Latest News - Page 685

Ahead of the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER's launch in January 2024, AMD announced a "special promotional pricing program" that would see the price of the Radeon RX 7900 XT drop to $749 USD and lower for a limited time.

The Radeon RX 7900 XT originally launched in late 2022 with a $899 price tag, which at the time was viewed as a serious misstep when the Radeon RX 7900 XTX was only $100 more - and significantly more powerful. In time, the price slowly dropped to around $799 - in line with the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti and its more powerful replacement, the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER.

AMD's Radeon RX 7900 XT has always felt like a great GPU in search of the right price, and today it might just have found it - with the reference specced SAPPHIRE PULSE Radeon RX 7900 XT 20GB currently on sale for $699.99 via Newegg and Amazon.

The AYANEO Pocket S is the company's new high-end flagship Android handheld, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 gaming platform - the enthusiast gaming class chip from Qualcomm that boasts an Adreno A32 GPU twice as fast as the first generation. Throw in a 30% faster eight-core Kryo CPU, and you're looking at mobile tech powerful enough to support real-time ray tracing.

The AYANEO Pocket S is a sleek handheld with a 6" 1440p screen, borderless mirrored glass finish, and ultra-thin body of just 14mm. The specs here are impressive, with 490PPI pixel density, 100% sRGB coverage, and a peak brightness of 400 nits. A 'standard' model is also coming, with a 6" 2K display.

The Snapdragon G3x Gen 2 is backed up with up to 16GB of memory and up to 1TB of onboard storage. The good news for handheld gamers is that the Pocket S has been designed to deliver 15W of sustained performance, fully using the 1GHz boost clock speed on the GPU.

CPU shipments from AMD and Intel reached 66 million units in Q4 2023, up 7% quarter-to-quarter and 22% year-over-year, according to the latest JPR report.

Jon Peddie Research's new report also states that integrated GPU shipments (CPUs with integrated graphics or APUs with integrated graphics) increased to 60 million units, an increase of 7% over the quarter, while year-over-year, the increase of iGPU shipments was increased by 18%. Over the next 5 years, JPR estimates the penetration of iGPUs in the PC segment will grow to 98%, up from 84% in Q4 2023.

Jon Peddie, president of JPR, said in the report: "Q4's increase in client CPU shipments from last quarter is positive news in what has been depressing news in general. The increase in upsetting news in the Middle East, combined with the ongoing war in Ukraine, the trade war with China, and the layoffs at many organizations, has been a torrent of bad news in spite of decreased inflation and increased GDP in the U.S. CPU shipments are showing continued gains and are a leading indicator".

TSMC is a leader in semiconductor manufacturing, but now the company is the world's largest semiconductor maker by revenue, beating out the big tech titans, including Intel, NVIDIA, and Samsung in TSMC's dust.

Taiwan-based analyst Dan Nystedt, reports from compiled numbers from calendar-year revenue figures, not fiscal-year revenue. These figures also include revenue from other sources within each company and aren't just from income derived from manufacturing silicon.

TSMC Is now the world's largest semiconductor company in the world, earning $69.3 billion in 2023 which is much more than Intel earning $54.2 billion in the same year. Samsung dropped down to $50.9 billion, while NVIDIA is still doing good with over $58 billion for 2023.

GMKtec has just launched its first Ryzen 8000 series "Hawk Point" APU-powered Mini-PC system, with its new K8 Mini-PC system a successor to the GMKtec NuvBox K6 Mini-PC.

The new GMKtec NuvBox K8 Mini-PC has a drop-in replacement APU over the K6 system, with AMD's new Ryzen 7 8845HS APU an upgrade over the Ryzen 7 7840HS inside of the K6. The new Ryzen 7 8845HS APU has the same 8-core, 16-threads of CPU power, but now it features a built-in NPU for AI workloads.

AMD has boosted the XDNA AI processor from 10 TOPS to 16 TOPS of AI performance, with the same 8 cores and 16 threads of Zen 4 processing power clocking at up to 5.1GHz, with 12 RDNA 3-based Compute Units that have a boost clock of 2.7GHz.

NVIDIA mandated before the release of its new GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER that all custom AIB models would exclusively use the 16-pin "12VHPWR" power connector and NOT use regular 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

Well... it looks like RTX 4080 SUPER graphics cards with dual 8-pin PCIe power connectors could hopefully be something we see in the near future. Palit's new GeForce RTX 4080 SUPER GamingPro OC graphics card has space for dual 8-pin PCIe power connectors, reports Japanese reviewer Jisakuhibi.

This isn't the first appearance of a new GeForce RTX 40 SUPER graphics card with dual 8-pin PCIe power connectors, as the MaxSun GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER was spotted -- then deleted -- from their website. NVIDIA would've flipped the ban hammer on that thing so fast, but what about Palit? Hmm.

TEAMGROUP's latest external storage solution is the new TEAMGROUP PD20M Magnetic External SSD, a thin and lightweight unit designed to be taken on the go with the ability to snap onto a mobile device. Weighing in at a featherweight 40 grams and a thickness of just 0.82 cm, it's a portable SSD that attaches to a smartphone.

And it's MagSafe-compatible, which is great to see - snap it on, and you're good to go. TEAMGROUP says it's "one of the lightest and thinnest MagSafe-related products on the market," easy to grip, and comfortable to hold.

The PD20M Magnetic External SSD includes a USB Type-C interface with TEAMGROUP confirming in the announcement that it's compatible with the latest Apple iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max smartphones - with up to 10 Gbps transfer speeds.

There's some disappointing news for Xbox gamers looking to try FF14: The game will not only require a paid subscription fee in order to play, but you'll also have to have an active Game Pass subscription too.

After more than a decade, Final Fantasy XIV is finally coming to Xbox. Square Enix will hold an open beta test starting Wednesday, February 21, 2024 at around 12:00 a.m. (PST) on Xbox Series X/S, where anyone can dive into the world of Eorzea. Well...almost anyone.

The developer has confirmed that an active Xbox Game Pass Ultimate or Xbox Game Pass Core subscription is required to play Final Fantasy XIV's open beta. This is the equivalent of the old Xbox LIVE Gold requirement that online games had years ago, before Microsoft phased-out and re-named Xbox LIVE Gold. PlayStation gamers, on the other hand, do not have to have an active PlayStation Plus subscription to play FFXIV.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has just announced plans to build a second fab in Japan, which will be run by Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM) which is a majority-owned TSMC subsidiary.

The new fab in Japan will build 6nm and 7nm-class process nodes, which when TSMC's new facility is operational in Japan, will make it the most advanced semiconductor production facility for logic chips in Japan. TSMC expects its new Japan-based fab to begin operation this year, with plans to begin operation by the end of the 2027 calendar year.

TSMC's production of 6nm and 7nm chips from its second fab in Japan will make chips for automotive, industrial, consumer, and HPC-related applications. It's expected that over 3400 high-tech professional jobs will be created from this new deal, that's expected to exceed $20 billion with "strong support from the Japanese government".

The Nintendo Switch family has now shipped nearly 140 million units worldwide, further cemented it as the third best-selling video games hardware ever made.

Despite being on the market for 7 and a quarter fiscal years, the Switch is still selling pretty strongly for such an older system. Nintendo's latest financial report delivers updated figures for the platform and confirms some staggering lifetime sales.

According to the figures, total Switch shipments have reached 139.36 million as of December 2023. Nintendo shipped 6.9 million consoles during Q3 FY24 (Oct - Dec 2023), down 58% year-over-year from holiday 2022. In fact, these are the lowest holiday shipment numbers that the Switch platform has ever seen.

Apple's expensive new Vision Pro headset has been drop tested because that's what you do with your new $3499 headset... right? That's exactly what YouTuber AppleTrack, aka Sam Kohl, did; check out how the VIsion Pro fares when it's dropped in his video below:

The new Apple Vision Pro headset packs a light seal that blocks light from coming into the headset and ruining your experience, but as Kohl notes, if you hold your Vision Pro by the light seal, the risk of dropping your expensive new headset is easy because of the magnetic attachment not being strong enough to hold the weight like that.

Kohl dropped his expensive new Apple Vision Pro headset from around 6 feet high, and the headset didn't crack. There were some scratches and small damage, but no fractures. The aluminum and downward-facing cameras weren't damaged from a drop of this height; however, the left speaker on the Vision Pro was damaged.

Apex Legends launched in native next-gen form for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles back in 2022, offering 120Hz, but developer Respawn promised 120FPS was on the way... and now that day has finally come.

The new update for current-gen consoles in the Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X/S consoles unlocks 120FPS gaming on Apex Legends with its new Breakout season. This is huge news for Apex Legends players on current-gen consoles, as PC gamers have been enjoying 120FPS (and much, much more) since the game launched 5 years ago.

Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment explained the 120FPS update on its website: "Enable Performance Mode on current-gen consoles for 120Hz output to displays that support it! This new Video Settings option adjusts graphical settings, leveraging recent improvements in the Apex rendering engine to target up to 120 FPS gameplay".

Tucker Carlson has had some gigantic interviews and hundreds of millions of views on interviews with world leaders (and many others) since his exit from Fox News... but nothing compares to his latest interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Tucker flew out to Moscow, Russia to meet with Vladimir Putin, with the new interview between Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin not live yet, but it's coming very soon, with Tucker releasing a "trailer" to his news ahead of the interview release. Patrick Webb got an early look at the interview, where he has some choice quotes from Putin early.

Tucker asked who Putin thinks runs the United States, to which the Russian President replied: "The same forces which have always run it. You may change presidents but you do not change those in real power. That is who we have to deal with. Joe Biden is just a facade for this power structure".

What's going to be the big step forward taken by Sony's next-gen console? It could well be seriously upping the quality of games using AI, if one leaker is right.

This comes from Moore's Law is Dead (MLID) on YouTube, who in the latest episode of Broken Silicon discussed a wide swathe of topics, including the PlayStation 6 and what features it might have in terms of how the console will really advance the world of gaming.

That could well be some of the usual stuff - even faster loading (although with the PS5 we already have blazing speeds), better graphics, faster frame rates and so forth. Which is all great - particularly the latter in terms of 4K gaming on your big-screen TV - but the real difference will be made somewhere else.

If you are one of the lucky ones who have picked up an Apple Vision Pro since launch day on February 2, you might want to write down your passcode in case you forget it. We wouldn't normally suggest that such bad security and privacy practice is something you should do, but then again we've never come across a situation like the one that Apple has created here, either.

The situation could see your new Apple Vision Pro become useless, after all. That's according to a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman which says that Apple Vision Pro headsets become unusable if their owner forgets their passcode - and the only way to get things back up and running again is to visit an Apple Store. What's more, the Apple Store's fix is to wipe the headset, and all of its data, and have owners set them up afresh.

The situation comes about thanks to Apple's security features doing what they're supposed to do, but in the case of the Vision Pro, they actively disable the headset after a passcode has been attempted incorrectly too many times. And where other Apple devices can be reset if required, the Apple Vision Pro doesn't have such a luxury.

The Apple Vision Pro mixed reality headset is now finally on sale, but only if you happen to be in the United States. The headset went on sale on February 2 with preorders having gone live in January, but there has so far been no official confirmation of when those outside of the United States should expect the spatial computer to arrive on their shores. Now, a new report might have shed some light on Apple's plans.

That's after a report by Asia's Wall Street News was picked up by IT Home. The original report cited unnamed supply chain sources when it said that the registration process for the Apple Vision Pro at China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is almost complete. That means that Apple is getting all of its ducks in a row ahead of the big release, although the certification is unlikely to be the only thing that Apple is waiting for here. The report goes on to suggest that Apple is likely to launch the headset in China no later than May, although April was also suggested as a possible launch window.

This news comes following a previous report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman which hinted that Apple could launch the Apple Vision Pro in additional countries sooner rather than later. He also said that Apple is thought to be leaning toward bringing the headset to China, Canada, and the United Kingdom as part of its second-phase rollout.

There have been solid rumors of late that the upcoming iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models will benefit from a new Capture Button, quite apart from the Action Button that is already part of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Little was really known about what that Capture Button would do, although its name would suggest that it would have something to do with photography or videography. Now, a new report appears to have added more light to the situation.

That report comes via MacRumors and a post by the Instant Digital account on Weibo, a Chinese social network. According to that report, the Capture Button's main use will be to capture photos and videos as expected, but with a notable and particularly interesting twist.

According to Instant Digital, the pressure-sensitive Capture Button will allow people to press it slightly to begin the focus setting before pressing it further to fully fire the shutter in the Camera app. That would be a feature that closely mimics the way a real digital camera's shutter button works and it's thought that the move will be part of a wider focus on photography across the entire iPhone.

Apple is very much expected to announce a couple of refreshed iPad Pro tablets this coming March, although rumors also suggest that we might have to wait until April. Whichever month it will be, there were previous reports that the new high-end tablets would be prohibitively expensive thanks to the use of impressive new OLED displays. Some suggestions claimed that the prices would be as high as a $1,800 starting price for the 12.9-inch model and $1,500 for the 11-inch one. But a new report claims that might not be the case after all.

The report, a paywalled text from DigiTimes and picked up by 9to5Mac, suggests that Apple's iPad Pro price increase won't be as huge as was feared although the prices will still go up.

The DigiTimes report cites unnamed sources when it says that the new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros will cost around $160 more than the models that are currently on sale. It's thought that the extra money will pay for the new OLED displays as well as the faster M3 chip - the same chip that powers Apple's most recent Macs.

Apple's Vision Pro has been making waves of one kind or another since its launch, and here's one very much in the misuse category for the mixed reality headset - namely wearing one while driving.

Yes, we've had a sighting of someone who has bought the expensive headset, and then used the hardware while driving a Tesla - you can see the filmed evidence in the above tweet.

Of course, the Tesla does have Autopilot on, but as you doubtless realize, that's considered a driver assistance feature, not an autonomous driving function. In short, you still have to be paying full attention in your Tesla while using it.

PowerColor has launched another Radeon graphics card in its line of Spectral White editions, this time an RX 7900 XT.

You may recall that previous Spectral White editions have included the RX 7900 XTX flagship GPU, and the RX 7800 XT to boot.

The new model is the Radeon RX 7900 XT Hellhound Spectral White, and as ever it comes decked out in a smart white color that's becoming quite the trend for some PC enthusiasts (being well-suited to streamlined and sleek looking PC builds).