Processors News, Reviews and Phones

Samsung wins contract for the new Snapdragon X60’s production

World’s famous chip manufacturer, Qualcomm, has just announced the Snapdragon X60, a next-generation 5G modem that could have faster network speeds. Now, Reuters has brought to our attention an important contract made between Samsung and Qualcomm concerning the production of the new X60 modem chips. This contract is useful for Samsung for gaining chip manufacturing market share against Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (the TSMC).

Future OnePlus and Oppo phones could feature custom chipsets

Future OnePlus, Oppo, and Realme smartphones could replace Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets with in-house alternatives. The move could take several years, though, as Oppo says it's a long-term investment.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Plus possibly coming soon

We have received information via Android Authority that yesterday, the tipster Digital chat station posted on the Chinese blogging website Weibo that there will most likely be a Snapdragon 865 Plus soon. According to a translation of the post, it is scheduled for Q3 this year. The tech specifications of the new chip should be available in about two months.

Apple's chip supplier sees strong demand for 5G phones

The world's largest independent foundry, TSMC, announced last week that its Board of Directors have approved a $6.74 billion budget that will lead to increased chip production.

Watch Galaxy S20's Snapdragon 865 processor solve Rubic's cube faster than anybody

Check out how Snapdragon 865 deals with 10GB file in no time and solves a Rubic's cube quicker than the world champion.

MediaTek’s 5G handset sales projection for 2020 affected by the coronavirus

Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, demand from the Chinese market for chips is expected to decline. According to Digitimes, MediaTek’s chip demand appears to be affected as well, as the Chinese market is generally absorbing almost 60% of the company’s global chip sales.

Is the fix in? Trump administration's DOJ seeks to reverse ruling against Qualcomm

This Thursday, two U.S. regulatory agencies involved in antitrust enforcement will be taking each other on as Qualcomm appeals a district court ruling that said the company's actions were anticompetitive.

MediaTek's new processors: gaming power in the entry level segment

MediaTek's new processor bring gaming to the affordable segment

Samsung says solid phone sales kept the fourth quarter from being a total disaster

Samsung reported its fourth quarter and full year 2019 results and while the mobile division had growthg during the fourth quarter, operating profits were lower for the year.

Apple signs multiple year supply agreements with a major chipmaker

Apple signed two multi-year contracts with chipmaker Broadcom for components that will be used on new Apple products over the next three and a half years. The actual components included in the deal are unknown.

The iPhone 11 sells like Popeyes chicken sandwich, and that may be bad news for Apple

How would you like them average selling prices going down, Apple? Turning the corner in China may not be the good news that Apple's investors participate when the cheapest iPhone is the most sought after one.

Battle between two companies will uphold the "law" that will lead to more powerful smartphones

The battle between TSMC and Samsung continues as both companies plan on spending oodles of money and pulling out the stops to get to the 3nm process node for their integrated circuits.

Cheap phones are about to get a lot better with Qualcomm's new chips

Qualcomm has announced a trio of new chips meant for devices and markets that are still focused on 4G. With new features and improvements across the lineup, the next generation of affordable phones should be quite good.

Former iPhone, iPad chip designer is being sued by Apple

Apple is suing the man who helped designed the chipsets from the A7 to the A12x that were used to power the iPhone 5s to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2018). Gerald Williams III, who left the company last year, is being sued for breach of contract.

Key Apple supplier is doing brisk business

The world's largest independent foundry, TSMC, reported a strong increase in fourth quarter net profit and expects a 45% jump in Q1 revenue as the migration to 5G phones hikes demand for smartphones.

There are 15 billion reasons why this year's Apple iPhones could be incredibly powerful

Apple will include a "refreshed" version of Face ID in the 2020 iPhone models according to the semiconductor analysts from Barclays. In addition, the A14 Bionic could make the upcoming iPhones as powerful as a MacBook Pro.

Top analyst says Qualcomm has started a price war that will impact prices of 5G phones

A price war has started in the 5G chip industry as Qualcomm has dropped the price of the 5G modem integrated Snapdragon 765 chipset. This has affected MediaTek the most since it has less of a margin to work with.

Proposed U.S. rule change forces Huawei to make a shift in chip production

A contemplated change being made by the U.S. Commerce Department that would expand foreign made components under U.S. export control, has forced Huawei to take orders away from TSMC and place them with China's SMIC.

featured First Galaxy S20 vs Galaxy S10 benchmark score pits Snapdragon 865 vs 855

Check out our first Galaxy S20+ vs Galaxy S10 benchmark score comparison, pitting Snapdragon 865 vs 855 and the specs to match.

Find out how Samsung and Huawei shook up the mobile chip market

Huawei and Samsung have started using more of their own chipsets inside their phones negatively impacting Qualcomm. Still, Qualcomm remains the market share leader providing processors for the industry.

Trump administration convinced the Dutch not to ship advanced chip-making equipment to China

The U.S. government successfully intervened to prevent a Chinese chip maker from receiving advanced equipment that would allow it to produce powerful and energy efficient chips.

New chipset announced today will make 5G easier for consumers to afford

Chip designer MediaTek introduced the Dimensity 800 mid-range chipset with an integrated 5G modem. While the chip will deliver 5G to lower priced phones, it only supports sub-6GHz 5G networks.

Nokia's next flagship is delayed for a very good reason

A report says that the Nokia 9.2, the sequel to last year's Nokia 9 PureView, will be delayed until next fall so that Nokia can equip it with the Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform.

Apple signs a new deal with its former graphics chip supplier

Apple has signed a licensing agreement with graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies whose Power VR chips were used on the iPhone until 2017's iPhone X.

AnTuTu names rarely used SoC as the most powerful chipset for Android last year

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ Mobile Platform was named by benchmark app AnTuTu as the strongest performing SoC for Android handsets last year. The chip was released halfway through the year, designed for gaming phones.

TSMC, Samsung to spend a fortune to make sure that this "law" isn't repealed

Samsung and TSMC are engaged in a war to see who starts producing 3nm chips first. Both companies are expected to churn out 5nm integrated circuits during the second half of next year.

Wild report says Qualcomm has made a last minute decision about the Snapdragon 865

A report out of South Korea says that Qualcomm has decided to have the Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platrform produced by TSMC instead of Samsung as originally planned.

This mysterious Xperia benchmark gives the first glimpse of the Snapdragon 765's performance

The benchmark from an unannounced Xperia device reveals one of the first looks at Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 765 chipset.

Samsung tipped to announce 144MP imaging sensor

Tipster Ice Universe disseminated a tweet in which he suggests that Samsung might soon announce that it is going to produce a 144MP imaging processor using the 14nm Finfet process.

The first Snapdragon 865 benchmarks are out, here's how it compares to Apple's A13

The first benchmarks for the Snapdragon 865 chipset show impressive results rivaling the iPhone 11 Pro's A13 Bionic chip.

5nm Kirin 1020 SoC tipped for next year's Huawei Mate 40 line

The successor to Huawei's current Kirin 990 SoC is rumored to be the Kirin 1020. Unlike the current chip, this new component will include ARM's most powerful CPU core for 2020.

Samsung reportedly makes surprise decision about which chip will power the Galaxy S11 line

A report out of Korea says that Samsung, in an unusual move, plans on using the Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform with the Galaxy S11 series in all regions except for one.

Why the iPhone could outperform Android flagships significantly next year

TSMC will start volume production of 3nm chips by 2022. The foundry will start churning out 5nm chips during the first half of next year which means that a 5nm A14 Bionic could give Apple a performance lead over flagship Android phones in 2020.

Your Galaxy S11 graphics driver updates may come from... the Play store

In the spirit of Google's project to make all Android updates more modular hence faster, Qualcomm will start offering graphics subsystem driver updates as easy as downloading one from the Play Store

2020 5G Apple iPhones will be missing an important Qualcomm component

Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon says that getting a 5G Apple iPhone out the door is a priority for the company in the wake of the settlement it reached with Apple earlier this year.

Snapdragon 865 vs 855, Аpple A13 and Exynos 990: what's in it for Galaxy S11?

We are comparing Galaxy S11's Snapdragon 865 and Exynos 990 specs and features for your viewing pleasure. For reference, we also included the current Snapdragon 855+ and Apple A13 kings of the mobile processing hill.

There will be no 4G-only smartphones powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 865 SoC

Qualcomm's hot new Snapdragon 865 SoC doesn't come with a built-in cellular modem or support for a separate 4G-only modem, which basically means all of 2020's high-end Android phones will have to be capable of reaching 5G speeds.

featured Snapdragon 865 chipset, expected to power the Galaxy 11, is official with super fast 5G speeds

Qualcomm officially introduced the Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform mentioning that it includes the Snapdragon X55 5G Modem Chip; the chipmaker also unveiled the Snapdragon 765/765G chipsets.

Intel says Qualcomm's illegal licensing practices cost it billions

Intel says that it was forced to sell its smartphone modem chip business to Apple at a loss of billions of dollars because of the illegal licensing policies used by chipmaker Qualcomm.

Samsung details the Galaxy S11's next-gen processor core

The 20% performance or 50% power consumption gains of the Galaxy S11 are not compared to the previous, 8nm or even 10nm processes, but rather compared to that first-gen 7nm method that the latest A-series or Snapdragon 8-series are created with.

featured Galaxy S11 5G benchmark reveals impressive hardware, unimpressive performance (for now)

The first legit-looking benchmark of an upcoming Galaxy S11 variant suggests the 5G-enabled "regular-sized" 6.7-incher will pack a whopping 12GB RAM, delivering mediocre processor performance scores... for the time being.

A Snapdragon 865 specs leak prompts Galaxy S11 chipsets comparison

We are expecting the 865, together with Samsung's newly-announced Exynos 990, to be done on the second-gen 7nm EUV process that Apple's chipset maker is yet to master, there is every chance that those two top-shelf chipset will land in Samsung's high-end Galaxy S11 series in the spring.

Qualcomm's next flagship chipset to be unveiled early next month

Qualcomm is expected to unveil the Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform next year with two variants, one with an embedded 5G modem chip. It will also have support for LPDD5 RAM.

Taiwan denies report that U.S. is pressuring it to prevent TSMC from supplying Huawei with chips

A report that the Trump administration is pressuring Taiwanese officials to have chip foundry TSMC stop manufacturing components for Huawei has been denied by a spokesman for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.

featured Samsung reportedly starts developing Galaxy S11 software; company stops custom CPU core production

Samsung has reportedly started developing the software for the U.S. versions of the Galaxy S11 due to be unveiled in February. The company has also stopped production of its own custom CPU cores.

Nokia is trying to recover from a really bad decision it made about 5G chipsets

When it comes to chips for its 5G equipment, Nokia made a crucial deciswion that ended up hurting the company financially. It is only now getting back on track with this unit.

We may finally get a decent Wear OS watch with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 3300

One of the reasons for the lack of commercial success among Wear OS watches is... the chipset. Right when Samsung moved to its own Tizen software and homebrew hardware, the Galaxy Watch line started becoming a direct competitor to the Apple Watch, offering longer battery life on a charge, in addition to all the other health and fitness goodies.

Google's parent bids for Fitbit while leaked code points to the possibility of a Pixel Watch next year

Google parent Alphabet is reportedly in talks to purchase Fitbit, a possibility that we floated last month when news came out that Fitbit was putting itself up for sale.