Processor

Smartphones and tablets may have cannibalized a large chunk of the PC market, but there is still one segment where the venerable desktop remains unchallenged: gaming and content creation. Unsurprisingly, Intel is working overtime to cater to these user groups, as can be clearly seen in its launched of its new generation of desktop processors. Billed as being designed for what's coming next, the new 8th gen Core i7, i5, and down to the i3 are being marketed with higher frame rates, more immersive experiences, and more control over performance.

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AMD is really hitting Intel hard, even in places where Intel might not have a firm grasp on. So far, however, AMD’s new Ryzen line of processors remains absent from one crucial segment: mobile computers, a.k.a. laptops or notebooks. That could very well change really soon as AMD readies its Ryzen chips design for lower power consumption. Starting with the Ryzen 5 2500U which has been spotted at benchmarks standing shoulder to shoulder with Intel’s 7th gen notebook processors.

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While a lot of attention is being lavished on the iPhone 8 or iPhone X’s user-facing features, like the bezel-less screen and Face ID authentication, hardcore tech lovers might also have something to gush over in the upcoming big reveal as well. According to sources, the tenth anniversary iPhone will be powered by what Apple will be advertising as the Apple A11 Fusion, its first chip to sport two high performance cores and four energy efficient cores. In other words, its first hexa-core system on chip.

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This should probably put to rest most of the confusion, though, of course, the only real proof will be when the Google Pixel 2 finally comes out. According to “reliable sources”, there is no and never will be a Snapdragon 836. That means that the very late 2017 flagships, which include the Google Pixel 2 and the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, won’t be running on a non-existent processor and will most likely go with the current Snapdragon 835 instead.

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At the IFA 2017 event in Berlin this week, phone maker Huawei pulled the wraps off its latest flagship chipset, the Kirin 970. The new processor looks to greatly improve the company's future smartphones by allowing native AI processing to be combined with cloud-based AI. Huawei says that on-device AI powered by the Kirin 970 helps address issues like latency and privacy, while also allowing improved image and voice recognition.

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We take a short breather before the IFA 2017 storm starts with Intel’s almost unexpected announcement of new Xeon processors. Targeting “expert” workstations, the new Xeon Scalable promises to deliver performance to meet the number-crunching requirements of the entertainment industry, particularly in, you guessed it, virtual reality. But Intel also announced a Xeon W processor for “mainstream” workstations, which is now the crowd favorite speculation to power the late 2017 iMac Pro.

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The Intel Core X-Series processors were been revealed by Intel this morning in one big bunch. Included is the entire unlocked Intel Core X-Series i-family. This includes i5, i7, and i9, the most impressive of which is the Extreme Edition Intel Core i9-7980XE. These processors were announced first this week at Computex 2017 as "the most powerful, scalable and accessible high-end desktop platform offered by Intel."

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Intel CPU fans eager to upgrade to the chip maker's upcoming Coffee Lake silicon may find themselves with a bigger than expected hit on their wallet. The new processors are set to succeed Intel's Kaby Lake models, using 14nm Tri-Gate processes and offering up to 30-percent performance gains over current seventh-generation 15W mobile CPUs. However, in doing so it's looking like they'll break backward compatibility.

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AMD has made its comeback in the CPU market with the launch of its Zen-based Ryzen processors to take on Intel’s Core line with more affordable digits. But the consumer PC war isn’t won with CPUs alone. Graphics cards play an equal role, sometimes even greater for both gamers as well as multimedia workers. That is why AMD is now launching a new “Vega” GPU architecture, this time to strike at NVIDA’s long-held monopoly in the discrete graphics card market.

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Ever since it came out with its new Zen core architecture late last year, AMD has been aggressively pushing its Ryzen line of processors to almost every computing market its eternal rival Intel has a foothold. It even suspiciously named some of its processors, particularly those for desktops, to match Intel’s Core i scheme. So after the high-end Ryzen 7 and the Ryzen 5, it’s really no surprise that AMD has finally come out with the Ryzen 3 to target even more budget-constrained PC gamers.

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It looks like Samsung is about to be inside your favorite smartphone once again. While the company's chip-making devision lost their contract deal with Apple several years ago, they plan on picking up the pace once again the very near future. They began their series of big moves toward the future they envision earlier this year by splitting off their chip-making business arm within their semiconductor division as "Samsung Foundry" - and it would appear that their next goal is the iPhone.

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AMD is clearly out for blood. Intel's blood, of course. In the almost distant past, AMD nearly overthrew Intel from its throne with its aggressive pricing and marketing. Now it seems to have gotten that aggression back and is hitting every market where Intel has a foothold, using its new Zen platform as its weapon. From high-end gaming rigs to entry-level desktops to datacenters, AMD is now taking the battle to the enterprise, where it is taking on the Intel vPro with its similarly named Ryzen PRO.

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