The LG G4 has been officially announced today, featuring a leather back, a long-lasting battery and a slightly different processor to the one we were expecting. it seems that even LG didn't want to deal with the Snapdragon 810's heat issues and opted for the six-core Snapdragon 808 instead. LG …
Read More »ARM: Our cores have enough performance for notebooks
Rumours about personal computers in clamshell form-factors powered by microprocessors featuring ARM architecture have been floating around for years, but only recently select Chinese companies released notebooks with Google Chrome OS that actually use ARM-based system-on-chips. According to ARM Holdings, these systems are only the beginning. “Just recently we have …
Read More »Nvidia’s patents claims against Samsung, Qualcomm will go to trial in June
Nvidia Corp. has announced that administrative law judge Thomas Pender presiding over its patent case against Samsung and Qualcomm in the U.S. International Trade Commission had ruled that the lawsuit would go to trial in June. This pretrial decision, known as a Markman ruling, is the judge’s determination of the …
Read More »TSMC loses orders to UMC, Chinese manufacturers
For many years Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has been gaining market share by grabbing orders from smaller rivals. However, in the recent quarters companies like United Microelectronics Corp. managed to increase their yields and started to snatch orders from TSMC. While the latter will retain its positions, the situation seems …
Read More »New leak points towards Snapdragon 815 specs
Qualcomm’s next flagship smartphone chip, the Snapdragon 815, is on the way according to new leaks. The Snapdragon 815 will reportedly be an eight core chip with four Cortex-A72 processor cores and four Cortex-A53 processor cores. This information all comes from GizmoChina, which has had a string of leaks recently. …
Read More »Nvidia starts to use Samsung as a chip manufacturing partner – company
Nvidia Corp. and Samsung Electronics have quietly signed an agreement under which the latter will produce computer chips for the former. At present, it is unknown whether Samsung will manufacture graphics processors or application processors for the chip designer, but it is obvious that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. is no …
Read More »HTC One M9 benchmark shows Snapdragon 810 overheating
It looks like Samsung was right to avoid using Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 SoC in its recently announced Galaxy S6 flagship as new benchmarks of the HTC One M9 are showing that the Snapdragon 810 chip is in-fact overheating under load. Dutch site, Tweakers, managed to get their hands on a HTC One …
Read More »Samsung plans to use MediaTek’s SoC inside smartphones – report
Samsung Electronics reportedly plans to start using application processors from MediaTek in its smartphones. The move will clearly lower Samsung’s dependence on system-on-chips from Qualcomm, but will hardly have any positive effect on the company’s handsets. A rumour from Taiwan has it that Samsung and MediaTek are negotiating about a potential …
Read More »Qualcomm developing a fingerprint sensor to rival Touch ID
Qualcomm is looking to take on Apple's Touch ID with its own biometric fingerprint sensor, which should end up being more technically advanced than Apple's solution along with Samsung's new sensor found in the Galaxy S6 flagship. Qualcomm has announced its new fingerprint reader, which uses ultrasonic waves to verify …
Read More »Cyanogen re-brands and partners up with Qualcomm
Cyanogen has announced that it will be re-branding this soon, moving away from its custom ROM roots even further. the company is ditching its previous Android mascot logos in favor of cleaner, simpler look. In addition to this, Qualcomm will be using Cyanogen built software on its own reference design …
Read More »Samsung unveils ‘SSD’ for smartphones with up to 600MB/s bandwidth
Samsung Electronics this week said that it had started to mass produce a family of NAND flash memory devices for mobile applications that are compliant with the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0 standard. The new chips will be used for smartphones and tablets and will enable SSD-class performance on mobile …
Read More »Qualcomm fits-in ARM Cortex-A72, 4K support into mainstream SoCs
Qualcomm, the world’s largest supplier of mobile application processors, has introduced its new lineup of mobile system-on-chips for mainstream smartphones, tablets and other devices. The new Snapdragon 600-series application processors feature ARM’s latest Cortex-A72 cores, support 4K video capture and playback, advanced storage technologies, a number of other high-end features …
Read More »ARM Cortex-A57 and Intel Silvermont – most efficient mobile cores, says study
At present there are about half of a dozen different general-purpose processing cores for various low-power system-on-chip solutions. There are high-performance, low-power, big and small cores. But when all of these metrics are taken into account, ARM and Intel have the edge over their rivals. Massive popularization of mobile and …
Read More »Qualcomm has made a Snapdragon 4K streaming stick
Qualcomm has announced its new entry in to the streaming market with its new Snapdragon-based Chromecast competitor, capable of streaming 4K. Unfortunately, Qualcomm's streaming stick won't be made available to consumers and is instead there as a reference design for third-parties to license out. Third-party manufacturers will be able to …
Read More »Samsung to integrate baseband capabilities into its Exynos mobile APs
In an attempt to lower its dependence on Qualcomm, the world’s largest developer of application processors for mobile devices, Samsung plans to integrate baseband capabilities into its advanced Exynos system-on-chips. Such SoCs will emerge next year and will power devices the company will release in 2016. For years flagship smartphones …
Read More »Nvidia: Expect developers to license our GPU tech in coming months
It has been well over 1.5 years since Nvidia Corp. started to license its graphics cores to third parties in an attempt to address growing opportunities in the world of smart consumer electronics and mobile devices. So far, no third-party chip designer has licensed “Kepler” or “Maxwell” graphics processing technologies …
Read More »Nvidia refocuses Tegra business: targets gaming and automotive markets
For many years Nvidia has tried to enter the market of system-on-chips for media tablets and smartphones with its Tegra application processors. Even though the company has managed to win a number of contracts, in the recent years competitors like Intel, Qualcomm and MediaTek left Nvidia almost no chances to …
Read More »Qualcomm to pay $975 million in anti-trust fines to China
Mobile chip maker, Qualcomm, is set to pay $975 million out to Chinese officials in order to end a 14 month-long anti-trust investigation into the company's patent licensing practices. The fine is actually the largest in China's corporate history. The firm will also have to lower royalty fees on patents …
Read More »Intel: As AMD exited the server market, ARM chips get chances
At present Intel Corp. controls shipments of around 98 microprocessors for servers on the planet. Advanced Micro Devices is no longer a significant competitor for the chip giant, but a crowd of ARM-based chip developers seems to be. Server customers and makers need alternative processors to Intel Xeon, which is …
Read More »Samsung to produce chips for Nvidia, Qualcomm – analyst
Samsung Electronics is expected to significantly improve its contract semiconductor manufacturing business this year thanks to early start of production using 14nm FinFET fabrication process. While Apple, the largest customer of Samsung, now orders chips not only to Samsung, but to TSMC as well, it continues to work with the …
Read More »Intel retains position of top tablet SoC supplier
Intel Corp. maintained its position of the top supplier of application processors (APs) for non-Apple tablets in the third quarter of 2014, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics. Thanks to the fact that Intel’s roadmap includes various low-cost chips for mobile devices as well as solutions from Rockchip and …
Read More »Qualcomm admits it has lost a big client- probably Samsung
The rumor mill has been churning out quite a bit of information on Samsung's plans for the Galaxy S6 recently. However, Qualcomm may have indirectly confirmed that the Galaxy S6 will not use a Snapdragon processor, as it has admitted that it has lost a big client. As part of …
Read More »LG may sue Qualcomm over special Galaxy S6 Snapdragon 810
Apparently LG may sue Qualcomm if the company chooses to provide Samsung with a revised version of the Snapdragon 810 processor for its upcoming flagship device, the Galaxy S6. Samsung believes that the current Snapdragon 810 chip runs too hot and is therefore planning to use its own made Exynos …
Read More »Benchmarks show performance of Samsung Galaxy S6 Exynos chip
Samsung's upcoming flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S6, is expected to ditch Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 in favor of its home made Exynos 7420 CPU, which has now been benchmarked, giving us a peak at the device's potential performance. As we reported previously, Samsung may be moving away from the Snapdragon 810 …
Read More »Qualcomm to make updated Snapdragon 810 for Samsung Galaxy S6
Qualcomm is apparently going to provide Samsung with an updated version of the most recent Snapdragon 810 mobile CPU, after rumors began suggesting that the company would be moving ahead with its own Exynos chip for the upcoming Galaxy S6 flagship. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Qualcomm is …
Read More »Microsoft readies golden versions of Lumia 830, 930 smartphones
Back in the days, Nokia Corp. sold loads of premium 8-series feature phones with hefty price tags that featured unique design and materials. In the late nineties Nokia even established a special company – Vertu – which produced ultra-expensive and distinctive phones. The 8-series smartphones lost popularity rather quickly after …
Read More »U.S. ITC to investigate Samsung’s complaints against Nvidia, others
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) on Tuesday said it will investigate Samsung’s accusations against patent infringements by Nvidia Corp. and its partners. If the ITC finds Nvidia and its allies guilty of patent infringements, it may stop sales of their products in the United States. The products at issue …
Read More »MSI unveils mini-ITX Z97 mainboard with 802.11ac Killer Wi-Fi, M.2, enhanced cooling
MicroStar International has unveiled its all-new Z97 Gaming ACK mini-ITX mainboard that offers a very good balance between performance, technologies and price. The platform is designed for gamers, who want to have a very small form-factor (SFF) high performance system that does not cost too much. The MSI Z97I Gaming …
Read More »Microsoft readies low-cost Nokia 435 smartphone
Microsoft Corp. is working on a new low-cost smartphone based on the Windows Phone 8 operating system. The new handset will target the same market segment as Nokia Asha and Nokia X devices. The first phone in the Lumia 400 range will feature 4” display with 480*800 resolution, Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 …
Read More »Samsung asks ITC to ban sales of Nvidia GeForce GPUs, Tegra SoCs in the U.S.
Samsung Electronics on Friday filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission asking to stop sales of Nvidia Corp.’s GeForce graphics processing units as well as Tegra system-on-chips since they infringe its patents. The move is a yet another step in the legal battle between Nvidia and Samsung, which …
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