When compared to 64-bit 3D flash, Toshiba's 96-layer BiCS flash technology promises to consume 4.7 W less power while providing potentially higher storage capacities. The OEM intends to launch its XG6 series soon for high-performance client PCs and laptops where competition from Samsung, Lite-On, and SK Hynix is fierce.

According to Chinese site ITHome, the Kirin 980 will integrate a quad ARM Cortex-A77 core cluster clocked at 2.8 GHz and one ARM Cortex-A55 core cluster. The GPU will be developed by HiSilicon and it is said to be 50%faster than the Adreno 630. The next gen SoC will not support 5G communications, but it will get an updated NPU for AI applications.

The official Asus Bangladesh website is listing the ROG Strix GL503 with Whiskey Lake Core i5-8265U and i7-8565U processor options. It could simply be a mistake, but with IFA 2018 right around the corner, it could also be hinting at a host of Whiskey Lake laptops just waiting to be announced.

Details of new 8-core 16-thread Intel Coffee Lake CPUs have leaked online. The top-end Core i9-9900K can boost up to 5 GHz out of the box and has a TDP of 95W. The other SKUs in the lineup include the 8-core Core i7-9700K and the 6-core Core i5-9600K both without Hyperthreading.

Google is expected to unveil quite a few new pieces of hardware in October: the Pixel 3 and 3 XL handsets, the second-generation Pixel Buds, a Pixel-branded smartwatch, and now an updated PixelBook with narrow bezels is joining the list as well. Sadly, nothing is official yet.

Xiaomi has made the Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite official at a Madrid event today. The European launch of the Mi A2 signals the arrival of the Chinese smartphone maker on the global arena and the Mi A2 looks to build upon the success of its predecessor. These new Android One smartphones will soon launch in 40 markets worldwide.

Leakster @MMDDJ_ on Twitter has tweeted that Samsung is preparing a gaming smartphone. No other details were posted but the leakster did say that the gaming smartphone will not be named the 'Galaxy X'.

Qualcomm China has put out a teaser related to a 'faster', 'cooler', and 'smarter' Snapdragon technology on its official Weibo page. While details are still scarce, all indications point to Qualcomm announcing its version of Huawei's GPU Turbo feature, which will in probability be called Adreno Turbo.

Microsoft has released a strong set of financial results for the fourth quarter of the 2017/2018 financial year and equally impressive results for the full fiscal 2017/2018 year. Growth was strongest in cloud services (matching the third quarter results), but gaming and Surface also showed good increases.

Qualcomm unveiled the QTM052 mmWave antenna module that can fit into a smartphones using the Snapdragon X50 to provide 5G NR connectivity. The QTM052 is accompanied by the announcement of new sub-6 GHz RF modules that smartphone makers can incorporate to provide gigabit speeds as the industry begins its transition to 5G networks.

Sony has unveiled the new IMX586 imaging sensor for smartphones that packs an effective 48 MP with a pixel size of 0.8 microns. The CMOS sensor features a Quad Bayer color filter array that bins adjacent 2x2 pixels to yield sensitivity equivalent to a 1.6 micron 12 MP sensor.

The eye-catching Blade 15 officially starts at $1900 USD, but the cheapest configuration sits at $2200 due to insufficient stock. There have been no announcements on when we can expect the sub $2000 configuration to be available.

Just as previously rumored, the Nokia X5 handset will hit the global market as the Nokia 5.1 Plus. Although HMD's Global Chief Product Officer, Juho Sarvikas, confirmed its arrival on Twitter, the details are not public yet, but we expect this to happen soon.

The leaked 3DMark picture shows some outstanding specs for the GTX 1170, besides the benchmark score. Apparently, the next gen GPU will come with as much as 16 GB of GGDR6 VRAM running at 2.5 GHz, which already sounds a bit exaggerated. Upon closer inspection, one could find a few red flags that signal faked information.

The fourth generation Z2 Mini workstation series from HP is bringing refreshed specs like the Intel 8000-series desktop CPUs and the more advanced Xeon E 2100-series for professional designers. The new SFF systems support up to 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, up to 1 TB NVMe SSDs, Intel Optane memory and up to 1 TB SATA HDDs, plus a choice between Nvidia’s Quadro P600/P100 and AMD’s Radeon Pro WX 4150 GPUs.

Qualcomm published a blog post that it's X20 LTE modem-equipped Snapdragon 845 SoC offers superior mobile connectivity than other modems such as the Intel XMM 7480 and Intel XMM 7360 found in various iPhones. The data has been gathered from Speedtest.net results on AT&T and T-Mobile.

The upcoming OS 12 update for the Apple HomePod is slated to bring a slew of new features to the smart speaker including the ability to make and receive calls when paired with an iPhone and set multiple timers. With the upcoming MacOS Mojave update, the HomePod can also be controlled directly from the Mac.

Introduced back in November 2014 as the result of Snapchat's collaboration with Square, Snapcash ended up as a payment service mainly used for trading adult-oriented content online, far from the initial goal of allowing friends and family members to quickly transfer money while using Snapchat.

Although most details are still unknown, we heard that the AMD Picasso APU is a 12 nm Zen+ chip that might launch as an individual family of products instead of a mere Raven Ridge refresh. Unfortunately, AMD's current roadmap mentioned a 2019 release date, so it will probably take at least a few good months until more official details show up.

Those who are still using Ubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" should now update to the version 18.04 (nicknamed "Bionic Beaver") of this popular Linux distribution. Ubuntu 17.10 arrived on October 19, 2017, and it only received 9 months of support — as it happens with all non-LTS Ubuntu Linux releases.

The Surface Go created a bit of a splash when Microsoft announced it two weeks ago. The ultracompact 10-inch 2-in-1 is the spiritual successor to the non-Pro Surface 3, but with the advantage of using a higher spec'd x86 processor for smoother performance. CostCo is now advertising a new configuration that wasn't announced at launch, including the Type Cover at no additional cost.

A Norwegian tech company says its "SiliconX" battery can let you drive over 600 miles or power your smartphone for a week on just a single charge when compared to an equivalent volume of Li-ion cells. Its secret is a proprietary mixture of silicon and graphite that will give up to a five-fold in battery capacity over current Li-ion technology.

The aging Asus Chromebook Flip C302 could soon have a proper successor if the "Rammus" code name is any indication. With IFA 2018 not far off, the Taiwanese manufacturer could be preparing an announcement for its overdue Chromebook refresh. Early rumors point to a mainstream or high-end offering with a backlit keyboard and Kaby Lake U-class or Y-class processor options.

Huawei has launched a photography contest that uses an AI judge and a Leica pro photographer to decide the winner. Photographers need to submit their photos to the 'Spark A Renaissance' competition based on 5 different themes and they stand to win 10 P20 Pro's along with a trip to a Leica photography masterclass in Florence, Italy. The grand winner gets to embark on a three-nation European tour.

Anticipating increased demand for 3D NAND flash storage in the coming year, Samsung is looking to invest an additional US$2.6 billion to expand production capacities of its NAND factories in China and Korea taking the total investment to US$9 billion by 2019. The increased investments are being centered around production of 3D NAND flash, V-NAND flash, and QLC flash memory.

A single USB Type-C port may be all that's needed for a PC VR experience. VirtualLink 1.0 will define a new 'Alternate Mode' standard over the familiar USB port to hopefully reduce cable clutter associated with popular virtual reality headsets.

Facebook subsidiary PointView Tech is building an internet satellite to enable broadband connectivity to remote areas. The project, named Athena, was shrouded in secrecy up till now. Facebook has finally confirmed to WIRED and CNET about the existence of such a project. Details of the satellite itself are still under wraps but is expected to launch in early 2019.

It may not be able to sustain Turbo Boost for very long, but at least the Core i9 in the Zenbook UX580 can maintain base clock rates when under heavy processing load. With such high core temperatures in the 90 C range, however, it's no wonder that the same i9 CPU in the even thinner MacBook Pro is getting a lot of negative press for its supposed throttling behavior.

Nvidia wants you to start the new school year with an Asus ROG Zephyrus, Acer Predator, MSI GS65, Razer Blade, or Dell Alienware laptop. Prices range from $600 USD for a GTX 1050 notebook up to $2800 USD for a fully-configured GTX 1080 Max-Q.

The upcoming expansion for Creative Assembly's Total War: Rome II is called "Rise of the Republic" and will launch in early August as a full prequel campaign for the game. This US$16.99 pack comes with a full map of Italy — including Rome's ancient enemy, Carthage — and is set in 399 BC.

Although the Chinese brand might not hit its planned sales target of 200 million units for the entire year, reaching the 100 million units milestone is also quite impressive. Compared to 7 years ago, Huawei managed to increase its smartphone sales by no less than 51 times.

The Chinese company reports that it should sell 200 million handsets by the end of 2018, which would bring it fairly close to Apple's target. At this rate, Huawei is expecting to overtake Apple in global sales at some point in 2019. The US and Indian markets should help Huawei further their plans in this respect, although the US embargoes could hinder this development.

Intel announced the Amber Lake-Y CPUs back at Computex in June, but core count or frequency details were not provided. This week, Dell and NextLab501 revealed names and specs for three Amber Lake-Y CPUs, and it looks like the new ULV chips should come with increased frequencies, but the core configuration and the iGPU remain the same.

According to reports from Korean media, Samsung could be looking to merge the Galaxy Note and Galaxy S brands given that the differences between them are minimal. This move can reduce the costs of Samsung's mobile development portfolio and possibly increase profitability amidst the onslaught of Chinese smartphone brands.

Google looks to be positioning its Fuchsia OS as a replacement for Android and Chrome OS on its Pixel hardware. Although the roadmap for the operating system has not been formally signed off, Google has over 100 software engineers working on the project.

Nokia has officially launched the 6.1 Plus for global markets. The first market outside of mainland China to receive the device will be Hong Kong starting July 24.