The late 2024 news cycle suggested that Samsung's semiconductor business was going through tough times. Alleged yield problems—affecting the 3 nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process—were highlighted last November. Fast-forward to January 2025; the South Korean megacorp has launched its cutting-edge Galaxy S25 smartphone series. The entire lineup of newly unveiled flagship smartphones contains Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile chipsets; the Southern Californian chip designer is reportedly pulling in a tidy sum from this partnership. Fresh reports from South Korean news outlets indicate that Samsung System LSI employees have received an "encouraging" email from their boss, regarding current production predicaments.

Businesskorea and Sedaily reports include quotes extracted from the (apparently) leaked internal memo. LSI division president, Park Yong-in, reportedly stated: "we are currently in a situation where we have to develop two flagship products at the same time." Both articles allege that Samsung's semiconductor teams are expected to "cultivate roots and withstand storms." Industry watchdogs believe that the aforementioned "flagship products" are the Exynos 2500 mobile chipset, and Samsung Electronic's next-gen Galaxy S26 smartphone family. Earlier this month, we heard whispers about the much-delayed in-house chip design being readied (with a 2 nm process) for a possible late 2025 launch, inside unannounced Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Fold 7 devices. Park disclosed anticipated incoming obstacles in 2025: "last year's business division profit was higher than expected, but this was a temporary phenomenon...Looking at the entire business division, there will be monthly surpluses and deficits." Last month, inside sources proposed the notion that foundry investments were slashed in half.

We have noticed an uptick of AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D-related leaks in mid-to-late February; suggesting an imminent launch. Officially, a Q1 release window was set by Team Red leadership during their CES 2025 presentation, and further disclosures pointed to a loose March window. Earlier today, Golden Pig Upgrade disclosed NDA-busting information—the veteran leaker believes that AMD will be lifting global Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU review embargoes on March 11. VideoCardz jumped on this unofficial announcement, and reached out to industry insiders. The anonymous contacts reported back; they allege that a March 12 retail release is on the cards.

It is believed that the 16-core and 12-core X3D-equipped "Granite Ridge" Ryzen 9 desktop chips will roll out on the same day (March 12). Coincidentally, Golden Pig Upgrade reckons that Intel's Core Ultra 200HX "Arrow Lake" mobile processor series will launch alongside Team Red's high-end gaming duo. The latter two are touted to attract the majority of press attention on day one. As pointed out by VideoCardz, the release of Radeon RX 9070 GPUs is—speculatively—scheduled a week in advance of AMD's expansion of its Ryzen 9000X3D lineup. Early last week, price points were leaked—courtesy of accidental Newegg listings: $699.99 for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, and $599.99 for the 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X3D.

Loongson Technology has announced its next-generation 3B6600 processor—according to recent Chinese press reports, early details were disclosed in "investor relations activity" documentation. Their eight-core design is still in development, with the fabless company (allegedly) setting some lofty performance goals. According to a MyDrivers report (citing Fast Technology), the 3B6600 processor's single-core and multi-core "high level" performance is touted to match that of Core i5 and i7 offerings from Intel's 12th and 13th Generation portfolios. In the past, Loongson has compared its older products to Western equivalents. Last year, their 3A6000 chip design was mentioned in the same sentence as "AMD Zen 4 and Intel Raptor Lake" processor families. Around November 2023, reports had it approximating Team Blue Core i3-10100 "Comet Lake" CPU performance.

The next-gen 3B6600 CPU is supposedly using its predecessor (3A6000) as a springboard; MyDrivers believes that the same in-house LoongArch ISA design (fabricated on 12 nm/14 nm) will be revisited. The publication highlighted a significant area of optimization: "single-core performance of 3B6600 is expected to be in the world's leading ranks...Loongson 3B6600 will continue to use mature technology, and the architecture core will be upgraded to the new LA864. The same frequency performance is greatly improved by about 30%, compared with the Loongson 3A6000's LA664 architecture." Loongson engineers are reportedly targeting a maximum turboboost frequency of 3.0 GHz, but under normal operation the 3B6600 chip is predicted to offer a main frequency of 2.5 GHz. The new design will integrate a new "LG200 GPGPU" graphics computing core—additionally, supported standards include: DDR5 memory, PCIe 4.0 bus, and HDMI 2.1.

Last week, graphics card industry watchdogs alerted the wider hardware public to a registration of XFX Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 custom design SKUs in South Korea. The recent leak points to an upcoming release of unannounced RDNA 4 -based SWIFT and QUICKSILVER models; XFX's official website does not list anything newer than its current Radeon RX 7000 series offerings. Based on a fresh momomo_us social media post, Amazon's South Korean branch has accidentally published product pages for Radeon RX 9070 (non-XT) 16 GB SWIFT and QUICKSILVER cards. Related imagery and a single screenshot were preserved and then shared online; we are looking at very minimal black shroud and backplate designs.

TechPowerUp handled a similarly dark-tinted XFX demonstration sample at CES 2025, but the latest leaked models do not visually match with this "premium black" preview unit. The Radeon RX 9070 QUICKSILVER's backplate appears to utilize the exact same backplate design, but its shroud's aesthetic setup is more elaborate (lots of angular surfaces). The CES "premium white" sample's overall shape and profile align with the leaked SWIFT model. XFX's black and white options were listed by a Canadian e-tailer, a week ago. momomo_us's single screen capture points to alleged XFX Radeon RX 9070 SWIFT SKU clock speeds—apparently, its Amazon page was adorned with the following info points: 1400 MHz (base), 2210 MHz (game), and 2700 MHz (boost). As interpreted by VideoCardz, this is a factory-overclocked unit—PowerColor's Red Devil RX 9070 card shares the exact same clock settings.

Last December, details of NVIDIA's RTX GeForce 50-series of mobile GPUs leaked online—fast-forward to the present day; Team Green and hardware partners are touted to release higher-end devices at some point next month, following a pre-order period. Lower-end offerings seem to be distant prospects; industry moles suggest a May launch window. Last week rumors emerged online; notebook supply chain insiders reckon that a "significant delay" will affect initial shipments of GeForce RTX 50-equipped laptops. It is not clear whether these issues will impact the rumored GeForce RTX 5060 and RTX 5050 mobile models, but HP has accidentally confirmed that an updated Victus laptop will utilize the aforementioned budget-friendly GPUs.

VideoCardz has preserved an intriguing screenshot. Their report alleges that a refreshed HP Victus 15 laptop variant (FA2) utilizes Intel 13th Gen "Raptor Lake" processors, paired with unannounced "hybrid graphics" options. HP's product component list includes last-gen Core 7 240H, Core 5 230H, Core i7-13620H, and Core i5-13420H processor SKUs. Older configurations of this 15.6" gaming laptop sported mobile GeForce RTX 4050, RTX 3050, RTX 3050A, and RTX 2050 GPUs. The leaked document suggests that modernized graphics packages are in the pipeline, but HP has not confirmed any concrete timelines.

AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D "Zen 5" processors are due for launch next month, but an exact date has not been announced. Currently, Team Red's 3D V-Cache-equipped Ryzen 9000 CPU series is composed of a single SKU: the popular eight-core Ryzen 7 9800X3D model. A new leak points to a possible imminent lineup expansion; the sixteen-core Ryzen 9 9950X3D and twelve-core Ryzen 9 9900X3D CPUs have finally popped up on Geekbench Browser. Both candidates seemed to be tested on the same PC platform; utilizing a GIGABYTE X670 AORUS ELITE AX motherboard and 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) of DDR5-4800 MT/s RAM. Notebookcheck

The Ryzen 9 9950X3D sample scored overall with 3363 (single-core) and 20,465 points (multi-core) in Geekbench 6.3. As expected, the Ryzen 9 9900X3D candidate's overall tallies came in slightly lower—it achieved 3274 (single-core) and 19,227 points (multi-core) overall. Press outlets were quick to compare these figures to prior generation outputs (refer to Wccftech's chart, below). On average, the incoming "Zen 5" parts surpass "Zen 4" equivalents by an average of 15%—in terms of single-core performance. Multi-core performance improvements are less significant; coming in at an average of 7%. The range-topping Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPU's multi-core performance score is "lower than expected," but closer-to-launch optimizations could rectify this matter. Geekbench results often do not reflect the true potential of tested silicon; gamers tend to dismiss or completely ignore these data points. Last month, an AMD executive revealed that the two upcoming X3D Granite Ridge desktop chips: "will provide similar overall gaming performance to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D." Speculative price points—of $699 (16-core) & $599 (12-core)—leaked online last week.

Under normal circumstances, Grand Theft Auto VI-related leaks have emerged from nefarious sources. Mid-February news reports have pulled information from an unlikely, yet fairly legitimate announcement. GTA franchise fans would not expect a leak to emerge from a company dealing in peripherals, but Corsair Gaming's Ronald van Veen disclosed a slightly surprising prediction during a recent company call with investors. The organization's financial VP believes that incoming AAA-blockbuster title will launch on PC mere months after an exclusive debut on home gaming consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series). Famously, Rockstar Games reserves a sizable time gap between its console and PC rollouts. An official statement—made back in December 2023—revealed a potential repeat of this release cadence; PC-bound GTA players feared another agonizing two to three year wait.

During an earnings call, Corsair's finance chief discussed the impact of high-profile franchises: "in terms of new games, I mean, there's been a steady stream of games. What we really haven't had for the last year or two is what we could call a 'Fortnite moment' or 'PUBG moment.' So, people are typically playing older games. And I think for our component business and for people looking at new cards, obviously, that tends to depend on new games that are super demanding that you need high-performance graphics in order to get 60 frames a second...If you actually look at the numbers across the last five years, peripheral sales are substantially up, like 50% or 60% up compared to pre-COVID. So, more people are gaming, but not all are gaming on new games. The activity around PC builds or gaming PC builds is roughly on par with pre-COVID now....GTA VI is probably the one everyone is talking about. And we'll get a glimpse of that, I think, later in the year for console. My understanding now it's going to come out in the fall for console, and then early 2026 for PC." Take-Two's CEO—Strauss Zelnick—believes that Grand Theft Auto VI will boost consoles sales upon launch.

A leaked document has revealed an alleged review release date of March 5; occurring the day before a rumored global market release of AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 graphics cards. VideoCardz has reported on its inspection of "NDA materials" intended for members of the press. Team Red has officially announced a proper RDNA 4-themed event; February 28 is an important date on their calendar. Fresh reportage suggests that hardware media outlets and online influencers will be briefed next week, mere days away from AMD's highly-anticipated presentation.

Following head-scratching delays and a secretive marketing strategy (earlier on in 2025), Team Red and its AIB co-conspirators are expected to deliver full specifications, performance data, and pricing during next week's special event. Leaks have pointed to a possible March 6 launch; VideoCardz did not spot any mentioning of this specific date in leaked Radeon RX 9070 NDA documents. A steady flow of insider knowledge has already hinted at speculative "Navi 48" technical details and pre-release performance figures. Will AMD confirm (rumored) PCIe 5.0 connectivity, or acknowledge leaked "Pro" 32 GB variants (with less sarcasm)?

GeForce RTX 5070 Ti graphics cards are due to hit international markets this Thursday (February 20), only in custom design form. NVIDIA will not be rolling out a Founders Edition model for this mid-to-high GPU product tier. Yesterday, an NDA-busting leak emerged online; hinting at a mixed bag of synthetic benchmark scores. When compared to new-gen and past-gen siblings, the incoming GB203 GPU-based family's "price-to-performance ratio" was greeted with plenty of online community skepticism. Considering that only a minority of AIB companies are reportedly engaged in the supply of cheaper offerings, the early outlook for overall GeForce RTX 5070 Ti launch pricing is generating further dissatisfaction. Team Green's first wave of "Blackwell" gaming GPUs launched late last month, straight into chaotic market conditions.

At CES 2025, NVIDIA set a baseline MSRP of $749. Fresh reports suggest that hardware review outlets will be delivering comprehensive verdicts tomorrow. VideoCardz believes that the lifted review embargo will be "exclusively for MSRP cards," based on information gleaned from their network of press contacts. The GPU specialist publication has kept tabs on fluctuating GeForce RTX 50-series prices for a while—several recent reports have levelled criticism at prominent Team Green board partners; namely ASUS and MSI. Plenty of venom was directed at the former, due to last month's launch of the: "GeForce RTX 5080 PRIME non-OC model at MSRP, and it was covered in the first reviews...Except, it was increased by 26% the following week. This way, ASUS has cheated the system and got both the early coverage and was still able to sell cards at a higher price." VideoCardz predicts a similar pattern for this week's release of custom GeForce RTX 5070 Ti designs, in particular ASUS PRIME and TUF Gaming SKUs. Their latest report directed additional ire toward the source of all things Blackwell: "unless NVIDIA has no problem with this, this is not how MSRP cards should be announced. It is very misleading for customers and puts reviewers in a very bad light. Their conclusions might be completely different if the card is said to cost much more."

GIGABYTE introduced its STEALTH series motherboard design at last summer's Computex event; where TechPowerUp staffers inspected a B650E AORUS STEALTH ICE sample model. The Taiwanese manufacturer was readying new board SKUs with backside connectors (power and I/O); destined to take on similar products from rival companies. GIGABYTE's debut wave of STEALTH did not include any AMD X670 chipset-based options, but a recent ECC filing points to possible forthcoming X870-based models. A weekend sleuthing session—performed by harukaze5719—unearthed multiple registrations of X870 and B850 boards. Two unannounced STEALTH ICE models were highlighted in the regional registry.

The X870 and B850 AORUS STEALTH ICE models are expected to arrive within the coming months, reportedly sporting familiar white designs—as seen on GIGABYTE's current-gen option. Insiders believe that a high-end X870E-based offering will not emerge, due to STEALTH occupying a very niche market segment. According to a Chinese leaker, B850 models could arrive in ATX and microATX form factors. Further up in product hierarchies, they reckon that the X870 AORUS STEALTH series: "comes standard with PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 overclocking support. The flagship model comes with dual Thunderbolt 4 interfaces." GIGABYTE's back-connected X870 and B850 board designs could demand high asking prices; their current B650E AORUS STEALTH ICE is not readily available, but in some regions it is selling for $320+.

Yesterday, the ASUS Chinese office announced a special event—on February 25—dedicated to launching a next-gen AMD APU-powered premium notebook model: "ROG Magic X (or Illusion X) is the first to be equipped with the Ryzen AI MAX+ three-in-one chip, which can efficiently coordinate multiple modes, provide combat power and computing power on demand, and can handle e-sports, creation and AI with one chip!" The manufacturer's Weibo post has generated plenty of buzz; industry insiders reckon that reviews could be published today (February 18)—HXL/9550pro informed VideoCardz with a not so cryptic message: "STX-Halo NDA: Feb 18th 2025."

Western press outlets point out that the ROG Magic X is a local variant of the familiar ROG Flow Z13 design; a 2025 refresh brings in AMD's much anticipated "Strix Halo" APU design. Team Red-authored marketing material and pre-release evaluation leaks have hinted about impressive integrated graphics solution performance; equalling or even exceeding that of previous-gen dGPUs. Well-known North American hardware review outlets have dropped hints (NDA permitting) about AMD's Ryzen Al Max+ 395 and Max 390 processors. Hardware Canucks could barely contain their excitement regarding the potent Zen 4 and RDNA 3.5 combo package; to the point of wish listing a potential direct successor: "Strix Halo is one of the most exciting things launched into the PC space in the last half decade. Full stop...AMD can't keep this as a one-off. If it's followed up with Zen 6 and RDNA 4 next year...watch out." Naturally, Team Red's cutting-edge mobile CPU technology is arriving in devices with high asking prices. The aforementioned ROG Flow Z13 2025 model—configured with top specs—is priced at $2699. Notebookcheck reckons that ASUS has tacked on an extra $500, since an announcement of initial pricing at CES 2025.

Last Wednesday (February 12), an intriguing filing appeared online—the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) has received multiple registrations of NVIDIA GPUs; courtesy of OEM Global Technologies Ltd. The parent company of ZOTAC Technology Limited has registered a wide span of Team Green SKUs, going back many generations to 2014's GeForce GT 710 "Kepler 2.0" design. When ignoring everything south of the latest "Blackwell" GPU lineup, harukaze5719 noticed three lower-end additions. The rumor mill has NVIDIA launching its more budget-friendly GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 (non-Ti) models at some point next month.

Board partner supply chain insiders believe that Team Green is clearing the current-gen flock; thus making way for lower-end "Blackwell" GPUs, but the newly-discovered registration of a GeForce RTX 5050 SKU has raised watchdog eyebrows. A rumored entry-level RTX 5050 Mobile variant turned up last December, but we have not heard much about a discrete desktop equivalent in 2025. NVIDIA had plans for a GeForce RTX 4050 model, but desktop "Ada Lovelace" AD107 GPU-based products did not emerge into existence. The latest ECC filing suggests that a next-gen successor could be on the way. Industry soothsayers predict a sub-$300 price point for alleged GeForce RTX 5050 8 GB graphics cards—potentially lined up for battle with Intel's current-gen B580 and B570 offerings.

Upcoming AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 (non-XT) graphics card specification sheets remain under wraps; we will very likely be presented with the full kibosh on February 28. Throughout early 2025, Team Red and its board partners have divulged very little. Instead, PC hardware news outlets have depended on a steady flow of leaked information. The opening round of Team Red RDNA 4 models have been comprehensively linked to PCIe 4.0 connection standards, but recent anomalies have appeared online. Contradictory spec info arrived late last week, courtesy of a leaker having pre-release access to an allegedly very high-end custom design. The validity of an uploaded GPU-Z session screenshot was questioned by the PC gaming hardware community; the detected candidate card seemed to be connected via a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 bus interface. VideoCardz has stumbled upon additional evidence—their weekend reporting activities pointed to a compelling new product listing on the Micro Center website.

The North American e-tailer's webstore features a "PowerColor AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT Red Devil Limited Edition Overclocked Triple Fan 16 GB GDDR6 PCIe 5.0 Graphics Card." Micro Center's threadbare product page is devoid of promotional images/renders, in-depth technical details or specifications. The "no longer available" special edition package has an SKU assignment code of 796672, and a manufacturer part number read-out of LERX9070XT16GEO. VideoCardz reached out to their "inside source" at PowerColor for research purposes. The company mole confirmed that the PCIe 5.0 spec point is genuine. The leaked photo of "Red Devil packaging" did not reveal any PCIe interface-related info. The publication reckons that the PowerColor Radeon RX 9070 XT Red Devil model's interface "matches the appearance of the PCIe 5.0 standard," as seen on the new generation of NVIDIA RTX 50-series graphics cards. Looking back into recent history, Intel dropped initial plans for PCIe 5.0 connectivity with Arc "Battlemage" graphics cards. The B580 and B570 models have arrived at retail with bog-standard PCIe 4.0 x8 bus interfaces.

Last December, Intel revealed that its next-generation "Celestial" GPU architecture was "complete." At the time, Team Blue's Tom "TAP" Petersen revealed: "our IP that's kind of called Xe3, which is the one after Xe2, that's pretty much baked... And so the software teams have a lot of work to do on Xe3. The hardware teams are off on the next thing (aka Xe4/Druid), right." Noted Intel inside info leaker—Raichu—believes that "Celestial" will be: "different from Panther Lake, Celestial dGPU looks like will maybe be based on Xe3P instead of Xe3. I estimate it will (be) based on INTC's process instead of outside." Their Friday evening (February 14) social media declaration suggests that Team Blue is bringing things in-house for the manufacturing of discrete "Celestial" graphics cards; utilizing an Intel Foundry node process, rather than rely on TSMC once more. The latter's foundry produced the Arc "Alchemist" and "Battlemage" dGPU generations.

Intel's rumored "Xe3P" architecture is not a fully known quantity, but reports from last November pointed to the existence of multiple "Xe3" variants; courtesy of information gleaned from an employee's LinkedIn profile. Over the past two weeks, we have witnessed plenty of leaks alluding to future Intel CPU families, but the flow of Arc graphic solutions-related leaks seemingly slowed down around the launch of Intel's budget-friendly "Battlemage" B570 card. Recent-ish insider disclosures have uncovered a possible expansion of the current-gen Arc series, with more SKUs rumored to be on the way. A certain group of industry watchdogs reckon that the unannounced "BGM-G31" GPU will be the basis for higher-end "Battlemage" B-series models, but others believe that options above B580 and B570 are canceled—potentially paving the way for "Xe3P-based" C-series designs later this year, or in 2026.

Sapphire Technology has introduced a new NITRO+ motherboard model in China—weekend reports pointed to a listing on JD.com, where the latest addition resides alongside various previous-gen B650 options. This appears to be another region specific release—priced at 1299 RMB (~$179 USD). The NITRO+ B850M Wi-Fi model seems to share its overall aesthetic design with the preceding B650M-equipped equivalent. As surmised by VideoCardz, the Sapphire NITRO+ board's VRM patterning reminded them of the leaked premium-tier Radeon NITRO+ RX 9070 graphics card series.

The generational jump from AMD B650 to B850 chipset—as expected—yields only minor benefits (see below). The older NITRO+ B650M Wi-Fi model is a significantly cheaper prospect; coming in at 899 RMB ($124 USD). VideoCardz's weekend detective work settled on a nice improvement: "based on our research, the memory overclocking support has increased from 7600 MT/s+ to 8000 MT/s. Keep in mind that these figures may be higher for both motherboards; this is just what Sapphire guarantees when paired with a supported memory kit." Industry watchdogs believe that ASRock is likely involved in the contract manufacturing of Sapphire's motherboard offerings—the former has been long-involved in pumping out NZXT-badged products.

According to a recent report, Apple has apparently finalized on a partner to bring Apple Intelligence features to its second-largest market, China. Of course, China has strict regulations in place, which have clearly turned out to be rather difficult to navigate for Apple. Previous leaks have revealed that a Deepseek partnership was on the cards for the Cupertino giant, although that did not lead to fruition, with Apple settling for Alibaba as its primary partner. As MacRumors notes, Alibaba will function as a censorship layer of sorts, thereby complying with government-directed filtering and information control. Basically, if the Chinese government deems a certain kind of information inappropriate in any way, it can simply direct Alibaba to have it removed and not served again.

Baidu, Safari's default search engine in China, will function as a secondary partner, aiding Apple Intelligence's 'Visual Intelligence' features. If things go to plan, the AI features should roll out in China sometime towards the middle of this year. Apple Intelligence has faced quite a contentious launch, having struggled with multiple delays and widespread criticism regarding not only the real-world efficacy and usefulness of its features, but also the multiple times that its AI-generated notifications have wildly misrepresented real-life events. The report further states that iPhones sold outside of China will not have access to the China-specific AI system, which is to be expected. It is yet to be seen how the Apple Intelligence launch plays out in China, although we should be able to find out soon enough.

The notion of designing tailor-made AI-crunching chips is nothing new; several major organizations—with access to big coffers—are engaged in the formulation of proprietary hardware. A new DigiTimes Asia report suggests that DeepSeek is the latest company to jump on the in-house design bandwagon. The publication's insider network believes that the open-source large language model development house has: "initiated a major recruitment drive for semiconductor design talent, signaling potential plans to develop its proprietary processors." The recent news cycle has highlighted DeepSeek's deep reliance on an NVIDIA ecosystem, despite alternative options emerging from local sources.

Industry watchdogs believe that DeepSeek has access to 10,000 of sanction-approved Team Green "Hopper" H800 AI chips, and (now banned) 10,000 H100 AI GPUs. Around late January, DeepSeek's Scale AI CEO—Alexandr Wang—claimed that the organization could utilize up to 50,000 H100 chips for model training purposes. This unsubstantiated declaration raised eyebrows; given current global political tensions. Press outlets have speculated that DeepSeek is in no rush to reveal its full deck of cards, but they appear to have a competitive volume of resources; when lined up against with Western competitors. The DigiTimes news article did not provide any detailed insight into the rumored in-house chip design. DeepSeek faces a major challenge; the Chinese semiconductor industry trails behind market leading regions. Will local foundries be able to provide an advanced enough node process for required purposes?

NDA-busting renders of the much-anticipated and rumored Nintendo Switch 2 console appeared online late last year—reports suggested that a member of the Xiahongshu forum was involved in this dramatic leak. The source seemingly had access to a 3D CAD model—possibly procured from a manufacturing partner. Industry insiders believed that top Nintendo brass were incensed by the pre-Christmas 2024 leaks. Around mid-January, an official unveiling of the next-gen gaming handheld arrived online, courtesy of a relatively short teaser video. Early April public showcases are on the calendar; press outlets and regular punters will be participating in hands-on experiences (invite-only) at venues across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The flow of early 2025 Switch successor leaks have seemingly slowed down, but renewed activity on Reddit points to early samples emerging via black market outlets.

The aforementioned Xiahongshu forum member is reportedly considering a purchase of pre-release Switch 2 units—previous boasts have indicated that they already own one example. Screenshots of alleged interactions between the seller and potential client were uploaded to Chinese discussion boards, and then shared on the Nintendo Switch 2 Subreddit. The anonymous black market dealer reckons that stock will be available in the near future—claiming by "next week"—with an asking price of 290,000 RMB per package (~$39,780 USD). This steep demand—allegedly—grants early access to the core console tablet, Joy-Con controllers, and dock. Online community debates have produced several theories, regarding the leaker's motivations. Given their history of selling CAD models to accessory makers; this working relationship could develop into a—presumably more profitable—supply of actual working hardware.

A recent rumor appears to have some good news in store for Apple display aficionados. The Cupertino giant has largely ignored its display lineup for several years at this point, considering that its $5,000 Pro Display XDR is almost six years old, while the $1,599 Studio Display is about to complete its third year on sale next month. According to reliable display analyst Ross Young, Apple is working on a mini LED upgrade for the Studio Display, which is expected to hit shelves towards the end of this year. It is unclear whether the rumored mini LED Studio Display will boast Apple's ProMotion technology, although it does seem quite likely given Apple's track record.

So far, only three Apple devices have boasted mini LED displays - MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and the Pro Display XDR. The iPad Pro has moved to an OLED solution, and the MacBook Pro lineup is expected to follow in its footsteps towards the end of next year. While mini LED displays are not quite as contrast rich or fast as OLED displays, they sure are a massive improvement over the traditional LED-backlit displays found in Apple's iMacs and the Studio Display in terms of brightness, contrast, and if the ProMotion rumors are true, then refresh rate as well. Unsurprisingly, the affordable iMac 24" is not expected to sport mini LED technology anytime soon. As for the pricey Pro Display XDR, it is unclear what the future has in store for it, going by the absence of information.

Retailers are set to open up pre-order floodgates for upcoming GeForce RTX 50-series laptops on February 25, as we learned earlier this week. According to a new DigiTimes report, the launch of mobile devices—sporting Team Green "Blackwell" GPUs—is expected to be "significantly delayed." A loose March launch window was teased during Jensen Huang's keynote presentation at CES 2025, but supply chain insiders have claimed that high-end RTX 50 laptops were "originally planned to be launched in January 2025." Additionally, they surmise that mid-range and low-end offerings are postponed to April. DigiTimes believes that the rumored postponements have surprised supply chain moles; Team Green is not known to delay product launches. Extenuating circumstances are cited as the reason behind alleged deferred release windows, but insiders have not yet determined the extent of lengthened launch parameters.

An anonymous source stated: "NVIDIA, which has never been late in the past, also encountered this situation. It is probably related to NVIDIA's full sprint to AI servers. Even though there are differences in server and PC chip design and manufacturing processes, the company's resource allocation may still affect the debugging efficiency of new products." Other insiders have murmured about GeForce RTX 50-series mobile GPU performance not meeting expectations. Rumors have swirled about problems with early sample units; most notably the encountering of major screen issues when the "hardware is turned on." Laptop/notebook supply chain insiders reckon that manufacturers have anticipated a healthy level of growth in 2025—thanks to the emergence of new NVIDIA graphics cards—but targets have been reduced, due to anticipated delays. Optimistic industry chatter predicts higher education students and esport enthusiasts driving unit sales upward, following a stagnant 2024 market.

David McAfee—AMD's corporate vice president and general manager of client channel business—has highlighted February 28 as a highly important date for next-gen graphics technology. The much-anticipated (and teased) Radeon RX 9000 series unveiling event has a confirmed time slot on that day: 8 AM EST. The overseer of Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPUs has warded off curious queries from journalists and members of the PC hardware for several weeks, since the conclusion of CES 2025. A confusing early January presentation did not include a segment dedicated to upcoming RDNA 4 products. Online conjecture pointed to Team Red delaying and restrategizing the launch of Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 models.

AMD enthusiasts will breathe a collective sigh of relief, after reading McAfee's announcement: "the wait is almost over. Join us on February 28 at 8 AM EST for the reveal of the next-gen AMD Radeon RX 9000 Series. Get ready to make it yours when it hits shelves in early March. RSVP by subscribing to the AMD YouTube channel." Insider sources reckon that retailers will have stock on shelves by the rumored March 6 launch day. Mid-to-late January leaks suggested a fairly comprehensive distribution of board partner custom cards across European retail channels. Alleged specifications and performance results have leaked out over the past month and a half—will AMD (and AIBs) have any surprises lined up for the February 28 event?

Sapphire is readying multiple Radeon RX 9070 custom designs for next month's launch; official announcements and leaks have revealed upcoming PURE, PULSE and NITRO+ cards. The latter was identified in AMD's CES 2025 press material, but no demonstration sample turned up at last month's Las Vegas AIB roundup. A lone fuzzy low-resolution screengrab showcased the premium Radeon RX 9070 series card's hefty and blocky triple-slot profile. An hour or two ago, Everest (aka Olrak29) uploaded two alleged promotional images to social media. Thankfully, the leaked shots have arrived with decent pixel definition. Sapphire has initiated staggered marketing campaigns for its lower-end and mid-range RDNA 4 cards, so the latest leak has most likely preempted an upcoming official reveal of (possible) NITRO+ Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 cards.

Sapphire reserves the crème de la crème of feature sets for its premium-tier NITRO+ designs. Previous-gen examples were substantial prospects, and the incoming design is touted to continue that dimensional legacy. Well-heeled Team Red enthusiasts will welcome an updated triple-fan configuration and somewhat subtle internal ARGB lighting zones. The leaked card sports a luxurious "champagne gold" tinted shroud and backplate, with an optional detachable panel. The vented side plates sport a lighter-hue, but the elaborate triangular cut-out aesthetic could be off-putting to certain connoisseurs. Press outlets have honed in on the new NITRO+ model's hidden power connector design, potentially leading to a single input—utilizing a 12 or 16-pin interface.

Late last month, an AMD "How to Sell" Ryzen AI MAX series guide appeared online—contents provided an early preview of the Radeon 8060S iGPU's prowess in 1080p gaming environments. Team Red seemed to have some swagger in their step; they claimed that their forthcoming "RDNA 3.5" integrated graphics solution was up to 68% faster than NVIDIA's discrete GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile GPU (subjected to thermal limits). Naturally, first-party/internal documentation should be treated with a degree of skepticism—the PC hardware community often relies on (truly) independent sources to form opinions. A Chinese leaker has procured a pre-release laptop that features a "Zen 5" AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 processor. By Wednesday evening, the tester presented benchmark results on the Tieba Baidu forums.

The leaker uploaded a screenshot from a 3DMark Time Spy session. No further insights were shared via written text. On-screen diagnostics pointed to a "Radeon 8050S" GPU, and the CPU being an "AMD Eng Sample: 100-000001243-50_Y." Wccftech double-checked this information; they believe that the OPN ID corresponds to a: "Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 with the Radeon 8060S, instead of the AMD Radeon 8050S iGPU...The difference between the two is that the Radeon 8060S packs the full 40 Compute Units while the Radeon 8050S is configured with 32 Compute Units. The CPU for each iGPU is also different and the one tested here packs 16 Zen 5 cores instead of the 12 Zen 5 cores featured on the Ryzen AI MAX 390." According to the NDA-busting screenshot, Team Red's Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 engineering sample racked up an overall score of 9006 in 3DMark Time Spy. Its graphics score tally came in at 10,106, while its CPU scored 5571 points. The alleged Radeon 8060S iGPU managed to pull in just under NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile dGPU (average) score of 10,614. The plucky RDNA 3.5 40 CU iGPU seems to outperform a somewhat related sibling; the Radeon RX 7600M XT dGPU (with 32 RDNA 3 CUs) scored 8742 points. Radeon 8060S trails the desktop Radeon RX 7600 GPU by 884 points.

XFX and ASRock have registered various Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 SKUs in South Korea—earlier today, harukaze5719 discovered these "public secrets." The National Radio Agency received two filings from Hightech Systematic Limited (aka XFX); the graphics card manufacturer is seeking certification for five models. A single filing from ASRock Incorporation contains one product, a Radeon RX 9070 (non-XT) Challenger 16 GB card—TechPowerUp spent a little bit of hands-on time with this particular model at CES 2025.

XFX showcased two unnamed custom Radeon 9070 graphics card designs at last month's CES event, but yesterday's leak revealed a slew of incoming MERCURY, QUICKSILVER and SWIFT SKUs. The latest South Korean filings corroborate a couple of the accidental Canadian retail listings. The unannounced QUICKSILVER Magnetic Air model has attracted the most interest—promotional imagery is not available at the time of writing, but VideoCardz reckons that XFX could borrow elements from last year's hot-swappable Radeon RX 7900 XTX and RX 7800 XT Series design. TPU's W1zzard praised XFX's Magnetic Air system, in his evaluation of the Radeon RX 7900 XTX MERCURY model. An "amazing removable fan implementation" was pinpointed as a major highlight. The unusual usage of Honeywell PTM7950 thermal paste—a phase change material (PCM)—was another novel plus point.

Yesterday's news cycle pointed to Samsung's alleged development of 7000 mAh capacity batteries for the next-gen "Galaxy S26" smartphone series. Additionally, reports suggest that the South Korean megacorporation's Electronics division is experimenting with silicon-carbon battery technology. Industry watchdogs reckon that Chinese manufacturers are market leaders in terms of silicon-carbon battery tech breakthrough, with Apple and Samsung trailing far behind. PandaFlashPro took issue with the latest reports, and dismissed the notion of a so-called "Galaxy S26 Ultra" model featuring a 7000 mAh capacity battery. According to their network of insider sources, Samsung engineers are struggling with their planned improvements.

Typically, flagship Galaxy S phones have utilized 5000 mAh lithium-polymer batteries. PandaFlashPro envisions an underwhelming next-gen upgrade in this department: "I'll delete my X/Twitter account if Samsung gives the 'Galaxy S26 Ultra' a 7000 mAh or even a 6000 mAh battery I bet...based on my five sources, the internal Samsung Test Lab only seem to have a maximum capacity of 5500mAh; not more." The self-proclaimed science and tech enthusiast did not clarify whether the new generation of Galaxy S models will utilize silicon-carbon tech. Industry whispers allege that Samsung is perfecting its "battery formula," thus ensuring that it meets internal standards and expectations.