the de facto means of connection for much of the world for years, so it's little surprise to see Qualcomm rolling out a trio of modern, 4G-focused smartphone processors.
Huawei's Kirin 990 is a mobile CPU with 5G built in
Let's play a game of technicalities. A few days ago, Samsung announced the Exynos 980, the company's first processor with an integrated 5G modem. In February, Qualcomm also sort of announced it had an integrated 5G mobile platform that supports millimeter wave (mmwave) technology. Today, at IFA 2019, Huawei is unveiling the Kirin 990 5G, which it is calling the "industry's first 5G SoC." The new chipset has, you guessed it, a radio onboard that makes it compatible with the networking standard that's being lit up worldwide, although Huawei's system doesn't support mmwave.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 215 CPU brings modern features to budget phones
It's high time modern features like dual cameras, longer aspect ratio displays and VoLTE calling came to sub-$100 phones and with Qualcomm's latest chipset, they just might real soon. The new Snapdragon 215 is meant to power phones that cost between $75 and $130, which means an upcoming generation of affordable handsets could be equipped for more-advanced features.
Federal judge rules Qualcomm violated antitrust rules
Roughly five months after the Federal Trade Commission and Qualcomm entered the courtroom over charges that Qualcomm engaged in anti-competitive behavior, a federal judge has sided with the FTC. In a decision shared Tuesday night, US District Judge Lucy Koh stated that Qualcomm violated antitrust laws, The Wall Street Journal reports. In her decision, Koh said the company charged unreasonably high royalties for its patents and eliminated cell phone chip competitors.
Intel is trying to sell its smartphone-modem business
Intel is looking to sell its smartphone-modem business, now that it's officially out of the race for 5G chipsets, The Wall Street Journal reports. In fact, Apple considered acquiring part of Intel's modem ventures in talks that began last summer, but that deal stopped short just as Apple and Qualcomm reached a settlement in a contentious patent-royalty legal dispute. By the end of that court battle, Apple and Qualcomm had signed a multi-year chipset-supply deal -- which meant Intel was out.
Intel's Lakefield stacks desktop and Atom cores on a ‘3D’ chip
Intel led its CES press conference today by announcing a lineup of no less than six new 9th-gen processors, but it's looking towards a future beyond these chips, too. The company shed some light on a platform that's still in development, codename Lakefield, which is expected to go into production in 2019. It's a hybrid design featuring a primary 10nm Sunny Cove core, complemented by four 10nm Atom cores. We assume it'll operate like many mobile chips do already, with different cores handling different tasks based on how resource-intensive they are, maximizing efficiency and power.
Fairphone's ethical smartphone gets Android 7
Nearly three years after ethical smartphone company Fairphone launched its Fairphone 2 handset, the Dutch social enterprise has announced it's now compatible with Android 7.1.2, aka Nougat. This might seem like old news, given that most smartphones are now munching on Android Pie, but the time and money spent upgrading the phone to even this level is indicative of the sustainability challenges still prevalent in the smartphone market.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 675 rides the multi-camera and gaming trend
It's only been almost a quarter since Qualcomm launched its Snapdragon 670 mid-range chipset, but today, the company is already bringing out a slightly beefier Snapdragon 675, which is clearly designed with three smartphone trends in mind: Gaming optimization, multiple cameras and AI-enhanced features (including face unlock). Announced at the 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong, the Snapdragon 675 features Qualcomm's brand new fourth-generation Kryo CPU -- the Kryo 460 with two high-power 2GHz cores and six low-power 1.7GHz cores -- which apparently gives a notable boost to its everyday performance and gaming performance. For instance, compared to the Snapdragon 670, the new Snapdragon 675 is claimed to launch games 30 percent faster and offers 35 percent faster web browsing.
Intel's new malware scanner will be easier on your CPU
Since the full impact of Spectre and Meltdown became clear earlier this year, Intel has been making a big effort to reassure its customers that security is its top priority. To that end, the company has announced Intel Threat Detection Technology (TDT), which aims to fortify against malicious attacks without affecting CPU performance.
Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 doubles down on cameras and AI
The next-generation mobile processor that you'll most likely find in many of next year's major flagships is here. At its second annual tech summit today, Qualcomm unveiled the Snapdragon 845, which is its latest "premium" mobile CPU. The chipset will retain the same 10nm footprint as its predecessor, but feature revamped architecture that brings about new features like 4K HDR video capture on smartphones and improved AI processing. That's in addition to the typical performance and power-consumption upgrades we see each year. Qualcomm said it's focusing on AI, immersion, security, connectivity and performance with the new chipset.
Qualcomm may face takeover bid from chip rival Broadcom
Qualcomm is already facing headaches between antitrust cases and its patent spat with Apple, but there's one more that might join the pile. The Financial Times reports that Broadcom, one of Qualcomm's main rivals in the wireless chipset space, is planning an unsolicited $100 billion takeover bid. The move would easily eclipse Qualcomm's previous record-setting bid to buy NXP (which has yet to be cleared), and Broadcom is supposedly willing to buy NXP in the process. A formal announcement could be made public before the weekend is out, if the scoop is accurate.
