Mobile
Proving the adage “ask, and you shall receive”, Qualcomm is back this week for a second Snapdragon SoC announcement for mobile phones. This time, the company is announcing the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3, the latest-generation member of their relatively new Snapdragon 7+ lineup of SoCs. Like its predecessor, the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2, the Gen 3 is aimed at the premium segment of smartphones, offering high-end features with more modest performance and costs – but still a feature set and level of performance ahead of “mid-tier” smartphone SoCs. And, with Monday’s launch of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, this is a segment that has been bifurcated into two lines of SKUs over at Qualcomm.
Hands On With the Huawei Honor 6X
Last year at CES, Honor announced a new mid-range smartphone, the Honor 5X, for the US market that aimed to bring premium smartphone features to a lower price point...
5 by Matt Humrick & Joshua Ho on 1/4/2017Qualcomm Details Snapdragon 835: Kryo 280 CPU, Adreno 540 GPU, X16 LTE
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 is the first mobile SoC to use Samsung’s new 10nm FinFET process. It includes a number of updates, including a revamped CPU configuration, that promise to...
60 by Matt Humrick on 1/3/2017South Korea Fines Qualcomm $865 Million for Anti-Trust Violations
Word comes out of South Korea today that the country’s antitrust regulatory authority, the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), has ruled against Qualcomm in an ongoing antitrust investigation and...
18 by Ryan Smith on 12/28/2016SK Hynix Updates Lineup: 8 GB LPDDR4 DRAM Packages for Mobile Devices
SK Hynix has quietly added its new 8 GB LPDDR4 package to the family of mobile DRAM offerings. The new package paves the way for single-package smartphones and tablets...
8 by Anton Shilov on 12/20/2016MediaTek Adds the Helio X23 and X27 to Its Deca-Core SoC Family
MediaTek added two additional products to its premiere deca-core SoC family today. The Helio X23 and X27 join the previously released Helio X20 and X25, adding additional performance levels...
17 by Matt Humrick on 12/1/2016Meizu Launches the PRO 6 Plus: 5.7-inch SAMOLED and Exynos 8890 SoC
Meizu added a new flagship phablet to its smartphone lineup today. The new 5.7-inch PRO 6 Plus is the direct successor to the PRO 5, but it incorporates the...
13 by Matt Humrick on 11/30/2016Qualcomm Announces Quick Charge 4: Supports USB Type-C Power Delivery
Qualcomm did more than reveal the name of its next SoC, the Snapdragon 835, today at its Snapdragon Technology Summit in New York. It also announced an update to...
28 by Matt Humrick on 11/17/2016Qualcomm Announces Next-Generation Snapdragon 835 SoC Using Samsung’s 10nm Node
Qualcomm revealed the name of its newest SoC, the Snapdragon 835, at its Snapdragon Technology Summit in New York today. The new SoC replaces the Snapdragon 820/821 at the...
65 by Matt Humrick on 11/17/2016HTC Announces the HTC Bolt - A Sprint-Exclusive Smartphone for LTE Plus
Early this morning HTC took the wraps off of a new phone that will be exclusive to Sprint, the Bolt. Not to be confused with the old HTC Thunderbolt...
22 by Ryan Smith on 11/11/2016The Google Pixel XL Review: Life After Nexus
Google’s latest phones, the Pixel and Pixel XL, still provide that pure Android experience along with at least two years of timely software and security updates. There’s also Google...
251 by Matt Humrick & Brandon Chester on 11/8/2016Xiaomi Announces the Mi Note 2 (Snapdragon 821, 6GB RAM) and Mi MIX Concept Phones
Xiaomi has added two new phones to its lineup: the Mi Note 2 and the Mi MIX. Both are flagship phones with large screens that emphasize performance and design...
55 by Matt Humrick on 10/25/2016Samsung Introduces 8 GB LPDDR4-4266 Package for Mobile Devices
Samsung this week announced its first LPDDR4 memory chips made using its 10nm-class DRAM fabrication technology. The new DRAM ICs feature the industry’s highest density of 16 Gb, are...
40 by Anton Shilov on 10/21/2016Chinese Tech Giant LeEco Enters US Market with Le Pro3 and Le S3 Smartphones, Range of UHD TVs
LeEco announced its official entry into the U.S. market at its “Ignite the Eco World” event in San Francisco, an important step in the company's globalization plan. Its initial...
39 by Matt Humrick on 10/20/2016Huawei announces the HiSilicon Kirin 960: 4xA73 + 4xA53, G71MP8, CDMA
Last year we had the opportunity to attend HiSilicon's launch event of the Kirin 950. The 950 SoC was the first to employ ARM's Cortex A72 in a smartphone...
43 by Ian Cutress & Andrei Frumusanu on 10/19/2016Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 653, 626, & 427 SoCs: Include X9 LTE Modem and Support for 8GB RAM
Today at Qualcomm’s 2016 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong, the company announced several new additions to its low- and mid-tier Snapdragon SoC lineup, including the Snapdragon 427, 626, and...
34 by Matt Humrick on 10/17/2016Qualcomm Announces New X50 5G Modem, First Gigabit Class LTE Network and Router
Qualcomm made three announcements about connectivity products today at its 2016 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong. The first announcement, aimed at easing the transition between the 4G LTE networks...
24 by Matt Humrick on 10/17/2016Update: Samsung Officially Halts All Note7 Sales & Exchanges, Now Recalling All Devices
Update 10/13: After earlier asking customers to stop using the Note7, today the company has expanded the matter to a full recall in the United States. All Note7s, originals...
95 by Matt Humrick on 10/13/2016The Huawei Honor 8 Review
Huawei’s first foray into the US smartphone market was with the Honor 5X, a lower-cost device with a well-balanced design. Encouraged by its initial reception, Huawei is back with...
95 by Matt Humrick on 10/13/2016The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus Review: Iterating on a Flagship
The iPhone 6 was a runaway success by any measure. The A8 SoC may have been built on a temperamental 20SoC process – something that dogged all other...
378 by Joshua Ho & Brandon Chester on 10/10/2016Hands On With the New Google Pixel Phones
After Google’s launch event today in San Francisco, I had an opportunity to get my hands on its new Pixel and Pixel XL phones. My initial impression is that...
73 by Matt Humrick on 10/5/2016