Latest Tech News

It has been reported that pre-sales for the Sony Xperia 1 IV are only a third of those for the Xperia 1 III. Considering the source of the information, this sorry state of affairs likely pertains to the China market, although the high price tag of the Xperia 1 IV is likely to affect pre-orders in markets such as the USA, Europe, and UK.

MediaTek is demonstrating its Wi-Fi 7 platform comprised of the Filogic 380 and Filogic 880 chipsets at Computex 2022. The Filogic 380 is a client Wi-Fi 7 chip that supports up to 5 Gbps speeds per channel, 4096-QAM, 320 MHz channel, and other Wi-Fi 7 technologies. The Filogic 880 is a Wi-Fi 7 access point solution with its own quad-core Cortex-A73 CPU and dedicated NPU that can scale up to 36 Gbps throughput.

AMD officially announced Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 CPUs and the AM5 platform at Computex 2022. Ryzen 7000 features 5 nm Zen 4 chiplets and a 6 nm I/O die that will include an RDNA 2 iGPU along with PCIe Gen 5 and DDR5 controllers. Ryzen 7000 will also feature 2x the L2 cache as Zen 3 and is purported to offer a 15% uplift in single-core performance over Zen 3.

Apropos to AMD's official unveiling of Ryzen 7000 AM5 platform, Asus launched its first X670E motherboard: the ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme. The X670E Extreme offers a complete PCIe Gen 5 solution and features 20+2 phase VRMs and other flagship components for enthusiast overclocking and ease of installation and upgrades.

AMD announced the arrival of desktop Ryzen 7000 processors based on the Zen 4 architecture at Computex 2022. Ryzen 7000 is supported by new X670E/X670, B650, and A620 chipsets. The X670 series is daisy-chained to maximize I/O. It is being learnt that the low-end A620 chipset will launch alongside upcoming Rembrandt APUs later this year.

Xiaomi has now officially announced its partnership with German camera giants, Leica, on an upcoming smartphone. While the smartphone isn't named, it's almost definitely the Xiaomi 12 Ultra and has now also been confirmed to debut in July.

iFixit accidentally puts up spare parts for Steam Deck up for sale on the company's UK store. While the company did take down the webpage later, it did confirm that iFixit is collaborating with Valve to facilitate DIY repairs.

Alongside the Xiaomi Band 7 and Redmi Note 11T series, Xiaomi will also launch new TWS earbuds on May 24 in China. The Redmi Buds 4 Pro are on the way, and they're set to land with better noise reduction and Bluetooth 5.3 support.

Infamous Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims to have been informed of a HomePod revival. Supposedly due later this year, the new HomePod may not feature many hardware design changes. A next-generation HomePod is expected to be smaller than the original model too, but larger than the HomePod mini.

Xiaomi will debut the Xiaomi Band 7 alongside the Redmi Note 11T series on May 24 in China. Ahead of that date, the smart band's box has now leaked revealing details and features of the incredibly popular Mi Band 6's successor.

The AppGallery is Huawei's in-house version of something like Apple's App Store that the OEM has been obliged to establish after it lost access to the Google Play Store. A developer claims that it has exhibited a vulnerability that might let users circumvent the theoretical paywall in front of the premium version of apps on the market. However, Huawei allegedly did nothing about the situation for "weeks" after the report.

The Snapdragon 8 Plus (or 8+) Gen 1 chipset has just launched in conjunction with initial benchmarks purporting to establish the potential for seven-figure AnTuTu scores in the newly refreshed flagship. However, according to a new set of results, it can go even further than that, easily cracking 1.1 million in combination with Android 12 and some of the best RAM, storage and display specs available.

Building a custom rig can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience; however, as Gigabyte asserts, it can get frustrating, especially when it comes to fitting things (mostly cables) around other things. The OEM has launched the new AORUS Project Stealth, a PC that requires assembly rather than building, as a new solution to these potential issues.

Google has shot into the top 5 among smartphone brands active in the North American market, with an impressive growth of nearly 400% year-on-year (YoY) for 2022's first quarter (1Q2022). Then again, Apple still reigns supreme, having shipped just over half of all smartphones recently sold in the region, although Samsung, Motorola and TCL maintained their positions thanks to a combination of attractive new devices and carrier partnerships.

If recent Geekbench 5 benchmark results for the AMD Radeon RX 6300M are true, the entry level GPU looks quite weak. According to BenchLeaks, the RX 6300M is almost 77% less powerful than the RTX 3070 when using the Vulcan API in Geekbench 5.

After Asus announced that the ROG Phone 6 would land with Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, it appears the gaming phone's rumor mill may have picked up speed, with images of a supposed prototype now appearing in the wild.

Reportedly, Apple is no longer a summer release for its first mini-LED and 120 Hz ProMotion external monitor. Dubbed the Studio Display Pro, the 27-inch monitor is now expected to debut after the iPhone 14 series, months after its anticipated WWDC 2022 unveiling.

The $50 USD third-party controller is not only stylish and bright, but it has a neat app that lets users calibrate and customize the buttons and analog sensitivity on the fly.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro will succeed last year's 11T Pro later in the year and will be one of Xiaomi's few Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1-powered devices this year, and could be the only one to be sold outside China. According the other reports, launch is imminent as well.

A noted leaker has offered their take on the potential clock rates for key SKUs in the upcoming AMD Ryzen 7000 “Raphael” series. The commenter has been quite optimistic with some of the clock rate estimates, with the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X potentially offering a higher boost rate than Alder Lake’s i9-12900KS Turbo Max 3.0 speed of 5.3 GHz.

BOE has been tipped as one of three sources of display panels for the upcoming iPhone 14 series. However, this lucrative contract now reportedly hangs in the balance following a dispute over a previous dispute concerning 13-series screens. BOE has been conducting corporate damage control, but may yet lose the chance to help manufacture the latest iPhones.

Motorola has just released another new poster touting its upcoming Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 flagship smartphone. This one comes with strong hints that the device in question will be foldable, leading to speculation that the successor to the Razr 5G will launch powered by the updated top-end processor. If so, this might represent a significant coup for the resurrected flip-phone series.

Samsung has unleashed the Galaxy Buds2 in 2 limited-edition co-branded forms on its home market of South Korea. One is a Pokémon-themed bundle that could go with a matching Galaxy Z Flip3 from an earlier event, whereas the other is one for fans of soft drinks. They both largely entail a new carrying-case for the TWS accessories in question.

New specifications for the upcoming Google Pixel Watch have been shared, including that it will apparently feature a co-processor to help out the Exynos 9110 with certain tasks. In addition, the Pixel Watch is expected to come with more RAM than the Galaxy Watch4 and support blood oxygen (SpO2) measurement.

The UC San Diego Center for Wearable Sensors has created what they call a "multi-tasking wearable" for continuously monitoring not only blood sugar levels, but also the impact of drinking alcohol and participating in strenuous exercise on them. This Holy Grail of diabetes vitals' monitoring is made possible by a painless skin patch with microneedles that can be worn at all times.

A recent chain of negative publicity swirling Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk led to a stock market rout that nixed US$66 billion off its market capitalization on Friday alone. The carnage may continue next week amid an NHTSA Autopilot crash investigation probe and Musk's sexual harassment allegations.

Mercedes-Benz has announced that it will use new silicon anode technology from Sila in an extended-range version of its G-Class EV. The material has a high energy density and will be manufactured at the company's Washington state facility. The new G-class with the Sila batteries is planned for release in 2025.

The Realme Pad X will makes its debut on May 26 in China and Realme has begun ramping up its marketing campaign for the tablet, with images of the device and its stylus, the Realme Pen, now revealed in new leaks.

Acer has upgraded the TravelMate lineup of business laptops with the latest Intel 12th gen vPro and AMD Ryzen 6000 Pro processors. The TravelMate P2 is available in 14-inch and 15.6-inch versions while the TravelMate P4 and TravelMate Spin P4 come in 14-inch and 16-inch variants. All TravelMate models are Microsoft Secured-core PCs built with a focus on security and durability while using sustainable construction and packaging materials.

Norman Reedus, the actor who played the protagonist of 2019's Death Stranding, essentially confirmed that a sequel to the popular Kojima video game is already in the works. While there were no other details given, Reedus confirmed in an interview that work has already started on "part two."

Although there are countless TWS earbuds available in the sub-US$50 area of the market, the Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro is one of the few capable of bringing together Qualcomm aptX support and 13 mm drivers. Now available on Tronsmart's website, GeekBuying, and AliExpress, the Onyx Ace Pro will also hit Amazon next month.

Yesterday, SK hynix has finally unleashed its first Gen 4.0 SSD with a 176-NAND layer, namely the Platinum P41. As unveiled back in early January, it is available in 500 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB versions. The prices start at US$104.99 and go up to US$259.98, but the stock seems depleted already.

Mercedes-AMG has unveiled an all-electric concept sports car, the Vision AMG. The car is built on the AMG.EA platform, which is due to be released in 2025. The vehicle has a YASA axial flux motor and a high-performance battery set low down in the four-door car, allowing comfortable room for four people.

The IFA tech trade show is now set to return to an in-person format set in its traditional Berlin venue in 2022. The conference will take place at the start of September of this year. Its organizers are celebrating this announcement with early-bird prices on its tickets, although they are for only one of five of the event's scheduled days.

EZVIZ has announced pricing for its latest home security camera on its new Amazon page. The C8W Pro 2K is of the spherical outdoor form-factor for 360-degree coverage and AI-powered smart potential intruder detection and tracking. However, this one debuts a new feature: an automatic preference for one spot in its field of vision the user can select via its app.

Honor has confirmed that it will launch the 70 series of premium mid-range Android smartphones later in May 2022. However, its 2 variants, the 70 and 70 Pro, have been snapped from all angles in a physical store ahead of this event. This leak has a strong chance of being genuine, as it is also now echoed by one posted to the OEM's very own webstore in advance.

One-netbook has confirmed details about the T1, previously known as the VOYO VBook 2023. The One-netbook T1 will be available with an Intel Core i7-1260P processor, fast LPDDR5 RAM and M.2 2280 storage. The One-netbook T1 should be orderable later this month, starting at US$599.

The USPTO has published a patent for 'three-wavelength pulse oximetry', filed by Garmin in 2020. The new style of sensor could make its way into commercially-available smartwatches, although Garmin is expected to launch the Forerunner 255 and Forerunner 955 series before that happens.

The new Neptune series is advertised as the world's first mini PC lineup with AMD RDNA2 dGPUs. MINISFORUM is planning to first release a Ryzen 9 5900HX + Radeon RX 6650M model, followed by Ryzen 9 6900HX and Intel Alder Lake variants with the same dGPU.

The Redmi Note 11T Pro+ has become the first smartphone with an LCD display to receive a DisplayMate A+ rating. Xiaomi's upcoming smartphone does not use PWM to modulate display brightness, all but eliminating headache-inducing flickering. The panel has a 144 Hz refresh rate too, along with Dolby Vision support.

With the first 2 nm chips planned for a 2025 release, TSMC could theoretically ready the 1.4 nm nodes by 2028. Samsung will most likely come up with a similar node around the same time, while Intel will try to get ahead of the game with the 20A and 18A nodes in 2025.

Android OEMs have already confirmed their intention to equip upcoming flagship smartphones with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus. Not only has OnePlus confirmed a launch window for the rumoured OnePlus 10 Ultra, benchmark data for the unreleased Realme GT2 Master Explorer Edition has leaked.

Hitman 3 is set to receive its DLSS and ray-tracing update shortly. The free update will add ray-traced shadows and reflections to the game, alongside DLSS 2.0 and FSR 1.0 upscaling. AMD's new FSR 2.0 won't be part of the package, at least initially.

Qualcomm has officially launched the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Mobile Platform — an incremental upgrade over the 8 Gen 1 targeted at premium Android smartphone experiences. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 comes with increased CPU and GPU performance along with improvements to power efficiency. Qualcomm's reference numbers show good gains over the 8 Gen 1 and comparable performance to a reference MediaTek Dimensity 9000.

YouTuber Teaserplay outed a stunning concept trailer for what GTA: San Andreas could look like if it was built on Unreal Engine 5. The trailer leverages a range of UE5 features, including MetaHuman, Lumen, and Nanite. The trailer offers a glimpse of the kind of visuals to expect in GTA 6

AOC has introduced the AGON PRO AG274QZM, a 27-inch gaming monitor with mini LED backlights. Launched for £999 and €1,309 in the UK and the Eurozone respectively, the AGON PRO AG274QZM offers 1,200 nits of peak brightness, NVIDIA G-SYNC compatibility and 576 dimming zones. AOC has included a 2.5K and 240 Hz panel, too.

Qualcomm has lifted the covers off its first mid-range chipset of 2022. The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 packs four Cortex-A710 cores, four Cortex-A510 cores, and an Adreno 662 GPU. It is expected to make its debut alongside an Oppo phone in the coming weeks.

Qualcomm has released reference headsets based on its Snapdragon XR2 platform before; however, this new Smart Viewer stands out among them as it is wireless. The OEM asserts that its support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth results in minimal latency and an improved range. It also features micro-OLED panels for displays and a more streamlined form-factor.

The Aqara D100 Zigbee smart door lock is now available in Singapore, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The device is compatible with Apple HomeKit, allowing you to unlock the door with Home Key or Siri voice commands. Alternatively, you can use the gadget’s built-in fingerprint scanner or NFC reader.

The Outdoor Element Roku TV is now available in the US. The device is optimized to tackle the elements, with an anti-glare screen and IP55 weather protection rating. The TV has a 4K display and supports HDR10. Plus, the built-in Roku platform enables you to watch cable and use streaming services.