Hasta La Gadget!

Samsung announced its new flagship GALAXY S 4 last night in New York City in full broadway style, and just today we confirmed that the new device runs Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 600 chipset in the US, while other regions will be getting Samsung’s new Exynos 5 Octa processor, which the company will be putting into production starting sometime in Q2 2013.

New details are pretty slim, but the new chip’s architecture is based on the Cortex-A15 chip, and the Exynos 5 features a mixture between the Cortex-A15 and the A7 to offer the best of both worlds: four Cortex-A15 cores for intensive tasks, along with four more Cortex-A7 cores that handle the lighter stuff.

Samsung claims that this setup offers up to 70% more efficiency compared to using only Cortex-A15 cores. Samsung says that the new Exynos processor will be manufactured using the company’s latest 28-nanometer design, which increases power efficiency and produces less heat — two things that are crucial for a good chip.

The GALAXY S 4 is obviously the first device to sport the new processor, and we’re positive that more devices will make their way to the forefront sporting the new chip. If you’re not familiar with Octa-core processors, don’t worry, as we’ll be posting an in-depth “SlashGear 101″ primer later today. Stay tuned!

Samsung announces production of Exynos 5 Octa chip is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We never thought our day could get any better after Huawei’s Consumer Business Group CEO Richard Yu became available again for our CES stage interview (there was originally a “last minute urgent conflict”), but our man was also kind enough to share a couple more scoops with us. First of all, Huawei will be joining Samsung at the octa-core Cortex-A15 party in the second half of this year, and given what Yu’s told us earlier this week, our guess is that this will either be the HiSilicon K3V3 or a sister chipset, again manufactured by TSMC.

The second scoop of the day was delivered fresh off the stage after the interview. Yu told us exclusively that at MWC next month, Huawei will be unveiling a super slim follow-up to the current P series Android phones. We asked if it’ll be even thinner than 6.45mm (the thickness of the Alcatel One Touch Idol Ultra announced at CES), and Yu said yes. The exec added that the new phone will have a beautiful metallic body as well. Exciting times, right?

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: Engadget Chinese

This afternoon we’ve not only seen none other than Major Nelson give a detail-less update on when the Xbox 720 would be revealed (with a countdown meter aiming at E3 2013), we’ve got a real live tip on chip production. This tip comes from the folks at SemiAccurate, a blog whose name playfully dismisses the fact that they’re not always right with their own tips. The information they’ve got keeps with the possibility that the Xbox 720 will be revealed this year by noting chip production (processors, that is) as officially “taped out” for the console’s innards.

When they (and we) say “taped out”, it refers the final design being completed and sent off to production for a bit of electronics, especially in regards to circuits. Here this refers to the so-called “Oban chip” that will be powering the Xbox 720 when it’s released either late 2013 or early 2014. The tip here made December 31st, 2012 (earlier this week) the date when the chip was ready to roll.

As Microsoft has made more than just a tiny suggestion that they’ll make a massive appearance at E3 2013 with Major Nelson’s countdown timer, it shouldn’t sound all that far-fetched that the next-generation console would be in production today. This also comes soon after the folks at Sony ended production of the last-generation PlayStation 2, possibly in preparation for the manufacturing of the next-generation PlayStation 4 (the PlayStation 3 being the unit on the market right this minute.)

So the war is on – in the tips and rumor mills, at least. Do you feel as though it’s time for Microsoft, Sony, or both companies to bring on a new gaming console for the public? Or do you believe that the fervor we’re seeing is merely a reaction to the continued barrage of updates from mobile companies more than willing to take bites of the gaming market while Microsoft and Sony take a dive? Let us know!

[Concept Art via Yanko Design]

Xbox 720 processor production tipped with launch window in tow is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Qualcomm has delivered its financial report for Q4 2012, and things are looking pretty good across the board. Revenues in Q4 settled at $4.87 billion, which is up 18% year-over-year and 5% sequentially. That certainly isn’t bad, but the company’s operating income was stagnant year-over-year and actually down 11% sequentially, coming in at $1.24 billion.

The company had a net income for the quarter of $1.27 billion, which is up and impressive 20% year-over-year. Deluded earnings per share were up both year-over-year and sequentially, landing at $0.89 – an 11% increase year-over-year and a 6% sequential increase. Operating cash flow was another thing that took a hit in the quarter, dropping 23% year-over-year to $1.41 billion. During the quarter, the company shipped 141 million MSM chips, which is a 11% increase year-over-year.

Qualcomm had a pretty good quarter 4, but it had an even better fiscal 2012. The company reported record revenues of $19.12 billion, which is up a very impressive 28% over fiscal 2011. Net income for the year rose 43% to $6.11 billion, and Qualcomm was able to post a deluded earnings per share in fiscal 2012 $3.51, up once again over fiscal 2011, this time by 39%. With everything added up, Qualcomm managed to ship 590 million MSM chips, which is another record for the company.

In fiscal 2013, the company is expecting its revenues to climb even higher, projecting total revenues of “approximately $23.0 billion to $24.0 billion.” It’s also hoping to post a diluted earnings per share of $4.12 to $4.32 for fiscal 2013, which again would be an increase over this year’s results. Looking a little closer at the immediate future, to company is projecting that it will ship 168 million to 178 million MSM chipsets in Q1 2013, and it’s expecting to report quarterly revenues of $5.6 billion to $6.1 billion. Qualcomm is obviously expecting fiscal 2013 to be bigger than fiscal 2012, so we’ll be keeping an eye out to see if it all unfolds the way the company is projecting.

Qualcomm dishes Q4 2012 financial results is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

AMD has revealed the latest in its FX Series of processors: the Piledriver Vishera chips. Aimed at computer users with demanding hardware needs, the new series comes in 4, 6, and 8-core variants with a “default” speed of 4GHz. The chips feature a variety of enhancements and improvements over previous offerings.

The new line is composed of four processors: the 4.2GHz FX-8350 (8-core, $195), the 4.0GHz FX-8320 (8-core, $169), the 4.1GHz FX-6300 (6-core, $132), and the 4.0GHz FX-4300 (4-core, $122). The FX-4300 has 4MB of L3 cache, while the FX-6300 has 1MB of L2 cache per core with a total of 8MB of L3 cache. The two higher-end processors, the FX-8320 and FX-8350, both have 8MB of L3 cache. This series uses the Piledriver architecture, which is an improved version of the previously released Bulldozer.

The Piledriver cores were first introduced back in May in the A Series Trinity chips. Improvements include improved scheduling, larger L1 TLB, larger load queue, page translation reload optimization, and more. Said Adam Kozak, “We’re seeing anywhere from seven, all the way up to 15% [in improvement improvement]. Half of that comes from [instructions per cycle] improvements, and the other half or so comes from frequency improvements.” According to AMD, you need a 9-series motherboard to run the FX Vishera chips.

During a pre-release presentation, these four AMD processors were compared to Intel’s Core i5-3570K, i5-3450, i5-2300, and i3-2120 processors. In each case, the AMD processor was priced lower and offered better specs, according to the presentation slide. All FX Series processors are unlocked and can be overclocked.

[via Tech Spot]

AMD unveils 4GHz+ FX Series Vishera processors is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.