Latest Tech News

Geologists at the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Plymouth in England have blended an iPhone so they could scrutinize the elements it’s made from more closely. Using their specialist knowledge and skills, the researchers found that the iPhone had enough gold and tungsten in it to be classified as high-grade.

Prices for second-generation AMD Ryzen CPUs have dropped, with US$50 being shaved off a performance-level Ryzen 7 2700 CPU on Newegg. A number of CPUs based on the Zen+ microarchitecture have been discounted, leading to speculation that AMD is making space in its inventory for the upcoming Zen 2-based Ryzen chips.

A screenshot posted on Reddit has been stirring up some excitement among PlayStation 4 owners. The image shows a page from the Brazilian PlayStation Store, and there is a small window advert for EA Access. The EA Access service offers popular games like the Madden NFL series and the NHL range to Xbox One subscribers for US$29.99 a year.

Apple has developed a habit of disappointing its fans by including power bricks that charge at only 5W with its iPhones. However, a new leak has predicted that the company will put an end to this in 2019. It also projects that the next generation of Apple mobile devices will be capable of reverse wireless charging.

Famed overclocker 'Splave' tried out a small experiment to find out whether the newly announced Intel Core i9-9900KF offered any potential advantages over the 9900K when it came to overclocking. The results showed that the 9900KF can go somewhat higher than a binned 9900K on liquid nitrogen. Although the sample size used in this test is small, it does offer an indication that the disabled iGPU in the 9900KF SKU could be useful in overclocking under extreme cooling.

The Sony Xperia XZ3, a few days ago, made the trip over to photography benchmark website DxOMark, where it failed woefully, continuing the trend of Sony flagships being unable to catch up to the competition.

The Honor 8X was released last year on Android Oreo but is now receiving the stable Pie update. The update weighs in at a humongous 3.14 GB and is one that takes the device's software to Huawei's EMUI 9.0 skin.

AMD's use of a multi-chip module (MCM) approach offers quite a few advantages for AMD in terms utilizing TSMC's lines efficiently and also in driving down costs. We are now getting to know that Ryzen 3000 sports a new Infinity Fabric version that offers twice the bandwidth of the previous generation. The chiplet design should also enable AMD to disable cores with minimal loss to cater to the entry level and mid-range markets.

It has been reported that Walmart has been meeting with a number of game developers and publishers to discuss a potential video-game streaming service. With Google just revealing its Stadia service and Nvidia’s GeForce Now platform gearing up for worldwide launch, there’s a good chance cloud gaming is going to revolutionize the way people play video games on a huge scale.

Xiaomi’s official Chinese Weibo account has issued a teaser indicating that it is prepping an update to its 12.5-inch Mi Notebook Air. The teaser shows a scale with the current weight of the device at 1.07 kg hinting at either a refresh or that the company is targeting a sub 1 kg weight target.

Apple used to be the tech company that led consumer technology design unchallenged. After a week of rehashed designs masquerading as, in at least one instance, “all new” product launches, the company feels like it is asleep at the wheel under CEO Tim Cook.

A comprehensive study carried out by Bitwise Asset Management has come to the conclusion that the majority of reported volume in bitcoin trading is faked. Some unethical bitcoin traders are deliberately manipulating the volume to encourage either buying or selling of the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is currently valued at US$3,965.

The Xperia 1 features a 4K OLED display and, unlike the XZ Premium and XZ2 Premium that only rendered in 4K while viewing content of that resolution, the Xperia 1 will be a full-time 4K display. Yes, even when in system apps like Gallery and Settings.

A designer called Antonio De Rosa has come up with a concept video of what an iPhone foldable smartphone, which is called the iPhone X Fold in the clip, could actually look like. Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of familiar Samsung Galaxy Fold and Huawei Mate X elements in the mix, but the presence of a square triple camera setup and some innovative packaging are highlights.

Users of AMD X470 chipset-based motherboards who have updated to the latest AGESA 0.0.7.x offered by some OEMs over the past week are reporting that the update cripples the Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) from working automatically, requiring manual adjustments via Ryzen Master. The issue seems to have affected some Asus and MSI X470 boards and the only recourse is to downgrade the BIOS (if possible) or wait till a fix for the PBO issue is released.

The chassis has plenty of enthusiast features including per-key RGB lighting and a 1080p144 IPS display, but it comes at the cost of chassis rigidity in some spots and a poor trackpad. While not a bad alternative to more popular gaming laptops, we recommend a warranty extension just to be on the safe side.

Apple's market share in China has reportedly fallen by 26.6% in 2018. Unsurprisingly, the culprits are more 'local' OEMs such as Huawei and Xiaomi, who offer more innovative features in premium handsets that go for less than those from the Cupertino company.

Last year, we reported on rumors that Huawei was working on its first smart TV. Now, a Chinese news outlet claims that its sources have told it these products are nearly ready for release. These products are apparently to be released in 55- or 65-inch variants.

Tencent, which publishes games such as PUBG, has set up a collaboration with Razer in order to improve said apps' function on the gaming hardware giant's Android phones. This involves optimizing Tencent titles for the Razer Phones, as well as for the mobile-gaming peripherals Razer sells.

Beats by Dr. Dre has been an Apple subsidiary for some time now. The brand's next product may be a pair of truly-wireless earbuds. According to a CNET report, they may run on the new Apple H1 chip, which is also found in the newly-released AirPods 2.

Microsoft's plans of introducing a disc-less version of the Xbox One S is well known and we're getting to know that the console is all set for a global launch on May 7. Expected to be known as the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, the new console will be priced at the lowest tier in the Xbox One family to encourage newcomers to get a feel for the digital ecosystem.

Samsung’s Galaxy A90 mid-range flagship is set to be the company’s first all-screen smartphone with a notchless display as previously rumored. The confirmation came through a Samsung Indonesia website slip up showing what is either the upcoming Galaxy A30 or A50.

Intel has confirmed that it is killing off further development of its Compute Card platform. Similar in size to a credit card, Compute Card was teased at CES 2017 and first unveiled at Computex 2017 and promised modular upgrades for computers, smart TVs and other devices.

The new AMD X570 chipset is expected to be launched soon and a list of motherboards produced by Asus for this particular generation has been leaked. The products being prepared cover a number of well-known Asus lines, including ROG and TUF. ASRock’s upcoming line-up of X570 boards has also been published online.

HMD Global has come up with an official response on the issue of its devices sending sensitive user data to Chinese servers. While the company's reasoning appears sound, it's still a tad appalling that something of this sort is associated with the Nokia brand, especially considering the hardware and software issues the company's devices have been accused of having over the past year.

References to three new Xiaomi devices have been discovered, with two of them being bonafide Android One phones. We could be looking at the Mi A3, A3 Lite, and Mi 7X, perhaps? Interestingly, all three phones will have in-display fingerprint readers and massive 32 MP selfie cameras.

Arrested Huawei CFO and daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, Meng Wanzhou, has had further embarrassment heaped on her. As if getting arrested in Canada at the request of the US government on espionage charges isn’t enough, it has now been revealed that when arrested, Meng was in possession of several Apple products instead of Huawei equivalents.

Dell is having its semi-annual electronics sale at the moment, and there are massive savings on offer throughout the company’s extensive range of products. One of the most attractive deals is for a Dell XPS 15 laptop sporting an 8th-Gen Intel Core processor and a GPU from Nvidia’s Pascal-based GeForce 10 series, which can be purchased for US$1,410.99.

A report out of Taiwan has stated that Huawei is planning on releasing the HiSilicon Kirin 985 SoC before the end of the year, and it could even find its way inside the expected Huawei Mate 30 smartphone. The chipset will apparently be manufactured on a 7nm+ process that involves TSMC’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) technology.

Battlefield V’s battle royale mode, Firestorm, will be launched on March 25. It will come as an update to owners of the Battlefield V game and will give players the chance to utilize a range of vehicles in their quest for victory. Nvidia has posted a system requirement spec sheet for players, which includes the company’s own RTX 2070 graphics card.

Set to become the entry-level model of the Turing generation, the upcoming GTX 1650 appears to be almost as fast as the GTX 1050 Ti from the previous gen in the latest Final Fantasy XV benchmarks. This model is scheduled to launch in April for around US$179 with no RT or Tensor cores and only 4 GB of GDDR5 VRAM.

The 16s is Meizu's rumored 2019 flagship that is projected to dodge the notch trend with ultra-slim top and bottom bezels in its front panels. Some leaks attributed to the purported device have supported this theory. The latest one lends it further weight.

Although it will retail for more than twice its price, the Samsung Galaxy Fold seems to be slower than the Galaxy S10e. According to an alleged Geekbench entry — that has already been removed from the benchmark database — Samsung's foldable is also slower than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855-powered Royole FlexPai.

15 years after the release of the original Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Paradox is finally announcing a sequel to the "cult" RPG game. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is set in modern-day Seattle, and the gameplay will include brutal first person melee fights, strong language, and hub-like levels with non-linear progression.

Huntkey, a company based in Shenzhen, has announced that it is currently producing a 90-watt wall-wart intended for mobile devices. This next-gen power-brick also has a USB type-C output, rather than type-A as normal. It supports various fast-charging profiles, in addition to USB Power Delivery and Qualcomm QuickCharge3.0+.

DigiTimes has cited sources at a components supplier in a new report that alleges the AirPower accessory is finally going to be released soon. This article also asserts that the long-awaited wireless charging pad will work with at least one generation of the Apple Watch.

The Closed Beta of Mortal Kombat 11 will debut on March 28 with a roaster of five fighters, namely Baraka, Jade, Kabal, Scarlet, and Scorpion. At launch, the game is expected to come with a lineup of no less than 28 characters, including Cassie Cage, Kano, Sub-Zero, Raiden, and Kano. This new Mortal Kombat title will launch on April 23.

Razer has released its financial report for 2018. It shows that the gaming company's revenues are now stands at US$274.2 million. The firm made $79.5 million in terms of gross profit last year, and also cut its losses by 4.3% compared to 2017.

Some users of the Nokia 7 Plus have reported that their phones are sending data to Chinese servers without permission, a direct violation of GDPR laws. This data includes IMEI's, serial numbers, and location, all of which are considered personal data and can be used to track and identify users. HMD Global has confirmed the claims.

The transparent variant of the Xiaomi Mi 9 seems to be doing very well this year. Chinese blogs have reported that the OEM cannot keep it on shelves, despite its relatively high price tag. Perhaps this is why a new, cheaper variant with less RAM has just been announced.

OnePlus has reached an important stage in the development of Oxygen OS 9, which is based on Android Pie (9.0), for its former 3/3T flagships. It now has a closed beta of this build, which can be downloaded following a successful application to the program in question. Therefore, the general, stable release of this ROM is closer than ever.

Switch owners rejoice. Cuphead, the popular side-scrolling run and gun game, is coming to the console next month. You can pre-order the game now on the Nintendo eShop before its worldwide release on April 18. StudioMDHR is also bringing new and free content to all platforms, which will be available on the Switch version on day one.

The first anniversary of PUBG for mobile devices comes with the Season 6 Royale Pass, parties on Spawn Island with fireworks and loot crates with special rewards, randomly spawned birthday cakes, dynamic weather on Erangel and Miramar, a new vehicle (a three-wheeled bus that replaces the Jeep, Dacia, and Mini Bus), and more.

The 1st-Gen AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1900X CPU is currently priced at US$299.99 on Newegg. This Zen-based high-end desktop processor (HEDT) was originally released in August 2017 and cost US$549 at the time of launch. The chip has eight cores and 16 threads, and it can offer a boost clock of up to 4 GHz.

A market analyst for financial services company Cowen has predicted that Google will utilize AMD’s upcoming EPYC 2 server CPUs, codenamed “Rome”, for its own services. This would be a huge deal for AMD, which has already been selected to provide customized GPUs for the Google Stadia cloud gaming service.

A Respawn Entertainment community manager has taken to Reddit to warn fans of Apex Legends about the perils of believing datamined rumors. Jay Frechette’s comments were pragmatic and logical: “real info will come from us”. However, within days of his post two new potentially massive features for the battle royale hit have been shared by data miners.

Some more rumored details of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 have appeared online. It seems the flagship phablet will sport a similar camera setup to the Galaxy S10 5G, with four cameras on the rear and two on the front. The device, which is expected to come with either a 6.6-inch or 6.66-inch display, could be launched as early as August 8.

Samsung released the S10 phones a few weeks ago and is hoping to use the devices as a tool in a bid to claw back its lost market share in China. It appears to be working, too, with sales said to be already twice that of the Galaxy S9 phones.

The AMD 'Matisse' Ryzen 3000 CPUs are still a couple of months away from launch but motherboards OEMs have started prepping for it by offering new AGESA updates that support the new processors. MSI, Asus, and BioStar have started rolling out AGESA v0.0.7.x that includes support for Zen 2 Ryzen 3000 CPUs. Other OEMs are expected to follow suit as we head closer to launch.

Samsung has come up with some clever ads over the years as it battles Apple for smartphone supremacy. Spotted in Sydney, Australia by Notebookcheck, this latest billboard is one of the first interactive campaigns we’ve seen with what would otherwise be a static poster.