Six Intel 14th Gen Core Raptor Lake-S Refresh SKUs were prematurely listed by an e-tailer late last month, with the already leaked Core i9-14900K CPU model popping up again (a week later) via CPU-Z and Geekbench tests. This higher end K and KF product lineup is expected to launch at some point next month—according to the rumor mill. Team Blue could be preparing cheaper non-K models for an unveiling at CES 2024, but a leaker has decided to spoil the fun way in advance. YuuKi_AnS uploaded an allegedly extremely comprehensive list of 14th Gen SKUs, complete with full specifications to their X/Twitter handle. This grants an early glimpse of lowly Intel 300 and 300T models—both featuring a 2P+0E core configuration—these appear to be modern successors to (now retired) Pentium Gold and Celeron branded budget-friendly processor families.

It should be noted that the leaked slide (dated September 5) states that everything sitting within the table is a qualification sample (QS), therefore these chips are subject to change due to their pre-production nature. Parts of the table look a bit iffy—support for DDR5 memory varies across the range, while EEC memory support is also very inconsistent. Intel seems to be sticking with the usual set of three different die designs for desktop Raptor Lake Refresh CPUs—Tom's Hardware points out that: "the B0 die (8P-16E) powers SKUs from the Core i5-14600 and up, while the C0 (8P+8E) die targets models from Core i5-14400 to Core i5-14500T. On the contrary, the H0 (6P+0E) die, which is the lowest of the trio, will be inside the Intel 300 to Core i3-14100T chips."

Argentina's HD Tecnología site has obtained and published AMD's official data outlining the performance prowess of the soon-to-be released Radeon RX 7800 XT & RX 7700 XT GPUs, when stacked up against their closest rivals—NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB and RTX 4070 12 GB. Team Red could have "cherry-picked" some of this information, and presented resultant performance charts during the grand unveiling of their mid-range RDNA 3 cards at last month's Gamescom press event. HD Tecnología claims that the fuzzy batch of screengrabs were obtained from an official review guide, they chose to not share pages containing precise details of system specifications. An embargo imposed on media outlets is set to be lifted tomorrow, which coincides with the launch of AMD's Navi 32-based contenders.

The test system was running games within a DirectX 12 environment, possibly at maximum settings—general hardware specs included an non-specific AMD Ryzen 7000-series CPU coupled with DDR5 memory on unidentified AM5 motherboard. VideoCardz's abbreviated analysis of the numbers stated: "In summary, without ray tracing, the Radeon RX 7800 XT outperforms the GeForce RTX 4070 by almost 7% on average, while with ray tracing enabled, it maintains a slight 0.5% lead. Conversely, the RX 7700 XT exhibits 16% higher performance over the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB. However, the presence of ray tracing can tip the scales slightly in NVIDIA's favor, resulting in an 8.5% lead over the AMD GPU."

AMD's Zen 4 high-end desktop (HEDT) family could be closing in on a launch window—AsRock's European office has registered a number of motherboards with the EEC, and KOMACHI_ENSAKA spotted a model sporting a TRX50 chipset sitting in the middle of mainstream gaming Lightning and Riptide offerings. The "TRX50 WS" seems to be the first sighting of an AMD Threadripper 7000 "Storm Peak" series workstation board. TRX50 is presumably the logical successor to Team Red's existing TRX40 platform—the latter supports third generation (Zen 3) Ryzen Threadripper 5000 "Chagall" processors. AMD has not publicly published any details regarding next-gen Threadripper and Threadripper Pro product lineups, but several leaks have pointed to the new HEDT platform arriving within the second half of 2023.

A mid-August Geekbench database entry outed the AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7995WX—this 96 core/192 thread CPU scored 2095 points in single-core tests, and 81408 multi-core points—these results have it positioned as one of the fastest processors submitted to Geekbench. The test system was running Geekbench v5.5 for Linux (Ubuntu 22.04 LTS). It is speculated that four (or more) models could be released with differing core counts: 16, 32, 64 and 96—please refer to the VideoCardz authored chart (below). Past rumors have SP5 and SP6 socket types linked to the "Storm Peak" family, with the introduction of DDR5 memory standard to Threadripper.

ITHome has picked up on interesting retail activity in China, where AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT graphics cards are deeply discounted. This seems to correspond to a possible discontinuation of Team Red's Navi 23 XT GPU—a Board Channel source stated: "AMD factory has stopped production of a certain GPU. At the present time, shipments from all AIB brands have stopped with inventory being cleared. AMD has stopped production for the Radeon RX 6650 XT, and nearly all brands will have their inventory cleared by the end of September." Board partners in China appear to running sales promotions, with cards reduced from an original MSRP of 3099 RMB ($425) down to as low as 1739 RMB (~$240), although these adjusted prices are mostly hovering around the 2000 RMB (~$275) mark.

AMD recently declared that its Radeon RX 7000 desktop lineup is now complete, following the unveiling of mid-range RX 7800 XT and RX 7700 XT cards at last week's Gamescom trade fair in Cologne, Germany. Their low-to-mid tier Radeon RX 7600 card, based on the Navi 33 XL GPU, is the sole successor to multiple RDNA 2 predecessors (RX 6600, 6600 XT & 6650 XT). AMD and its board partners are likely prioritizing larger scale RDNA 3 production, so the latest batch of GPU industry insider information is not all that surprising. Tom's Hardware points out that: "there is hardly any point for AMD to continue production of Navi 23. The company's RDNA 3-based Navi 33 GPU integrates 13.3 billion transistors, has 2048 SPs, and performs better than its direct predecessor. Meanwhile, it has a smaller die size (204 mm² vs 237 mm²) and is made on TSMC's N6 process technology (as opposed to N7 in the case of Navi 23), so it may well be cheaper to produce."

Lenovo's Legion Go handheld gaming system was uncovered by Windows Report over a week ago following a series of minor leaks emerging throughout the summer. Key points of discovery included an AMD Ryzen Z1 APU, detachable Joy-Con-esque controllers and Windows 11 being the operating system of choice. The news site has today divulged even more details, thanks to a trusted anonymous source sending in an official product press release. It seems that Lenovo is planning to unveil the Go and matching accessories (AR glasses & headphones) at next month's IFA 2023 trade fair in Berlin. The handheld gaming device could launch in early October, with the base model starting at $799 (MSRP).

According to the leaked document, Lenovo's Legion Go is specced with an 8.8 inch, 2560 x 1600 pixel 144 Hz refresh rate IPS LCD touchscreen display—its maximum brightness is allegedly rated at 500 nits. AMD's Ryzen Z1 Extreme APU—that debuted with the ASUS ROG Ally—appears to run the show. The leak also indicates that 16 GB of LPDDR5X-7500 memory is soldered to the Go's mainboard, alongside a user-replaceable PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 2242 SSD. The document infers that Lenovo is prepping variants with 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB SSD storage configurations.

AMD is aiming to launch its Ryzen 8000 desktop CPUs, codenamed "Granite Ridge," at some point next year. The next generation Zen 5 core microarchitecture is expected to arrive alongside (Navi) RDNA 3.5 iGPU cores according to the last batch of Team Red product roadmaps. Today, hardware tipsters Olrak29_ and Kepler_L2 have made claims on social media that part of the Ryzen 7000 CPU legacy will continue with the succeeding desktop processor lineup—we already know that Granite Ridge will exist as a Socket AM5 package, but today's leak proposes that these next-gen chips are lined up to utilize the same IO die as sported by AMD's current Zen 4 desktop family.

These new rumors suggest that the "reused" Ryzen 7000 IOD (I/O Die) chiplet will grant the familiar allocation of 28 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, memory controllers, USB functions, plus RDNA 2 iGPU cores. Wccftech points out that: "...interestingly, AMD lists the Ryzen 7000 "desktop" CPUs with Navi 3.0 support whereas the Radeon 710M iGPU in fact is based on the RDNA 2 graphics core. The next-gen lineup was mentioned to support the newest RDNA 3.5 GPU core which will be coming to the Strix APU family next year but that isn't the case either." The article proposes that "RDNA 3.5 GPU cores on the AM5 platform" could arrive with the advent of upcoming Ryzen APUs—namely 6 nm Rembrandt (6000G) and 4 nm Phoenix (7000G) desktop solutions.

PlayStation 5-related rumors have been flowing over the past week—Zuby_Tech was reportedly the main source responsible for leaking out Project Q footage, but the tipster has turned to his attention to an alleged new version of the host system. Yesterday's tweet makes reference to a refreshed PlayStation 5 model—the "CFI-1300 series"—with a revised 5 nm APU. The late-2020 launch model (CFI-1200) sported a 7 nm chipset, while 2022's die shrink granted the CFI-1202 series with a 6 nm SoC.

The tipster thinks that Sony will be dropping the PS5's liquid metal cooling system for its next iteration, thanks to a central 5 nm part offering greater efficiency and reduced thermal output. Previous reports have predicted that this refreshed "modular model" is marked for a late 2023 release window. Sony has been running a summer price reduction campaign—could this marketing incentive be clearing the way—i.e selling off older stock—in anticipation of the refreshed model's arrival? "CFI-1300" should not be confused with the heavily rumored PlayStation 5 Pro variant—Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson has reiterated multiple times that this major hardware upgrade is still a long way off from launching.

Apple introduced its 15‑inch MacBook Air at June's WWDC23 event—the giant multinational technology had taken feedback from its customer base, and followed through by rolling out a larger version of the existing M2-based 13-inch model. That appeasement could be a wasted effort, given the latest rumors emerging from Asia. DigiTimes has gathered information from sources within Apple's supply chain—they claim that "the 15-inch MacBook Air...reportedly didn't meet customer demand expectations. There are even calls for the supply chain to put shipments on hold."

The 15-inch MacBook Air's shipment volume for July is reportedly 50% short of the company's original projection, with a broad downturn in the global notebook market factoring in as a reason for sluggish sales. The model's $1299 starting price appears to be quite reasonable at first glance, but the entry point only gives you a spec consisting of non-upgradable 8 GB (unified) RAM and 256 GB solid state storage. A discerning buyer is semi-forced to shell out closer to $2000 for a more competitive configuration, comparable to the closest Window 11 slimline laptops. The high asking prices, on top of a mixed reception around launch time have done the 15-inch MacBook Air few favors. Apple enthusiasts are probably saving up and waiting for the arrival of upcoming M3 chipset-equipped models. DigiTimes reckons that an "upcoming announcement" regarding a next-gen MacBook Pro is due very soon.

Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson has picked up some interesting insider knowledge about the long rumored PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console—his (side hustle) Key to Gaming article theorizes that a project codenamed "Trinity" has been in-progress since early 2022. Sony is apparently sticking to its tradition of using Matrix themed codenames for internal hardware projects—PlayStation 4 Pro was referred to as "Neo," and PlayStation VR's alias was "Morpheus." His inside sources claim that Sony has been showing off Trinity prototype units to game development studios, with refreshed dev kits lined up for the "majority" of interested parties by November 2023.

Henderson's sources provided scant info about Trinity's specs and performance goals: "Although the Pro's specs were difficult to pin down, (admittedly) due to my lack of technological prowess, sources have stated that Trinity with have 30 WGP and 18000mts memory. As for the consoles performance targets and as to be expected, the PlayStation 5 Pro will be targeting improved and consistent FPS at 4K resolution, a new "performance mode" for 8K resolution, and accelerated ray tracing. Whether or not a PlayStation 5 Pro console is desired enough in the current market remains to be seen, but as of writing, the PlayStation 5 Pro is in development and is targeting a November 2024 release date." The leaked information has been interpreted several ways by different outlets—mostly focusing on the improved AMD RDNA-powered GPU. I have included Zuba_Tech's updated spec sheet (see below), which seems to be a bit on the fanciful side of things (proposing 72 CUs). Others have theorized that the revised GPU could offer twice the performance of the base PS5 model's Oberon RDNA 2-based GPU (36 CUs).

A significant Sony Project Q leak has revealed an alleged prototype running on an undisclosed version of the Android operating system—the remote play-oriented handheld device was first revealed in late May's PlayStation showcase, but Sony's games division has so far kept stum about the Q's means of operation. Zuby_Tech has (prematurely) pulled back the curtain by uploading various images and video footage of a working unit.

A very simple version of Android seems to be displayed on the device's 8-inch 1080p LCD screen (a protective film is still attached), with a prominent QR code featured on its home window. The streaming device has the potential to be quite flexible, in terms of functionality, thanks to Sony's apparent wise choice of operating system selection. Zuby_Tech also took the time to open up their sample unit—without the screen in place, there appears to be not much going on inside there. Previous rumors have the Project Q accessory costing somewhere in the $200-300 region, with a battery life of 3-4 hours—this could be a tough one to market and sell, even to the most ardent of PlayStation platform supporters.

AMD's CEO Lisa Su is reported to be visiting a number of companies in Taiwan this week—one of her objectives seems to be getting next generation AM5 desktop platforms prepped with USB4 support. Hardware news site MyDrivers believes that Asmedia played host to Team Red's leader at some point—this is a significant development given that this Taiwanese company specializes in making motherboard chipsets and USB controllers, although Su has allegedly met with other competing firms. Asmedia is reported to be a market leader in terms of implementing the latest USB4 tech, with certification awarded by the USB-IF Association.

Prior leaks have implied that the two companies are already involved with each other on a separate project—their collective goal being Thunderbolt 4 support on next-gen AMD platforms. The timing of this trip to Taiwan suggests that forthcoming AM5 motherboards offering USB4 support could be lined up for launch next year, alongside the "Zen 5" Ryzen 8000 CPU series. Boards based on current gen A620, B650 and X670 chipsets could be refreshed with the latest USB connectivity standard.

As we get closer to a possible late summer/early autumn release window for mid-range AMD Radeon RX 7000-series gaming graphics cards, more leaks have emerged from sources in Asia. Benchlife believes that "in addition to Radeon RX 7900 GRE, AMD and its AIB partners are also preparing two Navi 32 chip graphics cards such as Radeon RX 7800 XT and Radeon RX 7700 XT, which are expected to be available in early September." Previous leaks have indicated that a September launch is planned, albeit with the RX 7800 XT SKU being based on a heavily modified Navi 31 GPU.

Two non-XT units have recently emerged via leaked benchmark results, so there could be a good number of options lined up for a third quarter 2023 launch. Jon Peddle Research (JPR) has added their two cents, by reconfirming that Team Red could be showcasing mid-range models at a late summer trade fair: "AMD is rumored to announce two new 7000-series AIBs at Gamescom in late August. The leaks suggest that AMD is behind NVIDIA in terms of AIBs and has open slots in its SKU lineup. The leaked benchmark data (see below) indicates that the RX 7800 and RX 7700 may compete with the RTX 4070 and RTX 4060 Ti, respectively." JPR proposes that AMD is preparing at least two mid-range models for launch, although this could increase to five. If a mysterious fifth candidate does exist outside of the oft mentioned RX 7700, RX 7700 XT, RX 7800 and RX 7800 XT SKUs, where would it be placed in the hierarchy? We can exclude the RX 7900 16 GB GRE GPU since it seems to be a Chinese market exclusive, with performance estimated to be just below RX 7900 XT standards.

According to various news sources, CEOs from Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm have been holding meetings with representatives of the US government—with the topic of discussion reportedly being the escalation of semiconductor import restrictions placed on China. AMD was notably absent from Monday's proceedings, due to Dr. Lisa Su attending to business matters in Taiwan. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, National Economic Council director Lael Brainard and National Security Council director Jake Sullivan were alleged to have met with industry leaders.

Chipmakers have expressed worry about new restrictions coming into effect within the next couple of week—the latest negotiations could have touched on some sort of provision for leading silicon manufacturers. The US government believes that by limiting China's access to cutting-edge technology, it will bolster national security interests—with the Chinese military not being able to develop competitive defense systems. The Semiconductor Industry Association stated on Monday that: "overly broad, ambiguous and at times unilateral restrictions risk diminishing the US semiconductor industry's competitiveness, disrupting supply chains, causing significant market uncertainty and prompting continued escalatory retaliation by China." Intel, NVIDIA and Qualcomm did not provide any comments to press outlets following the conclusion of their meetings with senior government officials. It is speculated that Qualcomm is set to lose the most trade following the implementation of stricter rules—Bloomberg proposes that 60% of the firm's business revenue comes from Chinese territories.

A set of intriguing 3DMark Time Spy benchmark results have been released by hardware leaker All_The_Watts!!—these are alleged to have been produced by prototype Radeon RX 7700 and Radeon RX 7800 graphics cards (rumored to be based on variants of the Navi 32 GPU). The current RDNA 3 lineup of mainstream GPUs is severely lacking in middle ground representation, but Team Red is reported to be working on a number of models to fill in the gap. We expect a number of leaks to emerge as we get closer to a rumored product reveal scheduled for late August (to coincide with Gamescon).

The recently released 3DMark Time Spy scores reveal that the alleged Radeon RX 7700 candidate scored 15,465 points, while the RX 7800 achieved 18,197 points—both running on an unspecified test system. The results (refer to the Tom's Hardware-produced chart placed below) are not going to generate a lot of excitement at this stage when compared to predecessors and some of the competition—evaluation samples are not really expected to be optimized to a great degree. We hope to see finalized products with decent drivers putting in a good appearance and performing better later on this year.

Benchlife claims to have obtained full specifications of Intel's upcoming 14th Gen Core series—the site kicked things off by releasing details of a trio of Raptor Lake Refresh K-series SKUs earlier today. Insiders have seemingly divulged fairly comprehensive specs for i9-14900K, i7-14700K, and i5-14600K desktop CPUs. The expected lineup-wide implementation of greater clock speeds (+200 MHz) is present on these examples according to the leaked info—i9-14900K is reportedly capable of boosting up to 6.0 GHz (via Thermal Velocity tech), while its Core i7 and Core i5 siblings are said to be hitting 5.6 GHz and 5.3 GHz (respectively).

The Core i7-14700K seems to be the only rumored model to receive a core count increase—the listed 8P+12E configuration is decked out with more Gracemont efficiency cores when compared to the 13th Gen equivalent's makeup (i7-13700K, 8P+8E). This grants a slightly increased pool of Intel's "Smart Cache"—33 MB instead of the previous gen model's 30 MB. These 125 W TDP "K" SKUs are expected to arrive mid-October alongside "KF" models (lacking iGPUs). The 65-W non-K lineup could be presented at the next CES, and launched in January 2024.

A reference to an unreleased Radeon RX 7900 GRE GPU specced with 16 GB of VRAM appeared on distributed computing platforms last month. The unusual GRE acronym was a little bit puzzling, but ITHome has recently discovered that this could be the successor to an older GME (Golden Mouse Edition) card. AMD's Radeon RX 590 GME design was released back in March of 2020 to celebrate the year of the Rat or Mouse.

The Chinese zodiac sign for 2023 is the rabbit, hence AMD preparing a Golden Rabbit Edition (GRE) for that territory. ITHome proposes that this Radeon RX 7900 non-XT model could field a cut-down version of Team Red's Navi 31 GPU—with its Compute Unit count possibly reduced slightly below the standard 84 CUs, while an allocation of 16 GB of GDDR6 video memory gets coupled to a 256-bit interface (down from the XT's 20 GB and 320-bit). The short report does not provide any release date information or detailed specifications/features, but we can assume that the GRE is highly likely to arrive within the year it is intended to commemorate.

As reported by Phoronix—references to GFX1150 & GFX1151 targets have been added to the AMDGPU LLVM backend/compiler, which seems to indicate that these are upcoming AMD APU models. AMD engineers have made to reference to GFX1150 as "Strix1" (full codename: Strix Point) in the past according to several sites, but the recent leak has GFX1151 mentioned for the first time.

Previous reports suggest that Team Red could be developing two Strix/Zen 5/RDNA 3.5 APUs with AI engine enhancements for laptops—a discovery of two separate GFX targets suggests that we are likely looking at different 12-core and 16-core models. The former is said to be a monolithic design with a TDP going up to 54 W. The 16-core "Strix Halo" (also known as "Starlak") is a very different type of product with leaks suggesting that it will have a maximum TDP of 120 W, and be based on a chiplet design. Zen 5 processor products are expected to arrive in the second half of 2024—with Granite Ridge filling in the desktop platform segment.

NVIDIA could be adjusting its enterprise-grade GPU production strategies for the Chinese market, according to an article published by MyDriver—despite major sanctions placed on semiconductor imports, Team Green is doing plenty of business with tech firms operating in the region thanks to an uptick in AI-related activities. NVIDIA offers two market specific accelerator models that have been cut down to conform to rules and regulations—the more powerful and expensive (250K RMB/~$35K) H800 is an adaptation of the western H100 GPU, while the A800 is a legal market alternative to the older A100.

The report proposes that NVIDIA is considering plans to reduce factory output of the A800 (sold for 100K RMB/~$14K per unit), so clients will be semi-forced into purchasing the higher-end H800 model instead (if they require a significant number of GPUs). The A800 seems to be the more popular choice for the majority of companies at the moment, with the heavy hitters—Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent, Jitwei and ByteDance—flexing their spending muscles and splurging on mixed shipments of the two accelerators. By limiting supplies of the lesser A800, Team Green could be generating more profit by prioritizing the more expensive (and readily available) model.

YouTuber RedGamingTech has put together a list of leaked Intel 14th Gen Core SKUs—they claim that this information was compiled from various tipsters and inside sources. Raptor Lake Refresh is perhaps not a very exciting prospect—i.e. a mild upgrade—for current owners of 13th Gen Core CPUs on the LGA 1700 platform, but upcoming mid-range SKUs could offer a nice performance uplift for those still on 12th Gen silicon (or older) thanks to higher core counts. According to RedGamingTech's list, the refreshed Core i7 series (14700, -K &-F) sports 20 cores and 28 threads, while Core i5 14600 SKUs are rumored to feature 16 cores and 24 threads. Prospective budget-conscious customers are likely to be enthused by Core i3 SKUs getting a refresh with new 6-core/12-thread configs.

Several big players in the industry have (reportedly) presented themselves as potential anchor investors in Ltd. Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, the owner of the British semiconductor and software design company is preparing an initial public offering (IPO) in the USA, with a likely kick-off date in September. The Financial Times has today claimed that NVIDIA was invited (by Softbank) to actively negotiate with Arm leadership with the aim to join a group of prospective IPO anchor investors. Citing insider sources who have been briefed about ongoing deliberations—Team Green could be proposing an investment of roughly $35 billion to $40 billion.

The report suggests that SoftBank would prefer an offer closer to $70 - 80 billion—it seems that more haggling is on the cards. NVIDIA is a longtime partner and client of Arm, with the former attempting to buyout the latter over a year ago—but their agreement was terminated due to "significant regulatory challenges" in regions including the US, UK and China. At the time, the scuppered deal's estimated value was widely reported being $66 billion.

The AMD Ryzen 5 7500F CPU has been popping up via various leaks—with no official announcements made despite photos, basic specifications and benchmark results appearing online. Tom's Hardware could not extract a comment directly from Team Red, so it pivoted to inside sources instead to find out more about the mysterious Zen 4 iGPU-less processor. The news site discovered that this model is very likely going to be a Chinese market exclusive—insiders reckon that it will be released closer to the end of this month. Retailers and e-tailers in the region are getting first dibs, with the Ryzen 5 7500F also made available to SIs (system integrators), so pre-built computers featuring this AM5 CPU could be released soon after.

Tom's Hardware believes that the: "Ryzen 5 7500F is very similar to the Ryzen 5 7600 and will operate with a 65 W TDP, and thus have slightly lower boost clock speeds than the 7600." It suspects that a recently published benchmark showing that single-core performance edges past the Ryzen 5 7600X (105 W TDP) is not all that accurate—these results should be "taken with a grain of salt." According to their verified sources, the Ryzen 5 7500F should "perform slightly slower than the regular 65 W Ryzen 5 7600 (non-X)." The article presents some hope that AMD is simply market testing the CPU prior to a possible USA rollout, but insiders indicate that company plans have the Ryzen 5 7500F marked for launch in China only.

Golden Pig Upgrade, a Chinese PC hardware content creator, has issued more Intel-related insider info via their Bilibili page. Their short post claims that the Intel 14th Gen Core-HX series (aka enthusiast grade laptop Raptor Lake Refresh SKUs) will be based on 8P+16E die configurations, said to replace all previously reported 8P+8E and 6P+0E setups. This improved HX lineup could provide a nice upgrade over equivalent 13th Gen Core units, with larger L2 cache allocations and increased core counts.

A few examples are mentioned—the upcoming Core i7-14650HX sports an 8P+8E configuration, granting two extra performance cores when compared to the current gen equivalent 13650HX (6P+8E). The Core i5-14500HX could stick with the same configuration (6P+8E) as seen on the older 13500HX, but Golden Pig Upgrade believes that the former will be upgraded with a larger pool of L2 cache. Previous leaks have already pointed out higher-end 14th Gen Core i9 SKUs being based on the 8P+16E die configuration, with the possible offering of higher clocks and support for faster memory speeds. The Raptor Lake Refresh desktop lineup is expected to debut around mid-October, but insider information regarding HX has not yet pinpointed a firm launch period for high-end 14th Gen Core laptop/mobile SKUs.

Chinese tech tipster Enthusiast Citizen (ECSM) has once again posted about upcoming Intel CPU product launches—according to an inside info post (published via Bilibili), Team Blue has possibly scheduled their Raptor Lake Refresh/14th Gen Core K-series for a release window around the 42nd week of 2023 (October 17 - 23). ECSM posits that non-K models will arrive during the first week of 2024, coinciding with January's CES trade event. The Core i7-14700K model is said to feature a new configuration of 8 Performance and 12 Efficiency cores, and current LGA1700 motherboards will most likely require a firmware upgrade to run this specific SKU.

ECSM also seems to have insider information regarding motherboard chipsets for desktop Arrow Lake/15th Gen Core, although they cannot determine an accurate time frame for the (fully new) product launch. Intel Z890, B860 and H810 chipsets are named as possible upcoming candidates for proper next generation CPUs, with H870 allegedly dropped from development. ECSM claims that a competing AMD Zen 5 lineup is not arriving this year—prior insider information was perhaps fabricated. They believe that Storm Peak (Zen 4 Threadripper) is scheduled for Q4 2023, with two unnamed chipsets lined up to accompany this next-gen HEDT platform.

A tipster/YouTuber familiar with goings-on at Spanish development studios believes that next generation Nintendo development kits have arrived in the southern European country. Nash Weedle is reported to have a good track record with their predictions—most notably outing Madrid-based MercurySteam as a contract developer on the high profile Metroid Dread project. Weedle did not implicate this particular team with his social media declaration, but it is the only organization in the region that has assisted Nintendo EPD on multiple first-party titles.

A translation of Weedle's tweet states: "The Switch 2 development kit has arrived in Spain. The fact that a Spanish studio already has the kit, given Nintendo's private/secrecy policy, is a boost in their relations and indicates that we are in the last stages before the console's presentation." The relationship between the two companies could sour following these emerging leaks—Nintendo is notorious for its extremely guarded approach to software and hardware reveals. Company president, Shuntaro Furukawa, told shareholders (two months ago) that a Switch successor is marked for a vague launch somewhere in FY2024 - 2025.

The Financial Times believes that Apple is running into major production issues related to its Vision Pro mixed reality headset—insider sources claim that the mega-sized multinational technology company is adjusting internal sales goals for the $3499 AR/VR "spatial computer." Leadership had set an ambitious internal target of 1 million units sold in 2024, but the complexity of the system's design has apparently caused major setbacks for manufacturing partners. Apple is reported to have signed up with Luxshare, a Chinese contract manufacturer, to assemble Vision Pro headsets—insiders within both organizations reckon that only 400,000 units will be ready for sale throughout 2024. This number seems to be fairly optimistic given that Trendforce predicted that a mere 200,000 would be shipped next year.

FT gathered information from two other sources placed within the Chinese supply chain—they claim that Apple and Luxshare could encounter major component shortages in 2024, resulting in a production shortfall—with an estimated 130,000 to 150,000 finalized units. The article points out that the most complex (and costly) aspect of the headset lies in its micro-OLED display setup, that also includes outward facing lenses. TSMC and Sony are reported to be the suppliers of these parts (as featured on the prototypes), but Apple is allegedly not satisfied with low production numbers, and not enough batches are "free of defects." A cheaper version of the Vision Pro is apparently now on the backburner, since Apple is unlikely to recoup—factoring in R&D expenses—within the first year of the intial product's launch.