Tag Archives: Mobile SoC

US quietly revokes Intel + Qualcomm export licences to Huawei!

The US government has quietly revoked some export licences from Intel and Qualcomm, cutting off more chip supplies to Huawei!

US quietly revokes Intel + Qualcomm export licences to Huawei!

A week after Huawei unveiled its MateBook X Pro laptop, which is powered by the latest Intel Core Ultra 9 processor, the US government quietly revoked some export licences from Intel and Qualcomm, cutting off more chip supplies to Huawei!

It does not appear that Intel has violated any sanctions by supplying its latest Core processors to Huawei for its laptop. After all, Intel received a licence to export laptop CPUs to Huawei in 2020. Qualcomm also received a licence in 2020, to sell older 4G chips to Huawei.

However, American politicians who are critical of China have said that any authorisation by the Commerce Department “would be unacceptable and a failure to enforce export controls against a blacklisted champion of the Chinese Communist Party.”

That could explain the quiet revocation of existing export licences on Tuesday, 7 May 2024, not only affecting Intel and Qualcomm, but also other unnamed companies as well.

The US Department of Commerce confirmed that it revoked some export licences, but did not specify which licences were cancelled, and which companies were affected. However, Intel and Qualcomm have confirmed that some (but not all) of their licences were revoked.

While AMD has not been mentioned, it seems likely that Intel’s rival could also be affected.

Revoked Intel + Qualcomm Export Licences Will Hurt Huawei

The export licences being revoked appear to target processors and System-on-a-Chip (SoCs) used in laptops and smartphones, although it is still unknown which exact chips are affected.

The loss of high-performance computer chips will be particularly hurt Huawei, as it has no viable alternative, especially if AMD had its export licences revoked as well.

Huawei was able to circumvent US sanctions by developing last year’s HiSilicon Kirin 9000S mobile SoC for its Mate 60 series of smartphones, and fabricating it using SMIC’s 7nm process technology. But it won’t be able to do this for its laptops, which are based on the x86 architecture.

That said, it seems likely that the US government is only interested in curtailing the export of high-performance processors to Huawei. If Intel and Qualcomm are still allowed to sell less powerful chips to Huawei, it may not be quite the death knell for the embattled Chinese company. But it will certainly hurt its competitiveness.

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OPPO Shuts Down Its Zeku Chip Design Division!

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OPPO just gave up on its custom chip aspirations, and has abruptly down its Zeku chip design division!

OPPO Shuts Down Its Zeku Chip Design Division!

OPPO has finally given up on its custom chip aspirations! The Chinese smartphone brand is shutting down its Zeku chip design division, which it established only a few years ago.

OPPO announced the decision abruptly in a short statement, and said that “the company will properly arrange related matters and continue to deliver great products and service to users worldwide“.

Due to the uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone industry, we have to make difficult adjustments for long-term development. Therefore, the company has decided to cease the operation of Zeku.

This decision comes after rumours swirled that OPPO is preparing to withdraw from France, and even the whole of Europe by 30 June 2023. OPPO had earlier pulled its phones from Germany due to a legal spat with Nokia in 2022, and now OPPO France employees and partners claim that they were told to stop selling OPPO phones.

While OPPO finished Q1 2023 on a strong note – as the world’s 4th largest smartphone brand, its total shipments dropped 8%. That is better than the industry average – the global smartphone market shrank by 13% that quarter. It appears that OPPO believes global demand for smartphones will continue to be weak for quite some time to come…

Recommended : How To Link Multiple Phones On WhatsApp!

What Zeku Did For OPPO : A Short History

Zeku started in 2019 by designing co-processors for imaging and other components in OPPO smartphones, but have not been able to develop a full SoC. Its biggest success was, arguably, the MariSilicon X neural processing unit (NPU) which it introduced in December 2021.

Finalised after three years of research and development, the OPPO MariSiliconX was fabricated on the 6 nm process technology. It was designed as a dedicated imaging NPU, to accelerate AI noise reduction algorithms, and deliver greater dynamic range and better colour reproduction.

That NPU has been used in many OPPO flagship smartphones, including the latest OPPO Find N2 Flip. After that, Zeku introduced MariSilicon Y in late 2022 – a wireless audio SoC.

Despite Zeku not being able to deliver a full mobile SoC, OPPO was expected to invest more in chip design, both as a way to differentiate from other brands, as well as a way to avoid getting cut off chip supplies due to rising US-China tensions.

So the decision came as a surprise, especially when Zeku was still looking to hire more than 100 positions a month ago on LinkedIn!

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+, 695, 680, 480+ Details!

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Qualcomm just introduced FOUR new mobile SoCs – the Snapdragon 778G Plus, Snapdragon 695, Snapdragon 680 and Snapdragon 480 Plus!

Here is what you need to know about these new 5G and 4G mobile SoCs!

Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+, 695, 680, 480+ Mobile SoCs!

On 26 October 2021, Qualcomm Technologies introduced FOUR new mobile SoCs for the high-end, mid-range and entry-level tiers :

Snapdragon 778G Plus 5G,
Snapdragon 695 5G,
Snapdragon 680 4G, and
Snapdragon 480 Plus 5G

Here is what you need to know about these new 5G and 4G mobile SoCs!

Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Plus 5G

This is basically the existing Snapdragon 778G, with slightly higher clock speeds for its Kryo 670 CPU and Adreno 642L GPU cores. Its prime Kryo 670 CPU core, for example, will at 2.5 GHz, instead of 2.4 GHz.

Everything else is the same – it comes with the X53 5G modem and the same Wi-Fi 6E connectivity – just rebranded as Qualcomm FastConnect 6700.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 5G is a new mobile SoC, featuring a Kryo 660 CPU that clocks at up to 2.2 GHz, with an Adreno 619 GPU.

Qualcomm says it will offer 15% better CPU performance and 30% faster graphics rendering, compared to the Snapdragon 690.

Otherwise, it comes with the same X51 5G modem and FastConnect 6200 Wi-Fi 6 connectivity as the Snapdragon 690.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 is a 4G mobile SoC, built on the 6 nm process technology.

It features a Kryo 265 CPU that clocks at up to 2.4 GHz, and an Adreno 610 GPU. It also comes with the X11 LTE modem and FastConnect 6100 Wi-Fi connectivity, which supports up to 802.11ac.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 Plus 5G

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 480 Plus introduces 5G connectivity to the entry-level 4-series mobile platform for the first time.

It comes with a Kryo 460 CPU that clocks at up to 2.0 GHz, and the same Adreno 619 GPU as the Snapdragon 695 above.

It also comes with the same X51 5G modem and FastConnect 6200 Wi-Fi 6 connectivity as the Snapdragon 695, but with Bluetooth 5.1, instead of Bluetooth 5.2.

Snapdragon 778G+, 695, 680, 480+ : Availability

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G Plus, Snapdragon 695, Snapdragon 680 and Snapdragon 480 Plus are expected to be available commercially in Q4 2021.

Several smartphone brands have expressed interest in using these new Snapdragon mobile SoCs in their upcoming smartphones, including HMD Global, HONOR, Motorola, OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi.

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Dr. Adrian Wong has been writing about tech and science since 1997, even publishing a book with Prentice Hall called Breaking Through The BIOS Barrier (ISBN 978-0131455368) while in medical school.

He continues to devote countless hours every day writing about tech, medicine and science, in his pursuit of facts in a post-truth world.

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Samsung Exynos 2100 : What You Need To Know!

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Samsung just unveiled their Exynos 2100 – the 5G mobile platform which will debut in their new Galaxy S21 smartphones!

Here is what you need to know about the new Samsung Exynos 2100 mobile SoC!

Samsung Exynos 2100 : Official Presentation

Let’s start with the official Samsung Exynos 2100 presentation.

This presentation broadcast globally as part of the Exynos On 2021 event, just one day before Samsung unveils the Galaxy S21 smartphones.

Samsung Exynos 2100 : What You Need To Know!

The Exynos 2100 is Samsung’s first 5G-integrated flagship mobile platform, fabricated on the latest 5 nm EUV (Extreme Ultra-Violet) process node.

The finer 5 nm process lets it deliver up to 20% lower power consumption, or 10% better performance, than its older 7 nm predecessor.

New Tri-Cluster CPU Architecture

The Samsung Exynos 2100 uses a new tri-cluster CPU architecture, featuring :

a new powerful Arm Cortex-X1 core running at up to 2.9 GHz,
three sustained performance Arm Cortex-A78 cores running at up to 2.8 GHz, and
four power-efficient Arm Cortex-A55 cores running at up to 2.2 GHz

Faster Graphics

The Samsung Exynos 2100 comes with the Arm Mali-G78 GPU, which delivers 40% better performance for gaming, and AR/VR or MR (mixed reality).

Faster AI

It also comes with a new triple-core NPU, which can process up to 26 trillion operations per second (TOPS), with twice the power efficiency of the previous generation.

Faster Memory

The Exynos 2100 supports LPDDR5 memory, with a peak memory speed of 51.2 GB/s.

In addition, Samsung says it has an improved cache and a stronger scheduler for better memory performance and utilisation.

Advanced Image Signal Processor

Its advanced image signal processor (ISP) supports camera resolutions of up to 200 megapixels (MP), and can connect up to six individual sensors.

With a multi-camera and frame processor (MCFP), this ISP can combine feeds from up to four cameras to :

improve zoom performance
enhance image quality for ultra-wide shots
reduce hand shake

With AI acceleration, the ISP can also recognise scenes, faces and objects, automatically adjusting the camera settings for optimal image quality and detail.

Integrated 5G Multi-Mode Modem

The Exynos 2100 has an integrated 5G multi-mode modem that supports :

5G : Sub-6 GHz and millimetre wave spectrums
4G LTE with 1024 QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) support
3G WCDMA
2G GSM / CDMA

This modem can download data at up to 5.1 Gbps (sub-6GHz), and 7.35 Gbps (mmWave) with 5G networks; and up to 3 Gbps in 4G networks with 1024 QAM.

Samsung Exynos 2100 : Specifications

Specifications	Samsung Exynos 2100
Fab Process	5 nm EUV
Processor	1 x Arm Cortex-X1 core (2.9 GHz) 3 x Arm Cortex-A78 cores (2.8 GHz) 4 x Arm Cortex-A55 cores (2.2 GHz)
GPU	Arm Mali-G78
AI Processor	Triple-Core NPU (26 TOPS)
Memory Support	LPDDR5 (51.2 GB/s)
Storage Support	UFS 3.1 / UFS 2.1
Connectivity	5G (sub-6GHz / mmWave) 4G LTE (1024 QAM) 3G WCDMA 2G GSM / CDMA
Camera Support	200 MP (rear)
Video Encoding	4K @ 120 fps
Video Decoding	8K @ 60 fps

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