Samsung Banner sticky Advertisement
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Intel releases new laptop chips to confront Apple, rising rivals

Intel releases new laptop chips to confront Apple, rising rivals

2nd September 2020
"11th generation version of its flagship chip for laptops"

Intel Corp (INTC.O) on Wednesday unveiled “Tiger Lake,” the 11th generation version of its flagship chip for laptops that it hopes will help it regain lost market share and counter forthcoming Apple Inc (AAPL.O) machines with Apple-designed chips.

Intel said the chips use a new manufacturing technique and other tweaks that make them more powerful at tasks such as using artificial intelligence to reduce background noise during video calls.

The company said it worked with laptop makers including Dell Technologies Inc (DELL.N) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and that 50 machines from different makers will be available for the holiday shopping season.

The Tiger Lake processors come as Intel, one of the few chip companies that both designs and makes its own chips, has struggled with manufacturing delays. The company has started to lose market share to rivals such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O) that use outside manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (2330.TW).

In a pre-recorded presentation streamed on Wednesday, Intel executives focused on real-world performance. Showcasing the new chip’s graphics capability, Intel executives claimed better frame-rate performance than rival chips from Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) and AMD and presented a video clip of a young gamer beating her father while his laptop lagged.

Intel announced a new co-brand for Project Athena laptops, co-engineered with manufacturers, that use Tiger Lake chips called “Intel Evo.” The project is aimed at boosting consumer confidence in sometimes-disappointing claims about features such as battery life.

The branding will be available to partners that make high-end machines, similar to the “Ultrabook” branding campaign that Intel launched in 2011 after Apple introduced its MacBook Air machines. Apple, which announced in June it would quit using Intel chips and move to its own Apple Silicon chips, plans to release the first such machines this year.

Source: Reuters

Also Read:

DELL XPS 15 (2020), XPS 17 (2020) WITH 10TH GEN INTEL CORE PROCESSORS, UP TO 2TB STORAGE LAUNCHED

DELL INSPIRON 5593 I7 10TH GEN LAPTOP | GRAPHICS | WIN10 - SPECS AND PRICE IN NEPAL

HUAWEI TO INTRODUCE A NOTEBOOK WITH FLOATING DISPLAY

REDMI G: REDMI GAMING LAPTOP TEASER

WHICH GADGET IS BEST SUITABLE FOR ONLINE EDUCATION? SMARTPHONE, TABLET OR LAPTOP?

ASUS ZENBOOK 14 AND ASUS ZENBOOK 15 PRICE IN NEPAL | FULL SPECIFICATION

ASUS DUAL SCREEN LAPTOP LAUNCHED IN NEPAL - PRICE, SPECS, FEATURES

Compiled by : Kiran Shah Kiran Shah

Huawei Kirin A1 chipset designed for wearable tech launching next month in India

28th April 2022
"dual-chip design with support for Bluetooth 5.1 and BLE 5.1 protocols."

Huawei is doing great even while facing a China-US trade ban. But the biggest hit for the company is uncertainty of Google service support on Huawei devices. Even though uncertainty of Google support still lingers, Huawei is developing its own operating system the Harmony OS as a backup, if they really have to fall for plan B.

Not only that, Huawei along side its OS is also developing their own ecosystem of accessories and smart wearables. For that Huawei has developed the Kirin A1 SoC dedicated to this category. The Huawei FreeBuds 3 and the Watch GT 2 are two of the products that use this chipset and Huawei wants to expand its wearable port folia even further. Huawei is launching products with this chipset next month in India.

Specification of Kirin A1 chipset includes a dual-chip design with support for Bluetooth 5.1 and BLE 5.1 protocols. BLE 5.1 protocol allows the chipset fall back to low energy mode when not in use reducing the power consumption as low as 10mA per MHz. Kirin A1 chip uses a single-core Arm Cortex M7 processor with a maximum frequency of 200MHz consisting of a Bluetooth chip, an audio processing unit, a “low-power” application processor, and a power management unit designed to deliver accurate readings and low-latency readings from multiple sensors and high-quality aural experience on audio accessories.

Also Read:

Importing of 10 different categories of goods banned into Nepal

Samsung Electronics Wins 71 iF Design Awards 2022

Segway-Ninebot launches Smart Electric Scooter E125 in Nepal

Galaxy A73 5G, Galaxy A53 5G and Galaxy A33 5G

Realme Narzo 50 launched with Helio G96 SoC and 120Hz display in Nepa

Vivo X Fold: Unveiled its first foldable phone 

Compiled by : Biplav Gachhadar Biplav Gachhadar

CES 2020: Intel working for Facebook's AI chip

7th January 2020
"The chips are Intel's gambit to retain hold of a fast-growing segment of the artificial intelligence computing market."

Intel Corp said on Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show 2020 (CES 2020) in Las Vegas that it is working with Facebook Inc to finish a new Facebook artificial intelligence (AI) chip in the second half of this year.

The chips are Intel's gambit to retain hold of a fast-growing segment of the artificial intelligence computing market but will face competition from similar chips from Nvidia Corp and Amazon.com Inc's Amazon Web Services unit.

The new Facebook AI chip will help researchers call inference, which is the process of taking an artificial intelligence algorithm and putting it to use, for example by tagging friends in photos automatically.

Also at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on Monday, Intel said that Dell Technologies Inc will feature Intel's next generation of processors in its XPS line of laptops. The so-called 10-nanometer chips have been plagued by delays.

But Navin Shenoy, Intel's data centre chief, reiterated that the new chips will be available in laptops by the 2019 holiday shopping season and in data centres by early next year.

Also at the conference, Amnon Shashua, the head of Intel's Mobileye self-driving car computer unit, said Mobileye has mapped out all of the roadways in Japan, using cameras that were already embedded in vehicles produced by Nissan Motor Co Ltd that come with Mobileye systems from the factory.

Intel's tech rivals such as Alphabet Inc and Apple Inc are gathering mapping data through special vehicles with cameras mounted on top of them.

  • Tags :
Compiled by : Rishi Raj Singh Rishi Raj Singh

Apple previews new iPhone software, changes to Mac chips

22nd June 2020
"Apple on Monday provided a glimpse at upcoming software changes designed to make the iPhone even easier to use and also announced a long-anticipated shift to a new type of chip to power its line of Mac computers."

Apple on Monday provided a glimpse at upcoming software changes designed to make the iPhone even easier to use and also announced a long-anticipated shift to a new type of chip to power its line of Mac computers.

The preview of the next version of the iPhone’s operating system, known as iOS 14, highlighted Apple’s annual conference for computer programmers and mobile app makers. The event, which was delayed for three weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic, took place in virtual form via a webcast from the company’s Cupertino, California, headquarters.

In recognition of the pandemic, Apple’s next iPhone operating system will include an option to put a face mask on a personalized emoji. Upgraded software for the Apple Watch will also detect when wearers wash their hands.

Apple CEO Tim Cook kicked off Monday’s session with remarks that acknowledged the nationwide protests triggered by George Floyd’s death last month at the hands of Minneapolis police, as well as the social and business challenges posed by the worst pandemic in a century.

But most of the presentation revolved around an array of new features that, for instance, could help iPhone users manage their apps better, find new ones, and use their phones to unlock and start their cars remotely. (Though that last feature will initially only be available for a 2021 BMW model.)

Apple also promised an upgraded version of its digital assistant Siri intended to make it smarter and less cumbersome, helping it fend off rival voice-activated concierges made by Google and Amazon.

Apple also said its Mac computers will begin using its own chips as it phases our the Intel processors that have powered the machines for the past 15 years. Some Macs will have the Apple chips before the end of the year, but the full transition away from Intel chips won’t be completed until 2022.

There had been speculation that Apple would unveil apps that rely on augmented reality, or AR, a technology that melds digitally projected images with the real world. Although Cook has been hyping AR has the next big wave in technology, it hasn’t caught on in the mainstream yet and Apple didn’t drop any new bombshells about it during Monday’s event. Instead, the company disclosed a few relatively minor features in its AR platform for iPhones and iPads in a written summary.

Apple is widely believed to be working on an AR headset and internet-connected glasses that could be released in the next two to three years. True to its secretive nature, Apple hasn’t disclosed any plans for its own line of AR devices.

The company gave no indication whether the pandemic-driven disruptions in work in the factories that make iPhone parts will delay the release of the next model. The company typically unveils its next iPhones in early September and then starts selling them toward the end of the month.

Analysts believe the release of the iPhone 12 will be come later than usual, but are expecting it still will be on sale well before the pivotal holiday shopping season. Earlier this month, the CEO of chip maker Broadcom, Hock Tan, told analysts he expected a delay in the production of a product made by a major North American smartphone maker. Broadcom is a major supplier for the iPhone.

Apple is expected to roll out as many as four different iPhone 12 models this year, including its first version that will be able to work on the next generation of ultrafast wireless networks known as 5G.

Investors are betting heavily that Apple could emerge even stronger from the pandemic and the associated recession. The company’s stock hit a new all-time high Monday before closing at $358.87 — a gain of 22% so far this year that gives Apple a market value to give the company a market value of more than $1.5 trillion.

  • Tags :
Compiled by : Reviewer Samana Maharjan

Apple to launch its own web-based search engine

30th August 2020
"Apple's engine would weaken Google's stranglehold on search"

A new report claims that factors are increasingly pointing to Apple expanding Siri search results and Spotlight Searches even farther, with the company potentially working on a universal search engine.

Apple already has a search engine it uses for Spotlight Searches and Siri. However, if a new report is accurate, Apple may be looking to ditch the financial arrangement it has for Google to be the default on the iPhone, and launch its own full search engine.

The main tentpole to the argument made on Thursday morning by Jon Henshaw at Coywolf says that it isn't clear if Siri Suggestions are using Google at all anymore. Instead, Apple is returning search results with Spotlight Search, and is bypassing other search engines.

In AppleInsider's own brief tests on Thursday morning, some outgoing and return traffic to and from Google for Siri Suggestions in iOS 14 passed through our router. The same search terms in iOS 13 pulled nearly entirely from Google.

The report goes on to say that Apple is investing heavily on search, and pointing to job postings for search engineers. However, the number of available jobs in related fields has decreased in the last year, versus increased. This may be a factor of coronavirus limitations more than anything else, making a year-over-year comparison difficult.

An update to the "Applebot" web crawler page for web developers was made in June as well. Henshaw notes that the changes included how to verify traffic was actually coming from Applebot, and the company provided details about differences in the crawler between desktop- and mobile-centric searches. The update also made clear that the crawler renders ages similarly to Google, and a section about search rankings was amplified upon. At present, the information Apple has promulgated about the crawler is very similar, if not identical, to how Google scans pages.

Henshaw also notes that the AppleBot web crawler has been busy, with him noticing it just recently. A quick perusal of AppleInsider crawler traffic has shown no notable increase or decrease in Applebot crawler traffic since 2015, following a slow launch in the fall of 2014.

However, despite some evidence that suggests that there is not an increase in factors that suggest an imminent launch, a full Apple search engine available to all makes some sense. Henshaw says that Apple's engine would weaken Google's stranglehold on search, provide better promotion for Apple services, tighten Apple's control of the full hardware and software stack, and allow developers to promote apps in larger search results beyond just App Store searches.

A big factor against Apple developing its own full search engine include the loss of the billions of dollars per year that Google pays Apple for the privilege. Additionally, it may draw some additional antitrust attention from regulators if it does so, in a time where the investigations and testimony demands are at an all-time high.

Henshaw does note that the product may never come to market.

"At this point, everything is based on observation and conjecture. They may never release a search engine. It's also possible that iOS, iPadOS, and macOS users will be using it and not even be aware of it," writes Henshaw. "It could be so tightly integrated into the operating system and native apps that alerts and Spotlight Searches slowly steal away queries that would have otherwise been made on Google."

Also Read:

WHAT ARE BEST GAMING PHONES AVAILABLE IN NEPAL?

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR WHEN BUYING A GAMING SMARTPHONE

MOTOROLA MOTO G9 PRICE AND SPECIFICATIONS

SMARTPHONE WINNERS OF EISA AWARDS 2020-2021

APPLE AND GOOGLE ADDING NEW FEATURES FOR PUBLIC HEALTH DEVELOPERS TO BUILD CONTACT-TRACING APPS

SAMSUNG LAUNCHES GALAXY WATCH3 AND BUDS LIVE

SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB S7+, GALAXY TAB S7 WITH DUAL REAR CAMERAS, S PEN SUPPORT LAUNCHED

Compiled by : Kiran Shah Kiran Shah