AMD's Radeon RX 9070 GPU series is due for release next month; a specific date has not been set, but we will likely find out more through official channels at the end of this month. Team Red and its board partners have chosen to remain silent on the subject of RDNA 4's technical makeup; post-CES 2025, hardware news outlets have relied on a steady trickle of Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070-related leaks. Very basic sleuthing pointed to pools of 16 GB VRAM for both models, while insiders kept on mentioning an unannounced "Navi 48" GPU. The latest—courtesy of HKEPC—seems to confirm that the Radeon RX 9070 XT will utilize the aforementioned new RDNA 4 Navi chip. Earlier today, a screenshot was uploaded to social media—the leaker shared graphics card information displayed in a TechPowerUp GPU-Z (v2.62) session. Despite patch notes not disclosing compatibility, the latest version of GPU-Z is seemingly able to identify key aspects of the alleged "RX 9070 XT (Navi 48)" sample.

The card's name is obscured, but HKEPC and several press outlets believe that it is the genuine article. The fundamental details appear to be: 16 GB GDDR6 VRAM (Hynix-made), a 256-bit memory bus, 4096 stream processors, and a boost clock reaching a maximum frequency of 3.1 GHz. Older leaks have indicated that the first wave of RDNA 4 cards will make do with PCI-Express 4.0 x16 interfaces, but the GPU-Z screenshot shows a PCI-Express 5.0 x16 bus interface (detection could be bugged). The driver version was identified as Adrenalin 24.30.01.05. The unnamed card appears to feature a steep factory overclock; industry experts reckon that the sample could be a very high-end AIB model. Past reports suggest that PowerColor's Radeon RX 9070 XT Red Devil card is capable of boosting up to 3060 MHz. HKEPC uploaded another incriminating screenshot; showcasing performance results produced by Capcom's Monster Hunter Wilds PC performance benchmark tool. The test system—featuring Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K CPU and 48 GB of RAM—scored 36102 points and achieved a maximum frame rate of 211.71 FPS at 1080p, with "Very High" profile settings. The leaker confirmed that FSR and Frame Generation were enabled during the benchmark session.

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.

AMD will be launching its new generation of "RDNA 4" Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 graphics cards next month, but we will likely hear more about technical details and price points from official sources around late February. Team Red had scheduled a special "launch event," but Radeon RX 9070 series leaks continue to flow online. Earlier today, reports alluded to an XT variant that allegedly sports a generous VRAM pool of 32 GB. VideoCardz has received another RDNA 4 tip-off, courtesy of Tomasz Gawroński and the AnandTech forums. Based on screenshots, Canada Computers has inadvertently revealed regional prices (minus tax) for PowerColor and XFX's opening round of custom Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 models.

Team Red is reportedly lining up an aggressive price strategy; industry insiders reckon that that baseline MSRP for the Radeon RX 9070 XT will be $599. Its non-XT sibling is expected to launch at a minimum point of $499. The Canada Computers leak seems to contain a small selection of models that hover closer to AMD's guidelines, but the majority of listed cards seemingly demand a premium upcharge. PowerColor's barebones models appear to conform closest to Team Red's recommended baseline—according to VideoCardz's conversion-crunching, the Radeon RX 9070 XT Reaper will cost $999 CAD (~$697 USD). The RX 9070 (non-XT) Reaper will come in at $839 CAD (~$586 USD). We spotted no surprises when looking up and down the list of leaked PowerColor RDNA 4 SKUs; TechPowerUp staffers handled Red Devil, Hellhound and Reaper samples at CES 2025. In sharp contrast, XFX appears to have all sorts of options lined up for launch (refer to VideoCardz's chart, below). Two unnamed demonstration units—in black or white—were on display at AMD's recent partner roundup.

Unannounced Intel processor families have emerged online over the past week—one source, Jaykihn, has unearthed a treasure trove of speculative mobile SKUs. Today's discovery pushes into the enterprise market segment; focusing on Team Blue's "Granite Rapids-W" (GNR-W) platform, likely equipped with Redwood Cove cores. The latest leak suggests an upcoming emergence of "Mainstream" and "Expert" workstation-oriented product tiers, allegedly prepared with the company's rumored W890 motherboard chipset. Past generations of "Xeon W" HEDT processor families have rolled out with entry-level and high-end offerings.

The leaker reckons that the mainstream Intel Granite Rapids-W "Xeon W" lineup will arrive with 4-channel memory support and 80 PCIe Gen 5 Lanes. Team Blue's higher-end "Expert" tier is anticipated with 128 PCIe Gen 5 lanes and 8-channel memory support. In addition to leaking processor information, Jaykihn outlined basic details regarding the W890 chipset—they believe that board designs will have access to 24 PCIe Gen 4 lanes, as well as 8 Gen 4 lanes for Intel's proprietary link (DMI) between northbridge and southbridge. The leaker did not divulge details of upcoming socket types—Team Blue is notorious for its elaborate rollout out of multiple LGA platforms.

European PC hardware retailers are readying themselves with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti partner models, ahead of the GPU's freshly scheduled launch on February 20. Tech news sites and industry watchdogs have already sniffed out preliminary pricing; courtesy of accidental listings of MSI custom card designs in France and Austria. We are more than a week away from GeForce RTX 5070 Ti release day, so speculative price points are subject to change. The Austrian arm of MediaMarkt was quick to correct matters after an accidental leak, and proceeded to remove an MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GAMING TRIO OC PLUS product page from its webstore. VideoCardz managed to preserve fundamental details, prior to MediaMarkt AT's de-listing of the offending item. The card's alleged €1169 asking price has raised Central European eyebrows—factoring in the region's customary VAT, we are looking at an approximate 32% increase over NVIDIA's baseline MSRP (€884). It should be noted that a Founders Edition does not exist in Team Green's upper-mid "Blackwell" GPU segment.

MSI's price point for its GeForce RTX 5070 Ti VENTUS 3X OC PLUS card is expected to reside closer to Team Green's recommendation, but this barebones offering sits within the company's "entry-level" product tier. The manufacturer's GAMING TRIO OC PLUS range tends to slot right into middle of product hierarchies—provisioned RGB lighting, larger heatsinks and miscellaneous fancy features often demand an upcharge at retail. Tomasz Gawroński (aka GawroskiT) happened upon additional MSI listings in France; an unnamed e-tailer has priced the GeForce RTX 5070 Ti GAMING TRIO OC PLUS at €1149 (€20 cheaper than MediaMarkt AT). The upper crust MSI GeForce RTX 5070 Ti VANGUARD SOC LIMITED EDITION model demands that French customers part way with €1199, for the pleasure of ownership.

Last October, Apple introduced its modernized range of MacBook Pro models; featuring the M4 family of chips. Ultra-thin notebook enthusiasts wondered whether the MacBook Air range series would receive similar treatment in the near future. Apple provided an answer around December-time, by accidentally publishing "Mac16,12" and "Mac16,13" machine listings within their macOS Sequoia 15.2 release. MacRumors believed that the referenced models are MacBook Air M4 13-inch and M4 15-inch products. At the time, industry moles suggested that Apple had settled on a possible April (2025) launch window. A fresh follow-up report points to an earlier than anticipated release—MacRumors reckons that a recent leak indicates an "imminent" launch.

Yesterday, the publication discovered intriguing information online; posted by an anonymous source on X. Based on said leak, MacRumors reports that the updated MacBook Air models: "will be equipped with Apple's T8132 chip." Apple's internal reference code points to both 13-inch and 15-inch models housing a 10-core M4 chipset (part number: APL1206). Mark Gurman—Bloomberg's resident technology guru—has picked up on signs of dwindling current-gen MacBook Air M3 stock. His weekend detective work suggests that successors are only weeks away from launch.

According to early February reportage, Team Green's GeForce RTX 5060 and RTX 5060 Ti graphics cards are expected to launch onto market next month. Very basic technical information has leaked online; insiders reckon that both product tiers will be utilizing the NVIDIA "Blackwell" GB206 GPU. Rumors have swirled regarding intended VRAM configurations—loose online declarations point to variants being prepared with 8 or 16 GB of GDDR7 VRAM, on a 128-bit bus. Regulatory filings indicate two different configs with the eventual arrival of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti models, but certain industry watchdogs insist that the GeForce RTX 5060 SKU will be an 8 GB-only product.

A curious-looking ZOTAC Trinity OC White Edition GeForce RTX 5060 16 GB variant surfaced via a TikTok video—post-analysis, expert eyes declared that the upload contained doctored material. A BenchLife.info report pointed to a notable inconsistency on the offending item's retail packaging: "DLSS 3 should not appear on the GeForce RTX 50 series box, because the Blackwell GPU architecture focuses on DLSS 4." The publication presented evidence of ZOTAC RTX 4070 Ti SUPER Trinity OC White Edition box art being repurposed in the TikToker's video. Hardware soothsayer MEGAsizeGPU added their two cents: "this is fake. There is no plan for a GeForce RTX 5060 16 GB, and the box is photoshopped from the last-gen ZOTAC box." At the end of their report, BenchLife reckons that NVIDIA has not sent a "GeForce RTX 5060 color box template" to its board partners.

The AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D and Ryzen 9 9900X3D "Zen 5" processors are due for launch at some point next month, but Team Red's recent-ish introductory presentation did not include any details regarding prices. Given patterns demonstrated by previous generations of Team Red's popular 3D V-Cache-equipped CPUs, we can safely assume that the incoming duo will demand a premium over the already released Ryzen 7 9800X3D SKU (MSRP: $479). Late last week, momomo_us happened upon speculated price points during a sleuthing session involving a comparison shopping website.

The PCPartPicker's price aggregation engine pulled data from two Newegg listings—now scrubbed from existence—that outlined a cost of $699.99 (plus a $12.41 shipping fee) for the 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X3D model, and $599.99 (plus shipping) for the 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X3D. Fortunately, VideoCardz preserved this information over the weekend. PCPartPicker has removed the aforementioned figures from its price history chart system, and Newegg has delisted the offending pages. The leaked price points align closely with MSRPs set for previous-gen (Zen 4) Ryzen 9 7000-series CPUs: $699 for the 7950X3D, and $599 for 7900X3D. The de-listed prices could be based on placeholder information—the Ryzen 7 9800X3D launched last November with a generational premium of $30 (Ryzen 7 7800X3D's original MSRP was $449). AMD has alluded to gaming performance being on a roughly even plane, so the incoming Ryzen 9 9950X3D and 9900X3D models are not expected to surpass the Ryzen 7 9800X3D as "THE best gaming processor."

Going back a year, we started hearing about an OpenAI proprietary AI chip project—this (allegedly) highly ambitious endeavor included grand plans for a dedicated fabrication network. TSMC was reportedly in the equation, but indirectly laughed at the AI research organization's ardent requests. Fast-forward to the present day; OpenAI appears to be actively pursuing a proprietary GPU design through traditional means. A Reuters exclusive report points to 2025 being an important year for the company's aforementioned "in-house" AI chip—the publication believes that OpenAI's debut silicon design has reached the finalization stage. Insiders have divulged that the project is only months away from being submitted to TSMC for "taping out." The foundry's advanced 3-nanometer process technology is reported to be on the cards. A Reuters source reckons that the unnamed chip features: "a commonly used systolic array architecture with high-bandwidth memory (HBM)...and extensive networking capabilities."

Broadcom is reportedly assisting with the development of OpenAI's in-house design—we heard about rumored negotiations taking place last summer. Jim Keller's tempting offer—of creating an AI chip for less than $1 trillion—was ignored early last year; OpenAI has instead assembled its own internal team of industry veterans. The October 2024 news cycle posited that former Google TPU engineers were drafted in as team leaders, with a targeted mass production window scheduled for 2026. The latest Reuters news article reiterates this projected timeframe, albeit dependent on the initial tape going "smoothly." OpenAI's chip department has grown to around forty individuals with recent months, according to industry moles—a small number relative to the headcounts at "Google or Amazon's AI chip program."

Supply chain and board partner (AIB) insiders have once again signalled a murky future for Team Green's "Ada Lovelace" generation of gaming graphics cards—Chinese industry soothsayers believe that supplies of GeForce RTX 4060 GPUs will change significantly throughout February. A somewhat similar disclosure popped up online half-way through January—when members of the Board Channels discussion board predicted an end of the month stock depletion of NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 GPUs. Several web entities believe that NVIDIA is paving the way for a next wave of GeForce RTX 50-series "Blackwell" graphics cards.

Gory details appeared on Board Channels—yesterday morning's China market-focused bulletin stated: "supply of the main models of the RTX 4060 series will be greatly reduced from the first quarter of 2025, that is, from February 2025 in the domestic market, NVIDIA's supply of RTX4060 series GPUs will be greatly reduced, which is at least 60% less than the estimated Q4 of 2024." Team Green and its partners are reportedly working on a March launch window for GeForce RTX 5060 (non-Ti) and RTX 5060 Ti graphics card models—neatly aligning with the RTX 4060-related timeframes proposed by industry insiders. The Board Channels article added further clarification: "the number of GPUs that each core AIC brand manufacturer can get from NVIDIA will be greatly reduced."

So far, this Friday (February 7) has been a bumper day for Intel CPU-related leaks. Golden Pig Upgrade and Jaykihn appear to be in competition with each other—they have uncovered all manner of speculative treasures across desktop and mobile segments. The latest revelation provides an early insight into unannounced feline-themed next-gen CPUs, courtesy of a Jaykihn social media post. Team Blue's Panther Lake processor family is slated for launch within the latter half of 2025—Intel officially stated that it would be their "lead product" on 18A. Older rumors had the "mobile-exclusive" Panther Lake processor family linked to a mixed configuration of new "Cougar Cove" P-cores and updated "Skymont" E-cores. According to today's leak, a variety of core configurations and feature sets are in the pipeline.

Jaykihn has listed three Panther Lake SKUs, and a "more mainstream" lower-end Wildcat Lake model. Common features include support for Thunderbolt 4 connectivity and LPDDR5X memory. Team Blue's rumored highest-end Panther Lake-H (PTL-H) processor appears to max out with a grand total of sixteen cores—consisting of 4 P-cores, 8 E-Cores, and 4 LP cores. The integrated graphics solution is (allegedly) a 12 core Xe3 "Celestial" GPU, with support for LPDDR5X memory—it is the only one on the list to completely jettison DDR5 compatibility. Insiders believe that the total platform (TOPS) rating is 180. As interpreted by VideoCardz, a 12-core "Panther Lake-U" (PTL-U) SKU is reportedly free of efficiency (E) units. The sole Wildcat Lake (WCL) model seems to sport a 2 P-core, 4-LP, and 2-Xe3 configuration.

Intel is reported to be eyeing a revival of its "Arrow Lake Refresh" desktop processor design—Golden Pig Upgrade disclosed this "strange" revelation via an updated Weibo blog post. Back in 2023, the Chinese hardware reviewer and leaker extraordinaire theorized that Team Blue's much-rumored shelving of "ARL-S/HX Refresh" came down to cost/benefit considerations relating to accommodating an upgraded NPU in the chip's tile-based design. Last September, reports suggested that Intel had put the final kibosh on a 14th Gen Core Ultra 8P+32E "Arrow Lake Refresh" processor series—leaked roadmaps had a launch window marked down for late 2025, going into 2026. Industry watchdogs have picked up on Golden Pig Upgrade's latest forecast—prompting further theorizing.

Intel has its mobile segment's future covered with Panther Lake (later in 2025) and Nova Lake (2026), but a notable gap exists in their desktop world. Nova Lake's desktop S-series is slated for launch at some point in 2026, so this year could be prime territory for a mild refresh of existing Arrow Lake-S processors—on the LGA1851 socket. Golden Pig Upgrade reckons that refreshes of ARL-S (desktop) and ARL-HX (high-end laptop) are back on Team Blue's upcoming product roadmap. Industry moles reckon that an updated NPU design—potentially similar to the one housed in Lunar Lake mobile chips—will be the only major upgrade lined up for the so-called "Core Ultra 300" processor series. Intel's current-gen flagship model—Core Ultra 9 285K—has NPU performance topping off at 13 TOPS. Refreshed Arrow Lake SKUs could be deployed with an improved NPU aspect, perhaps capable of hitting 48 TOPS.

AMD debuted its first wave of RDNA 4 graphics cards—consisting of Radeon RX 9070 XT and RX 9070 (non-XT) models—at the beginning of January. At the time, press outlets and PC gaming hardware enthusiasts were equally flummoxed by Team Red's confusing presentation strategy. Invited attendees of CES 2025 were allowed to handle demonstration samples, but board partners appeared to be sworn to secrecy regarding technical specifications or performance figures. Miscellaneous leaks and rumors have seeped out since then—according to insiders, AMD was prepping its new Radeon product line for launch late last month. A re-scheduled rollout is seemingly in the works, possibly on next month's calendar entry. Benchlife (via VideoCardz) believes that a pre-launch showcase event is lined up for late February.

Following publication of the latest RDNA 4-related leaks, a brave soul engaged with AMD's Frank Azor on social media. Dee Batch, a loyal and long-term supporter of Radeon gaming hardware, sent a query to Team Red's chief architect of gaming solutions: "can we see the RDNA 4 full presentation? I honestly feel you can prevent many gamers from getting a GeForce RTX 5070 or RTX 5070 Ti GPU...Please, do not miss this opportunity to gain gamer mind share." Azor replied with a short sentence: "yes, full details are coming soon." This brief interaction attracted additional participants—VideoCardz noted that the Team Red executive was taking on board feedback about expectations surrounding RDNA 4 MSRPs. Late last month, Azor refuted rumors of the Radeon RX 9070 XT pricing starting at a baseline of $899. NVIDIA has officially disclosed price points of $549 (RTX 5070) and $749 (RTX 5070 Ti)—AMD enthusiasts have their fingers crossed in hope of TBA competitive numbers.

MSI introduced an impressive number of new AMD B850 and B840 chipset-based motherboards at January's CES trade event. According to a Wccftech report, the company's AM5—socketed lineup will expand in the near future—a leaked presentation slide provides an early preview of (allegedly) incoming budget-friendly offerings. MSI's leaked roadmap (Q1 to Q2 2025) shows new additions—mostly smaller form factor—across performance (MPG) and Pro Series product ranges. Their Arsenal Gaming (MAG) B850 range seems to be fully released, as of the first quarter of this year—consisting of models already unveiled at CES.

Five new models are seemingly lined up for release within the next couple of months—the Wccftech article listed the following SKUs: MPG B850I Edge WIFI (Mini-ITX), PRO B850M-P WIFI (M-ATX), PRO B850M-B (M-ATX), B850 Gaming PLUS WIFI PZ (ATX) and PRO B850M-A WIFI PZ (M-ATX). The publication commented on its discoveries: "as you can see, MSI will have at least one new variant within the MPG lineup which will feature a Mini-ITX design. The company has already released the full ATX-sized version of the EDGE TI WIFI, and it's nice to know that we will get a Mini-ITX variant too." The report proposes that MSI has prepped its new budget models with the latest connectivity features—most notably, Wi-Fi 7 rated at the full 320 MHz band. Support for Zen 4 and 5 Ryzen X3D CPUs is expected upon launch.

At the end of January, Samsung Electronics released their financial results for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year 2024. Smartphone tech watchdogs paid close to attention to the South Korean giant's accompanying earnings call. The recently released Galaxy S25 smartphone family is, exclusively, powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipsets—insiders believe that Samsung opted out of utilizing proprietary chip designs (for this generation) due to missed production goals. Late last year, inside sources pointed to the foundry's allegedly problematic 3 nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process node. Follow-up reports suggest that Samsung engineers have moved onto developing a 2 nm manufacturing process, possibly linked to a re-designed Exynos 2500 flagship mobile processor.

Brian Ma, a technology industry analyst, extracted relevant information from Samsung's recent earnings meeting—several press outlets have picked up on his brief social media post. The IDC employee stated: "Samsung System LSI just mentioned in its earnings call that it's optimizing Exynos 2500 and 'aiming' to secure design wins for mobile models scheduled for release in 2H" The rumor mill has proposed that new "Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Fold 7" smartphone models are currently in the development pipeline—coincidental timing indicates that the two devices could launch later in 2025, potentially with next-gen flagship Exynos SoCs onboard. Tipsters reckon that the Exynos 2500 is configured with a 10-core cluster, and its integrated graphics solution will be an AMD RDNA 3.5-enabled Xclipse 950 model.

A former chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment USA—Shawn Layden—has shared his views regarding current and future PlayStation product landscapes. In an interview conducted by podcaster Reece Reilly (of KIWI TALKZ), the American businessman was asked about Microsoft's recent-ish release of all-digital Xbox home consoles. Layden believes that Sony will not copy its main rival's homework—the heavily rumored "PlayStation 6" could launch in two forms: with an optical drive, or without. The ex-SIE boss commented about a potential disc-less future platform: "I don't think Sony can get away with it now...I think Xbox has had more success in pursuing that strategy, but Xbox is really most successful in their business in a clutch of countries: the U.S., Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. Coincidentally enough—all English-speaking countries."

The current day PlayStation 5 family—consisting of standard, slim, and Pro models—is this generation's market leader; having established a huge international userbase (roughly 65 million units, back in September 2024). Layden cites these numbers as a guideline for the makeup of a new-gen model: "Sony, which is the number one platform in probably 170 countries around the world, has an obligation or a responsibility to say: 'If we go discless, how much of my market is not able to make that jump?' Can users in rural Italy get a decent connection to enjoy games?" He thinks that his former colleagues are making very careful considerations, given the complicated nature of catering to a diverse audience: "which part of your market will be damaged by going to disc-less market? I'm sure they're doing their research on it. And there will be a tipping point, where there's some percentage where you can say, 'Okay that's fine, we can turn our back on that part of the market.' But Sony's market is globally so huge, I think it would be hard for them to go fully disc-less, even with the next generation."

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes that Apple's headset design department has cancelled a long-gestating project. Development of the company's augmented reality (AR) smart glasses—allegedly codenamed "N107"—ceased not long ago, according to the journalist's insider network. At first, Apple's augmented reality engineering team supposedly envisioned the (regular/normal-sized) glasses being powered via a direct connection to a wearer's iPhone. Gurman reckons that the smartphone-connected system was a mega-drainer of batteries, due to the onboard chipset being a bit of a power hog. Apple proceeded to experiment with a glasses-linked up-to-Mac concept—reportedly, company leadership canceled the project after rejecting the inelegant personal computer-powered solution.

Apple's AR smart glasses could have competed with a similar next-gen offering, upon a rumored 2027 launch—Meta's "Orion" solution is still in a concept phase. Leaked feature set information indicates functionality akin to Xreal's One AR series, albeit with a required connection to a compatible Mac computer. The Apple headset department has struggled (allegedly) with the development of various concepts—going far back as 2017, according to several of Gurman's reports. Two years ago, he heard whispers about the AR/VR team labelling their N107 project as a "hopeless" prospect. By Mid-2024, industry leaks indicated an end of development for the "expensive Vision Pro 2" mixed reality headset.

Intel has officially announced that its "Clearwater Forest" Xeon processor family will be arriving somewhere in the first half of 2026. During a recent earnings call, interim co-CEO—Michelle Johnston Holthaus—discussed Team Blue's product roadmap for 2025 and beyond: "this year is all about improving Intel Xeon's competitive position as we fight harder to close the gap to the competition. The ramp of Granite Rapids has been a good first step. We are also making good progress on Clearwater Forest, our first Intel 18A server product that we plan to launch in the first half of next year." Press outlets have (correctly) pointed out that Intel's "Clearwater Forest" Xeon processors were originally slated for release in 2025, so the company's executive branch has seemingly admitted—in a low-key manner—that their next-gen series is delayed. Industry whispers from last autumn posit that Team Blue foundries were struggling with their proprietary 18A (1.8 nm) node process—at the time, watchdogs predicted a postponement of "Clearwater Forest" server processors.

The original timetable had "Clearwater Forest" server CPUs arriving not long after the launch of Intel's latest line of "Sierra Forest" products—288-core models from the Xeon 6-series. The delay into 2026 could be beneficial—The Register proposes that "Xeons bristling with E-cores" have not found a large enough audience. Holthaus disclosed a similar sentiment (in the Q4 earnings call): "what we've seen is that's more of a niche market, and we haven't seen volume materialize there as fast as we expected." Despite rumors swirling around complications affecting chip manufacturing volumes, Intel's temporary co-leaders believe that things are going well. David Zinsner—Team Blue's CFO—stated: "18A has been an area of good progress...Like any new process, there have been ups and downs along the way, but overall, we are confident that we are delivering a competitive process." His colleague added: "as the first volume customer of Intel 18A, I see the progress that Intel Foundry is making on performance and yield, and I look forward to being in production in the second half, as we demonstrate the benefits of our world-class design."

Intel's freshly uploaded fourth-quarter 2024 "CEO/CFO earnings call comments" document has revealed grand CPU-related plans for 2025 and beyond. One of Team Blue's interim leaders—Michelle Johnston Holthaus—believes that "Nova Lake" processors (a next-generation client family) will arrive in 2026, following a comprehensive rollout of "Panther Lake" CPU products. This official timeline matches previously leaked and rumored development schedules—most notably, in a shipping manifest that was discovered last week. In recent times, industry watchdogs have linked "Nova Lake" to Intel's own 14A node and a TSMC 2 nm process node. Additionally, tipsters pointed to an apparent selection of Coyote Cove performance cores and Arctic Wolf efficiency-oriented cores.

Following yesterday's official announcements, a leaker shared several insights—theorized core configurations and manufacturing details were posted on the Hardware subreddit. Community members were engaged in a debate over Intel's "killing of Falcon Shore," but a plucky contributor—going under the moniker "Exist50"—redirected conversation to all-things "Nova Lake." They believe that Intel has shifted all "compute dies to TSMC" for manufacturing, after a change in plans—initial designs had the "8+16 die" on TSMC's N2P, and the "4+8 die on Intel 18A." Exist50 seemed to have inside track knowledge of product ranges: "Nova Lake (NVL) has a unified HUB/SoC die across mobile and desktop. So yeah, the baseline there is 4+8+4. But there's at least one more die for mobile." The flagship desktop (NVL-S or NVL-SK) chip's configuration could feature as many as sixteen performance cores and thirty-two efficiency cores, due to tile reuse—2x (8P+16E). Exist50 advised Intel CPU enthusiasts to forgo current generation offerings. "Nova Lake" should be: "quite a jump from Arrow Lake (ARL) in terms of MT performance, to say the least. I think anyone who buys ARL will end up regretting it, big time!"

Japan's Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun newspaper believes that Rapidus will be installing a grand total of ten "extreme ultraviolet (EUV) exposure tools" at two cutting-edge semiconductor production sites. Government subsidies have assisted in boosting Japan's semiconductor industry to new highs—Rapidus is reportedly catching up with the likes of TSMC. Its 2 nm-class process node could be up and running by 2027, at the currently under-construction Innovative Integration for Manufacturing One (IIM-1) facility. This location welcomed its first ASML NXE:3800E EUV lithography machine last December—this occasion marked the debut deployment of said technology in Japan.

The Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun report cites statements made by Rapidus CEO, Atsuyoshi Koike—according to the boss, ten new machines will be distributed across two fabrication facilities: at the aforementioned IIM-1, as well as IIM-2. The second location is expected to come online not long after the completion of IIM-1. It is not clear whether the foundries will be installing more examples of ASML's NXE:3800E model, and an exact timeframe was not disclosed. An older Nikkei article suggests that a trial run—utilizing 2 nm generation gate-all-around (GAA) technology—will begin around April (2025) at the primary Rapidus fab. A theorized schedule proposes that initial samples are due for shipment to Broadcom (in the USA) by mid-year.

As evidenced in leaks from late last year, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile processor is no slouch in terms of gaming performance—to be more specific, it is surprisingly adept at emulating "AAA" titles in an Android OS environment. Past examples include test platforms—allegedly—hitting 60+ frames per second (FPS) in A Plague Tale: Innocence (2019), and an astounding 160 FPS in Red Dead Redemption's recent-ish PC conversion (originally a 2010 release on PS3 & Xbox 360). Earlier this week, NoI_Revenant's attention was drawn to intriguing camera footage that was freshly uploaded to Bilibili. Said video demonstrates the PC version (2019) of Red Dead Redemption 2 running on an unnamed mobile device equipped with Qualcomm's flagship SoC.

Follow-up posts and comments propose that the game was running via a specific (Android-based) emulation application: Winlator. Observers have pointed out that it is difficult to ascertain exact details regarding visual fidelity from an overly blurry video—the original uploader/leaker mentions that they implemented "low graphical settings." On-screen information shows measured frame rates hovering around the 60 FPS mark. Industry experts reckon that Qualcomm latest "game-changing" Adreno GPU is capable of surpassing AMD's omnipresent Radeon 780M—a popular integrated graphics solution, frequently found in Ryzen Z1 Extreme-equipped handheld gaming PCs.

Huawei's Ascend 910C AI chip was positioned as one of the better Chinese-developed alternatives to NVIDIA's H100 accelerator—reports from last autumn suggested that samples were being sent to highly important customers. The likes of Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent have long relied on Team Green enterprise hardware for all manner of AI crunching, but trade sanctions have severely limited the supply and potency of Western-developed AI chips. NVIDIA's region-specific B20 "Blackwell" accelerator is due for release this year, but industry watchdogs reckon that the Ascend 910C AI GPU is a strong rival. The latest online rumblings have pointed to another major Huawei customer—DeepSeek—having Ascend silicon in their back pockets.

DeepSeek's recent unveiling of its R1 open-source large language model has disrupted international AI markets. A lot of press attention has focused on DeepSeek's CEO stating that his team can access up to 50,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, but many have not looked into the company's (alleged) pool of natively-made chips. Yesterday, Alexander Doria—an LLM enthusiast—shared an interesting insight: "I feel this should be a much bigger story—DeepSeek has trained on NVIDIA H800, but is running inference on the new home Chinese chips made by Huawei, the 910C." Experts believe that there will be a plentiful supply of Ascend 910C GPUs—estimates from last September posit that 70,000 chips (worth around $2 billion) were in the mass production pipeline. Additionally, industry whispers suggest that Huawei is already working on a—presumably, even more powerful—successor.

Intel's relatively new lineup of Arc B-series "Battlemage" desktop graphics cards consists of B580 and B570 GPUs—these affordable models have been warmly welcomed by reviewers and customers alike. PC hardware enthusiasts—with larger wallets—will be pondering over possible future launches of mid-tier or higher-end SKUs. Industry insiders have not picked up on much chatter regarding possible successors to Team Blue's mid-range Arc "Alchemist" A770 and A750 GPUs. The speculation machine has been fired up again, following the appearance of three new "Battlemage" PC IDs. Intel's Linux kernel has been updated with these new additions—as discovered by Tomasz Gawroński (aka GawroskiT), earlier today.

A brief sentence outlines "3 new PCI IDs for BMG," with no further or follow-up information included. Several industry watchdogs believe that Intel's graphics hardware division has moved on from creating new Xe2 "Battlemage" products—Team Blue representatives have officially admitted that their Xe3 "Celestial" architecture is complete, and its engineers have already started work on the Xe4 "Druid" GPU IP. Instead, the three new identifiers could be linked to a late December leak. At the time, Quantum Bits claimed that Arc B580 variants with larger pools of VRAM were in the pipeline—these "Arc Pro" cards are supposedly workstation-oriented models. Insiders reckon that a product launch is planned for later in 2025.