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Showing posts with label Hardware. Show all posts

Samsung starts mass producing the fastest 512GB eUFS 3.1 chips for flagship smartphones


Today Samsung Electronics have announced that, they started mass producing the industry first 512GB eUFS 3.1 storage chips for use in flagship smartphones. The latest chip offers three times the write speeds from the previous generation 512GB eUFS 3.0 mobile memory, and is said to break the 1GB/s performance threshold in smartphone storage. The write speed is improved to over 1200MB/s, boasting more than twice the speed of SATA-based PC featuring 540MB/s, over ten times swift than a standard UHS-I microSD card with 90MB/s speeds and also 60 percent faster than the widely used UFS 3.0 storage. Samsung have also promised 256GB and 128GB options to be available for flagship smartphones, that will be launched later this year.
With our introduction of the fastest mobile storage, smartphone users will no longer have to worry about the bottleneck they face with conventional storage cards. The new eUFS 3.1 reflects our continuing commitment to supporting the rapidly increasing demands from global smartphone makers this year,  said Cheol Choi, Executive Vice President of Memory Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics.
Source: SAMSUNG Newsroom

Redmi successfully implements first in-display fingerprint scanner for LCD panels


Redmi's General Manager and Vice President of Xiaomi Group, Lu Weibing took his official page on the Chinese microblogging website Weibo to announce that, his company have successfully implemented the first ever in-display fingerprint scanner for LCD panels. Optical and ultrasonic fingerprint scanners under display have been featured in the industry by different manufacturers over the past few years but the LCD screen's complex backlight module made it nearly impossible for applying in-display fingerprint scanners, making it available only on smartphones featuring OLED panels in the past. However, Redmi by Xiaomi have come across these problems and their R&D team have developed this new technology with the innovative use of an infrared high-transmittance film material for LCD panels and is ready for mass production. Here we have attached the video shared by Weibing, showing off the working prototype (Redmi Note 8 Pro) with in-display fingerprint scanner under the handset's LCD screen.


Source: Weibo

Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 460, 662 and 720G chipsets in India for 4G smartphones


Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. from New Delhi, India have announced their latest addition of mobile processors for middle-ranged 4G smartphones, coming in as the all new Snapdragon 460, Snapdragon 662 and Snapdragon 720G SoC. The newly launched chipsets are said to offer enhanced AI user experience for connectivity, gaming and multimedia. The processors will bring support to 4G connectivity, latest WiFi version 6 and Bluetooth version 5.1. The new platform also brings advanced audio to the smartphones integrated with these chipsets, shipping with Qualcomm's FastConnect 6-series subsystems, supporting Dual-Frequency L1 and L5 GNSS for improved positioning. The latest launch from Qualcomm are also the first among the processors to trait support to Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), which is India's regional satellite navigation system that shares accurate and real-time positioning and timing services.
While we see a fast adoption of 5G across geographies globally, we do recognize the phenomenal boost that 4G has given towards enabling broadband connectivity for Indian consumers. 4G will continue to remain a focus area for Qualcomm Technologies for regions like India, where it will stay a key technology for connectivity. Our goal is to enable our partners to continue creating solutions that offer seamless connectivity access and exceptional mobile experiences, that consumers can count on, said Rajen Vagadia, Vice President and President of Qualcomm India Pvt. Ltd.
Today's smartphone users want fast, seamless connectivity, advanced features and long-lasting battery life. This expansion of our 4G lineup enables our partners to offer sophisticated solutions that meet global demand and enable a remarkable gaming experience across multiple tiers and price segments, said Kedar Kondap, Vice President of Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 460

Snapdragon 460 chipset the entry-level SoC based on the 11nm process from the lot, coming with Octa-Core Kryo 240 CPU (Central Processing Unit) clocked at upto 1.8GHz and Adreno 610 GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The mainframe is also equipped with Snapdragon's X11 4G LTE modem that offers download speeds upto 390 Mbps and upload speed upto 150 Mbps.The unit will bring Qualcomm's Spectra IPS 340 for primary photography embracing support for upto three camera configuration and 48 megapixels images, alongside Full High Definition 1080p resolution video recording at 60 frames per second. The integration of third generation Qualcomm AI Engine and the Qualcomm Sensing Hub will be on board to propose advanced AI experiences for camera performance and voice assistance. The processor will also support Quick Charge version 3.

 Qualcomm Snapdragon 662

 The Snapdragon 662 will make it to the middle-ranged devices and is built on the same 11nm process. The chipset is again an Octa-Core-based Kryo 260 CPU running at 2GHz and comes with an Adreno 610 GPU. The processor will arrive with support to Qualcomm Spectra IPS 340T, that supports HEIF file format with upto three lens at 48 megapixels and FHD 1080p resolution video capturing at 60 frames per second. The manufacturer have incorporated Snapdragon's X11 4G LTE modem with highest downlink speeds upto 390 Mbps and uplink speeds uppto 150 Mbps, with the 2-carrier aggregation, 2x2 MIMO and 256-QAM modulation. The unit too supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3 technology.

 Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G

 The latest Snapdragon 720G is the highest rated processor from the newly launched lineup, that will come with Qualcomm's Snapdragon Elite Gaming features and support to HDR game play. For high quality, realistic and immersive sound, the SoC is integrated with the chip maker's aptX Adaptive sound engine. On board we will see Spectra 350L ISP, with which you will be able to shoot Ultra High Definition 4K videos at 30 frames per second and capture images upto 192 megapixel. Snapdragon's 720G's CPU is a Kryo 465 Octa-Core mainframe based on the 8nm process that can run upto 2.3GHz and also packs an Adreno 618 graphics processing unit. With the help of the integrated Snapdragon X15 LTE modem, the SoC will support 3-carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO on two carriers and 256-QAM modulation, delivering faster 800 Mbps downlink speeds and 300 Mbps uplink speeds. 720G will even come with support to fifth generation Qualcomm AI Engine and improved Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator along with Quick Charge 4.0.

 Smartphones with the all new Snapdragon 460 and Snapdragon 662 processors are expected to be available by the end of this year, however the Snapdragon 720G is mentioned to be available commercially by the quarter 1 of 2020.

 Source: Qualcomm

MediaTek announces Dimensity 800 mid-ranged 5G SoC in China


On the Christmas morning, MediaTek held a Product Communication Conference event in Beijing, China where the popular Taiwanese semiconductor company has announced their next generation chipsets for the middle-ranged devices that will support 5G connectivity in the future, with their all new Dimensity 800 SoC.

 The new processor will bring along an integrated Helio M70 5G capable modem to support the fastest network speeds upto 4.7Gbps down and 2.5Gbps uplink. You will also find a Mali-G77 MP9 Graphics Processing Unit on board. We heard that, the company is expecting to see smartphones come equipped with their all new MediaTek Dimensity 800 processor starting the second quarter of next year and will get an official listing from the manufacturer in the first quarter of 2020.

 Unfortunately MediaTek haven't disclosed any specifications on the chipset's architecture, clockspeed or any other detailed information but promised us that more mid-ranged handsets will start supporting the blazing speeds of dual-mode 5G SA/NSA (standalone and non-standalone networks) frequency bands. Towards the end of November, the company also announced their Dimensity 1000 SoC, built on the 7nm process based architecture, which is the first mainframe from the Taiwanese to ship with integrated 5G modem working on 4x ARM Cortex-A77 cores running at 2.6GHz and 4x Cortex-A55 power-efficient cores clocked at 2GHz. We already saw Oppo announce the all new Reno 3 smartphone that ships with the Dimensity 1000 under the hood, which is MediaTek's approach to more higher-end smartphones. The new processor may give a direct competition to Huawei's in-house Kirin 800 series of processors as well as to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7 series chipsets.

 Source: IT, GSMArena

Qualcomm unveils Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765/765G 5G chipsets along with 3D Sonic Max fingerprint technology


Towards the end of November we saw MediaTek launching the Dimensity 1000 5G enabled chipset and now on the first day of the Qualcomm's annual summit, held in Hawaii, the company has unveiled two new processors for flagship mobile platforms. Qualcomm's President, Cristiano Amon took to the stage to announce their latest 2020 edition of 8 series Snapdragon flagship processor along with the company's 7 series integrated 5G modular platforms. Amon expects these 5G enabled chipsets from the American's to provide their consumers around the world with 5G's multi-gigabit speeds on their smartphones.
"5G will open new and exciting opportunities to connect, compute, and communicate in ways we’ve yet to imagine and we are happy to be a key player driving the adoption of 5G around the world. Our Snapdragon 5G mobile platforms announced today will continue to show leadership in the industry and deliver on the promise of scaling 5G in 2020," said Cristiano Amon.
So the manufacturer's newest Snapdragon 865 flagship SoC will come as a successor to the Qualcomm's 855 processing unit, which is said to include the Snapdragon X55 Modem-RF system that supports both 5G and 4G connectivity, and should bring unbeaten performance to next generation frontrunner smartphones from the phone makers around the globe. The 865 chipset will trait support to both SA and NSA networks, featuring mmWave and sub-6GHz frequencies for 5G connections. Next we have Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765 and 765G SoCs that will ship with integrated 5G connectivity, which basically means that the chipset will carry an integrated 5G modem. The processor will also embrace AI processing and the manufacturer's Snapdragon Elite Gaming experiences.

 But the first day at Qualcomm annual tech summit was not only about the company's chipsets, as the band also introduced Qualcomm's state of the art 3D Sonic Max fingerprint technology, which is said to be the world's largest ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. The all new 3D Sonic Max will have a biometric recognition area that is 17x larger than the previous version, allowing users to have two finger authentication at the same time at even faster speeds. Lastly confirmations also came in from OEM's like Motorola, Xiaomi and Oppo, that they will be integrating their smartphones with the newly launched flagship processor from Qualcomm.
"5G is a focus for the entire Lenovo organization - from network infrastructure to personal devices, being the first to launch a 5G smartphone and preview a 5G PC. As the mobile arm, Motorola will continue leading the 5G era with our expanded lineup of 5G solutions in 2020 -- driven by the high-performing Snapdragon 765 and 865 Mobile Platforms, re-invigorating our place in the premium flagship space, said Sergio Buniac, President, Motorola."
"The 5G era opens up new opportunities and challenges. It brings great innovations and redefines how users interact with devices, audio, and video applications. The next generation of "Super Internet" will be an all-new model that combines 5G + AI + IoT, and Xiaomi will be at the forefront of this, developing and bringing 5G smartphones to the masses. In 2020 Q1, Xiaomi is proud to announce that we will be introducing our flagship Mi 10 – one of the world’s first smartphones to feature the flagship Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform, said Bin Lin, Co-Founder, Vice Chairman, Xiaomi Corporation"
"OPPO and Qualcomm Technologies have maintained a close and strong collaboration, and today we are honored to witness the launch of Qualcomm Technologies’ latest 5G mobile platforms and be part of its global commercialized plan. In 2020 Q1, OPPO will launch its flagship product using the Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform, together bringing a faster and superior 5G experience to users. In the era of 5G and intelligent connectivity, OPPO will continue to invest in 5G products, research, standard development and application scenarios, with Qualcomm Technologies and other partners in the industry, to bring more 5G values and possibilities to users around the world," said Alen Wu, Vice President and President of Global Sales, Oppo.
Source: Qualcomm

Samsung shows concerns over ultrasonic fingerprint readers, may bring back optical scanners on 2020 flagships



Samsung may re-introduce optical fingerprint scanners on their upcoming Galaxy frontrunner smartphones according to some new reports coming in from South Korea. The manufacturer have already faced legal allegations and been to some serious controversies in the past regarding security concerns over the Qualcomm made 3D Sonic fingerprint readers they introduced with Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 lineup of devices.

The phone maker was hit by security flaws in late October for their ultrasonic fingerprint scanners. These type of scanners use ultrasonic waves under the display to read the user's fingerprint, when compared to the vanilla optical fingerprint readers and is said to be unlocked by other fingerprints apart from the owner's. Following these insecurities, there are reports suggesting that Samsung may stop the use of Qualcomm's 3D Sonic Sensors on their future devices as more people are into accessing their bank accounts on their smartphones these days. These words come in from an analyst who have doubts whether we will ever see Samsung use these scanners again instead of opting the traditional optical readers.
"If Samsung Electronics replaces the fingerprint sensors in question with traditional optical scanners, this would benefit domestic companies that offer optical scanners," said Samsung's Securities Analyst Lee Jong-wook.
Source: TheKoreaTimes 

Samsung to mass produce OLED panels for Apple iPhones in 2020 along with LG


Reports are coming in from the Korean based media, etnews that the display panels for Apple's next generation iPhones will be mass produced by Samsung Display. The American technology company is expected to introduce their iPhones in three different models next year that range from 5.4" vanilla iPhone, 6.1" iPhone Pro, and a larger 6.7" iPhone Pro Max. Although earlier it was reported that Apple will be bringing four or more models including the purported iPhone SE 2 next fall, and the manufacturer is said to use OLED display panels on all these models that's yet to go official from Cupertino. As reported by our sources, Samsung is said to be the sole supplier for the 5.4" iPhone and 6.7" iPhone Pro Max variants with OLED displays that will feature the on-cell touch flexible panels.

According to etnews, these kind of OLED panels are said to have a built-in touch function, unlike others that require a separate film, indeed making them much thinner and cost efficient. Samsung Display's on-cell touch OLED panels traits Y-OCTA technology and they are the the only company that can mass-produce these kind of panels for Apple in required quality and quantity. Samsung Display will reportedly manufacture the organic light emitting diode panels for standard iPhones and iPhone Pro Max models as aforementioned, while LG Display will be their choice for making the display consoles for Apple's 6.1" 2020 frontrunners in order to stabilize the supply and demand for these hardware, as the iPhone Pro is expected to arrive with the original on-cell film touch based OLED displays.
“Although Apple had been sticking with film touch method since its first iPhone, Samsung Display has succeeded in drawing a change from Apple by actively promoting Y-OCTA technology to Apple. It is heard that Samsung Display also suggested shocking terms in order to obtain an order from Apple., said a representative for the industry.”
Source: etnews

MediaTek launches Dimensity 1000 5G enabled chipset


MediaTek, the very popular Taiwanese fabless semiconductor company is here with their latest chipsets called the Dimensity 1000. Mediatek's Dimensity 1000 SoC is the company's first set of processors to ship with integrated 5G modem working on 4x ARM Cortex-A77 cores clocked at 2.6GHz and 4x Cortex-A55 power-efficient cores running 2GHz. The chipset is built on a the 7nm process and also attributes ARM Mali-G77 graphics processing unit paired with MediaTek's HyperEngine 2.0. The Taiwanese has also included their AI Processing Unit, APU version 3.0 in their latest Dimensity 1000 modules. The manufacturer claims the Dimensity 1000 to be the most power-efficient and fastest Sub-6 SoC available for premium and flagship smartphones in the market.
"Our Dimensity series is a culmination of MediaTek's investment in 5G and positions us as a leader driving 5G development and innovation. Our 5G technology goes head-to-head with anyone in the industry," said MediaTek President Joe Chen.
MediaTek's Dimensity SoC powered handsets are said to make their first appearance in the market starting next month and early 2020. MediaTek Dimensity 1000 will feature support to 5G two carrier aggregation or 2CC CA and will also be the first to hold up dual 5G SIM cards and bracing services like Voice over New Radio (VoNR). The chipset will also embraces high speed download speeds of 4.7Gbps and 2.5Gbps upload speeds over the (SA/NSA) sub-6GHz networks. For adding more juice connectivity department, MediaTek's new offering will prop up version 6 of WiFi and Bluetooth version 5.1+ as standard that delivers downlink and uplink speeds upto 1Gbps.

Bering the world's first five-core image signal processor (ISP), Dimensity 1000 provides support to 80MP cameras sensors at 24 frame-per-second as well as capable of powering multiple camera configuration with options such as 32+16MP dual cameras. The chipset is also reported to bring support Quad High Definition Plus and Full High Definition Plus displays at 90Hz and 120Hz, respectively. MediaTek has also bought AV1 format support to their new SoC's for advanced visual and sound experience.
"Dimensity 1000 brings the latest connectivity, multimedia, AI, imaging and gaming innovations, all tuned for 5G performance to consumers so they can expect incredible experiences with Dimensity powered 5G devices," said Chen.

Apple analyst gives his views on next generation iPhones, claims to bring 5G to all upcoming models


Ming-Chi Kuo an Apple analyst recently made a note that all models of next generation of Apple's iPhones will arrive with support to both mmWave and sub-6GHz bands. According to him, this will allow the upcoming so called iPhone 12, iPhone Pro and iPhone Max users to establish a better connection to 5G network towers across the Stateside. We also read that, Kuo is expecting the Americans to use 5G modems manufactured by Qualcomm in their future devices. Another observation of Kuo claims that Apple may use the LCP (Liquid Crystal Polymer) antenna design. LCP is a beneficial material used in making phone antenna technology and it is said to perform exceptionally well across different temperatures with very less rate of signal reception loss. Ming-Chi Kuo also predicted that the shipment allocation of 5G iPhone models carrying the LCP antenna will increase about 70-75% in 2020. The reason behind his finding is that the 2020 iPhones will adopt to use Liquid Crystal Polymer antennas, the production of iPhone 7 that doesn't feature the LCP antennas has been discontinued and iPhone XR shipments will decline eventually. So basically as noted by Kuo, Apple is reportedly focusing more on LCP antenna technology across smartphone industry, which is said to deliver their users with improved performance with 5G technology.

Source: 9TO5Mac

Visionox showcases foldable clamshell smartphone and rollable OLED display


Visionox is a Chinese based developer in OLED panels. The firm is also known for manufacturing display panels for Xiaomi Mi MIX Alpha as well. Visionox was in the limelight not long ago for showing the world their plans on foldable clamshell smartphones and rollable OLED panels. Recently at the World Conference on Display Industry held in East China, the Visionox team had brought some compelling products to the event. The company has showcased an interesting new prototype of their upcoming foldable handset that looks much alike the recently announced Motorola Razr 2019 edition.

According to the Chinese, they claim that there won't be any crease in the middle of the smartphone when they get to the final stage of commercial production. The handset in the attached GIF below, features a 6.47" flexible AMOLED ultra-thin foldable screen with Visionox's On-Cell touch display technology, that can reduce the thickness of traditional flexible panels by 30%.

Now when come to the rollable displays from the maker, Visionox introduced another prototype of their ingenious flexible panel that is said to have a dynamic curl radius of 7mm and embraces the same On-Cell touch display technology and self-lamination integrated.

Source: ITHOME 1, 2, 3
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