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 »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 »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 »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 »SK Hynix: LPDDR4 memory hits mass production
SK Hynix has announced that its 8Gb LPDDDR4 memory, which is in mass production now, has been chosen by a major smartphone maker for a new flagship model. The forthcoming handset will be among the first phones to use the new type of memory. SK Hynix’s 8Gb LPDDR4 memory chips …
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 »LG has unveiled the G Flex 2 smartphone
LG has revealed the G Flex 2, incorporating design elements from last year's G3 flagship device. The second generation G Flex model comes with a 5.5 Inch curved 1080p OLED display. According to LG's head of smartphone planning, the company decided to return to the curved design do to the …
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 »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 »HTC One M9 specifications leak
HTC's One M8 flagship smartphone was leaked numerous times leading up to its release earlier this year and it looks like next year's One M9 will follow in the same footsteps as specifications for the upcoming flagship have already hit the web. For processing, the One M9 will use the …
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 …
Read More »Qualcomm confirms plans for high-performance processors for servers
Qualcomm, the world’s largest supplier of application processors for mobile devices, this week confirmed unofficial information that it is working on high-performance system-on-chips for the emerging market of micro-servers based on ARM-architecture processors. “We are engaged with customers,” said Steve Mollenkopf, chief executive officer of Qualcomm, during a meeting with …
Read More »Samsung counter-attacks Nvidia with a lawsuit
Samsung Electronics this week filed a lawsuit against Nvidia and accused the company of infringing its intellectual property. It is believed that the company responded to Nvidia’s accusations of patent infringements that the company published in early September. Samsung accused Nvidia of infringing its semiconductor-related patents. According to a report …
Read More »Intel grabs No. 2 spot on the market of tablet SoCs in Q2 – analysts
Although Intel Corp.’s success on the market of application processors for smartphones deserves to be better, the company managed to become the world’s second largest supplier of system-on-chips for tablets, according to Strategy Analytics. The only company that ships more SoCs for slates is Apple, which only “ships” them to …
Read More »ARM: Mali graphics tech does not infringe Nvidia’s patents
Chief executive officer of ARM Holdings on Monday defended the company’s Mali graphics technology in connection to a patent suit by Nvidia Corp against Samsung Electronics and Qualcomm. The executive of the technology developer said his company will assist Samsung in its legal fight with Nvidia. Samsung uses ARM’s Mali …
Read More »Samsung Electronics set to fight Nvidia in court
Samsung Electronics has announced that it would fight Nvidia Corp. in court and will not give up. The consumer electronics giant did not outline any special plans, but it looks like the company is ready for a long legal battle against Nvidia. Samsung said it would take “all measures necessary” against …
Read More »Nvidia: Adreno, Mali and PowerVR SoCs infringe our patents
Nvidia Corp. on Thursday filed patent infringement complaints against Samsung and Qualcomm with both the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) and the U.S. District Court, in Delaware. The chip designer claims that virtually all modern graphics architectures used in mobile devices infringe its patents. As a result, Nvidia wants to …
Read More »JEDEC finalizes LPDDR4 standard, promises up to 4266MT/s data-rates
JEDEC, an organization that defines standards for computer memory, on Monday announced that it had finalized the LPDDR4, a next-generation standard for mobile DRAM [dynamic random access memory]. The new technology will enable data rates of up to 4266MT/s and will significantly boost performance of mobile devices, such as smartphones …
Read More »First mobile devices with LPDDR4 memory to emerge in 2015
Although Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have been sampling LPDDR4 memory for mobile devices for well over half of a year now, actual devices featuring the new type of low-power dynamic random access memory will not hit the market until the second half of next year. According to market analysts, …
Read More »Microsoft commands 94.5% of Windows Phone 8 smartphones market
It is not a secret that Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Phone platform is far from being truly popular. Even though formally it is supported by a dozen of vendors, many have not released anything based on the operating system. As a result, it is not surprising that the most popular Windows …
Read More »Sales of Nokia Lumia devices improve, but not significantly
Sales of Lumia branded smartphones on the second quarter of calendar 2014 were up sequentially and year-over-year, but remained generally low. Despite of efforts by Nokia Corp. and Microsoft Corp., sales of Windows Phone-based Lumia handsets are below shipments of Nokia's Symbian-based smartphones several years ago. Microsoft on Tuesday said …
Read More »MediaTek readies system-on-chip for high-end smartphones, tablets
For many years MediaTek has been a supplier of affordable system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for smartphones and inexpensive tablets. However, starting this year the company will start to offer higher-performance application processors aimed at mainstream devices. But MediaTek does not want to stop there. A leaked roadmap shows that next year the Hsinchu, …
Read More »Qualcomm acquires Wilocity, set to support up to 7Gb/s WiGig in various devices
Qualcomm Inc. on Wednesday said that it has completed acquisition of Wilocity, a leading developer of chipsets supporting the WiGig technology with multi-gigabit transfer rates. The company also said that it will offer platforms for various devices that will support the 60GHz wireless tech based on the IEEE 802.11ad standard. The …
Read More »Microsoft cancels Surface Mini media tablet
Microsoft Corp. has reportedly called off its plans to introduce Surface Mini media tablet. The company decided not to enter the market of smaller slates because it is already very crowded. Nonetheless, the software giant may reconsider its plans regarding smaller tablets if market conditions change. Microsoft was expected to …
Read More »Microsoft Mobile reveals Android-based Nokia X2 with new software
Microsoft Mobile on Thursday introduced Nokia X2, its new smartphone based on a modified version of Google Android operating system aimed at customers in budget. The new handset weds Windows Phone-like experience with Google Android applications. The device features numerous software and hardware enhancements compared to the original Nokia X1. …
Read More »Amazon unveils Fire smartphone: an ultimate tool to sell you things
Amazon on Wednesday unveiled its long-awaited smartphone. The device is called Fire and it comes with free cloud storage for photos, an auto stereoscopic 3D screen, the Dynamic Perspective software that allows to control the smartphone without touching it as well as the Firefly application that recognizes everything the owner …
Read More »Nokia X2 smartphone may feature two operating systems
It is not a secret that Microsoft Mobile is working on the second-generation Nokia X smartphone that was originally expected to be based on the heavily modified Google Android operating system and was projected to be sold mostly in developing countries. Apparently, the new Nokia X2 smartphone will not be …
Read More »Microsoft Mobile working on new Android-powered X smartphones
Microsoft Corp. does not have plans to discontinue Nokia X-branded smartphones that are based on the heavily-modified Google Android operating system. Furthermore, a media report claims that a team at Microsoft Mobile is already working on the next-generation X handsets featuring the same OS and some improvements. The Nokia X …
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