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Most Qualcomm processors will include a 5G modem next year
Qualcomm has announced that it will integrate its 5G technology into its midrange 6- and 7-series processors and not just its flagship 8-series tech. That means that by 2020, you'll be able to purchase a moderately priced device and still get 5G speeds that go well beyond 1 Gbps. It announced that the tech would be used in smartphones built by Oppo, Realme, Redmi, Vivo, Motorola, Nokia and LG. That's on top of Samsung, which is already expected to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 successor with built-in 5G.
Intel's 10th-gen CPUs for powerful ultraportables will reach six cores
The big selling point with Intel's first 10th-gen Core processors is the company's new 10nm architecture, the result of a long journey towards shrinking down its production process. It's a much more efficient design, which will lead to both power savings and better performance. But the next batch of 10th-gen chips, codenamed "Comet Lake," won't be taking advantage of that new technology. Instead, they're more powerful 14nm chips meant for heavier workloads in thin and light machines.
Intel unveils its first 10th-gen laptop CPUs
Intel gave us the broad strokes of its 10th-generation "Ice Lake" notebook CPUs at Computex a few months ago, but now the company is finally ready to give us more details. You can expect 11 new processors at first, ranging from a lowly dual-core i3 to a quad-core i7, all built on its new 10-nanometer "Sunny Cove" architecture. No surprises there. But this time around, the model numbers are going to get a bit more complicated, since the company is offering three different graphics options. If you thought it was tough telling Intel's chips apart before, get ready for even longer and more complex names, like the cream of the crop Core i7-1068G7.
AMD will share its graphics technology with Samsung
AMD stole the spotlight at Computex 2019, where it shared details on its third generation Ryzen CPUs and first Navi GPUs. But that's not the only big news AMD has in store. Today, the company announced a multi-year partnership with Samsung, in which AMD will license its Radeon graphics IP for use in Samsung smartphones and other mobile applications.
AMD says its chips are immune to crippling new vulnerabilities
As if Spectre and Meltdown weren't bad enough, researchers recently unveiled a quartet of new CPU flaws: Zombieload, RIDL & Fallout, and Store-to-Leak Forwarding, known as MDS vulnerabilities. They're serious enough that Intel-powered PC owners need to patch them immediately, which will unfortunately impact performance -- especially in multi-threading mode. However, AMD owners are in luck. On its website, Intel's rival said that its chips are immune to the problems thanks to built-in hardware protection checks.
Intel's 9th-gen laptop CPUs also reach up to 5GHz
When Intel debuted its ninth generation Core processors last fall, the star of the show was the i9-9900K, its first consumer CPU to reach 5GHz. That was a huge milestone, and it made that chip even more tempting to power-hungry gamers. But now, that processor has a laptop-focused sibling that can also hit 5GHz: the i9-9980HK, an unlocked eight-core chip for beefy, overclockable notebooks. And if that's too much power for you, Intel also has a slew of other ninth-gen chips coming. You can expect to see them in laptops soon, as ASUS, Lenovo and Razer also just announced their latest gaming notebooks to coincide with Intel's news.
Samsung is primed for power-saving 5-nanometer chips
Samsung only just started manufacturing 7-nanometer chips recently, but it's already taken another big step in the race to keep up with Moore's Law. The company announced that it has started sampling 5-nanometer chips, and will start building them for smartphones and other gadgets in the second quarter of 2020. The benefits won't be enormous, but they will be significant: You'll get about a 20 percent savings in power, or a 10 percent boost in speed.
Intel delays its 10-nanometer 'Cannon Lake' CPUs yet again
Intel has announced that, once again, mass production of its 10-nanometer "Cannon Lake" chips will be delayed. The company is already shipping the chips in low volumes (though no one knows to whom at this point), but said it "now expects 10-nanometer volume production to shift to 2019 [rather than the end of 2018]." It announced the move in its first quarter earnings report, which saw it collect a record $16.1 billion in revenue and $4.5 billion in profit, a 50 percent jump over last year.
Intel redesigned its 8th-gen processors to patch ‘Meltdown’ flaws
As promised, Intel has redesigned its upcoming 8th-gen Xeon and Core processors to further reduce the risks of attacks via the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities, CEO Brian Krzanich wrote. Those fixes are on top of the software updates already issued, which now patch "100 percent" of vulnerable Intel products launched in the past five years, he affirmed. The hardware changes will stop attacks by the Spectre variant 2 and Meltdown variant 3 weaknesses, but software fixes will still be required to patch Spectre variant 1 vulnerabilities.
Microsoft's new Windows 10 Spectre patch disables Intel's 'fix'
Intel recently admitted that its latest patch for "Spectre" was essentially worse than the bug it was supposed to fix, as it was causing computers to spontaneously reboot. Now, Microsoft has taken action by issuing an out-of-band patch for Windows 7, 8.1 and 10 that disables that fix for Spectre variant 2. If you're experiencing the problem you'll need to download the update, as it won't yet install automatically.
Intel's latest Core processors have serious security flaws
Intel has confirmed previous reports that its recent PC, internet of things and server chips are vulnerable to remote hacking. The problem is with the onboard "Management Engine," which has multiple holes that could let remote attackers run malicious software, get privileged access and take over computers. The vulnerability affects sixth, seventh and eighth generation Core chips (Skylake, Kaby Lake and Kaby Lake R), along with Pentium, Celeron, Atom and multiple Xeon chips.
Intel's 8th-gen desktop CPUs boost gaming and streaming speeds
Intel has launched its 8th-generation mainstream desktop chips, calling the flagship $359 Core i7-8700K its "best gaming desktop processor ever." The six-core, 12-thread 3.7GHz chip boosts Gears of War 4 frame rates up to 25 percent compared to 7th-gen desktop chips. It can also do 4K video editing up to 32 percent faster. The best gains are with multitasking, and Intel says gaming, streaming and recording with Player Unknown: Battlegrounds will be 45 percent faster than before.
Prototype '3D' chip from MIT could eliminate memory bottlenecks
Future CPUs will have to deal with growing amounts of data, but all too often they are slowed down by bandwidth issues between the processor and RAM. A prototype chip built by researchers at Stanford and MIT can solve the problem by sandwiching the memory, processor and even sensors all into one unit. While current chips are made of silicon, the prototype processor is made of graphene carbon nanotubes, with resistive RAM (RRAM) layered over it.
Intel’s Core i9 Extreme Edition CPU is an 18-core beast
Last year at Computex, Intel unveiled its first 10-core consumer CPU, the company's move into the world of a "megatasking." It was a pricey chip, launching at around $1,700, but it satisfied users who needed to juggle several intensive tasks at once. Now, Intel is upping the ante with a new family of processors for enthusiasts, the Core X-series and it's anchored by the company's first 18-core CPU, the i9-7980XE.
AMD's mid-range Ryzen 5 processors start rolling out
AMD wants to break back into desktop CPUs in a big way. After debuting its high-end Ryzen 7 chips last month, which go toe-to-toe with Intel's Core i7 lineup, the company is today releasing its mid-range Ryzen 5 CPUs. As you can imagine, they're a direct competitor to Intel's mainstream Core i5 processors. AMD's big selling point? The Ryzen 5 chips offer a lot more bang for your buck.
Intel: Our next chips will be a 'generation ahead' of Samsung
Intel says that when its long-delayed 10-nanometer Cannon Lake chips finally arrive, they'll be a "full generation ahead" of rivals Samsung and TMSC, thanks to "hyper scaling" that squeezes in twice as many transistors. That will yield CPUs with 25 percent more performance and 45 percent lower power use than its current Kaby Lake chips when they ship towards the end of 2017. Furthermore, Intel thinks the tech will keep Moore's Law going and give it a 30 percent cost advantage over competitors like AMD.
The Nintendo Switch could be twice as powerful while docked
Just how powerful is Nintendo's next game console? We won't know for sure until January, but if the latest report from Eurogamer pans out, the answer could be kind of complicated. According to specifications provided to developers, the Nintendo Switch performance changes depending on how you use it: in its docked, TV-mode or as a gaming portable.
Intel's budget Apollo Lake CPUs make a low-key debut
On top of its fast, 4K-hungry seventh generation Core CPUs, Intel has also unveiled its next batch of chips meant for low-end hardware -- though, for some reason, it did so very quietly. Anandtech has the details on the new "Apollo Lake" CPUs, which are built on a 14 nanometer process and will replace the last batch of Celeron and Pentium processors. While you'll typically find Intel's Core CPUs in mid-range and high-end devices, the Apollo Lake chips show up in budget notebooks, desktops and other devices that don't demand much computing performance.
Intel's seventh-generation Core CPUs will devour 4K video
4K video is finally gaining a foothold in home theaters this year, but for most PCs it's practically kryptonite. Even if you're lucky enough to have a powerful computer, dealing with such high-resolution video is a surefire way to spike your CPU usage and gobble up battery life. So it's little surprise that Intel made 4K performance the centerpiece of its long-awaited seventh generation Core processors, which were officially announced today. You can also look forward to a slew of other speed-enhancing features when the new chips hit laptops in September.
AMD crashes Intel's party: Powerful Zen CPUs are coming next year
A block away from Intel's Developer Forum in San Francisco, AMD brought together a select group of media and analysts to make one thing clear: Its long-awaited Zen processor actually exists, and it's on track to ship early next year for desktops. Surprisingly, the company is aiming directly at the high-end PC gaming market, whereas its last few chips appealed more to budget builders.
