Apple's M-series chips frighten Intel, AMD, and Microsoft like nothing else can, as they have the potential to power MacBooks to grab a sizable share of the notebook market share. This is based squarely on the phenomenal performance/Watt on offer with Apple's chips. A user installed Windows 11 Arm on a virtual machine running on an M2-powered MacBook, opened up CPU-Z (which of course doesn't detect the chip since it's on a VM). They then ran a CPU-Z Bench session for a surprising result—a single-threaded score of 749.5 points, with a multithreaded score of 3822.3 points.

The single-thread score in particular is comparable to Intel's 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" chips (their "Golden Cove" P-cores); maybe not on the fastest Core i9-12900K, but of the mid-range Core i5 chips, such as the i5-12600. It's able to do this at a fraction of the power and heat output. It is on the backs of this kind of IPC that Apple is building bigger chips such as the M3 Pro and M3 Max, which are able to provide HEDT or workstation-class performance, again, at a fraction of the power.

Mid-January reportage indicated that LG and Samsung plants in South Korea had commenced construction of next-gen Apple iPad OLED parts—while expert analysis has predicted a second quarter launch of 11 and 13-inch "Pro" tablet models. Omdia—an independent analyst and consultancy firm—has compiled its Apple field research into a forecasted roadmap of various portable products. Company analysts believe that: "LG Display (LGD) and Samsung Display (SDC) are preparing to mass-produce RGB tandem stack and Hybrid OLEDs from their half-Gen 6 fabs. Apple also plans to launch the MacBook Pro with OLED displays in 2026. BOE, LGD, and SDC are preparing their fab investments to produce RGB tandem stack and hybrid OLEDs at half-Gen 8.7 fabs."

9to5Mac's insider network detected whispers of possible Apple tablet physical profile adjustments—suggesting that a larger next-gen iPad Air is in the pipeline, alongside a thinner iPad Pro design update: "(we) first reported last year that Apple has been working on two new versions of the iPad Air, codenamed J507 and J537. While one of these models will look pretty much like the current iPad Air, the other will have a larger display. If true, this will be the first time Apple will offer the iPad Air in two different sizes. And according to our sources, this larger iPad Air will have essentially the same dimensions as the current 12.9-inch iPad Pro, suggesting that the screen size will also be almost identical. The smaller iPad Air is unlikely to have any significant design changes."

Apple has just been hit with a massive €500 million fine by the European Union over a complaint filed by Spotify over anti-competitive practices. The crux of the complaint is that while Spotify subscriptions purchased on its website are competitive to those of Apple Music, subscriptions purchased on Apple devices via the App Store incur a 30% commission to Apple, which would result in Spotify having to increase its subscription prices, making Spotify lose competitiveness to Apple Music, which comes pre-installed on iOS devices, is deeply integrated with the operating system, and costs less. The Spotify complaint was filed with the European Commission way back in 2019, with the ruling coming out just now. Apple is already facing the EU's heat over barriers to App Store alternatives in the Epic Games case. The company is implementing several platform-level changes with the upcoming iOS 17.4 update scheduled for March 2024, as well as changes to its terms of service. Hopefully Spotify gets its due.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook, discussed planned generative AI software features during an early February earnings call: "As we look ahead, we will continue to invest in these and other technologies that will shape the future. That includes artificial intelligence, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort, and we're excited to share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year." His "prepared" statement did not provide any specific insights into involved technologies, but many iPhone experts believe that the upcoming release of iOS 18 could be "the biggest update" in Apple mobile operating system history. The American multinational technology giant is seemingly taking a relaxed approach with internal artificial intelligence developments—rival smartphone maker, Samsung, has already jumped into the on-the-go AI deep end with its recently launched Galaxy S24 series. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (for Galaxy) chipset is ready to take on all sorts of artificial intelligence-augmented tasks, while a next-gen ARM Cortex-X "Blackhawk" unit (leveraging "great" LLM performance) is in the pipeline for a late 2024 rollout.

Taiwan's Economic Daily News has reached out to insider contacts, albeit on the hardware side of things—their sources reckon that Apple is working on next generation processors that sport "significantly upgraded Neural Engine performance with additional cores." Tipsters believe that plans for 2024 include an effort to "significantly strengthen the AI computing power of the (existing) M3 and A17 processors," while the true "new generation" M4 and Bionic A18 chipsets will be augmented with greater AI computing core counts. Taiwan's top foundry is reportedly in the mix: "Apple has strengthened the AI computing performance of mobile devices and greatly increased the computing power of its own processors, which has simultaneously increased its wafer investment in TSMC. According to industry sources, Apple's wafer production volume for TSMC's 3 nm enhanced version process this year is expected to increase by more than 50% compared with last year, making it firmly the largest customer of TSMC."

A new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC) shows shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) PCs - personal computers with specific system-on-a-chip (SoC) capabilities designed to run generative AI tasks locally - growing from nearly 50 million units in 2024 to more than 167 million in 2027. By the end of the forecast, IDC expects AI PCs will represent nearly 60% of all PC shipments worldwide.

"As we enter a new year, the hype around generative AI has reached a fever pitch, and the PC industry is running fast to capitalize on the expected benefits of bringing AI capabilities down from the cloud to the client," said Tom Mainelli, group vice president, Devices and Consumer Research. "Promises around enhanced user productivity via faster performance, plus lower inferencing costs, and the benefit of on-device privacy and security, have driven strong IT decision-maker interest in AI PCs. In 2024, we'll see AI PC shipments begin to ramp, and over the next few years, we expect the technology to move from niche to a majority."

iFixit has finally posted photos of the Apple Vision Pro's inner bits, following on from the release of a video teardown (uploaded last week)—the American e-commerce and how-to website spent plenty of hours exploring the expensive mixed reality headset's "creepy" features, before breaking seals and deconstructing the device's highly complex interior. The iFixit teardown team have often complained about Apple computer products being notoriously difficult to deal with—the Vision Pro is no exception, but they eventually managed to isolate the headset's logic board. The onboard M2 octa-core chipset is identified as a APL1109/339S01081E part, while its assistant R1 sensor co-processor sports an APL1W08/339S01186 identifier. Micron has supplied 8 GB of LPDDR5 SDRAM memory (MT62F1G64D8WT-031 XT), and Kioxia has Apple covered with its K5A4RC2097 256 GB NAND flash.

Tech experts have spent time poring over iFixit's latest set of snaps, as laid out in their teardown guide—one such enthusiast, Yining Karl Li, posted an intriguing Apple Vision Pro Logic Board observation to social media: "There's this interesting shot of the main logic board (in Step 1). The R1 chip (in the red box) has interesting lines all over it dividing the surface into sub-boxes. Is the R1 chip using a chiplet design?" A small debate erupted from this quick inspection—one commenter believes that the co-processor is not all that fancy: "(it is) likely sporting low-latency fan-out memory," citing the presence of very faint horizontal and vertical lines. As pointed out by Wccftech, Li also presented a chiplet design example (for comparison purposes)—a close-up shot of Intel's Ponte Vecchio Xe-HPC GPU. The lines are a lot more pronounced on Team Blue's chip design.

Team Group, the global memory provider of top-of-the-line storage solutions, today announced the release of the MagSafe-compatible Team Group PD20M Magnetic External SSD. It is one of the lightest and thinnest MagSafe-related products on the market. Weighing merely 40 g and measuring only 0.82 cm, the PD20M is easy to grip and take on the go. You can attach it to a mobile device without any additional accessories, and its elegant curved design allows you to comfortably hold it in your hands.

The Team Group PD20M Magnetic External SSD has a magnetic strength of over 0.8 kg, making it able to snap on a mobile device instantly. The stylish and portable design allows users to store valuable data on their phones in a variety of situations. The PD20M Magnetic External SSD uses the USB Type-C interface and is compatible with most devices that use it. These include the Apple iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max smartphones, which have a maximum transfer speed of 10 Gbps. Able to store data in a flash, the PD20M delivers performance and convenience, making it the ideal solution for expanding storage capacity.

Apple's Vision Pro mixed reality headset is due to launch on February 2—many rival companies in the AR/VR market space will be taking notes once the slickly designed device (with a $3499 starting price) reaches customers. The Wall Street Journal claims that the executive team at Meta is hopeful that Apple's headset carves out a larger space within a niche segment. The latter's "more experimental" products sometimes have surprising reach, although it may take a second (i.e cheaper) iteration of the Vision Pro to reach a mainstream audience. Meta is reported to have invested around $50 billion into its Quest hardware and software development push—industry experts reckon that this product line generates only ~1% of the social media giant's total revenue.

Insider sources suggest that CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his leadership team are keen to see their big money "gamble" finally pay off—Apple's next release could boost global interest in mixed reality headsets. The Wall Street Journal states that Meta staffers "see the Quest and its software ecosystem emerging as a primary alternative to Apple in the space, filling the role played by Google's Android in smartphones." They hope that the Quest's relatively reasonable cost-of-entry will look a lot more attractive when compared to the premium Vision Pro. The report also shines a light on Meta's alleged push to focus more on mixed reality applications, since taking "inspiration" from Apple's WWDC23 presentation: "In addition, some developers are simplifying their apps and favor Apple's design that allows wearers to use their eyes and fingers to control or manipulate what they see. Meta's Quest primarily relies on the use of controllers for games or applications, although it can work with finger gestures."

A Taiwan Economic Daily news article proposes that a couple of high profile clients are considering TSMC's 2 nanometer process—Apple is widely believed to be the first customer to join the foundry's queue for cutting edge services. The report posits that Intel is also signed up on the Taiwanese firm's 2 nm reservation list—TSMC is expected to start production in 2025—insiders reckon that Team Blue's "Nova Lake" CPU family is the prime candidate here. Its CPU tile is alleged to utilize TSMC 2 nm node. Intel's recent "Core" processor roadmaps do not display any technologies beyond 2025—many believe that "Nova Lake" is pencilled in for a loose 2026 launch window, perhaps within the second half of the year.

The existence of "Nova Lake" was revealed late last year by HWiNFO patch notes—a short entry mentioned preliminary support for the family's integrated GPU. Intel is engaged in hyping up of its own foundry's 20A and 18A processes, but remain reliant on TSMC plants for various bits of silicon. Industry tipsters reckon that aspects of "Lunar Lake" CPUs are based on the Taiwanese foundry's N3B node. Team Blue Corporation and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) announced a new development partnership last week, but initial offerings will arrive on a relatively passé "12-nanometer semiconductor process platform." TSMC's very advanced foundry services seem to be unmatched at this juncture.

For Backbone's first-ever game collaboration, we've partnered with the legendary Kojima Productions to bring you the Backbone One - DEATH STRANDING Limited Edition controller. This collaboration commemorates the release of DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT for iOS. The Backbone One controller features custom product and packaging designs that blend the innovative design of the Backbone One with the artistic vision of Hideo Kojima and his award-winning title, DEATH STRANDING. Backbone One - DEATH STRANDING Limited Edition includes a free copy of DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT for iOS. Your complimentary copy of the game also gives you the ability to play it on iPad and Mac. The best way to experience DEATH STRANDING on your iPhone 15 is with Backbone! Tomorrow Is In Your Hands.

Designed in Partnership with Kojima Productions
Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind DEATH STRANDING and founder of Kojima Productions, is renowned for his innovative storytelling and game design approach. His collaboration with Backbone is a further testament to his vision of pushing the boundaries of gaming, blurring the lines between console and mobile experiences.

A DigiTimes Asia report posits that TSMC is preparing another VVIP foundry lane for Apple Inc.—insiders claim that the Taiwanese foundry giant is in the process of expanding production capacity into next generation 2 nm nanometer fields. This expensive and time consuming endeavor is only made possible with the reassurance of big customers being added to the foundry's order books. TSMC's 2 nm-class N2, N2P, and N2X process technologies are due in 2025 and beyond (according to recent presentation slides)—these advanced packages are set to drop with all sorts of innovations: nanosheet gate-all-around (GAA) transistors, backside power delivery, and super-high-performance metal-insulator-metal (SHPMIM). According to a DigiTimes source "Apple is widely believed to be the initial client to utilize the (next-gen) process."

Apple and NVIDIA were reported to be ahead of many important clients in the queue for TSMC's 3 nm process nodes, so it is not surprising to see old patterns repeat (according to industry rumors) again. Apple is expected to update its next generation iPhones, iPad, and Mac laptop product lines with more advanced Bionic and M-series chipsets in 2025. Last year's roster included a rollout of 3 nm TSMC silicon across Apple A17 Pro and M3 ARM-based processors.

New York-based security firm Trail of Bits has identified a security vulnerability with various GPU models, which include AMD, Qualcomm, and Apple. This vulnerability, named LeftoverLocals, could potentially allow attackers to steal large amounts of data from a GPU's memory. Mainstream client-GPUs form a sizable chunk of the hardware accelerating AI and LLMs, as they cost a fraction of purpose-built data-center GPUs, and are available in the retail market. Unlike CPUs, which have undergone extensive hardening against data leaks, GPUs were primarily designed for graphics acceleration and lack similar data privacy architecture. To our knowledge, none of the client GPUs use virtualization with their graphics memory. Graphics acceleration in general is a very memory sensitive application, and requires SIMD units to have bare-metal access to memory, with as little latency as possible.

First the good news—for this vulnerability to be exploited, it requires the attacker to have access to the target device with the vulnerable GPU (i.e. cut through OS-level security). The attack could break down data silos on modern computers and servers, allowing unauthorized access to GPU memory. The potential data breach could include queries, responses generated by LLMs, and the weights driving the response. The researchers tested 11 chips from seven GPU makers and found the vulnerability in GPUs from Apple, AMD, and Qualcomm. While NVIDIA, Intel, and Arm first-party GPUs did not show evidence of the vulnerability, Apple, Qualcomm, and AMD confirmed to wired that their GPUs are affected, and that they're working on a security response. Apple has released fixes for its latest M3 and A17 processors, but older devices with previous generations of Apple silicon remain vulnerable. Qualcomm is providing security updates, and AMD plans to offer mitigations through driver updates in March 2024.

Insider information emerging from an LG Display manufacturing plant points to OLED screen production ramping up in the coming months for fitting on next generation Apple iPad Pro models. According to Korea's The Elec, LG as well as rival Samsung's Display division are about to begin production on thin film transistor (TFT) layering for prosumer iOS-driven tablets. LG is allegedly contracted to manufacture upcoming 13-inch iPad Pro display tech, while Samsung is tasked with producing an 11-inch parts. The Korean report proposes that Apple is hoping to get its 13-inch and 11-inch OLED iPad Pro models into a mass production phase by March. Industry insiders think that M3 (ARM-based) chipsets are a natural choice to power these devices.

An Apple analyst—Ming-Chi Kuo—reckons that OLED-equipped iPad Pro models are scheduled for a second quarter 2024 launch, which lands anywhere between April to June. The multinational technology company had a sluggish 2023, in terms of hardware sales, and is likely keen to generate interest with its next-gen iPad Pro range—the addition of OLED technology (a first for Apple tablets) seems to be a key strategy. Mac Rumors believes that: "Apple's OLED iPad Pro shipments forecast for the year have reportedly decreased to 8 million units, down from the 10 million units that were projected for 2024 last year. The reduction is said to be a reflection of broadly sluggish performance across Apple's product lineup. Apple did not release any new iPad models last year, so it will be interesting to see if pent-up demand can offset poor sales."

Apple today announced Apple Vision Pro will be available beginning Friday, February 2, at all U.S. Apple Store locations and the U.S. Apple Store online. Vision Pro is a revolutionary spatial computer that transforms how people work, collaborate, connect, relive memories, and enjoy entertainment. Vision Pro seamlessly blends digital content with the physical world and unlocks powerful spatial experiences in visionOS, controlled by the most natural and intuitive inputs possible—a user's eyes, hands, and voice.

An all-new App Store provides users with access to more than 1 million compatible apps across iOS and iPadOS, as well as new experiences that take advantage of the unique capabilities of Vision Pro. Pre-orders for Apple Vision Pro begin Friday, January 19, at 5 a.m. PST. "The era of spatial computing has arrived," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Apple Vision Pro is the most advanced consumer electronics device ever created. Its revolutionary and magical user interface will redefine how we connect, create, and explore."

Intel Core Ultra "Meteor Lake" mobile processor may be the the company's most efficient, but isn't a generation ahead of the 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" mobile processors in terms of performance. This isn't just because it has an overall lower CPU core count in its H-segment of SKUs, but also because its performance cores (P-cores) actually post a generational reduction in IPC, as David Huang in his blog testing contemporary mobile processors found out, through a series of single-threaded benchmarks. Huang did a SPECint 2017 performance comparison of Intel's Core Ultra 7 155H, and Core i7-13700H "Raptor Lake," with AMD Ryzen 7 7840HS, 7840H "Phoenix, Zen 4," and Apple M3 Pro and M2 Pro.

In his testing, the 155H, an H-segment processor, was found roughly matching the "Zen 4" based 7840U and 7840HS; while the Core i7-13700H was ahead of the three. Apple's M2 Pro and M3 Pro are a league ahead of all the other chips in terms of IPC. To determine IPC, Huang tested all processors with only one core, and their default clock speeds, and divided SPECint 2017 scores upon average clock speed of the loaded core logged during the course of the benchmark. Its worth noting here that the i7-13000H notebook was using dual-channel (4 sub-channel) DDR5 memory, while the Core Ultra 7 155H notebook was using LPDDR5, however Huang remarks that this shouldn't affect his conclusion that there has been an IPC regression between "Raptor Lake" and "Meteor Lake."

Apple has been experimenting with Large Language Models (LLMs) that power most of today's AI applications. The company wants these LLMs to serve the users best and deliver them efficiently, which is a difficult task as they require a lot of resources, including compute and memory. Traditionally, LLMs have required AI accelerators in combination with large DRAM capacity to store model weights. However, Apple has published a paper that aims to bring LLMs to devices with limited memory capacity. By storing LLMs on NAND flash memory (regular storage), the method involves constructing an inference cost model that harmonizes with the flash memory behavior, guiding optimization in two critical areas: reducing the volume of data transferred from flash and reading data in larger, more contiguous chunks. Instead of storing the model weights on DRAM, Apple wants to utilize flash memory to store weights and only pull them on-demand to DRAM once it is needed.

Two principal techniques are introduced within this flash memory-informed framework: "windowing" and "row-column bundling." These methods collectively enable running models up to twice the size of the available DRAM, with a 4-5x and 20-25x increase in inference speed compared to native loading approaches on CPU and GPU, respectively. Integrating sparsity awareness, context-adaptive loading, and a hardware-oriented design pave the way for practical inference of LLMs on devices with limited memory, such as SoCs with 8/16/32 GB of available DRAM. Especially with DRAM prices outweighing NAND Flash, setups such as smartphone configurations could easily store and inference LLMs with multi-billion parameters, even if the DRAM available isn't sufficient. For a more technical deep dive, read the paper on arXiv here.

TSMC's 2 nm-class foundry node, dubbed N2, will enter mass production only in 2025, a report by the Financial Times says. The premier Taiwan-based foundry has been reportedly showcasing TSMC N2 to its biggest customer for advanced nodes, Apple. The node will likely power Apple's in-house silicon that drives the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max devices that are slated for 2025. This implies that the current 3 nm class nodes from TSMC will continue to power Apple silicon into 2024 and its iPhone 16 Pro/Pro Max.

The current Apple A17 Pro and M3 chips powering the iPhone 15 Pro/Max and the H2-2023 Macs are based on TSMC's N3 node, with a 183 MTr/mm² transistor density. TSMC has four other 3 nm-class nodes, with the N3E node that just entered mass production to offer a jump to 215.6 MTr/mm², and its 2024 successor, the N3P, pushing transistor densities further up to 224 MTr/mm². TSMC's first 2 nm-class node, the N2, offers a jump to around 259 MTr/mm², which makes the N3P a nice halfway point for Apple between the N3 and N2, for its 2024 silicon.

Binarly's research team has discovered a collection of security vulnerabilities known as "LogoFAIL", which affects image parsing components within the UEFI firmware of a wide array of devices. These vulnerabilities are especially concerning because they are embedded within the reference code provided by Independent BIOS Vendors (IBVs), affecting not just a single vendor but a broad spectrum of devices that utilize this code. LogoFAIL is particularly dangerous because it allows attackers to bypass crucial security measures such as Secure Boot and Intel Boot Guard by executing a payload during the device's boot process. This is achieved by storing malicious images on the EFI System Partition or within unsigned sections of firmware updates. This method can compromise system security deeply without altering the runtime integrity of the bootloader or firmware, unlike other threats such as BlackLotus or BootHole.

The potential reach of LogoFAIL vulnerability is rather wide, with millions of consumer and enterprise-grade devices from various vendors, including ones like Intel, Acer, and Lenovo, being vulnerable. The exact list of affected devices is still undetermined, but the prevalence of the IBVs' code across numerous devices suggests that the impact could be widespread, with both Windows and Linux users being affected. Only PCs that don't allow any logotype displayed in the UEFI during the boot process are safe. Apple's Macs are secure as they don't allow any add-on images during boot, and some OEM prebuilt PCs, like the ones from Dell, don't allow images in the UEFI. Some makers like Lenovo, AMI, and Insyde have already published notes about cautiously uploading custom images to the UEFI and providing BIOS updates. Consumers and enterprises must check with their OEMs and IBVs for BIOS microcode updates to patch against this vulnerability.Below, you can see the proof of concept in a YouTube video.

Apple has announced a partnership deal with Amkor, one of the leading chip packaging and testing manufacturers, which will build a two billion US Dollar silicon packaging facility in Peoria, Arizona. Being the only US-based OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) provider, Amkor has decided to invest its funds and apply for the CHIPS Act, hoping to get a part of the funding from the US government's grant budget. The state-of-the-art facility in Arizona will feature over 500,000 square feet (46,452 square meters) of cleanroom space for packaging and testing chips. Using Amkor's latest technologies, the plant will support advanced computing, automotive, and communications chip packaging. It is tailored to meet the capacity needs of major customer Apple starting in 2025-2026. Apple will be the largest customer, with the Amkor facility packaging Apple-designed chips produced at the nearby TSMC wafer fabrication plant.

Building a chip packaging facility in the US with advanced packaging types means that the domestic manufacturing of advanced silicon is now possible across almost the entire supply chain, with OSAT now being present on US soil as well. In the initial phase, this partnership will enable domestic advanced packaging capabilities for leading-edge chips down to 3 nm nodes, which Apple plans to utilize for its A and M series of processors. Along with the creation of an estimated 2,000 local jobs, the investment serves as a boost to the local economy as well. Additionally, Amkor is TSMC's strategic partner, meaning future designs and packaging will cooperate without any delays.

With the reality of high performance Arm processors from Apple and Qualcomm threatening Intel's market share in the client computing space, Intel is working on learner more PCB-efficient client SoCs that can take the fight to them, while holding onto the foundations of x86. The first such form-factor of processors are dubbed -MX. These are essentially -U segment processors with memory on package, to minimize PCB footprint. Intel has fully integrated the PCH into the processor chip with "Meteor Lake," with PCH functions scattered across the SoC and I/O tiles of the processor. An SoC package with dimensions similar to those of -UP4 packages meant for ultrabooks, can now cram main memory, so the PCBs of next-generation notebooks can be further compacted.

Intel had recently shown Meteor Lake-MX packages to the press as a packaging technology demonstration in its Arizona facility. It's unclear whether this could release as actual products, but in a leaked company presentation, confirmed that its first commercial outing will be with Lunar Lake-MX. The current "Alder Lake-UP4" package measures 19 mm x 28.5 mm, and is a classic multi-chip module that combines a monolithic "Alder Lake" SoC die with a PCH die. The "Meteor Lake-UP4" package measures 19 mm x 23 mm, and is a chiplet-based processor, with a Foveros base tile that holds the Compute (CPU cores), Graphics (iGPU), SoC and I/O (platform core-logic) tiles. The "Lunar Lake-MX" package is slightly larger than its -UP4 predecessors, measuring 27 mm x 27.5 mm, but completely frees up space on the PCB for memory.

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is an open-source resolution upscaling technology that takes lower-resolution input and uses super-resolution temporal upscaling technology, frame generation using AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF) technology, and built-in latency reduction technology to provide greater-resolution output images from lower-resolution settings. While the technology is open-source, it battles in market share with NVIDIA and the company's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). However, in the mobile space, there hasn't been much talk about implementing upscaling technology up until now. According to a popular leaker @Tech_Reve on X/Twitter, we have information that AMD is collaborating with Samsung and Qualcomm to standardize on upscaling technology implementations in mobile SoCs.

Not only does the leak imply that the AMD FSR technology will be used in Samsung's upcoming Exynos SoC, but some AMD ray tracing will be present as well. The leaker has mentioned Qualcomm, which means that future iterations of Snapdragon are up to adopt the FSR algorithmic approach to resolution upscaling. We will see how and when, but with mobile games growing in size and demand, FSR could come in handy to provide mobile gamers with a better experience. Primarily, this targets Android devices, which Qualcomm supplies, where Apple's iPhone recently announced MetalFX Upscaling technology with an A17 Pro chip.

Apple today unveiled the new 24-inch iMac featuring the amazing M3 chip, making the world's best all-in-one even more powerful and more capable. Thanks to the efficiency of Apple silicon, the new iMac delivers a huge leap in performance in its remarkably thin design and spectrum of seven vibrant colors that users love. iMac with M3 is up to 2x faster than the prior generation with M1.1 And for those upgrading from an Intel-based iMac, the new iMac is up to 2.5x faster than the most popular 27-inch models, and 4x faster than the most powerful 21.5-inch model. It also features an expansive 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels and over a billion colors, faster wireless connectivity, and a seamless experience with iPhone. Combined with its best-in-class camera, speakers, and mics, along with macOS Sonoma, iMac with M3 is better than ever—perfect for everyone, from families to small businesses, aspiring creatives, students, and gamers. Customers can order the new iMac starting today, with availability beginning Tuesday, November 7.

"We're excited to give iMac a big boost in performance with the M3 chip," said John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. "Millions of users absolutely love iMac for its stunning design and expansive 24-inch, 4.5K Retina display that's the perfect size to spread out with all their favorite apps and get things done. And now M3 brings even more speed to everything users do, whether multitasking, creating captivating images and videos, working on a business plan, or playing their favorite games. The new iMac with M3 is incredible for anyone, especially those who haven't yet upgraded from Intel, providing a giant leap in performance and capabilities only possible with Apple silicon."

Apple today announced a new MacBook Pro lineup featuring the all-new family of M3 chips: M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. With a next-generation GPU architecture and a faster CPU, the M3 family brings even more performance and remarkable new capabilities to MacBook Pro. The new 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 is not only great for everyday tasks, but also delivers phenomenal sustained performance in pro apps and games. Perfect for aspiring creatives, students, and entrepreneurs, it now starts at $1,599. The 14 and 16‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro provides even greater performance and additional unified memory support, enabling more demanding workflows for users like coders, creatives, and researchers. The 14 and 16‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max delivers performance and capabilities that push the limits of computing. With a monster GPU and a powerful CPU, along with support for up to 128 GB of unified memory, MacBook Pro with M3 Max enables extreme workflows and multitasking across pro apps for users like machine learning programmers, 3D artists, and video editors. M3 Pro and M3 Max models also now come in space black, a gorgeous dark aluminium finish.

All MacBook Pro models feature a brilliant Liquid Retina XDR display with 20 percent brighter SDR content, a built-in 1080p camera, an immersive six-speaker sound system, and a wide array of connectivity options. With up to 22 hours of battery life, the lineup offers the ultimate in pro portability, delivering the same performance whether plugged in or on battery, so users can take their workflows anywhere. Customers can order the new MacBook Pro starting today, with availability beginning November 7.

Apple today announced M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, three chips featuring groundbreaking technologies that deliver dramatically increased performance and unleash new capabilities for Mac. These are the first personal computer chips built using the industry-leading 3-nanometer process technology, allowing more transistors to be packed into a smaller space and improving speed and efficiency. Together, M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max show how far Apple silicon for the Mac has come since the debut of the M1 family of chips.

The M3 family of chips features a next-generation GPU that represents the biggest leap forward in graphics architecture ever for Apple silicon. The GPU is faster and more efficient, and introduces a new technology called Dynamic Caching, while bringing new rendering features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading to Mac for the first time. Rendering speeds are now up to 2.5x faster than on the M1 family of chips. The CPU performance cores and efficiency cores are 30 percent and 50 percent faster than those in M1, respectively, and the Neural Engine is 60 percent faster than the Neural Engine in the M1 family of chips. And, a new media engine now includes support for AV1 decode, providing more efficient and high-quality video experiences from streaming services. The M3 family of chips continues the tremendous pace of innovation in Apple silicon, and brings massive enhancements and new features to the new MacBook Pro and iMac.

According to sources close to Reuters, NVIDIA is reportedly developing its custom CPUs based on Arm instruction set architecture (ISA), specifically tailored for the client ecosystem, also known as PC. NVIDIA has already developed an Arm-based CPU codenamed Grace, which is designed to handle server and HPC workloads in combination with the company's Hopper GPU. However, as we learn today, NVIDIA also wants to provide CPUs for PC users and to power Microsoft's Windows operating system. The push for more vendors of Arm-based CPUs is also supported by Microsoft, which is losing PC market share to Apple and its M-series of processors.

The creation of custom processors for PCs that Arm ISA would power makes the decades of x86-based applications either obsolete or in need of recompilation. Apple allows users to emulate x86 applications using the x86-to-Arm translation layer, and even Microsoft allows it for Windows-on-Arm devices. We are left to see how NVIDIA's solution would compete in the entire market of PC processors, which are expected to arrive in 2025. Still, the company could make some compelling solutions given its incredible silicon engineering history and performant Arm design like Grace. With the upcoming Arm-based processors hitting the market, we expect the Windows-on-Arm ecosystem to thrive and get massive investment from independent software vendors.