Business Articles

Qualcomm has announced that it will devote further investment and effort to its wearables business. This involves Ecosystem Accelerator Program, a new initiative to bring manufacturers, service providers, developers and vendors in order to improve innovation, collaboration and commercialization in the sector. Its provider claims that over 60 leading companies in the market have already signed up for it.

Lenovo equips the new ThinkPad E14 G3 with AMD's powerful Ryzen 5000 CPUs and brighter IPS panels. The excellent keyboard did not change and the AMD model also manages long battery runtimes thanks to improved efficiency as well as a larger battery.

Google has launched a free battery repair programme for the Pixel 4 XL. The programme affords the Pixel 4 XL an additional year of coverage, albeit only in a handful of countries.

Engineers from Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) have reported a new world record for data-transmission speed over fiber-optic cables. They claim a rate of 319 terabits per second (Tb/s), as opposed to the former highest rate of 178 Tb/s. Most crucially, this achievement has been made over an appreciable length of cable and a potentially feasible tweak of conventional technology.

Microsoft won't make a handheld XBox so Valve have done it themselves. The Steam Deck has the potential to fire up a fledging category of handheld PCs for gamers and not just enthusiasts.

TSMC had projected that its sales would grow by about 20% year-on-year (YoY) in 2021, despite the ongoing chip-supply crisis. With its latest revenue and profit reports, the company still believes it will comfortably hit that target by the end of the year. It also now forecasts that the crisis will start to abate in 2022.

MSI's latest line of 15- and 17-inch professional-grade PCs have up to 4K displays, 11th-gen core i9 processors and RTX A5000 graphics. Some variants even have the largest-capacity batteries available to laptops. They now also have sales listings that start at US$1,500.

An incredible annual growth rate has given Xiaomi the ability to leapfrog over Apple and take up second place in the table of the world’s largest smartphone vendors for the second quarter of 2021. Samsung still remains at the top but could soon relinquish its position if Xiaomi continues its market assault with affordable smartphones.

GlobalFounderies was created as an AMD spin off back in 2008, but now it is not controlled by Team Red anymore. Nevertheless, AMD is still an important customer, and the two companies already signed a $1.6 billion multiyear deal for chip component supplies earlier this year, so the Intel deal might not be easily attainable.

Mobvoi's latest product is a dedicated voice recorder pitched at a professional market. The OEM asserts that it is enhanced with "dual-mic" noise-cancelling for clarity in voice-capture during meetings. It is also equipped with a neural network for automatic transcript summary generation based on intelligently-chosen keywords.

The hybrid OS running on the Azure cloud infrastructure will only be available for enterprise clients through a monthly paid subscription. At launch, users will be able to create Windows 10 instances, with the possibility to add Windows 11 instances once the new OS is officially released. The increased storage and processing power scalability should help enterprises drastically reduce computer hardware-related costs.

The IBM ThinkPad 701C with its foldable TrackWrite keyboard, also known as the ThinkPad Butterfly, is one of the most iconic models of the series. The impressive design was only featured in a single model, however. A new patent may be a sign that ThinkPad manufacturer Lenovo is considering to bring back the concept.

The under-the-hood changes should are expected to boost GPU performance by about 10 to 20 percent from last year's 10th gen Intel Blade Pro options. Prices start at $2399 USD for the RTX 3060 up to $3699 for the RTX 3080.

Apple is continuing its move into the financial sector with the impending launch of a new ‘buy no, pay later’ offering, reports Bloomberg. The move would echo similar schemes offered by Affirm and PayPal and would sit alongside its Apple Card consumer credit card offering.

The manufacturer is promising "toughness and performance like no other cheap laptops" through its quad-core Celeron N4120 processor, 4 GB RAM, and aluminum alloy chassis.

The latest market research indicates that Lenovo was the top dog among PC OEMs in terms of shipments during the second quarter of 2021. HP and Dell came in second and third, whereas Apple and Acer were found to have a joint fourth place for the quarter. The market continued to grow as a whole, although some slowdowns compared to early 2021 and 2020 may now be starting to emerge.

BlackBerry is now linked to a 5G smartphone that will also bring the brand's hallmark physical keyboard back in 2021. A designer has released renders of what might be a new spin on this concept: one that may be made of the same material as the rest of its display panel. Then again, it is still divided into discrete QWERTY squares, thus allowing for visible mode-switching and alternative uses.

SK Hynix has announced that its latest, "10anm" DRAM modules is now nearly ready for inclusion in next-gen smartphones. It has the fastest transfer rate known to the LPDDR4 standard; furthermore, as the first of its kind to be made using the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography technique, making it more economical in terms of silicon use.

LG's choice to leave the Android smartphone market has left empty space on shelves within the OEM's flagship physical stores in its native South Korea. The company had intended to put it to potentially lucrative use by allowing Apple to stock iPhones there instead. However, those plans are now on hold due to backlash from the business community in the country.

The second generation of the compact ThinkPad X13 G2 gets new processors, 16:10 displays, and 5G as an optional extra. The business laptop convinces with good connectivity, but long-term ThinkPad users will have to make compromises when it comes to the keyboard.

Acer claimed to have had its best May for seven years in its financial report for that month. Now, it notes it has done the same in June 2021. The OEM made 30.02 billion new Taiwanese dollars (NTD, or US$1.07 billion) in that month. It attributed this success to the sales of its Chromebooks and gaming hardware.

Pokémon GO has been an enormous success for Niantic. New figures quantify just how much money the company has made and the year-on-year growth Pokémon GO has experienced since it launched five years ago.

Lenovo US has declared today (July 9, 2021) a "second Black Friday", with generous discounts on a range of PCs and peripherals. They include the Core i7-1185G7-powered version of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which started at US$3,369, but can be had for $1,685 instead during this event. A ThinkPad P17 is also involved in this sale, although it is not the latest model.

Last week, two Xiaomi phones spontaneously went up in flames and dealt burn damage to victims. Xiaomi has now attempted to make amends in one of those cases, by replacing one of those devices without cost to the owner—and with an upgrade, to boot.

It's sad to see the smaller battery and dropped support for M.2 2280 SSDs, but the improvements almost everywhere else make them worth the sacrifice.

HiSilicon is a group within Huawei responsible for the development of this OEM's in-house chipsets, the flagship Kirin mobile SoCs included. It has just signed a five-year deal with Shenzhen JT Automation Equipment, characterized as a collaboration on independent semiconductor processing. Therefore, the move could help Huawei circumvent the sanctions that prevent it working with US suppliers to help make its components.

Amazon has banned well-known brands from its platforms, including Aukey, Mpower, TaoTronics and RAVPower. However, the retailer has now caught up with another Chinese manufacturer.

Nexperia, a maker of numerous component types (FETS and diodes) included, has reportedly bought Newport Wafer Fab, which pitches its silicon products at a range of industrial clients, for an estimated US$87 million. The rumored talks might result in an increased foothold in the semiconductor industry for Nexperia's China-based owner.

ASRock has introduced several new motherboards based on Intel's Elkhart Lake architecture. The company will also release two mini-PCs with the same processors, but there are more options in development, too.

After incidents with a Poco X3 and Redmi Note 9 Pro months ago, two Xiaomi devices have now also chosen to go the way of flames. The two devices, a Poco C3 and a Redmi 8, exploded and dealt damage to the owner and a child respectively, with Xiaomi initially absolving itself of all blame in one instance.

This year, the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 2 stands almost alone among the ThinkPads of the higher price segment. However, its distinguishing characteristic, the 16:9 format, is by no means positive. It is time for Lenovo to change the format.

Hisense has announced that a version of its smart TV UI, VIDAA, is the world's first to pass the requirements for a TÜV Rheinland Privacy by Design Certification. This badge is based on European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI) standards of resistance to malicious tactics such as DDoS attacks, remote user device control and data-theft.

The latest version of the 10th-gen Intel-powered Durabook U11 is rated for state-of-the-art security and resistance to the elements, as with its immediate forebears. However, this one is the first to convert to a 2-in-1 with its own detachable keyboard. The new IP65-rated full-size 88-key accessory might make the tablet even more amenable to extreme working conditions that might change often.

Dell might indeed be justified in calling its latest webcam an "UltraSharp" as it has a 4K resolution. Furthermore, it supports Digital Overlap HDR, automatic refinements for visual properties such as white balance and noise reduction, as well as iPad Pro-like auto-framing abilities. However, this potential for streaming and collaboration comes at a price.

The CEO of CD Projekt Red has stated that the company now considers Cyberpunk 2077 to be at a satisfactory level on last-generation consoles. We would disagree, based on the volume of glitches that persist on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with Patch 1.23.

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has welcomed its latest acquisition, Housemarque, to its PlayStation Studios family. The Finnish company was behind the recent PS5 hit Returnal. An accidental leak by PlayStation Japan has apparently revealed that Bluepoint Games has also become a part of the SIE clan.

Microsoft has taken to its blog to reveal the latest version of Office for Windows. There is also a new version with native Arm support for the first time.

Lenovo has released a premium, Snapdragon 870 SoC-powered 16:10 2K-display tablet that can also act as a second screen via HDMI called the Yoga Pad Pro in China. Now, the OEM has confirmed that it will be re-branded as the Yoga Tab 13 for the global market. The device still has its quad JBL-tuned speakers, 8GB of RAM, 10,00mAh battery and useful kickstand.

TCL is at MWC to hint at upcoming products as well as launch new ones. Going by the OEM's new teasers, they include a new and particularly affordable addition to the 20 5G smartphone series. In the meantime, the company has also introduced its latest childrens' smartwatch and 5G-powered fixed wireless access device.

Patch 1.23 has improved Cyberpunk 2077's playability on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro, despite containing no PlayStation-specific changes. The game's engine continues to struggle running on AMD's Jaguar cores though, resulting in an unacceptable amount of in-game pop-in.

Microsoft has made the next major upgrade to the Windows OS official today (June 24, 2021). The Redmond giant has also announced a new version of the Store app to go with it. It offers new revenue-sharing options for developers, as well as a new design and the ability to integrate Android apps.

Today, (June 24, 2021) Microsoft has debuted the next major upgrade to its main OS, Windows. This new 11 version does indeed come with a centered Start button and menu by default. The Redmond giant asserts that the new interface it headlines has been developed and designed to perfection, down to the last detail and icon graphic.