Softbank, the owner of Arm Ltd., is preparing everything it can to ensure a successful initial public offering (IPO) of Arm. However, ahead of the IPO, we have more information about Arm's plans to change its licensing and pricing structures to collect more royalties and ensure higher cash flow for future investors. Currently, Arm licenses technology in the form of intellectual property (IP), usually in different flavors of Cortex-A CPU cores that go inside processors for phones and laptops. Chipmakers that use the IP have additional expenses such as Arm ISA license fee and per-chip royalty, which is based on the chip's average selling price.

However, according to Financial Times, we have a new pricing structure that changes how Arm bills its partners and customers. From now on, Arm will grant licenses to chipmakers and ask them to only ship to device makers with an agreement with Arm. Additionally, these device makers now pay per-device royalty based on the device's average selling price (ASP). This ensures that Arm's fee applies to the higher margin product, which means that ultimately Arm will collect more cash flow from its customers and partners. Currently, the old model charges around 1-2 percents per chip in each smartphone, considering the ASP of smartphone chips to be $40 for Qualcomm, $17 for MediaTek, and $6 for Unisoc. However, taking the ASP of a mobile phone at $335, as recorded in 2022, the fee would be much higher. People familiar with the matter noted that Arm will apply this pricing structure as early as 2024. Apple and Samsung are not impacted by this change, as both companies enjoy their own agreements with Arm.

Jabra, leader in personal sound and hybrid work solutions, today launched the Elite 4, the latest addition to its flagship Elite lineup. Following in the footsteps of the entry-level Elite 3, the new true wireless earbuds offer an elevated experience from its predecessor, ideal for the modern earbud user seeking advanced features at an affordable price.

The Elite 4 has been tailored to provide comfort, optimal sound and convenience. For users that need to connect to two different devices simultaneously, the Jabra Elite 4 offers Bluetooth Multipoint, facilitating smooth and stress-free switching, without skipping a beat. The initial pairing of earbuds to a device is simple, with Fast Pair connecting instantly to a mobile device and Swift Pair linking straight to a laptop or computer.

IBASE Technology Inc., a global leader in the manufacture of embedded computing products, has launched the new RM-QCS610 SMARC 2.1 compliant module powered by an Octa-core Qualcomm QCS610 SoC and designed for the creation of devices with edge artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning capabilities such as vision-enhanced drones, advanced intelligent conferencing cameras, and smart robots.

"The low cost, low power RM-QCS610 offers high performance for devices with edge AI capabilities that have grown in popularity in the last few years," explained Albert Lee, Executive Vice President at IBASE. "The module is our first Qualcomm-based platform. It provides flexible I/O interfaces and brings powerful visual edge computing to accelerate AI across devices with sensors or cameras to collect and process information, make decisions, and perform tasks in the same location in applications including traffic data collection and analysis, computer vision in manufacturing, and automated security validation."

One of the biggest issues with TWS and any other kind of wireless headphones for that matter, is limited support for various audio codecs, where many rely on the not so great SBC codec or AAC, simply because these are two codes that are supported by most of the devices that the headphones would be connected to. When it comes to smartphones, Qualcomm is by far the biggest chipset provider and as it happens, Qualcomm is also the owner of the various aptX audio codecs that many headphones support. Up until very recently, the phone makers had to pay a royalty fee to include support for the aptX codecs even if they used Qualcomm's chips in their phones and thus some companies—Samsung for example—decided not to include support for aptX.

Now it has come to light that just like Sony with its LDAC codec, Qualcomm has decided to add support for aptX to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which means all Android devices can support aptX as well as aptX HD without paying any royalty fees. However, more advanced versions of aptX, such as aptX Adaptive and the rarely used low latency version of aptX are not included. That said, headphone makers will still have to pay a royalty fee to Qualcomm, although there doesn't appear to be any headphones on the market that support aptX that aren't based on a Qualcomm or one of the older CSR chipsets from the time before Qualcomm acquired them. On the other hand, Sony's LDAC codec is used by a wide range of headphones, of which none rely on a Sony chipset. Regardless, this should be good news for consumers, who will be the ones reaping the benefits from this change in the long term.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. announced the new Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 Mobile Platform—delivering premium experiences brand new to the Snapdragon 7-series. Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 provides exceptional CPU and GPU performance fueling swift, nonstop gaming, dynamic low-light photography and 4K HDR videography, AI-enhanced experiences and high-speed 5G and Wi-Fi connectivity.

"Snapdragon is synonymous with premium mobile experiences. Today's launch of the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 illustrates our ability to bring some of the most in-demand flagship features to our Snapdragon-7 series—making them accessible to more people," said Christopher Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "We are committed to delivering the most innovative solutions to meet the needs of consumers, our customers, and the industry at large."

It's been a busy week for embedded computers and SBCs with Embedded World 2023 going on. While a lot of larger brands have taken the focus during this time there has also been activity at the hobbyist level, specifically in the realm of Raspberry Pi clones. One of these that looks to be something of a novelty is the ThunderBERRY5 from French company MakeMyBOARD. This SBC claims to be, "the first Raspberry Pi-like SBC based on Qualcomm AI-CPU," and it features a combination of Qualcomm's 8-core QCS610 SoC and an RP2040 microcontroller. MakeMyBOARD's AI claims stem from the Qualcomm SoC's built-in Hexagon 685 DSP which supports dual vector extensions for their Neural Processing SDK and deep neural network models. The previously mentioned RP2040 fits to the board via the USB2 root and hosts the 40-pin HAT connector as well as an auxiliary debugging header.

Unlike most Pi clones on the market utilizing low-cost, lower performing processors, the ThunderBERRY5 looks like it may trounce the Pi 4 B in raw CPU power as the QCS610's Kryo 460 processor features a 2+6 core configuration: two "Gold" cores at 2.2 GHz and six "SIlver" cores at 1.8 GHz. On paper this looks to have quite the advantage over the aging Pi 4 B's 1.8 GHz quad-core Broadcom BCM2711. More important than beating the Pi 4 in performance would be beating it in availability as the tiny SBC is as hard to find in stock as it is ubiquitous even many years later. On this front there is little info from MakeMyBOARD as no availability date or price information has yet been released. Still, if you were hoping for a higher performance Pi-like SBC with AI acceleration capabilities and features, this may be something to keep an eye on.

Kernel information for a chipset code-named 'Quadra' has been leaked by Home IT. It appears that this SoC is under development at Samsung Electronics, and could be featured in the company's next generation flagship smartphone range. The recently released Galaxy S23 smartphone series is powered by Qualcomm's cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which ended up being a fine choice for the end user. This was not an ideal partnership for the semiconductor giant, considering its constant push to promote internally developed hardware.

Industry experts have praised Samsung for not integrating an Exynos processor into this generation of devices, including regional model variations, but that has not stopped the company's persistent development cycle of proprietary mobile CPUs. Rumors point to a collaboration with Google, and the Exynos 2300 SoC looks to form the basis of the latter's next generation Tensor G3 chipset. The leak reveals that the standard 2300 has been designed as a 1+4+4 core configuration, comprised of four performance cores, four efficiency cores, and one super core.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced the world's first integrated 5G IoT processors that are designed to support four major operating systems, in addition to two new robotics platforms, and an accelerator program for IoT ecosystem partners. These new innovations will empower manufacturers participating in the rapidly expanding world of devices at the connected intelligent edge.

The need for connected, intelligent, and autonomous devices is growing rapidly, and it is expected to hit $116 billion by 2030 according to Precedence Research. Businesses attempting to compete in this fast-moving economy need a reliable source of control and connectivity technology for their IoT and robotic devices. Qualcomm Technologies, which has shipped over 350 million dedicated IoT chipsets, is uniquely capable of providing manufacturers with the platforms needed to address this expanding segment.

DFI, a global leader in embedded motherboards and industrial computers, today announced that they will be participating in Embedded World 2023 and joining Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to showcase the world's first SBC equipped with the high-performance Qualcomm QRB5165 processor. With high integration capability and anti-vibration features, the product can be applied in fields such as industrial automation and AMR. It is expected to increase the overall AI edge computing efficiency and bring more capabilities to the industry.

For the first time during the three-day Embedded World 2023 exhibition, DFI will integrate the QRB551 industrial-grade motherboard built with the Qualcomm Robotics RB5 platform with 5G connectivity and AMR requirements. The solution will be applied to a smart factory environment while executing appearance recognition, defect detection, and human body posture recognition, which are commonly seen in industrial automation.

According to TrendForce's latest survey of the global foundry market, electronics brands began adjusting their inventories in 2Q22, but foundries were unable to rapidly adapt to this development because they reside in the more upper portion of the supply chain. Moreover, revising procurement quantities of long-term foundry contracts takes time as well. Hence, only some tier-2 and -3 foundries were able to immediately respond to the changes in their clients' demand. Also, among them, 8-inch wafer foundries made a more pronounced reduction in their capacity utilization rates. As for the remaining foundries, the downward corrections that they made to their capacity utilization rates did not become noticeable until 4Q22. Hence, in 4Q22, the quarterly total revenue of the global top 10 foundries registered a QoQ decline for the first time after 13 consecutive quarters of positive growth. The quarterly total revenue of the top 10 foundries came to US$33,530 million, reflecting a drop of 4.7% from 3Q22. Moving into 1Q23, TrendForce projects that the quarterly total revenue of the top 10 will show an even steeper drop on account of seasonality and the uncertain macroeconomic situation.

Meta has announced a price cut for its Quest 2 256 GB and Quest Pro VR headsets, reducing the price by $80 and $500, respectively. The latest price cut puts the Meta Quest 2 256 GB at $429 and the Quest Pro at $999.99.

Unfortunately, Meta is still keeping the price of the Quest 2 128 GB VR headset at $399.99, which now puts it in a rather difficult position. Bear in mind that the Meta Quest 2 VR headset does not feature support for microSD cards, so $30 gets you double the storage, making the slightly more expensive model a better deal.

MSI, a world leading gaming solution provider, proudly presents its new lineup of networking products—the RadiX AXE6600 WiFi 6E tri-band gaming router, the RadiX AX6600 WiFi 6 tri-band gaming router, and the AX1800 WiFi USB adapter. MSI aims to provide gamers with a home network that is ultra-fast, has low latency, and with no jitter.

Upgrade your gaming experience
The RadiX AXE6600 and RadiX AX6600 are powerful tri-band gaming routers that each can deliver combined speeds of up to 6600 Mbps. An integrated 1.8 GHz quad-core CPU from Qualcomm and advanced networking hardware has been designed to prevent jitter, reduce lag, lower ping, and sustain incredible speed for online gaming.

Qualcomm Technologies' 6th generation modem-to-antenna solution is the first ready to support 5G Advanced, the next phase of 5G. It introduces a new architecture, a new software suite and includes numerous world's first features to push the boundaries of connectivity including coverage, latency, power efficiency and mobility. Snapdragon X75 technologies and innovations empower OEMs to create next generation experiences across segments including smartphones, mobile broadband, automotive, compute, industrial IoT, fixed wireless access and 5G private networks.

Snapdragon X75 is the first Modem-RF System with a dedicated hardware tensor accelerator, Qualcomm 5G AI Processor Gen 2, enabling over 2.5 times better AI performance compared to Gen 1 and introduces Qualcomm 5G AI Suite Gen 2 with new AI-powered optimizations to achieve better speeds, coverage, mobility, link robustness and location accuracy. The Qualcomm 5G AI Suite features advanced AI-based capabilities including world's first sensor-assisted mmWave beam management and AI-enhanced GNSS Location Gen 2, which uniquely optimize Snapdragon X75 for superior 5G performance.

The global PC market has been experiencing a demand downtrend after the cooling down of COVID-19 in 2022. The market saw its shipments decline 15% YoY in 2022 and is expected to see another high single-digit decline in 2023, according to Counterpoint Research's data. However, among all the PC sub-sectors, Arm-based laptops are expected to show a comparatively resilient demand throughout the coming quarters thanks to Apple's success with the MacBook series, increasing ecosystem support and vanishing performance gap with x86 offerings.

Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. today announced Snapdragon X35 5G Modem-RF System, the world's first 5G NR-Light modem-RF system. NR-Light, a new class of 5G, fills the gap in between high-speed mobile broadband devices and extremely low-bandwidth NB-IoT devices. NR-Light devices, powered by Snapdragon X35, can be smaller, more cost-efficient, and provide longer battery life than traditional mobile broadband devices.

With its optimized design and breakthrough performance, Snapdragon X35 offers a device platform that bridges the complexity and capability gap between the extremes in 5G today and addresses the need for mid-tier use cases. This lower cost option provides device makers with a long-term migration path to replace LTE CAT4+ devices, ultimately increasing 5G adoption and allowing for faster transition to a unified 5G network.

EnGenius Technologies Inc., a leading provider of networking solutions for any sized businesses, today announced the launch of the ENH500-AX, a Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 5 GHz 2x2 outdoor wireless point to point client bridge. This innovative new product takes advantage of the latest Wi-Fi technology to deliver high-density transmissions between buildings and large outdoor properties without needing the complexity or costs of fiber cables. The EnGenius Wi-Fi 6 outdoor bridge boasts Wi-Fi 6 capabilities and features that significantly improve throughput, efficiency, and accommodates 8k ultra-HD video and heavy multi-application traffic with extended bandwidth over greater distances.

The ENH500-AX "invisible wire" bridge comes with Qualcomm Quad-Core ARM Cortex A53s @ 2.0 GHz CPU and is a game-changer for businesses looking to connect multiple buildings or extend their networks to outdoor spaces without the expense of running fiber cables. Designed for peak performance in harsh climates, EnGenius Fit Wi-Fi 6 outdoor access points feature IP55-rated waterproof and dustproof enclosures ensuring they can withstand harsh outdoor environments.

An entirely new TWS earbud flagship that combines an industry-first LE Audio technology, the latest Qualcomm chip, Bluetooth 5.3, and low-latency aptX certification in an all-new elegant metallic texture body. Award-winning wireless audio company EarFun will launch their upcoming TWS earbud flagship, the Air Pro 3, making it the world's first ANC wireless earbuds to debut highly-efficient LE-Audio Bluetooth architecture. The Air Pro 3's combination of features, design, and specs puts premium audio and the latest advances in Bluetooth technology into the hands of everyday people who want to focus on their work and elevate their daily soundtrack.

Incredible Sound, Quietly
Adopting next-generation Bluetooth technology, the Air Pro 3 features LE Audio with the new audio codec LC3. This delivers an impressively-low power consumption, but with a significant improvement in sound quality over the common SBC codec during low-battery states. In fact, the bass response becomes guttural, powerful. The sound overall is simply superior. Paired with the QuietSmart 2.0 Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation system, the Air Pro 3 silences the outside world up to 43dB. In addition, the sound of wind shear is subdued with an Anti-Wind Noise algorithm that works every millisecond.

Samsung Electronics today unveiled the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23, marking a new era of Samsung Galaxy's ultimate premium phone experience. Samsung Galaxy's epic camera gives users more freedom to explore their creativity, like capturing truly cinematic Nightography videos with transformative AI. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy unleashes premium experiences, including groundbreaking AI, future-ready mobile gaming feature and powerfully sustained game play with the world's fastest mobile graphics. On the Galaxy S23 Ultra, an embedded S Pen that many long-time Samsung Galaxy users know and love offers more possibilities for productivity, notetaking, hobbies and more. All the Galaxy S23 series' new standard-setting innovations are housed within a striking design that advances the company's sustainability commitment with more components made using recycled materials than any other Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

"The value of impactful technology is measured, not just by what it enables for people today, but also how it contributes to a better future," said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience Business at Samsung Electronics. "The entire Galaxy S23 series is the new standard-bearer of trustworthy premium smartphone experiences. We're on a mission to redefine peak performance by bringing together powerful, lasting innovations and sustainability."

Lenovo announced today at Information Systems Europe (ISE 2023) in Barcelona the all new ThinkSmart View Plus running Microsoft Teams display, a standalone collaboration display with premium audio, video, and whiteboarding features. The smart collaboration solution is purpose built for hot desking, phone booths, executive desks and home office use cases. Also joining the portfolio of smart collaboration solutions are the newly announced Lenovo IP Controller for collaboration spaces and the newly available ThinkSmart One.

ThinkSmart View Plus
As the way people work continues to evolve, it is vital to stay connected and engaged, regardless of how and where they work. The innovative ThinkSmart View Plus running Microsoft Teams display is a solution that enables hybrid work by increasing productivity, flexibility, and collaboration through its personal and hotdesking experiences.

Qualcomm has been working on its Snapdragon SoCs for quite some time now, with massive success in the mobile phone space. However, the company's processors needed to be up to the task regarding laptops. For a user to not look at x86 offerings, the only remaining performant alternatives are Apple's M processors. In 2021 Qualcomm purchased the Nuvia team that was developing massively efficient and high-performance IP for laptops, similar to Apple M processors. Today, according to the insights from Kuba Wojciechowski (@Za_Raczke) on Twitter, we have some potential information about the upcoming Nuvia-powered SoC codenamed Hamoa.

According to the Twitter thread, Qualcomm's Hamoa processors are part of the Snapdragon 8xc Gen 4 compute platform and feature up to eight high-performance P-cores and four low-power E-cores, all based on Nuvia's IP. Allegedly the P-cores are being tested at 3.4 GHz, while the E-cores are tested at 2.5 GHz. The SoC splits CPU cores into blocks, each being a four-core group with 12 MB of shared L2 cache. There is also an 8 MB L3 cache structure; it needs to be clarified whether it is per core block or for the entire SoC. The chip employs 12 MB of system-level cache, with 4 MB of memory for graphics-related tasks handled by iGPU. The iGPU of choice is Adreno 740, with all modern APIs supported. Discrete graphics solutions are supported by the top-end SKUs, which allow eight PCIe 4.0 lanes to be directed toward dGPU, along with an additional four PCIe 4.0 lanes for NVMe SSD. For RAM, the chip uses up to 64 GBs of LPDDR5X eight-channel memory with up to 4.2 GHz speeds. Chip's media engines are structured to support decoding up to 4K120 and encode up to 4K60 with AV1.

TrendForce's recent analysis of the foundry market reveals that demand continues to slide for all types of mature and advanced nodes. The major IC design houses have cut wafer input for 1Q23 and will likely scale back further for 2Q23. Currently, foundries are expected to maintain a lower-than-ideal level of capacity utilization rate in the first two quarters of this year. Some nodes could experience a steeper demand drop in 2Q23 as there are still no signs of a significant rebound in wafer orders. Looking ahead to the second half of this year, orders will likely pick up for some components that underwent an inventory correction at an earlier time. However, the state of the global economy will remain the largest variable that affect demand, and the recovery of individual foundries' capacity utilization rates will not occur as quickly as expected. Taking these factors into account, TrendForce currently forecasts that global foundry revenue will drop by around 4% YoY for 2023. The projected decline for 2023 is more severe when compared with the one that was recorded for 2019.

Jabra, leader in personal sound and office solutions, is showcasing its extensive true wireless range at CES with the latest additions to its Elite, Evolve and Enhance series. Jabra Elite 5 is the newest product to Jabra's flagship Elite line-up, featuring Hybrid ANC and 6-mic call technology for powerful calls and music from anywhere. Jabra Evolve2 Buds, the newest product in Jabra's Evolve series, are earbuds designed for flexible, hybrid and remote working. Jabra Enhance Plus, offered in the new over-the-counter hearing aid category, enables hearing enhancement, music and calls in a miniaturized true wireless form factor.

All three products have been named honorees in the 2023 CES Innovation Awards, with Jabra Elite 5 and Evolve2 Buds as honorees in the personal audio and headphones category and Jabra Enhance Plus as an honoree in the digital health category.

On the day of TSMC's celebration of the mass production start of its 3 nm node, news out of Taiwan suggests that all of its top 10 customers have cut their orders for 2023. However, the cuts are unlikely to affect its new node, but rather its existing nodes, with the 7 and 6 nm nodes said to be hit the hardest, by as much as a 50 percent utilisation reduction in the first quarter of 2023. The 28 nm and 5 and 4 nm nodes are also said to be affected, although it's unclear by how much at this point in time.

Revenue is expected to fall by at least 15 percent in the first quarter of 2023 for TSMC, based on numbers from DigiTimes. The fact that TSMC has increased its 2023 pricing by six percent should at least help offset some of the potential losses for the company, but it all depends on the demand for the rest of the year. Demand for mobile devices is down globally, which is part of the reason why so many of TSMC's customers have cut back their orders, as Apple, Qualcomm and Mediatek all produce their mobile SoCs at TSMC. Add to this that the demand for computers and new computer components are also down, largely due to the current pricing and TSMC is in for a tough time next year.

Global market intelligence firm TrendForce reports that the revenue generation momentum of the global IC design industry slowed down in 3Q22. The main factors behind this development were the Russia-Ukraine military conflict, the recent COVID-19 lockdowns in China, the ongoing inflation, and clients undergoing inventory corrections. The total revenue of the global top 10 IC design houses came to US$37.38 billion for 3Q22, showing a QoQ decline of 5.3%. Qualcomm remained first place in the ranking of the global top 10 IC design houses by revenue for 3Q22. Broadcom returned to second place by overtaking NVIDIA and AMD, who slipped to third and fourth respectively due to weakening demand for PCs and cryptocurrency mining machines.

Regarding US-based IC design houses that were in the top 10 group for 3Q22, Qualcomm recorded a QoQ increase for the sales of smartphone SoCs and 5G modem chips. It also made gains in the automotive electronics market by expanding its collaborations with partners in the automotive industry. As a result, Qualcomm's 3Q22 revenue figures for mobile and automotive offerings reflected QoQ increases of 6.8% and 22.0% respectively. The revenue growth of these two major product categories offset the marginal decline in the revenue for RF front-end chips. Qualcomm's IC design revenue as a whole climbed up by 5.6% QoQ to US$9.90 billion for 3Q22. The company sat firmly at the top of the ranking.

Robo&Kala, a cutting edge global technology brand and revolutionary pioneer in the computer and laptop industry, has announced the launch of their premiere product, Robo&Kala 2-in-1 laptop that outpaces all others on the market in regard to efficiency, battery life, portability and affordability.

"The world is changing rapidly, but the laptop field has remained relatively stagnant in recent years and has failed to keep pace with the times," said Robin Ma, founder and CEO of Robo&Kala. "There are 2 billion Windows users in the world, and we must provide them with products that are portable, productive, affordable and with excellent configuration. With a thickness of 7.3 mm, weighing 690 g, and equipped with 20 hours of battery life, an ultra-clear touch OLED display, and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen3 - the world's first 5 nanometer Window PC platform on ARM architecture - that's where Robo&Kala's laptop comes in."