ARM

The Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 will be Qualcomm's apex mid-range chipset for the year and is widely considered to be a rival to MediaTek's powerful Dimensity 8100. That rivalry may be a bit one-sided, however, if new reports are to be believed.

Some smartphone innovations are great ideas and make a lasting impact on the market. Others are also great ideas but either fail to launch completely or somehow go the way of the dodo, never to be seen again. Let's look at some recent would-be home runs that just didn't pan out for some reason.

OnePlus has now confirmed that the upcoming OnePlus 10R phone will be powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max SoC. The Dimensity 8100-Max is a custom Dimensity 8100 exclusively for the OnePlus 10R. However, OnePlus has not yet made it clear how the 8100-Max differs from the non-Max version.

Poco has now confirmed a launch event scheduled for April 26. The Xiaomi sub-brand will officially debut its first premium phone of the year, the Poco F4 GT, at that event. According to most rumors, the Poco F4 GT will be a rebadge of the Redmi K50 Gaming that was released in China back in February.

A smartphone with top performance for less than 520 Euros (~$566)? The Apple iPhone SE 2022 makes this possible. However, you also have to accept some compromises for this.

Apple may have next to no stock of the M1 Pro or M1 Max in most markets, but the SoCs remain available to order in Certified Refurbished versions of the MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16. Seemingly the only way to pick up an M1 Pro or M1 Max machine before the summer without resorting to secondhand marketplaces, it should be hard to tell a Certified Refurbished model from its brand new equivalent.

The launch of the next-generation Mac mini appears to be close, if Apple Studio Display is anything to go by. According to developer Steve Throughton-Smith, the firmware mentions the unreleased mini-PC, which is expected to be considerably more powerful than the existing Apple M1 model.

Earlier reports tipping Samsung to launch the Galaxy S22 FE later this year with a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 running things have now been called into doubt. No such plan exists, it appears, and the Galaxy S22 FE will debut with Snapdragon and/or Exynos silicon.

Purportedly, Apple is already preparing to release two new Mac devices, just a few months after the arrival of the Mac Studio and Studio Display. According to new rumours, WWDC 2022 will be the launch platform for at least the MacBook Air.

MediaTek has announced the Dimensity 1300, a 6 nm SoC expected to debut in the OnePlus Nord 2T. The mid-range chipset relies on ARM Cortex-A78 CPU cores and supports up to 200 MP cameras, among other features.

A new leak now reports that Samsung is set to equip the Galaxy Z Fold4 with the same 108 MP camera on the Galaxy S22 Ultra. This comes after reports earlier in the week touted the phone to also adopt the 3x zoom lens on the Galaxy S22 phones.

The Redmi K50 debuted a few weeks ago as the first Dimensity 8100-powered device on the market. The Dimensity 8100 has put up stellar performances in synthetic benchmarks so far, and it appears to also be one of the best chipsets for mobile gaming as well, as it manages to outperform the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Apple M1 in an Apex Legends Mobile test.

Apple offers the MacBook Pro 14 with the faster M1 Max SoCs, but the power adapter will be a limiting factor when you stress the CPU & GPU at the same time. This means the larger MacBook Pro 16 is a better choice if you want to use the full performance of the M1 Max.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 will power next-gen flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy S23 and OnePlus 11 Pro. A new leak now indicates that Qualcomm is fast-tracking its release plans for the premium chipset this year, and it could debut earlier than is typical.

The Google Pixel 6 Pro offers 4x optical zoom thanks to a periscope lens. According to a new report from Tech Insights, that lens may be shared with a rather unlikely device—Xiaomi's 2020 flagship, the Mi 10 Ultra.

MediaTek is reportedly working on an overclocked version of the Dimensity 9000. It clocks the Cortex-X2 core at 3.2 GHz while keeping everything else identical, including the Mali G710-MC10 GPU and codename.

Days after the rumor mill for the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 first fired up, a new leak has now revealed even more details of the upcoming chipset which is expected to rival the MediaTek Dimensity 8100.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 is gearing up to be Samsung's best device of the year, with new information indicating that the premium foldable will adopt a new hinge design as well as cameras from the Galaxy S22 series.

There is a new Raspberry Pi Compute Module in town with the SO-DIMM form factor. The Compute Module 4S combines the Broadcom BCM2711 from the Compute Module 4 and Compute Module 4 Lite in the size of a Compute Module 3+. Moving back to the SO-DIMM form factor presents problems for HDMI and Ethernet connectivity, though.

Leaks have now surfaced providing information on the upcoming Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 and Xiaomi 12 Ultra. The two phones are tipped to launch in China soon, with the Mix Fold 2 rumored to arrive with a world's-first folding mechanism design.

Realme has now launched its new budget tablet, the Realme Pad Mini, in the Philippines today. The Realme Pad Mini debuts with a Unisoc Tiger T616—delivering power on par with a Snapdragon 665—and a slew of low-end but decent hardware.

ASUS has released the Tinker Edge R, another single-board computer (SBC) by the company. The 100 x 72 mm SBC is compatible with Android and Debian and relies on a Rockchip RK3399 Pro SoC. ASUS equips the Tinker Edge R with 16 GB of eMMC flash storage too, and a small fan, among other features.

The Redmi Note 11 series debuted in China over five months ago and Xiaomi looks set to bring a direct successor to the market shortly. The Redmi Note 12 series draws closer to launch and a new leak provides insight into some of the hardware that will underpin the phones.

The iPhone SE 2022 has now been put through a Genshin Impact test alongside the M1-equipped iPad Air 2022, and the two variants of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. The compact phone puts up a fantastic showing, with exemplary performance, efficiency, and thermals.

A new leak has now revealed some details of Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus. The flagship chipset will trade in Samsung's 4 nm node for the TSMC equivalent but also looks to be quite a bit pricier.

A storm seems to be brewing after a faked Geekbench score was used in a recent video from the highly popular Mrwhosetheboss tech channel on YouTube. The result for a supposed Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra device with an Exynos 2200 chip was shown with a much higher multi-core score than expected. The show’s host, Arun Maini, has made it clear that no foul play was intended.

A new leak has now revealed details of Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 7-series sub-premium SoC. This chipset could well be branded as the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, may lock horns with the MediaTek Dimensity 8100, and looks set to be built with the same ARM architecture as current-gen flagship SoCs like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and MediaTek Dimensity 9000.

The Motorola Edge 30 Ultra looks to be Motorola's most ambitious device yet and a new leak has now revealed details of the flagship phone well ahead of launch, with notable takeaways including a 200 MP main camera and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus.

The Redmi K50 Pro and OPPO Find X5 Pro are the only MediaTek Dimensity 9000-powered devices on the market at the moment. Both phones have now officially been listed on AnTuTu, with CPU and GPU scores providing further performance insight especially relative to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

The Xiaomi 12 Pro remains Xiaomi's most premium smartphone for the year until the Xiaomi 12 Ultra or Mix 5 series debut. The flagship has now been put through DxOMark's camera tests, and appears to keep up with traditional heavy hitters like the Google Pixel 6 and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.

SK Hynix is not looking to repeat Nvidia's mistake of acquiring ARM alone and is carefully considering forming a consortium with strategic partners. It is not yet clear which companies could be included in the consortium. The South Korean memory producer is also looking to expand into the foundry business.

Samsung recently debuted the Galaxy A33 and Galaxy A53, with both devices being powered by its new Exynos 1280 mid-range chipset. The Exynos 1280 has now been put through both CPU and GPU tests in an attempt to gauge how it compares to what would be its closest rival—the Snapdragon 695 powering the Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G and Poco X4 Pro.

The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are tipped to launch with a big camera upgrade over the iPhone 13 Pro models. A new leak has now provided some details of the main sensor that will debut on the flagships, with most of the hardware looking similar to the Google Pixel 6 series'.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus reportedly runs into the same efficiency problems due to the Cortex X2 core's high power draw. It could force Qualcomm to underclock the SoC a little and potentially fall short of its targetted gains in performance.

The OnePlus 10 Pro will seemingly not be OnePlus's range-topping model for the year. As it appears, the OnePlus 10 Ultra is set to debut in the coming months with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus.

Realme has now teased the imminent launch of its upcoming tablet, the Realme Pad Mini. The Realme Pad Mini has been confirmed to launch in the Philippines first, and likely with a lower price tag than the regular Realme Pad.

Although with a price of 850 Euros (~934 USD) the realme GT 2 Pro is no longer a budget phone, it still holds a lot of value. While there are some drawbacks, our verdict is positive overall.

After reports detailing Motorola's upcoming flagship phone, the "Frontier 22" surfaced back in January, what seems to be a live image of the phone has now made an appearance in the wild—showcasing its massive 1/1.22-inch 200 MP sensor.

The Apple iMac with M1 is a phenomenal desktop computer. Between its bright, 4.5k display, lightning-fast M1 SoC and great built-in speakers and webcam, Apple seems to be going for the killing blow against Windows all-in-ones. Some of the best Windows options prove that competing will be an uphill battle.

The OnePlus 10 Pro finally got a global launch date a few days ago, and a new leak has now revealed pricing information for the flagship phone in Europe. It appears, thankfully, that the OnePlus 10 Pro will maintain the pricing of its predecessor.

Teardown experts iFixit have got to the bottom of the Mac Studio and the state of its upgradability. The website has also investigated the Studio Display, which shares a few similarities with the 24-inch iMac.

According to a reliable source, Apple is developing a larger MacBook Air to complement this year's 13-inch model. The report tallies with one published last year by Mark Gurman and would mark a significant change for the MacBook Air series.

OnePlus has now officially announced the global launch date for the OnePlus 10 Pro. The flagship is set to debut globally on March 31, almost three months after it launched in China, with OnePlus potentially hinting at some notable differences between the two regional models.