Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been rumored for a while now that Apple’s been planning on moving away from Samsung for chipset manufacturing, and will instead make a deal with the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). However, reports are rolling in that the move has finally happened, and the next chip that is on Apple’s list will not involve Samsung.

According to the Korea Times, Apple will launch its A7 processor during “the first half of next year,” and the new chips will boast 20-nanometer processing technology. The discontinuation of Samsung’s services by Apple is said to most likely put the Korean-based company into a tough situation financially, and they may have to shut down several manufacturing lines because of the ended production.

Of course, this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. It’s been rumored and speculated for awhile now, almost to the point where we would be surprised if Apple didn’t shutter business with Samsung. The two companies have been involved in a series of legal cat fights with one another over the past several years, so cutting all ties seems like the best solution to get away from each other.

Furthermore, the Korea Times reports that this year’s iPhone upgrades won’t be running a next-generation A7 processor, but rather just an improved version of the current A6X chip, with most likely a slightly faster processor and updated components, which means the next iPhone that we see may not be a huge change over the iPhone 5.

[via Korea Times]

Apple reportedly boots Samsung from chip development is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week NVIDIA’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang spoke up at their GPU Technology Conference on the future of the mobile processor known as Tegra and has teased what will likely be called “Tegra 5″. Running through what we’d already learned about the Tegra 2, Tegra 3, and the upcoming Tegra 4, Huang let us know that the next code-name “Logan” would be breaking boundaries once again. The next Tegra processor will, according to Huang, do “everything a modern computer should do.”

Speaking on how they created the idea of a single energy-saving core – seen first in the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor – with 4-PLUS-1 technology, sleeping with this one sleeper core for low-powered tasks. Huang spoke also of the first software-defined radio – Deep Execution Processor – and the Computational Camera using both the CPU and the GPU with the sensors of the mobile camera – introduced on the Tegra 4.

Inside Logan we’ll be seeing CUDA 5 and Kepler. This is the first time we’ve seen a mobile processor incorporating CUDA, and also the first time a Kepler GPU will be coming to the mobile universe. This processor will also be bringing on full CUDA 5 as well as OpenGL 4.3.

Interestingly enough, Huang mentioned that Logan – this next generation – will be coming out at the beginning of next year. As we’ve heard from NVIDIA not too many weeks ago, Tegra 4 and Tegra 4i will not be coming to market any sooner than the second half of 2013. In other words, we’re looking at some rather rapid movement between the two generations, without a doubt.

Have a peek at the timeline below as well as the GTC 2013 tag portal for more information on Tegra and the ever-expanding GPU universe of NVIDIA in many great and rather exciting ways! We’ll be here the whole conference long!

Be sure to tune in all week in our massive Tegra hub as well!

NVIDIA Tegra “Logan” detailed with game-changing CUDA integration is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

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.

The folks at Qualcomm have released a video showing a rather odd bus stop. This bus stop was embedded with a set of posters that asked users waiting for a ride to head to a webpage, from there asking them if they’re bored, in a hurry, or otherwise in need of some general entertainment. What happened was no less than magical – if not completely off topic and wonderful – off topic if you count the HTC One release today as Qualcomm’s biggest release, that is.

The point Qualcomm is trying to make here is that with mobile data – provided by their chipsets and modems, of course – the world is a much more fabulous place. Each time a smartphone is used to access the site shown to the user via the billboard, an odd event happened thusly. With each of these events, joy was brought – and brought hard!

Above you’ll see a full highlight reel. Below you’ll find a horse-drawn carriage coming to pick up a couple that’s in love. Isn’t it so kind of Qualcomm to provide them with a service like this for free?

Next you’ll find a lovely yellow pick-up vehicle followed by a bright shiny silver ride – Lamborghini to the rescue! Without a smartphone and a web connection at the bus stop, these rather random people would never have been given a free ride – Qualcomm’s point is made rather clear.

Next you’ll see a “SEEN IT ALL?” campaign bringing up a wheel-connected sled-dog ride coming up on the bus stop with free rides for those that call it. After that there’s a bit of a puppy surprise as well – Qualcomm brings the cute!

We’ll be seeing Qualcomm at Mobile World Congress this year – starting in a little less than a week! You’ll want to jump in on all the action through our Mobile World Congress 2013 portal and see the Qualcomm action from start to finish!

Qualcomm asks: sled dogs or the bus today, ma’am? is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Chipmaker Intel has been producing server processors in its Itanium series for a number of years. Recently Intel has announced that it is cutting back on its plans for the next version of Itanium that has left some wondering about the future of the company’s 64-bit processor. This particular processor is primarily used by HP in its high-end Integrity server line.

Intel had said that it would be moving to a more advanced process for constructing the next generation Itanium processor. That next-generation processor is code-named Kittson. Intel recently posted a notice that Kittson would be produced using the same 32 nanometer manufacturing process that Intel uses on current versions of Itanium processors.

Intel had previously promised that Kittson would use a more advanced manufacturing process. Typically, each new generation of processors uses a smaller nanometer manufacturing process allowing more transistors, faster operation, and less power consumption. Intel also changed its plans to make Kittson socket compatible with Xeon server chips, a move that would have reduced costs for Intel and HP.

Kittson will reportedly use the same socket is existing Itanium 9300 and 9500 processors. Analyst Nathan Brookwood from Insight64 believes this could be Intel’s way of cutting back in giving itself an exit strategy from the line. He also said that Itanium’s time may have come and gone.

[via PC World]

The future for Intel Itanium processor darkens is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.