MediaTek today announced the Dimensity 9400+ SoC, the latest addition to MediaTek's Dimensity flagship chipset family. Providing exceptional Generative and agentic AI capabilities as well as other performance enhancements, the Dimensity 9400+ supports the latest Large Language Models (LLM) while sustaining a super power-efficient design. The Dimensity 9400+ features an All Big Core design, integrating one Arm Cortex-X925 core operating up to 3.73 GHz, combined with 3x Cortex-X4 and 4x Cortex-A720 cores. This powerful configuration accelerates single and multithreaded performance for top-tier Android UX experiences.

"The MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ will make it easier to deliver innovative, personalized AI experiences on-device, combined with enhanced overall performance to ensure your device can handle all tasks with ease," said JC Hsu, Corporate Senior Vice President at MediaTek. "We are working closely with developers and manufacturers to continue building a robust ecosystem of AI applications and other features that will bring a number of speed and privacy benefits to consumers."

Late last month, speculative Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 (aka SM8850) technical details emerged online. Up until then, Digital Chat Station's Weibo channel has delivered all sorts of pre-release information—mostly concentrating on Qualcomm's alleged redeployment of a familiar "2 + 6" core configuration, and selection of TSMC's 3 nm "N3P" node process. Earlier today, the veteran leaker predicted a couple of new-gen improvements—first concentrating on the alleged mobile chipset's "Adreno 840" integrated graphics solution. Digital Chat Station (DCS) believes that the company's engineering team has increased their iGPU design's independent cache size "from 12 MB to 16 MB," leading to: "early setting performance increased by 30%±." It is not clear whether this rumored upgrade has affected the SoC's L2 or L3 cache provisions, but the current-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile processor makes do with 12 MB of L2 cache per cluster. Additionally, DCS reckons that an enlargement of caches has resulted in performance of Qualcomm's "second-generation self-developed CPU architecture" increasing "by 25%±."

As interpreted by Wccftech: "the upcoming SoC will now feature 32 MB of L2 cache, with the L3 count currently unknown at this time. The initial test results revealed that the 'Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2' delivered a 30 percent performance increase, but it is unconfirmed if this delta exists between the Snapdragon 8 Elite or some other silicon." DCS has heard whispers about the upcoming chip supporting "new generations of high-speed LPDDR5X/LPDDR6" memory. The mentioning of LPDDR5X is not surprising; given that the current Snapdragon 8 Elite model is already up to snuff with this spec. Just over a year ago, JEDEC was reportedly working on the finalization of LPDDR6 standards for mobile platforms. Shortly thereafter, smartphone industry watchdogs started to theorize about the arrival of a so-called "Snapdragon 8 Gen 4" chip with LPDDR6 RAM in 2025. Fast-forward to the present day; fresh reports suggest that manufacturers will have the option to outfit next-gen flagship devices with "bog-standard" LPDDR5X or faster/more efficient LPDDR6 memory.

Three months ago, AMD unveiled its Ryzen Z2 APU series at CES 2025—purpose made for deployment in next-gen handheld gaming PCs. The officially announced flagship—Ryzen Z2 Extreme "Strix Point," utilizing Zen 5 and RDNA 3.5 technologies—was previously alluded to by leakers in late 2024; albeit with some curious claims regarding an "odd 3+5 core configuration." Last week, Hoang Anh Phu (@AnhPhuH) presented an alleged expanded lineup of Ryzen Z2 processors—headlined by a mysterious "Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme" SKU.

PC hardware watchdogs believe that this speculative variant will eventually arrive with an enabled XDNA 2 NPU (a first for the series); likely readied to take on Intel's Core Ultra 200V "Lunar Lake" processor family. MSI's Core Ultra 7 258V-powered Claw 8 AI+ and Claw 7 AI+ handhelds launched not too long ago, boasting all sorts of Microsoft Copilot+ capabilities. Mid-way through March, an Xbox executive introduced "Copilot for Gaming." Team Red and manufacturing partners are likely jumping onto this "AI gaming" bandwagon with the aforementioned "AI Ryzen Z2 Extreme" chip, as well as Phu's fanciful "Ryzen Z2 A" model. The latter could be a spin-off of AMD's vanilla Ryzen Z2 "Hawk Point" design, with a "switched on" XDNA NPU.

MediaTek has introduced the Kompanio Ultra, the latest milestone in AI-powered, high-performance Chromebooks. Leveraging MediaTek's proven expertise in flagship innovation, this powerful new platform brings fantastic on-device AI capabilities, superior computing performance, and industry-leading power efficiency to the newest Chromebook Plus devices. "The Kompanio Ultra underscores our commitment to delivering groundbreaking computing performance and efficiency that MediaTek has shown as a leader in the mobile compute space for many years," said Adam King, Vice President & General Manager of Computing and Multimedia Business at MediaTek. "We worked closely with Google to ensure the newest Chromebook Plus devices enjoy next-generation on-device AI capabilities, superior performance per watt, and immersive multimedia."

The Kompanio Ultra is MediaTek's most powerful Chromebook processor to date, integrating 50 TOPS of AI processing power to enable on-device generative AI experiences. With MediaTek's 8th-generation NPU, users can expect real-time task automation, personalized computing, and seamless AI-enhanced workflows—with local processing for enhanced speed, security, efficiency, and support for AI workloads without an internet connection. Built on the cutting-edge (TSMC) 3 nm process, the Kompanio Ultra features an all-big-core CPU architecture with an Arm Cortex-X925 processor clocked at up to 3.62 GHz, delivering industry-leading single and multithreaded performance. Whether handling intensive applications like video editing, content creation, or high-resolution gaming, this processor ensures smooth, lag-free performance with unmatched multitasking capabilities.

As expected, Nintendo's lengthy Switch 2 presentation contained very little technical information—the upcoming hybrid console's feature set, software library and user experience were showcased extensively. A series of leaks and plenty of online speculation—going back to earlier in the decade—pointed to the highly-anticipated Switch successor being based on an NVIDIA hardware foundation. A mysterious "Tegra 239" chipset emerged as the "logical" choice for Nintendo's next-gen system, but company representatives will likely not comment on the exact nature of internal components. Several months after the launch of Wii U, independent analysis (by Chipworks) of the host console's "Latte" GPU core verified a Radeon 4650/4670-class design. To the surprise of many industry watchdogs, a Nintendo employee has officially confirmed Switch 2's support of NVIDIA graphics technologies.

As disclosed to IGN—during a press junket—Takuhiro Dohta (senior director of the firm's Planning & Development Division) stated: "we use DLSS upscaling technology and that's something that we need to use as we develop games. And when it comes to the hardware, it is able to output to a TV at a maximum of 4K. Whether the software developer is going to use that as a native resolution, or get it to upscale is something that the software developer can choose. I think it opens up a lot of options for the software developer to choose from. Yes, the GPU does support ray tracing. As with DLSS, I believe this provides yet another option for the software developers to use and a tool for them." When pressed about the exact origins of the console's beating heart, Dohta deflected responsibility in the direction of Team Green: "Nintendo doesn't share too much on the hardware spec...What we really like to focus on is the value that we can provide to our consumers. But I do believe that our partner—NVIDIA—will be sharing some information." As pointed out by VideoCardz, Nintendo's hardware technical manager only mentioned options for the development side of things, not end user features. Yesterday's Metroid Prime 4: Beyond preview segment indicated that the title's Switch 2 Edition will arrive with four profiles; VideoCardz theorizes that DLSS will be used for differing levels—quality/performance—in handheld or docked operation.

Mark Gurman—Bloomberg's resident soothsayer of Apple inside track info—has disclosed predictive outlooks for next-generation M5 chip-based MacBooks. Early last month, we experienced the launch of the Northern Californian company's M4 MacBook Air series—starting at $999; also available in a refreshing metallic blue finish. The latest iteration of Apple's signature "extra slim" notebook family arrived with decent performance figures. As per usual, press and community attention has turned to a potential successor. Gurman's (March 30) Power On newsletter posited that engineers are already working on M5-powered super slim sequels—he believes that these offerings will arrive early next year, potentially reusing the current generation's 15-inch and 13-inch fanless chassis designs.

In a mid-February predictive report, Gurman theorized that Apple was planning a major overhaul of the MacBook Pro design. A radical reimagining of the long-running notebook series—that reportedly utilizes M6 chipsets and OLED panels—is a distant prospect; perhaps later on in 2026. The Cupertino-headquartered megacorp is expected to stick with its traditional release cadence, so 2025's "M5" refresh of MacBook Pro models could trickle out by October. Insiders believe that Apple will reuse existing MacBook Pro shells—the last major redesign occurred back in 2021. According to early February reportage, mass production of the much-rumored M5 chip started at some point earlier in the year. Industry moles posit that a 3 nm (N3P) node process was on the order books, chez TSMC foundries.

Over the past weekend Jukanlosreve declared via social media that Samsung's: "Exynos 2600 (mobile SoC) is definitely back, and it will be used in the Galaxy S26 series. But the chip volume is so limited that it'll likely be similar to the Exynos 990 situation. I'm not sure if SF2 is actually any good." Mid-way through March, the keen observer of semiconductor industry conditions posited that Samsung's Foundry business could abandon a 1.4 nm (SF1.4) process node. SF2 (aka 2 nm GAA) seems to be in a healthier place, according to insiders—thanks to rumored assistance from an external AI-specialist partner. The development of next-generation flagship Exynos smartphone processors are allegedly closely tied with Samsung Foundry's 2 nm GAA manufacturing process.

As alluded to by Jukanlosreve's recent prediction, the statuses of leaked 2 nm-based "Exynos 2600" and "Exynos 2500" chips were often questioned by industry watchdogs in the past. The latter is purportedly destined for rollout in forthcoming affordable "Galaxy Z Flip FE" models, albeit in mature 4 nm form. Vhsss_God—another source of inside track info—has weighed in on the topic of Samsung's next-gen chipset roadmap. Compared to Jukanlosreve's musings, their similarly-timed weekend projection seemed to be quite fanciful: "exclusive leak...Samsung doesn't want to use Exynos or Qualcomm Snapdragon chips anymore. S26 line is targeted to launch with the new Samsung developed chip (2 nm)—formerly referred to as Exynos 2600. (The company) will try its hardest to ditch Snapdragon on the entire Galaxy line next year." Perhaps there is too much of a negative stigma attached to Samsung's long-running chipset nomenclature, but the majority of foundry moles continue to label incoming designs as Exynos processors.

Digital Chat Station (DCS)—a tenured leaker of Qualcomm pre-release information—has shared new "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2" chipset details. Earlier today, their Weibo feed was updated with a couple of technological predictions. The announced smartphone chip's "SM8850" identifier was disclosed once again, along with the repeated claim that Qualcomm has selected a 3 nm "N3P" node process. Industry watchdogs expect to see the San Diego-headquartered fabless semiconductor designer introduce its next-generation flagship smartphone SoC in October. The current-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite platform was unveiled last Fall; sporting cutting-edge "Oryon" (aka Phoenix) processor cores and an integrated Adreno 830 graphics solution. DCS reckons that the natural successor will reuse a familiar "2 + 6" core configuration; comprised of two prime "big performance" units, and six "normal" performance-tuned units. An Adreno 840 iGPU was listed as DCS's final point of conjecture.

The incoming "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2" chipset was mentioned in the same sentence as rumored "Pegasus" cores (Phoenix's sequel)—slightly far-fetched rumors from 2024 suggested Qualcomm's upgraded processor architecture being tested at maximum frequencies of 5.0 GHz (on performance cores). As pointed out by Wccftech, Gen 1's performance cores run at 4.47 GHz (by default). In today's follow-up post, DCS claimed that Qualcomm's: "self-developed CPU architecture is now in the second generation, with a performance setting of over 380 W+." Industry watchdogs reckon that the "Snapdragon 8 Elite 2" chip will be capable of recording 3.8+ million point tallies in AnTuTu V10 gauntlets, thanks to the alleged utilization of ArmV9 architecture. DCS theorized that the speculated "SM8850" SoC will support ARM's Scalable Matrix Extension 1 (SME 1) and Scalable Vector Extension 2 (SVE2) instruction sets.

Arm has officially unveiled its Accuracy Super Resolution (ASR) upscaling technology at Game Developer Conference 2025, delivering an open-source upscaling solution for mobile and low-power devices. Built upon AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR 2) framework, ASR promises up to 53% higher frame rates while reducing power consumption by 20% on devices utilizing the Immortalis-G720 GPU. This technology addresses a critical performance gap in the Android ecosystem, which has historically lagged behind Apple's MetalFX implementation. The temporal upscaling approach employed by ASR combines information from multiple frames to generate higher-quality images, offering superior visual fidelity compared to Qualcomm's Game Super Resolution (GSR), which relies on the older spatial-based FSR 1 technique. In benchmark testing with complex scenes, Arm demonstrated that ASR helps maintain stable device temperatures, preventing thermal throttling that can compromise user experience.

Collaboration with MediaTek confirmed significant power savings on Dimensity 9300 chipsets, directly addressing battery life concerns for mobile gamers. Arm plans to release pre-built plugins for Unity and Unreal Engine by year-end, streamlining integration for developers working with these widely-used game engines. During GDC demonstrations, Arm showcased the "Mori" demo running in Unreal Engine 5, where ASR delivered 30% performance improvements without visual compromises. Licensed under MIT open-source terms, ASR's accessibility extends across the entire Arm ecosystem, potentially benefiting smartphones running MediaTek Dimensity, Qualcomm Snapdragon, Samsung Exynos, and even Arm-powered laptops featuring Snapdragon X series SoCs.

Last week, South Korean semiconductor industry moles let slip about the development of an "Exynos 2600" mobile chipset at Samsung Electronics. This speculative flagship processor was linked to the manufacturer's (inevitable) launch of Galaxy S26 smartphone models in early 2026. Despite rumors of the firm's Foundry service making decent progress with their preparation of a cutting-edge 2 nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) node, certain critics reckon that Samsung will be forced into signing another (less than ideal) chip supply deal with Qualcomm. According to The Bell SK's latest news report, Samsung's LSI Division is working with plenty of determination—an alleged main goal being the next wave of top-end Galaxy smartphones deployed next year with in-house tech onboard.

Inside sources propose that Samsung's Exynos 2600 SoC needs to be "finished by the middle of the third quarter of this year," thus ensuring the release of in-house chip-powered Galaxy S26 devices. It is not clear whether this forecast refers to a finalized design or the start of mass production. The latest whispers regarding another proprietary next-gen mobile processor—Exynos 2500—paint a murky picture. Past leaks indicated possible avenues heading towards forthcoming Galaxy Z Flip 7 and Fold 7 smartphone models. The latest reports have linked this design to a mature 4 nm process and eventual fitting inside affordable "Galaxy Z Flip FE" Enterprise Edition SKUs. The Bell contacted one of its trusted sources—the unnamed informant observed that everything is in flux: "Exynos 2500 production plan is constantly changing...I thought it was certain, but I heard that the possibility has recently decreased slightly." Reportedly, Samsung employees have their plates full with plenty of simultaneous projects in 2025.

Earlier in the week, Apple specialist press outlets picked up on a noted industry analyst's technological forecast for a future iPhone processor design. Jeff Pu—of GF Industries, Hong Kong—predicted that the next-generation A20 SoC would be produced via a TSMC 3 nm (N3P) nodes process. Despite rumors of Apple gaining front row seats at the "2 nm ballgame," the partnership between fabless chip designer and foundry could potentially revisit already covered ground. The A19 chipset was previously linked to N3P (by insiders), with Pu expressing the belief that A20 would utilize the same fundamental lithographic underpinnings; albeit enhanced with TSMC's Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology (for AI improvements).

This morning, MacRumors followed up on their initial news article—they reported that "wires were crossed" at GF Industries, regarding projections for the (2026) iPhone 18 generation. The publication received direct feedback from the man of the hour: "Jeff Pu (lead Apple analyst) has since clarified that he believes the A20 chip will be manufactured with the N2 process, so the information about the chip using the N3P process should be disregarded. Earlier reports had said the A20 chip would be 2 nm, so rumors align again. This is ultimately good news, as it means the A20 chip should have more substantial performance and power efficiency improvements over the A19 chip." Cutting-edge smartphone processor enthusiasts expressed much disappointment when A20 was (regressively) linked to N3P; the latest revisement should instill some joy. According to industry moles, TSMC is making good progress with its cutting-edge 2 nm node process—mass production is expected to start at some point within the second half of 2025.

A mysterious HiSilicon Kirin X90 processor was included in a Chinese state report; the official assessment document seems to cover the topics of native CPU reliability and security. Jukanlosreve—a keen watcher of semiconductor industry inside tracks—highlighted the unannounced technology on social media. They alerted TP Huang (aka tphuang) to this discovery, possibly in reaction to the latter's reporting of a wholly Huawei-designed AI laptop. Last week, we heard about a speculated portable enterprise PC series powered by Kunpeng-920 mobile processors. HiSilicon is a Chinese fabless semiconductor firm, operating under Huawei ownership—normally, their Kirin processors are designated as smartphone-based solutions. Industry watchdogs believe that company leadership is paving the way for a new generation of personal and server processors—their current Kunpeng-900 series debuted back in 2019, so natural successors are very likely in the development pipeline. Early last year, insiders proposed that Huawei had prioritized its Ascend 910B AI accelerator chip—despite these rumors, Kirin-related leaks continued to trickle out.

According to industry moles, HiSilicon tends to spread its custom Arm-based Taishan core design across modern Kirin and Kunpeng processor families. Based on Jukanlosreve's initial detective work, Tom's Hardware proposed a plausible outlook for the (leaked) chip's future. Their report theorized: "Huawei's server and PC divisions have been relatively quiet, as evidenced by the lack of new Kunpeng SoC designs. The new Kirin X90, despite its name, could be a possible successor, considering that Huawei is reportedly launching a new 'AI PC' with HarmonyOS next month. It's likely to be fabricated using SMIC's 7 nm process featuring Taishan V120 cores based on either the Armv8 or Armv9 architectures, which are not subject to the US trade ban." Instead of using an old hat Kunpeng-920 SoC, Huawei's forthcoming next-gen "Qingyun" AI laptop could be equipped with a Kirin X90 APU—Tom's Hardware foresees an Apple MacBook-esque "integration of custom hardware and software" with the Chinese tech firm's fully in-house developed model.

Equal1 today unveils Bell-1, the first quantum system purpose-built for the HPC era. Unlike first-generation quantum computers that demand dedicated rooms, infrastructure, and complex cooling systems, Bell-1 is designed for direct deployment in HPC-class environments. As a rack-mountable quantum node, it integrates directly alongside classical compute—as compact as a GPU server, yet exponentially more powerful for the world's hardest problems. Bell-1 is engineered to eliminate the traditional barriers of cost, infrastructure, and complexity, setting a new benchmark for scalable quantum computing integration.

Bell-1 rewrites the rule book. While today's quantum computers demand specialized infrastructure, Bell-1 is a silicon-powered quantum computer that integrates seamlessly into existing HPC environments. Simply rack it, plug it in, and unlock quantum capabilities wherever your classical computers already operate. No new cooling systems. No extraordinary power demands. Just quantum computing that works in the real world, as easy to deploy as a high-end GPU server. It plugs into a standard power socket, operates at just 1600 W, and delivers on-demand quantum computing for computationally intensive workloads.

We dedicated a lot of our launch presentation of Framework Desktop to the Ryzen AI Max processor it uses, and for a good reason. These truly unique, ultra-high-performance parts are the culmination of decades of technology and architecture investments that AMD has made, going all the way back to their acquisition of ATI in 2006. For our first technical deep dive on Framework Desktop, we're going to go even deeper into Ryzen AI Max and what makes it a killer processor for gaming, workstation, and AI workloads.

What makes Ryzen AI Max special is a combination of three elements: full desktop-class Zen 5 CPU cores, a massive 40-CU Radeon RDNA 3.5 GPU, and a giant 256-bit LPDDR5x memory bus to feed the two, supporting up to 128 GB of memory. Chips and Cheese did an excellent technical overview of the processor with AMD that goes even deeper on this, and we'll pull out some of the highlights along with our own insights. We'll start with the CPUs. Ryzen AI Max supports up to 16 CPU cores split across two 4 nm FinFET dies that AMD calls CCDs. These dies are connected together using an extremely wide, low power, low latency bus across the package substrate. The CPUs are full Zen 5 cores with 512-bit FPUs and support for AVX-512, a vector processing instruction set otherwise only available on Intel's top end server CPUs. We're excited for you to see the multicore performance numbers these CPUs can do in our upcoming press review cycle!

Late last month, industry insiders posited that pleasing progress was being made with Samsung's cutting-edge 2 nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) node process. The rumored abandonment of an older 3 nm GAA-based project—in late 2024—has likely sent the South Korean foundry team into overdrive. A speculated Exynos 2500 flagship mobile processor was previously linked to said 3 nm node, but industry watchdogs believe that company engineers are experimenting with a 2 nm GAA manufacturing process. According to the latest insider report—from FN News SK—Samsung Foundry (SF) has assembled a special "task force (TF)." Allegedly, this elite team will be dedicated to getting a newer "Exynos 2600 chip" over the finish line—suggesting an abandonment of the older "2500" design, or a simple renaming.

Samsung's recent launch of Galaxy S25 series smartphones was reportedly viewed as a disappointing compromise—with all models being powered by Qualcomm's "first-of-its-kind customized Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform," instead of in-house devised chipsets. According to industry moles, one of the SF task force's main goals is a boosting of 2 nm GAA production yields up to "economically viable" levels (roughly 60-70%)—apparently last month's best result was ~30%. Mass production of prototype chipsets is tipped to start by May. Samsung's reported target of "stabilizing their Exynos 2600" SoC design will ensure that "Galaxy S26 series" devices will not become reliant on Qualcomm internals. Additionally, FN News proposes a bigger picture scenario: "the stabilization of 2 nm (SF2/GAA) products, is expected to speed up the acquisition of customers for Samsung Electronics' foundry division, which is thirsty for leading-edge process customers." A forthcoming rival next-gen mobile chip—Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2—is supposedly in the pipeline. The smartphone industry inside track reckons that Qualcomm has signed up with TSMC; with a 2 nm manufacturing process in mind.

According to Digital Chat Station—a repeat leaker of unannounced Qualcomm hardware—unnamed Android smartphone manufacturers are considering an eSIM-only operating model for future flagship devices. Starting with the iPhone 14 generation (2022), Apple has continued to deliver gadgets that are not reliant on "slotted-in" physical SIM cards. According to industry insiders, competitors could copy the market leader's homework—Digital Chat Station's latest Weibo blog post discusses the space-saving benefits of eSIM operation; being "conducive to lightweight and integrated design." Forthcoming top-tier slimline Android mobile devices are tipped to utilize Qualcomm's rumored second-generation "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2" (SM8850) chipset.

Digital Chat Station reckons that: "SM8850 series phones at the end of the year are testing eSIM. Whether they can be implemented in China is still a question mark. Let's wait and see the iPhone 17 Air. In order to have an ultra-thin body, this phone directly cancels the physical SIM card slot. Either it will be a special phone for the domestic market, or it will get eSIM." The phasing out of physical SIM cards within the Chinese mobile market could be a tricky prospect for local OEMs, but reports suggest that "traditionally-dimensioned" flagship offerings will continue to support the familiar subscriber identity module standard. Physical SIM card purists often point out that the format still provides superior network support range.

Retroid, a popular brand of retro gaming handhelds, has finally revealed the specifications for its upcoming product - the Retro Pocket Classic. As the name suggests, the product will boast a compact form factor that screams retro vibes. The company has revealed multiple teasers for the device in the past, and has now shed light on the detailed specifications of the same. As teased, the Pocket Classic will boast a 3.92-inch AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 500 nits and a resolution of 1,240 x 1080 allowing for an impressive pixel density of 419.

Internally, an undisclosed 4 nm Qualcomm SoC will sit at the heart of the device, paired with 4 GB of LPDDR4X memory and 64 GB of eMMC storage. The product will boast an active cooling solution, which should allow for longer play times without any severe throttling issues. Speaking of longer play times, the Pocket Classic will boast a 5,000-mAh battery with 27-watt charging support. At just 13.8 x 8.9 x 2.6 cm, the Pocket Classic weighs in at just 223 grams. As for connectivity, a USB-C port, a 3.5 mm audio jack, as well as a TF card slot. Wireless communications will be taken care of by Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi 5. Pricing and availability details are under wraps for now, but when the time comes, the Pocket Classic will ship with Android 14 pre-installed.

Today at Embedded World, Altera Corporation, a leader in FPGA innovations, unveiled its latest programmable solutions tailored for embedded developers who are pushing the boundaries of innovation at the intelligent edge. Altera's latest Agilex FPGAs, Quartus Prime Pro software, and FPGA AI Suite enable the rapid development of highly customized embedded systems deployed across a broad range of edge applications, including robotics, factory automation systems, and medical equipment.

Altera's programmable solutions meet the stringent power, performance and size requirements of embedded and intelligent edge applications. These hardware solutions, along with Altera's FPGA AI Suite, enable machine learning engineers, software developers, and FPGA designers to create custom FPGA AI platforms using industry-standard frameworks such as TensorFlow and PyTorch, and development tools such as OpenVINO and Quartus Prime software.

Realtek Semiconductor will participate in the globally acclaimed top technology event—the Embedded World 2025 in Nuremberg, Germany, from March 11 to 13. Highlighted exhibits will include networking multimedia applications, Ethernet solutions for various transmission media, industrial Ethernet switch application solutions, as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi/IoT solutions. These exhibits will demonstrate Realtek's innovation in multimedia and communication networks, combined with AI-powered smart applications, providing customers with stable, reliable, and high-performance solutions.

Networked Multimedia Application
Realtek provides end customers with a highly secure, sustainably upgradeable, open-source, and shared Linux platform. Designed to meet the needs of SoCs, it leverages an advanced 12 nm process, a high-performance CPU/GPU, and Edge AI computing with NPU to fully support 4K video decoding and all HDMI 2.1 functions. It also enables audio and video transmission via DisplayPort. Additionally, the platform features high integration with multiple interfaces, including USB, PCIe, GPIO, UART, and SDIO. For system integration, Realtek incorporates its NICs (1G/2.5G/10 Gbps) and Wi-Fi/BT chips. SoCs are able to seamlessly connect to panels of various sizes via built-in MIPI or eDP, ensuring compatibility with networked multimedia applications.

Just recently, Apple somewhat stunned the industry with the introduction of its refreshed Mac Studio with the M4 Max and M3 Ultra SoCs. For whatever reason, the Cupertino giant decided to spec its most expensive Mac desktop with an Ultra SoC that is based on an older generation, M3, instead of the newer M4 family. However, the M3 Max, which the M3 Ultra is based on, was no slouch, indicating that the M3 Ultra will likely boast impressive performance. However, if a collection of recent benchmark runs are anything to go by, it appears that the M3 Ultra is a tad too closely matched with the M4 Max in CPU performance, which makes the $2000 premium between the two SoCs rather difficult to digest. Needless to say, a single benchmark is hardly representative of real-world performance, so accept this information with a grain of salt.

According to the recently spotted Geekbench result, the M3 Ultra managed a single-core score of 3,221, which is roughly 18% slower than the M4 Max. In multicore performance, one might expect the 32-core M3 Ultra to sweep the floor with the 16-core M4 Max, but that is not quite the case. With a score of 27,749, the M3 Ultra leads the M4 Max by an abysmal 8%. Of course, these are early runs, which may suggest that future scores will likely be higher. However, it is clear as day that the M3 Ultra and the M4 Max, at least in terms of CPU performance, will be close together in multithreaded performance, with the M4 Max continuing to be substantially faster than the far more expensive M3 Ultra variant in single-threaded performance. It does appear that the primary selling point for the M3 Ultra-equipped Mac Studio will be the massive 80-core GPU and up to 512 GB of unified memory shared by the CPU and the GPU, which should come in handy for running massive LLMs locally and other niche workloads.

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, a global leader in NAND flash controllers for solid-state storage devices, today announced its participation in Embedded World 2025, taking place from March 11-13, 2025, in Nuremberg, Germany.

At the event, Silicon Motion will showcase its latest storage and display interface solutions, including PCIe NVMe Gen 4/5 SSD controllers, Ferri embedded storage solutions, and advanced display interface SoCs. These cutting-edge innovations are designed to maximize performance per watt, extend device longevity and power for the next generation of AI-driven industrial, embedded, automotive, and data center applications.

Samsung Electronics is taking a close look at its chip design and foundry operations. This action could lead to organizational restructuring, including executive reassignments and workforce reallocation. The initiative aims to strengthen Samsung's competitive position against industry leaders such as TSMC. In January, the company's executives initiated an in-depth evaluation of the System LSI division, which handles chip design. After that, the company plans to extend the review to its foundry business. Significant restructuring may occur within the System LSI division, one proposal involves transferring the Exynos system-on-chip (SoC) business to the Mobile Experience (MX) division to better align with Samsung's smartphone strategy.

Samsung is also evaluating the potential pause of investments in its Pyeongtaek (South Korea) and Taylor (US) manufacturing facilities for its foundry business. At the same time, the company is developing strategies to improve yield rates in its advanced manufacturing processes. Moreover, Samsung is also considering changes within its image sensor business, potentially shifting focus from high-resolution sensors toward products for autonomous vehicles and robotics applications. This action represents the first major internal assessment since Samsung established its management analysis department in November 2024. The primary objective is to revitalize underperforming business divisions.

On Monday (March 3), Qualcomm introduced its Dragonwing FWA Gen 4 Elite model—advertised as the world's first 5G Advanced-capable FWA platform. Inevitably, the company's brand-new Snapdragon X85 5G modem will be compared to a rival design—Apple's proprietary C1 chip launched last month; as featured in the A18 SoC-powered iPhone 16e series. The two companies were closely intertwined for a number of years; with a longer than anticipated co-development of 5G solutions for multiple iPhone product generations. Cristiano Amon—the CEO of Qualcomm—believes that his team's X85 5G design will end up as the victor, when pitched against Apple's C1. In a CNBC-conducted interview, he boasted: "it's the first modem that has so much AI, it actually increases the range of performance of the modem—so the modem can deal with weaker signals. What that will do will set a huge delta between the performance of premium Android devices, and iOS devices, when you compare what Qualcomm can do versus what Apple is doing."

Smartphone industry watchdogs reckon that Apple's C1 model will leverage superior power efficiency; courtesy of the contained modem and receiver being based on TSMC 4 nm and 7 nm processes (respectively). Qualcomm has not revealed the fundamental aspects of its new Snapdragon X85, so it is difficult to project its power consumption habits. Official press material concentrates on two big selling points: downlink speeds up to 12.5 Gbps, and 40 TOPS of NPU processing power. Insiders have posited that the in-house designed C1 modem will make its way into next-gen iPads and Apple wearables—additionally, the development of a successor is rumored. Despite doing less business with Apple, Amon thinks that the future is peachy: "if modem is relevant there's always a place for Qualcomm technology. In the age of AI, modems are going to be more important than they have ever been. And I think that's going to drive consumer preference about do they want the best possible modem in the computer that's in their hand all the time." Qualcomm's chief expects that the supply of Snapdragon 5G Modem‑RF Systems—to Apple—will end in 2027.

The refreshed Mac Studio is here, and it appears that Mark Gurman's reports were accurate once again. The system was updated with the M4 Max and the M3 Ultra SoCs - and once again, that is not a typo. For whatever reason, Apple refused to fit the Mac Studio with an M4-flavored Ultra SoC, instead settling for an undeniably confusing product lineup. The M4 Max, with up to 16 CPU cores and 40 GPU cores, will undoubtedly have the upper hand in single-core performance by as much as 30%, whereas the M3 Ultra will have superior multithreaded and GPU performance, courtesy of its 32 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores. Moreover, the price gap between the base M3 Ultra and M4 Max SKUs will remain the same, despite the former being based on an older generation.

However, the M3 Ultra will allow the system to be configured with up to a whopping 512 GB of unified memory, with memory bandwidth of 819 GB/s. While that number is not particularly mind-bending for a workstation-class system, the fact that the M3 Ultra's 80-core GPU will have access to over half a terabyte of fast-enough memory is a game changer for select few ultra-high-end workloads. Of course, this amount of VRAM is not intended for the average Joe, but the Ultra SoCs were always meant to be a halo product. The M3 Ultra variant can also be equipped with up to 16 TB of storage - at Apple's ridiculous pricing, of course. Needless to say, Apple's performance claims are as vague as always, and interested customers will have to wait for independent reviews and benchmarks to make sense of Apple's confusing SoC strategy with the new Mac Studio.

Apple's Mac Studio is in desperate need of a spec bump. The system is still powered by the M2-era SoCs, whereas the MacBook Pros are already two generations ahead. According to a fresh tidbit shared by comparatively reliable tipster Mark Gurman, Apple is set to announce a much-needed upgrade for the Mac Studio in the coming days, although the upgrade in question is sort of a confusing one. Basically, the report states that the Mac Studio will soon be available with the M4 Max, and the M3 Ultra SoCs - and that is not a typo. Apple apparently has not done the homework for an M4 Ultra chip, and will be shipping the Mac Studio with the M3 Ultra instead.

This is particularly confusing because the industry had widely believed that an M3 Ultra SoC never existed in the first place, and that Apple will be jumping straight to the M4 Ultra chip for the Mac Studio. What's even more confusing, is that Apple's 'Ultra' chips traditionally consisted of two 'Max' chips connected via the 'UltraFusion' die-to-die interconnect tech. However, the M3 Max simply does not have this feature, which means that whatever the M3 Ultra is set to be, it is likely that it won't be two M3 Max dies fused together. It will certainly be quite interesting to see how Apple manages to position the M3 Ultra, or whatever it is named, considering that the 'lower-tier' M4 Max SoC will undoubtedly have superior single-core performance. That said, the M4 Ultra is still in development, which, according to Mark Gurman, will be featured in the future Mac Pro revision, setting it apart from the Mac Studio.