Samsung plans to show off its next homegrown smartphone chipset on November 12, promising new Exynos details for a fresh high-end processor. Although Samsung's flagship Galaxy phones typically use Qualcomm's Snapdragon chipsets in North America, versions of the handsets sold in Europe and Asia typically use Samsung's own chips.
Apple Silicon MacBooks are only the first MacOS computers to roll with the company's own-designed processors. Tips from supply chain sources this week suggest Apple is hard at work on its first desktop computer processor as well. This could change the way MacOS computers work (and play). Will this change your plans to buy a new computer in the near future?
Today AMD introduced ZEN 3, 7nm processing power ready to roll in Q4 2020. ZEN 3 delivers higher max boost than ever before, significant IPC uplift, and a whole new core layout and new cache topology. AMD confirmed that ZEN 4 was on-track with a 5nm design as well - it would appear that, as one would expect, AMD will "not let up" going into the future.
Qualcomm has a new gaming chipset for smartphones, with the Snapdragon 732G aiming to deliver an uptick in graphics performance in more affordable handsets. Compared to the Snapdragon 730G, Qualcomm says that the Adreno 618 GPU in the new Snapdragon 732G should deliver a 15-percent improvement in graphics rendering.
Intel earnings released this afternoon showed a bit of a change in the company's outlook for chip manufacturing. Intel revealed that their "7nm-based CPU product timing is shifting approximately six months relative to prior expectations." That's a very skillfully stated way of saying Intel's 7nm-based CPU product will be about a half-year later than they'd planned.
Qualcomm has added a new flagship chipset to its smartphone processor line-up, with the Snapdragon 865 Plus 5G Mobile Platform promising even more performance than its Snapdragon 865 sibling. As the name - which Qualcomm is also stylizing as "Snapdragon 865+" - suggests, this isn't so much a full revamp of the existing SoC but a way for Qualcomm to massage more power out of it as it looks to new phones for the second half of the year.
Qualcomm's relentless plan to put 5G in as many smartphones as possible continues today, with the Snapdragon 690 5G making its debut and promising more affordable options with support for high-speed wireless. The first of the 6-series to offer 5G, the new Snapdragon is expected to show up in phones from LG, Motorola, TCL, and Nokia, among others.
Arm has revealed its next-generation smartphone chips, and the new Cortex-A78, Mali-G78, and Ethos-N78 promise a whole new turn of speed and efficiency for 2021's flagships. At the same time, Arm is also throwing open its new Cortex-X Custom (CXC) program, which will cook up custom chip designs for those companies which need something special from their silicon.
Qualcomm has launched a new midrange gaming-focused smartphone chipset, with the Snapdragon 768G promising 5G along with a speed boost and features cherry-picked from the flagship Snapdragon 865. It's the latest in the Snapdragon series to bear the "G" suffix, which Qualcomm has used to denote its gamer-friendly chips for players on a tighter budget.
Chip-developer Arm is hoping to snag a place at the heart of new tech startups by offering access to its chip technology for free, staving off costs until products are actually being produced. The Arm Flexible Access for Startups program offers the company's processor designs, tools, and technical support with no fees, assuming the startups fit some criteria.
This week a report showed an "unfixable" flaw in the Intel Converged Security and Management Engine (CSME) in Intel chips. This flaw exists in essentially every piece of Intel-released silicon from the last half-decade. A brief report was released by the folks at Positive Technologies today which aims to make the world aware of the flaw ahead of their full white paper report.
Qualcomm has revealed its newest 5G mixed reality headset reference design based on the Snapdragon XR2, a wirelessly-connected VR and AR shortcut for manufacturers to bring new models to market. While it may look a whole lot like the XR1 reference design, this new version adds in 5G connectivity and higher-resolution displays, among other improvements.