Tag Archives: Processor

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Samsung Introduces the World to 2nm, Set to Storm the World 2025 Onward

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Samsung just had their 7th annual Samsung Foundry Forum, and it was interesting. As the name suggests, the forum focuses more on Samsung’s in-house chip, semiconductor, and silicon development. They are, after all, the largest and own the world’s most advanced semiconductor manufacturing plant. They introduced the world to the 3nm process early on this year and is speculated to bring the first of the 3nm processed chips to smartphones later this year. The most powerful Android devices today are powered by Qualcomm’s 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen2. Apple is also expected to update their latest iPhone launching this year to a 3nm chip.

This year’s Foundry Forum focuses not just on what is, but also what is to be in the future for Samsung’s semiconductor business. Samsung stresses the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) and its requirements, moving forward into the future. They spoke about how their own gate-all-around (GAA) advanced node technology would be the driving force of AI applications in the future. Of course, they also pointed to growth of their semiconductor business in the form of an expansion in production capacity, stretching their lead in the semiconductor production business over their competitors. However, they have not mentioned anything on their own Exynos chips made for smartphones. To be fair, there is still plenty to unpack at the Foundry Forum, especially when it comes to 2nm process.

Samsung detailed their plans to mass produce their 2nm process chips by 2025, first for mobile applications. That also means that you can expect Apple to introduce their iPhone with 3nm silicon in that same year. You can also expect Qualcomm to jump in line to introduce their Snapdragon 8 processor with 2nm process technology in late 2025 or early 2026 in this case. Most of all though, you can be hopeful on the return of the Samsung Exynos chips on Samsung’s flagship devices.

Samsung’s Exynos processing chips for mobile applications are still a thing, just not on the current line of flagship devices that Samsung pushes like the Galaxy S23 line-up and the Galaxy Z Fold. The Exynos chips are now powering the mid-range smartphones instead which, to be fair, is probably the most profitable segment in the industry. Still, that means that the Samsung Galaxy flagships devices gets only the Qualcomm Snapdragon treatment. While that is not a bad thing, it is a sad thing to see, especially when Samsung just renewed and extended its partnership with AMD to bring Radeon graphics power to Samsung’s in-house developed chips.

Still, Samsung’s commitment to pushing their production capacity and technology just means that they are not out of the fight in silicon supremacy just yet. With their renewed partnership with AMD, they did mention that they are looking to bring a new Exynos chip to market and into their own flagship smartphones or handheld devices. We could see an iteration of Samsung’s 3nm Exynos with AMD’s graphical prowess later in the year when they launch their lates Samsung Galaxy Z Fold. In the Forum, they also said that they are increasing their production capacity for foundry products made for mobile devices and other applications, which could be a direct result of them pushing the next-generation Exynos chips on to their latest flagship devices. It could also be because their customers are demanding even more chips too.

The Samsung 2nm processor is not just for mobile applications like smartphones or gaming handheld though. Since the Forum stressed AI applications, Samsung aims to put the 2nm chips into high-performance-computing (HPC) solutions that is meant to push AI technologies as well in 2026. Eventually, the technology will also be available for the automotive industry in 2027. In 2027 as well, Samsung is planning to start the mass production of 1.4nm chips.

The promise of 2nm process seems to be significant too. They claim that with the current development, the 2nm chip has proven to be 12% more powerful than the current 3nm chip. It is 5% smaller than the 3nm chip and is up to 25% more power efficient too, making the jump from 3nm to 2nm a rather large one in terms of performance and efficiency.

Samsung also promises that in 2025, the 2nm process technology will find its way into gallium nitride (GaN) power applications for mobile devices, data centers, and automotive industry. They are also advancing networking technology in 2025 with the 5nm Radio Frequency (RF) technology that supports 6G networks. They say that the 5nm RF process shows a 40% in power efficiency while taking up half the space of a traditional 14nm process.

We said earlier that you can be hopeful to see Samsung’s Exynos chips make a comeback in their flagship devices. That is, at least for now, just speculations and hopeful statements. There is no confirmation on Samsung reintroducing Exynos flagship class processors currently. You can also expect Apple to be the first to introduce a 3nm processor for their iPhones later in the year.

Mobile, News

Qualcomm Announces the Snapdragon 782G

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The new age of mobile computing is pretty much here. Qualcomm kicked it off with their new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 System on a Chip (SoC) for flagship devices. This one will definitely go on powering the greats of the industry like the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S devices, next generation OPPO Find X device, the anticipated next-generation OnePlus flagship, and even Xiaomi’s next high-end device.

While flagships are highly popular in terms of branding and hype, they are not the devices that sells most. Google recognized it and scratched their Nexus project a few years ago and started their mid-range Pixel project that was met with welcome arms by users. The new Google Pixel devices are powered by their own Google Tensor processors. This was not the case a few generations ago though. Google’s Pixel project would not have been possible if Qualcomm did not introduce their very intriguing Snapdragon 700 series.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 700 series was introduced to fulfil a rather unique, but popular demand. It was made to fill the gap between their exclusive mid-range Snapdragon 600 series and number crunching high-end flagship Snapdragon 800 series processors for smartphone device. It was made to be sit in a smartphone that performs pretty much like a flagship device with an affordable price tag.

Alongside the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, they introduced their new high-performing Qualcomm Snapdragon 782G platform. The new platform will replace the older Snapdragon 778G+ that currently powers some of the most innovative devices out there like the unique Nothing Phone 1, Honor 60 Pro 5G, and even Motorola’s Edge 30 5G.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 782G
Source: SamMobile

The new Qualcomm Snapdragon 782G comes in with a the same eight-core configuration from the Snapdragon 778G+. The SoC is a more powerful one and is clocked faster than before though. It packs Qualcomm’s eight Kryo cores that clocks up to 2.7 GHz compared to the 2.5 GHz that was extracted from the older Kryo 670 platform.

The new platform also brings a whole host of improvements across the board that makes new mid-range class devices even more enticing than some flagship devices. For one, it packs a Qulcomm’s latest Quick Charge 4+ technology that allows your smartphones to charge at up to a theoretical 100W. In theory, it should allow most smartphones to charge well within an hour while maintaining an optimum temperature. There is Qualcomm’s new Quick Charge 5, but that is reserved for flagships at this point. Still, 100W is plenty fast for smartphones.

They have also improved their AI (Artificial Intelligence) engine that adds several features and capabilities in camera functions. At the same time, the improved AI is also supposed to improve video performance by enhancing the mic and speaker switching function to reduce interference and make video chats feel a lot more natural even without headphones. Of course, the AI engine is also supposed to help reduce battery consumption by cleverly understanding how individual users use the device and turn off apps based on those usages.

We mentioned camera, the processor is also supposedly a better image processor than before. It now supports up to 200-Megapixel resolution cameras for photographs. At the same time, the new processor also captures videos at up to 4K at 30 fps, with HDR on top of that. If you are going to capture action photos, it does 30 22-Megapixel photos in a second.

Of course, 5G has to be now included as a standard. It only makes sense since the SoC it replaces also packs 5G. The 5G antenna on this piece of kit supports both mmWave and Sub-6GHz frequencies, which means you are not going to have to worry about getting it to work with 5G standards across the globe. At home, the Snapdragon 782G supports up to 2.9 Gbps wireless transmission via 6GHz (WiFi 6/6E) standards.

The new mid-range SoC will find its way into the new generation of mid-range devices you will find in 2023. There is no announcements and confirmations on which devices will get the Snapdragon 782G powering them just yet. We are guessing that manufacturers like Xiaomi, OPPO, and even Samsung will be jumping on the platform and announce a device packing the new hardware in the coming months. More information on Qualcomm’s latest mid-range Snapdragon 782G SoC can be found on their website.

Business, Mobile, News

3nm is Not the Future – It Is Now with Samsung 

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Before we go any further; yes, the global chip shortage phenomenon is still a thing. Yes also, things are recovering, and it is looking much better now than last year, at least. Yes, 5nm chips are also already mighty impressive, the most powerful mobile devices are powered by 5nm chips.  

The Apple M1 chips and its variant powering all kinds of things are also 5nm chips, technically the most advanced computing solution you can find today. They introduced the M2 chip, also a 5nm chip to power their next generation devices, The most powerful mobile chip today, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is built on the 5nm process too, and it is technically the most technologically impressive integrated processing chip made for smartphones today. 

This leads us to a question. What could possibly be better? How could anyone top off 5nm in the current generation? Is 4nm even possible? Turns out, it is. But Samsung did not just stop there, they went ahead and did one better with 3nm. 

Ahead of their closest rival in chip making, Samsung has kickstarted their 3nm fabrication line just today. If this goes into Samsung’s next generation Exynos, the Exynos chips will be the most advanced integrated processing chips the world has ever seen. That is also if there is no pushback from TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.).  

Samsung foundrys first 3nm chip production 4
Source: Samsung

TSMC’s foundries are responsible for more than half the world’s supply of chips. You can find TSMC produced chips in Apple devices, and more than half the Android devices in the world today with Qualcomm relying mostly on the Taiwanese foundry. They are expected to start their 3nm mass production as well later this year.  

Currently though, the only reference for 3nm chips is from Samsung. They say that 3nm chips are now 45% more efficient than 5nm chips. Samsung also says that 3nm chips are 23% more powerful comparatively.  

While this is a good step in the right direction for the technological world, it could mark a more important step in the chip industry. While the 3nm fabrication process could be more intensive and expensive than before, smaller more efficient chips could lower the strain on the entire global supply chain. Then again, it really depends on the overall demand for 7nm, 5nm, and 3nm chips in the current market.  

While Samsung has started their mass production efforts, and TSMC is looking to start their own 3nm production soon, we will not be seeing devices coming with 3nm chips anytime soon. You can expect 3nm chips to star in devices starting 2023, if we are lucky enough. Still, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 is coming soon, and we are still excited about that.  

Business, Computers, Mobile, News

[UPDATED] NVIDIA + ARM Deal is Not Happening After All!

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[UPDATE on 09/02/2022] NVIDIA and SoftBank has officially announced that the ARM acquisition bid from NVIDIA will not go through! Read SoftBank’s statement here.

NVIDIA, the world’s largest graphics chip maker, expressed their interest in acquiring ARM, the people behind some of the world’s most powerful mobile chips currently, back in 2020. It was not just an expressed interest though; they really started the whole process of acquiring the chip designers from 2020 onward. It became a whole thing too through 2021.

To be fair, the concerns that were raised by multiple parties regarding the acquisition efforts were not baseless. Companies like Qualcomm, Microsoft, even Samsung and Apple rely on ARM’s chip architecture and designs for their processing chips. It makes sense then that Qualcomm and even Microsoft would have objected the acquisition efforts. The purchase could have led to a massive imbalance in the chip business, since ARM is a key player in the chip making industry. If the purchase went through, it would have been the biggest ever in the chip business too with Softbank selling it at US$ 66 billion.

There were also a lot of regulatory issues that were raised prior to 2022 regarding the purchase. Investigations were also launched by United Kingdom, United States, and European Union as well regarding the acquisition. They raised concerns of anti-competition efforts and market monopoly despite NVIDIA promising that ARM’s deal with all its customers will still be honoured and it will be business as usual.

There are no official announcements just yet on the deal not going through. NVIDIA, ARM, and SoftBank have not commented on the reports that first broke on Financial Times. According to early reports too, SoftBank, ARM’s owners will be receiving US$ 1.25 billion from NVIDIA for failing the acquisition bid.

The falling through of the deal should be a relief to many in the tech industry. It means that Apple, Qualcomm, Intel, Samsung, and plenty of other key chip manufacturers can sleep soundly as their deal with ARM continue without NVIDIA’s intervention. Their relief is another person’s headache though, in this case probably two. SoftBank is still selling ARM, but given the significance of ARM in the industry, selling the chip designers will be a tall order. As for NVIDIA, their stock prices might tank once the fall through is official, but it is NVIDIA after all, they should bounce back quickly enough. If you want to know more about the acquisition bid, you can head over to NVIDIA’s blog.

Source: 9 to 5 Mac, ars Technica, The Verge

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Even More EPYC with AMD – Stacking Zen 3

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Just when we thought AMD is done with being the best at gaming, they proved that one title is never enough. They want to retain their title as the most powerful ever, with a full-stop right after. So, they went ahead and introduced what seems to be the most powerful processing chips in the world, the EPYC 7003 series server processors.

The new EPYC 7003 series is the third-generation server processors by AMD. That also means that it gets the Zen 3 architecture that the AMD Ryzen 5000 series line-up got. That same architecture also means that AMD’s processing core clusters gets to access all of the available cache memory module when necessary, instead of just half of it. Again, if you were doing some research with AMD’s latest Ryzen 5000 with Zen 3 architecture, it might sound like something simple and small. The results are quite significant though.

At least in terms of a server, Zen 3 architecture also allows the cores to process more data at any single time than before. In practical terms, that also means a much faster processor compared to before. Of course, AMD’s implementation also means more efficient power consumption.

The headline figures for EPYC’s flagship is up to 64 cores and 128 threads. With 64 cores, the processor features 256MB of cache, that is the first indication that this is not your regular consumer gaming PC stuff. All cores are clocked at 2.45GHz and can be boosted up to 3.675GHz when necessary.

Of course, these chips are also embedded with extra security measurements and algorithms. In a server, data center, cloud seservice, and virtualisation environment, protecting your data is of utmost importance. Security, in this case, has to start from the processors itself with AMD’s own Infinity Guard suite encryption technologies to keep everything it processes secure.

Of course, you are not going to see the AMD EPYC processors out on the street. These are highly specialised processors made for Artificial Intelligence implementation, data centers, and data backbones for larger organisations. These are the stuff that keeps thigs like Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services running for you.

The AMD EPYC processors range from 32 cores to 64 cores. The EPYC processors are usually the base for AMD’s Ryzen Threadripper platforms. There are obviously no announcements made yet on the availability of the prosumer processor platforms at this time. If they are launching a Threadripper soon though, the AMD EPYC processors could probably give you an insight to what you can expect.

Computers, News

Intel Has Joined the Chat – The New 11th Generation Desktop Intel Core Rocket Lake Processors

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Rocket Lake is here! Some might say, “about time”. We say, let the games begin.

Intel’s 11th Generation Intel Core processor for Desktop systems, while inevitable, seems to be something that should have come a while ago. Then again, taking their time to introduce a new product after the big game changer that was AMD’s new Ryzen 5000 series processor could be a smart thing to do. So here is the new Rocket Lake processors that has been teased and highly expected since the end of 2020.

500 Series Chipsets

The introduction of the new Rocket Lake processors also means that there is a new on-board chipset to pair to, as usual with Intel. Intel’s new 500 series chipset adds support for PCIe 4.0, which also means you can now take full advantage of new PCIe Gen 4.0 devices like the newer NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 series and AMD Radeon 6000 sieres GPUs. It also means you can get the newer, faster PCIe 4.0 SSDs to work with too. Of course, there is some new improvements in Intel Optane Memory.

  • Source: Intel
  • Source: Intel

The new chipset is also supposed to open up more USB bandwidth on the new boards too, which also means more USB lanes and faster ports. You also get to put in faster memory modules at DDR4-3200. The new 500 series chipset also allows memory overclocking on the H570 and B560 chipsets, so you are less restricted when you have a budget to work with.

Back to the new processing chips. Of course, the are not just launching a single Intel Core i9-11900K. The range topper is coming with a whole slew of Intel Core processors from the low-end, low-power Core i3-10105T with four cores and eight threads all the way to the superpower that is the flagship Core i9-11900K. The new Rocket Lake launch also include the launch of the new Pentium series with the Pentium Gold G6605 two core processor leading the way.

More Power

As per usual, Intel’s big focus on the new processors that were introduced is gaming. The headline figures for the class leading Intel Core i9-11900K unlocked processor is eight cores, 16 threads, and 16MB of Intel Smart Cache. The flagship chip clocks at up to 5.3GHz on Thermal Velocity Boost. Most games these days have not been able to capitalise on high multicore clocks too, so the Intel Rocket Lake platform processors are still expected to perform very well.

Of course, the new Rocket Lake Core processor will come with Intel’s UHD graphics with enhanced Intel Xe graphics architecture. Intel’s Xe GPU architecture pretty much has proven itself in the mobile computing space. It also means you technically can game on the on-board graphics. Intel claims 50% more graphics performance over the older generation Intel UHD Graphics. They also claim up to 19% generational improvement on the overall IPC performance. That is one of the larger leaps in terms of generational performance in Intel’s line-up. Oddly enough, the 11th Generation Core processors are still built on top of 12nm technology instead of AMD’s cutting-edge 7nm technology. AMD has also touted 5nm technology in their next Ryzen series.

Price and Availability

  • Source: Intel
  • Source: Intel
  • Source: intel

The biggest surprise from Intel’s new generation of processors though is their price tag. This time, their offering their CPUs at lower prices than their competitors. The range topping Core i9-11900K for example will be sold at US$ 539 (MYR 2,220*), US$ 10 (MYR 41*) cheaper than its competition the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X at US$ 549 (MYR 2,261*). The Core i5-11600K, which would most likely be the processor of choice for most users will sell at US$ 262 (MYR 1,079*), a whopping US$ 30 (MYR 124*) less than AMD’s Ryzen 5 5600X at US$ 299 (MYR 1,231*).

Intel’s 11th Generation Rocket Lake Core processors for desktop is announced to be available later in March 2021. There are no solid leads regarding its local (Malaysia) availability just yet. That also means there are no official pricing locally just yet. Of course, we will keep you posted. For more information, you can head to Intel’s website.

*Approximate value based on conversion rate US$ 1.00 = MYR 4.12 on xe.com as of 17/03/2021

Mobile, News

Samsung Unleashes New Exynos 1080 SoC

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Samsung’s next-generation midrange SoC (system on a chip) is the newly introduced Exynos 1080. The new chipset offers the latest Cortex-A78 CPU cores paired with the latest Mali-G78 graphics core. It’s the first SoC in which Samsung is adopting a new 1+3+4 CPU configuration with one core clocked at 2.8GHz and 3 others at 2.6GHz. This is supplemented by 4 more Cortex-A55 cores which are clocked at 2.0GHz.

The chipset is built on a 5nm process, which has until now only been used by Apple in their A14 processor. The new 5nm, octa-core Exynos 1080 touts better performance with the new architecture and also boasts significant power efficiency boosts. According to Samsung, the single-core performance has been boosted by 50% while the multi-core performance is boosted by 100%.

Source: Samsung (weibo)

In addition to the power savings from the architecture itself, Samsung has also introduced a power-saving solution it calls “Amigo Power”. The new solution will help monitor and optimize battery consumption. Samsung is touting that the solution will make the Exynos 1080 10% more power-efficient than its predecessor. Samsung has also spent some time optimising the NPU and DSP which boast a machine-learning interference power of 5.7TOPs indicating that any AI programs running on the SoC should be able to crunch more data at any given time. This should indicate better, quicker image post-processing and optimizations in both user experience and response speed.

Power consumption isn’t the only area Samsung is focusing on. The Exynos 1080 SoC can support a single 200MP camera or dual 32MP + 32MP sensors. On the video end of things, the processor is able to support shooting up to 4K resolution at 60fps.

Connectivity-wise, the Exynos 1080 is going to be able to support 5G on both the sub-6GHz and mmWave spectrum which indicates that the SoC could be making it to the U.S. given that, until now, the U.S. is the only country with official rollout of 5G on the Sub-6 wavelength. Aside from 5G, the SoC supports Cat.18 4G LTE connectivity. The Exynos 1080 will also support Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity. In addition to this, the SoC will support up to 144Hz refresh rate, LPDDR5 RAM and has UFS 3.1 compatibility.

Source: Samsung (weibo)

The Exynos 1080 will be available in the market in Q1 of 2021. That said, it looks like it will be making its way to consumers in a new Vivo device first. It has been confirmed that the SoC will see its debut in the Vivo X60 series come 2021. Vivo will also be using last year’s Exynos 980 in their upcoming X30 series smartphones.

Business, Computers, Gaming, News

AMD Ryzen 4000 Desktop Series is Here! No Zen 3 Yet Though.

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AMD finally released their highly anticipated latest Ryzen processor platform for desktops. We mentioned ‘desktop’ specifically because AMD has launched their Ryzen 4000 series for mobile computing earlier this year. So, here it is, the new AMD Ryzen 4000 series for desktop alongside AMD’s latest Athlon 3000 series offering.

MODELCORES / THREADSTDP (Watts)BOOST9/BASE FREQ. (GHz)GPU CORESCACHE (MB)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 4700G8C/16T65WUp to 4.4 / 3.6 GHz812 MB
AMD Ryzen™ 7 4700GE8C/16T35WUp to 4.3 / 3.1 GHz812 MB
AMD Ryzen™ 5 4600G6C/12T65WUp to 4.2 / 3.7 GHz711 MB
AMD Ryzen™ 5 4600GE6C/12T35WUp to 4.2 / 3.3 GHz711 MB
AMD Ryzen™ 3 4300G4C/8T65WUp to 4.0 / 3.8 GHz66 MB
AMD Ryzen™ 3 4300GE4C/8T35WUp to 4.0 / 3.5 GHz66 MB
Athlon™ Gold 3150G4C / 4T65W​3.9 GHz36 MB
Athlon™ Gold 3150GE4C / 4T35W3.8 GHz36 MB
Athlon™ Silver 3050GE2C / 4T35W3.4 GHz35 MB
Source: AMD

This is not the end of the story though. Keen eyed readers will note that we did say that Zen 3 is not here yet (do not look at us, we are as surprised as you are). That is because the AMD Ryzen 4000 series we see here only packs AMD’s Zen2 architecture.

At least you are still getting AMD’s Radeon graphics integrated in the CPU. The previous AMD Ryzen 3000 series came with AMD’s highly acclaimed Radeon Vega graphics. We can safely expect the AMD Ryzen 4000 series for desktop systems that was just announced to come with AMD’s Radeon Vega graphics too in that case. Until they reveal it though, we do not know.

Source: AMD

They also touted that the new AMD Ryzen 4000 series for desktop performs 2.5x better in multi-threaded applications. There are some improvements on single-thread performance too, which is nice. With the integrated GPU, there are some expected added performance there too. All this means that this should perform better in video editing and rendering works and in games. With the integrated GPU, you can even properly game without having a dedicated GPU.

Alongside the regular consumer range of Ryzen 4000, AMD also announced the AMD Ryzen 4000 series with PRO technologies. Like the notebook range of AMD Ryzen 4000 Pro series, this one is made for AMD’s business customers. Like the mobile version as well, the desktop variant gets all AMD’s security features with the PRO series CPUs.

MODELCORES/ THREADSTDP (Watts)BOOST9/ BASE FREQ. (GHz)Graphics CoresL2/L3 CACHE (MB)
AMD Ryzen™ 7 PRO 4750G8C/16T65WUp to 4.4/3.6 GHz812MB
AMD Ryzen™ 7 PRO 4750GE8C/16T35WUp to 4.3/3.1 GHz812MB
AMD Ryzen™ 5 PRO 4650G6C/12T65WUp to 4.2/3.7 GHz711MB
AMD Ryzen™ 5 PRO 4650GE6C/12T35WUp to 4.2/3.3 GHz711MB
AMD Ryzen™ 3 PRO 4350G4C/8T65WUp to 4.0/3.8 GHz66MB
AMD Ryzen™ 3 PRO 4350GE4C/8T35WUp to 4.0/3.5 GHz66MB
AMD Athlon™ Gold PRO 3150G4C/4T65WUp to 3.9/3.5 GHz36MB
AMD Athlon™ Gold PRO 3150GE4C/4T35WUp to 3.8/3.3 GHz36MB
AMD Athlon™ Silver PRO 3125GE2C/4T35WUp to 3.4/3.4 GHz35MB
Source: AMD

What Do You Mean No Zen3?

The AMD Ryzen 4000 CPU has been touted and teased with a certain upcoming Zen3 architecture that is supposed to be way more powerful than what we see on the older generation AMD Ryzen 3000 series with Zen2. With the new AMD Ryzen 4000 desktop that just launched, it seems that AMD is not including the Zen3 architecture within the CPU just yet. They did not mention also if the architecture within the Ryzen 4000 series is Zen2+, which leaves us assuming that it is still the same Zen2 application that was on the Ryzen 3000 series.

Still, there are some performance gains on all the platforms they announced, including the Athlon offerings. While they may not be as big of a performance leap we expect from the Ryzen 4000 series, any improvements is welcome. The integrated graphics may also help with budget gaming and editing rigs.

Hope for Zen3 Still Alive with Big Navi

Source: AMD

Here is the kicker for the AMD Ryzen 4000 series for desktop PCs that was just announced though; you cannot buy them. To be specific, you cannot buy them on their own. You can only get these processors from OEMs in their desktop system offerings. AMD is teasing Lenovo and HP to be the first to produce a desktop system with the newly launched AMD Ryzen 4000 series somewhere after 21st July 2020.

That also creates a room and a gap for the enthusiasts’ market where Zen3 is yet to be available. Big Navi is also expected to be launched and announced later in 2020. With that also we expect AMD to announced another variant of the AMD Ryzen 4000 series that is available to consumers as an individual part and devoid of any integrated graphics. In that, we hope that the AMD Ryzen 4000 that we expect to launch with Radeon’s Big Navi to come with Zen3 or at least a Zen2+.

Health, Lifestyle, Mobile, News

Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 Platform Unveiled

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Wearables are the rage these days. Well, they have been for the past few years. Of course they would be; they offer unparalleled flexibility and function to something as simple as a wrist watch. Your wrist watch is now your smartphone companion, your fitness tracker, your notification bell, your personal assistant, and your alarm.

The introduction of the new Apple WatchOS just about a week ago also marks a sort of new age for wearables. The same cannot be said, however to the aging platform that is Wear OS. Not that there is nothing new with Wear OS.

The latest Wear OS is technically still in its second generation (2.18 as launched in May 2020). You are already seeing the fourth generation of Wear OS devices in the market currently. The ones that has been pushing for Wear OS plenty is Fossil these days. They do have some pretty good-looking Wear OS devices on offer right now too, for not very much money.

There is another problem, however. The platform that they have been sitting on, the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear System on a Chip (SoC) that Wear OS rides on is also aging. To be fair, nothing much is really wrong with them. At the same time, they do leave a little bit to be desired.

Source: XDA Developers

2020 sees the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform. In this new line-up there are two processors unveiled. The top performing being the Qualcomm Snapdragon War 4100+ platform, and then there is the regular 4100 platform.

The headlines are pretty much expected. It is more powerful than the two year-old Qualcomm Snapdragon 3100. It is a lot more energy efficient too, making energy-efficient mode more colourful and functional. There is a whole slew of improvements in managing other features too, including a promised better GPS support. Oh, apparently there is better camera support too for whatever reason.

Of course, all these things are quite expected. To put them into perspective though, you have to look at numbers. Keep in mind that Wearable tech is still in its infancy and is still growing at an exponential rate.

The new 4100 platform is clocked 85% faster than the 3100 platform. Its memory clock is also that much faster while GPU performance is claimed to be more than twice faster than before. No, you might not want to use it for gaming still in a display no bigger than your webcam.

But that allows developers and Google more room for fancy animations, better looking interfaces, and generally plenty more functions to be loaded on top of Wear OS. Heck, it could even mean that you get different variants of Wear OS that fits form and function distinctly.

Source: XDA Developers

Apparently also the new 12nm Snapdragon Wear 4100 platform offers 25% more battery life compared to the outgoing 3100 platform. While that is still nothing to shout about, it is an improvement. Now you can have a Wear OS device that lasts to bedtime, rather than one that has to be charged when you get home after work. Or not, depending on what the watchmaker feels like fitting into their hardware.

There is a new 4G modem too in case you want the device to be an eSIM device. That also means you might be able to leave your smartphone behind during a jog in favour of a more secure, lighter package you wear on your wrist. Of course, new improved antenna also means better GPS coverage and tracking.

Currently nothing in Fossil’s line-up will feature the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100 platform. The first Wear OS device with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4100 platform will be the Mobvoi TicWatch line up. We can expect to see Fossil to follow suit later in the year. The Wear OS platform now might be worth a look.

Mobile, News

OPPO dipping their hands into the bag of microchips

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OPPO is reportedly getting into the chip making game. This is not the first time a phone manufacturer creates its own chipsets to be used in their own smartphones. You know these brands too, they are Samsung and Huawei with Exynos and Kirin respectively. They call it the Mariana Plan. Not to be confused with the Mariana Trench, the plan will be led by Qualcomm’s former technical director in collaboration with engineers from Oppo’s sister companies, OnePlus and Realme.

In the past, OPPO mentioned of a big R&D push for an ecosystem of smart devices with an investment of RMB 50 billion which is just slightly over US$ 7 billion. Yes, that is what it takes to get into the game with the likes of Qualcomm and MediaTek.

There is no obvious reasons yet on why OPPO would make their own chipset. At the moment as OPPO has been great partners with Qualcomm and Mediatek. There is no indication as well on OPPO dropping the partners anytime soon. Possibly, OPPO sees a market that its missing out on or just a long term cost effective move to install its own chipsets into their phones. The chipsets could also be sold to other phone manufacturers to integrate them into their phones expanding the variety of chipset and value. 

With the on going US trade ban, HUAWEI is unable to integrate Qualcomm’s chipset into their phones. Fortunately HUAWEI has their own chipset to lessen the blow of the ban. Based on this logic, OPPO could be developing this new project as their own safety net.

At this point, OPPO has developed one of the best and best known Android iteration in ColorOS. There is no telling yet on what they can do with their chips. If their Android UI development is any indication, they could develop great chips at a fraction of the price of other manufacturers.