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Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon Wear 4100 for better performance and battery life on Wear OS smartwatches
Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon Wear 4100 smartwatch SoC platforms. The Snapdragon Wear 4100+ is 85% faster than its predecessor.
Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 4100 smartwatch platforms, consisting of the Snapdragon Wear 4100+ and the Snapdragon Wear 4100. These new smartwatch SoCs are designed for next-generation connected smartwatches and based on Qualcomm's ultra-low-power hybrid architecture. To provide better context to this news release, let's delve into the background of Wear OS first.
Qualcomm unveils the Snapdragon 690, a mid-range chip to bring 5G to the masses
Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 690 mobile platform. It features 5G connectivity, a first for the Snapdragon 6xx series.
Qualcomm is on a roll in the lower mid-range product segment for the last couple of years. The U.S.-based chipmaker has seen many significant design wins from China-based smartphone vendors such as Xiaomi and Realme. In October 2018, it launched the Snapdragon 675 mobile platform, which was followed by the launch of the the Snapdragon 730/G in April 2019. These two launches, which made their way into successful lower mid-range smartphones, were followed by the launch of the Snapdragon 720G in January 2020. One thing that all three of these SoCs had in common was that they didn't have 5G connectivity. Qualcomm did bring integrated 5G to the Snapdragon 7-series with the launch of the Snapdragon 765/G in December, but the Snapdragon 765 (as well as its overclocked variant, the Snapdragon 768G) was intended for the upper mid-range smartphone market. This left a hole for the lower mid-range segment. Now, Qualcomm has finally plugged that gap by announcing the Snapdragon 690, the first 5G-enabled mobile platform in the Snapdragon 6-series.
Intel details its new Lakefield processors designed to challenge ARM
Intel has launched the Lakefield platform to power new PC form factors. They use Intel's Hybrid Technology to pair Sunny Cove with Tremont cores.
Intel has long been an afterthought in mobile. The company's mobile Atom SoC business showed promise back in 2015 with the launch of the ASUS ZenFone 2, but it was then cancelled in 2016. The modem business was derided for being technologically inferior to Qualcomm's modems. Intel gained its first big break when Apple became its highest profile customer for modems, solely using them in the iPhone, but in 2019, Qualcomm and Apple reached a settlement in their legal disputes. Intel, therefore, was left with no option but to discontinue its mobile modem business, which was then sold to Apple, ironically enough. Right now, Intel has no involvement in the smartphone space, either when it comes to smartphone SoCs or modem chips. However, the company has continued its pursuits in low voltage chips designed to power 2-in-1 devices, laptops, foldable devices, and more. Intel's Core M, which was re-branded into the Core Y series, is still used in laptops such as the Apple MacBook Air. Now, Intel has revealed more details about its upcoming "Lakefield" chips, which are not Atom chips and not purely Core chips (although they will be branded as part of the "Intel Core" lineup). They can be viewed as the successor of the Core M/Core Y-series philosophy, and are designed to solidify Intel's leadership position against ARM in the ultra-mobile device space.
Samsung Austin R&D Center reveals details of its unreleased Exynos M6 CPU microarchitecture
Samsung Austin Research & Development Center (SARC) has released a paper detailing the microarchitecture of the cancelled Exynos M6 custom CPU core.
We know that the custom CPU core project at Samsung's Austin Research & Development Center (SARC) came to an end in October 2019. For a project that was promoted with such fanfare with the launch of the Exynos M1-featuring Exynos 8890 in 2016, it was a sad end. Why did SARC fold up the project? The Exynos M5 custom core, featured in the Exynos 990 SoC, is the last Samsung-designed fully custom core for the foreseeable future, and in hindsight, it's easy to see why Samsung gave up on custom cores, as they simply weren't competitive enough. It is now known that the Exynos M5 core has a 100% power efficiency deficit against ARM's Cortex-A77, which says a lot. Yet, it didn't have to turn out that way. The Exynos M1 and Exynos M2 designs showed some promise, and the custom CPU core project was, at that time, viewed important for the sake of competition in the mobile CPU space. The Exynos M3 was a big downturn despite the major IPC increase, and the Exynos M4 and Exynos M5 failed to keep up with ARM's stock CPU IP. What were the microarchitectural changes in the next custom core, the cancelled Exynos M6?
Samsung Galaxy M11 and Galaxy M01 entry-level smartphones launched in India
Samsung has launched the budget Galaxy M11 and Galaxy M01 phones in India. Their prices start at ₹10,999 and ₹8,999 respectively. Read on to know more!
Samsung launched the online-only Galaxy M series in India last year in an effort to rejuvenate its flailing efforts in the budget and lower mid-range segments of the smartphone market, which were in danger of being overrun by Xiaomi and Realme's devices. The first phones to be launched were the Galaxy M20 and the Galaxy M10. They were followed by the Galaxy M30, the Galaxy M40, and the Galaxy M30s over the course of the year. In 2020, up until now, Samsung had refreshed the Galaxy M30s and the Galaxy M20 by launching the Galaxy M31 and the Galaxy M21 respectively. Now, the company has launched the Galaxy M11 and the Galaxy M01 in India. The Galaxy M11 was launched in the UAE earlier this year, while the Galaxy M01 is a new addition to the M-series portfolio.
Samsung's Exynos 992 may be a 5nm chip for the Galaxy Note 20 with ARM's new CPU and GPU designs
A report by ZDNet Korea says the upcoming Exynos 992 SoC will be a 5nm chip for the Galaxy Note 20, featuring the ARM Cortex-A78 CPU and Mali-G78 GPU.
This week, ARM announced the new ARM Cortex-A78 CPU as well as the ARM Mali-G78 GPU as part of its TechDay 2020. The two succeeded last year's Cortex-A77 CPU and Mali-G77 GPU respectively. The wildcard announcement was the Cortex-X Custom program (CXC), wherein ARM announced that the first CPU made under the CXC would be the Cortex-X1, ARM's most powerful CPU yet. The Cortex-X1 would specifically target peak performance in lieu of energy efficiency and PPA (performance, power, and area), which would lead it to compete head-on with Apple's leading A-series chips. At the time of the announcement, I wrote that Samsung was a strong candidate to adopt ARM's new mobile CPU IP. The Exynos M5 custom core in the Exynos 990 was Samsung's last fully custom core for the foreseeable future, as the company's custom CPU core project at SARC has ended (to learn more about why the project failed, read this article). Samsung, thus, was left with no option but to use ARM's CPU IP starting with its next flagship SoC. Now, a report by ZDNet Korea states that Samsung's upcoming Exynos 992 will be a 5nm chip for the Galaxy Note 20, featuring both the ARM Cortex-A78 and the Mali-G78, but not the Cortex-X1.
Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 and 6700 will bring Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 to high-end Android devices
Qualcomm has announced the FastConnect 6700 and the FastConnect 6900 connectivity systems, bringing Wi-Fi 6e and Bluetooth 5.2 to high-end Android phones.
By now, it's well known how crucial connectivity is for mobile devices. Without a strong Wi-Fi connection or mobile data, even the most expensive flagship smartphone has crippled functionality. These devices are only as good as their weak link, and most of the time, wireless connectivity happens to be the weak link. The use of Wi-Fi, 4G LTE, and the nascent 5G ecosystem has only reflected the modern reality where Internet connectivity is a must, where people are working from home more than ever (admittedly, that is because of a pandemic and not because of improved connectivity), where mission-critical work is done from a smartphone. As such, it's imperative that connectivity systems continue to improve. The advent of 5G hasn't meant that 4G modems have stopped improving, for example. Wi-Fi is just as vital when we consider the expensive nature of mobile data. The march forward in standards has led us from Wi-Fi 4 to Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) to Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax). Few people have Wi-Fi 6 routers yet, so its speed benefits are only just starting to be realized. However, Wi-Fi 6 has already been extended by 1200MHz of spectrum in the 6GHz band, which is known as Wi-Fi 6E, which is a much more major announcement. As Wi-Fi 6E has now been formally approved, Qualcomm has announced two new mobile connectivity solutions in the form of the FastConnect 6900 and FastConnect 6700.
ARM announces the Cortex-A78 CPU and Mali-G78 GPU designs for high-end Android smartphones
ARM has announced the Cortex-A78 CPU architecture as well as the Mali-G78 GPU. The two are the successors of the Cortex-A77 CPU and the Mali-G77 GPU.
As part of its TechDay 2020, ARM has made three major announcements. The headline major announcement is the Cortex-X Custom program (CXC), containing the new Cortex-X1 CPU core. The Cortex-X1 brings to bring higher peak performance than any Cortex-A series CPU, while breaking the envelope of the Cortex-A series' PPA. The other two announcements that ARM made were a lot more routine. The Cortex-A78 CPU and the Mali-G78 CPU are now official, and they act as the successors of the Cortex-A77 CPU and the Mali-G77 CPU respectively. Let's cover these announcements one-by-one:
ARM's Cortex-X custom CPU program may finally make Android flagship performance competitive with Apple
ARM has announced the Cortex-X Custom program (CXC). The first high-performance core under the custom program is the ARM Cortex-X1. Read on to know more!
Each year in May, UK-based ARM, owned by Japan-based Softbank, announces its new Mobile IP (intellectual property) for use in mobile devices. This IP consists of new CPU cores as well as new GPUs. ARM's instruction set is used in every smartphone in the world - it's a crucially important company. In terms of CPU core architectures, from 2021, every major mobile chip vendor of note will use ARM's stock CPU IP (as Samsung System LSI has given up on its Exynos M custom cores). That's why, it's doubly important that ARM gets things right. Now for this year, ARM has announced the ARM Cortex-A78 CPU architecture and the Mali-G78 GPU, the successors of the Cortex-A77 CPU, and the Mali-G77 GPU respectively. While these announcements were expected, what was not expected was for ARM to announce another CPU core in the form of the Cortex-X. For years, tech reviewers and users have bemoaned the fact that Apple's CPU architectures are multiple years ahead of ARM's Cortex-A series. With the Cortex-X CPU program and the Cortex-X1, this may finally change in 2021.
Huawei and Honor turn to high-end MediaTek chipsets for some new phones following new U.S. trade restrictions
The Huawei Enjoy Z is the first Huawei phone to feature a high-end MediaTek chip, as the company is in talks with MediaTek to source 5G mid-to-high-end SoCs
For a time, it seemed as if Huawei was dealing fine with the aftermath of the U.S trade restrictions that were imposed on it in May 2019. Despite being placed on the U.S. Commerce Department's Entity List, Huawei's Consumer Business Group continued to function. It was wounded, but the damage wasn't catastrophic. Huawei was prevented from pre-loading Google Mobile Services (GMS) on any new phone launch featuring new smartphone SoCs, which meant that its international smartphone business was mostly crippled. The ban on American companies doing business with Huawei meant that its laptop business also ground to a standstill. However, Huawei re-grouped and re-calibrated its objectives by focusing more strongly on the Chinese smartphone market, where GMS was not part of the equation. It's still the largest smartphone vendor in China. However, a recent addition in trade restrictions has the potential to create a crisis of survival for Huawei.
[Update: Possible July Launch] HTC is still making phones and will launch a 5G smartphone this year
In an interview, HTC's new CEO Yves Maitre stated that HTC will release a 5G phone this year. The company is said to release flagship phones first.
Do you remember HTC? Yes, it was the world's largest Android smartphone vendor at one time. HTC has many firsts to its name, the most significant being that it was the first to launch an Android phone in the form of the Dream/T-Mobile G1. In recent years, however, it became a sorry spectacle. Its revenue declined continuously all through 2016 and 2017. Google acquired part of HTC's smartphone division for $1.1 billion in 2017, and the deal closed in 2018. HTC vacated the Indian smartphone market in July of that year. Its last flagship phone launch remains the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845-powered HTC U12+, which was launched in May 2018. In 2019, it made a deal with Indian smartphone vendors to use its name. It stopped selling phones in the UK due to a patent dispute, and the HTC Elevate community shut down in December 2019. The last "true" HTC phone launches to date were the HTC U19e and HTC Desire 19+, and the last HTC-branded phone launch was the budget Lava-made HTC Wildfire X. According to most observers, HTC's focus is no longer on the smartphone market as it now prioritizes other ventures such as VR, but the company kept saying multiple times that it wasn't dead. In a strange turn of events, the company's new CEO, Yves Maitre, has now said in an interview that they are planning to launch a 5G phone this year.
[Update: Abandoned] Chrome OS could get macOS' "hot corners" feature
Google may add a hot corners feature to Chrome OS, letting users assign actions for moving the cursor to the corners of the desktop. This exists in macOS.
The desktop functionality of Chrome OS has incrementally improved since its introduction as a web-focused operating system back in 2010. However, it's undeniable that Windows and macOS still have more desktop-focused features as their philosophy has been different from the beginning. After Google revealed it was getting out of the tablet hardware business, the focus has turned back on competing with Windows and macOS on the desktop keyboard-and-mouse front. To that end, Google has been adding new features and conveniences to make Chrome OS a head-to-head competitor with the established giants. Now, Google may be about to add its own version of the "hot corners" feature.
Vivo X50 Pro teased with gimbal-style camera stabilization and ISOCELL GN1 image sensor
Vivo has relased video teasers of the upcoming Vivo X50 Pro, showing that it will have a gimbal-style stabilization on its huge 50MP primary camera module.
Remember the Vivo APEX 2020? It's Vivo's 2020 concept phone, succeeding the original Vivo APEX and the APEX 2019. The APEX 2020 was supposed to be shown off during MWC 2020, but because of the cancellation of the event, it was doomed to be a footnote in history despite its impressive list of specifications. One of its interesting features was that it had gimbal-like stabilization on a 48MP primary camera. It was said to be 200% more effective than typical OIS, thus enabling longer low light image exposures and smoother video. The APEX 2020, being a concept phone, was not designed to be released publicly for the mass market. But the gimbal-style stabilization was likely going to end up on a commercial phone. For the last few days, Vivo has been teasing the launch of its new upper mid-range cum flagship phone, the Vivo X50 Pro. Not much is known about its specifications yet, but it is indicated that it slots in above the Vivo X30 series and below the Vivo NEX 3S in the company's phone portfolio. A new set of official video teasers has shown off the camera module.
Samsung announces the 50MP ISOCELL GN1 image sensor with Dual Pixel autofocus
Samsung has announced the 50MP ISOCELL GN1 camera image sensor for smartphones. It's a 1/1.3" sensor with 1.2um pixels, and it features Dual Pixel autofcus.
Over the last couple of years, high megapixel sensors in smartphone cameras have become the norm. Huawei led the way with 40MP sensors. Then Sony launched the 48MP IMX586 Quad Bayer sensor in 2018. The sensor ended up being used by a huge variety of popular mid-range, flagship, and budget smartphones in 2019. The relentless march forward continued with the announcements of the first 64MP sensors in the form of the ISOCELL GW1 and the Sony IMX686 respectively. However, Samsung wasn't content with that. The company broke new ground when it announced the 108MP ISOCELL Bright HMX last year, which ended up making its way to the Xiaomi Mi Note 10. The slightly upgraded ISOCELL HM1 featured in the company's halo flagship, the Galaxy S20 Ultra. In the smartphone camera industry, primary camera sensors are now sourced from Sony or Samsung, and they have become the two dominant players in the market. Now, Samsung has announced another high megapixel sensor for smartphones in the form of the 50MP ISOCELL GN1. Interestingly, it has Dual Pixel autofocus. Let's delve into the background of this news announcement.
The Sony IMX500 and IMX501 are Sony's first image sensors with AI processing
Sony has announced the world's first camera image sensors with equipped AI processing in the form of the IMX500 and the IMX501.
Sony is the largest player when it comes to supplying camera image sensors for smartphones. Examples of popular sensors include the 48MP IMX586, which was used by a bewildering variety of phones ranging across price ranges in 2019. The IMX586 was succeeded by the 64MP IMX686. The company doesn't just deal in smartphone image sensors, of course. It has a hugely successful lineup of premium mirrorless cameras that are often held to be the gold standard. Its relentless pace of innovation is showing no sign of letting up, as it has now announced the upcoming release its first image sensors with AI processing, the IMX500 and the IMX501 respectively.
Huawei HiSilicon's new 14nm Kirin 710A chip was manufactured by Shanghai-based SMIC
The first Huawei HiSilicon Kirin chip to be made by Shanghai-based SMIC instead of Taiwan-based TSMC, the Kirin 710A, has achieved mass production.
By now, most readers should be well familiar with the Huawei-US trade ban saga. The story started back in May 2019, when Huawei was placed on the U.S. Entity List by the U.S. Commerce Department as a part of the U.S.-China trade war. Since that time, Huawei has noticeably struggled to rise above an existential threat to its international smartphone business, as it has not been able to use Google Mobile Services (GMS) on any new phone launches containing new chips. The company has been forced to re-brand pre-existing products, with bizarre results such as the Huawei P30 Pro New Edition and a series of re-hashed budget phone launches in India and Europe. There have been U-turns and political drama, but the company's presence on the Entity List has endured even after a full year. More worryingly for the company, the U.S. administration has since escalated a things further by targeting Taiwan-based TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor fabrication company, in an effort to force it to stop manufacturing chips for Huawei. If it's successful in doing that, Huawei will face of a crisis of survival as all HiSilicon chips have, up until now, been fabricated by TSMC.
Samsung became the third largest smartphone SoC vendor globally in 2019
According to a report by Counterpoint Research, Samsung became the largest smartphone application processor vendor globally in 2019.
Qualcomm has been the dominant player in the smartphone SoC vendor market for much of the last decade. MediaTek has long performed the role of providing cheaper SoCs in the smartphone market. Samsung and Huawei's HiSilicon, on the other hand, make custom SoCs that are intended for use in their own smartphones. Samsung System LSI's Exynos SoCs were used only by Samsung Mobile's phones, for example, while HiSilicon's Kirin chips are used in Huawei and Honor phones. In 2019, this equation changed as Samsung System LSI started selling Exynos chips to other vendors such as Motorola and Vivo. This has helped the company achieve the position of being the third largest smartphone application processor (AP) vendor globally in 2019, according to a report by Counterpoint Research.
Google is working on its own chip for Pixel phones and Chromebooks
A report by Axios states that Google is working on an its own SoC to power future versions of the Google Pixel. It could power Chromebooks as well.
Custom SoCs are a rarity in the value mobile device market today, but they are still found in flagship smartphones. Qualcomm's SoCs dominate the smartphone industry, while MediaTek's SoCs act as a lower-cost alternative. At the high-end, Samsung and Huawei's HiSilicon continue to make custom SoCs, and they are restricted to their own phones. The top three smartphone manufacturers in the form of Apple, Samsung, and Huawei, all use custom SoCs these days (although Samsung sells its flagship phones with Snapdragon SoCs in some markets). Google has long wanted to compete with the big leagues in the smartphone market, but for a variety of reasons, its Pixel phone venture has failed to take off even after three-and-a-half years. This year, some evidence shows that the Google Pixel 5 may be powered by the mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 SoC instead of the traditional choice of the high-end Snapdragon 865 SoC. But next year, things may get even more interesting.
Samsung Galaxy S20+ Review: The standard bearer for flagship Android
The Samsung Galaxy S20+ is the company's mainstream flagship, slotting in below the top-end S20 Ultra. To see how it performs, read our review.
Samsung's market position isn't as good as it was in the early days of Android. Relatively poor sales of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy S10 series has led to the company facing serious competition at all price segments of the smartphone market. The company's dominant first-place advantage is no longer so dominant. The Samsung Galaxy S7 remains the company's best-selling Galaxy S series flagship. However, over the course of 2019, Samsung indirectly benefited from the crippling of Huawei's international smartphone business due to political developments, a saga that still continues to the present day. In 2020, the company is now the presumed default choice in the premium Android smartphone market, as the rest of the competition is still some way behind in terms of market share, mind share, and global availability of devices.
[Update: Pricing] The LG V60 ThinQ is launching with the 5G Snapdragon 865, triple rear cameras, and Dual Screen attachment
LG has announced the LG V60 ThinQ flagship phone. It's powered by the Snapdragon 865, has a 64MP primary camera, and is powered by a 5,000mAh battery.
We have been hearing about LG's next flagship smartphone, the LG V60 ThinQ, for a while now. LG was scheduled to launch the phone at MWC 2020, but after the cancellation of the event, the company has decided to announce the device via an online press release, skipping on holding an event at a later date. The phone that was once supposed to be the LG G9 ThinQ has now been revealed to be the LG V60 ThinQ. LG's 2020 V-series flagship has what it takes to compete with the Samsung Galaxy S20 series, at least on paper. The V60 ThinQ is a proper flagship with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, big 6.8-inch display, 5000mAh battery, and more. It also comes with a Dual Screen accessory like last year's LG V50 ThinQ and LG G8X ThinQ (first impressions). There are a few interesting decisions that LG made with the hardware as well, which we will go into below.