Razer, the leading global lifestyle brand for gamers, today unveils the Razer Kishi Ultra, a groundbreaking addition to the world of mobile gaming. The Kishi Ultra, a USB C gaming controller compatible with Android, iPhone 15 series, and iPad Mini, marks a paradigm shift in mobile gaming by offering gamers console grade control with immersive haptics. Designed with meticulous attention to detail, the Kishi Ultra is a full-size console-class controller featuring high quality ergonomics, haptics, and Razer Chroma RGB to deliver a true console gaming experience without compromise.

"With the Razer Kishi Ultra, we're not just elevating mobile gaming; we're transforming it," says Nick Bourne, Head of Razer's Mobile, Console & Streaming Division. "We've taken the essence of console gaming and distilled it into a form factor that works with more devices than ever before, ensuring that the ultimate gaming experience is always within reach."

Lexar, a leading global brand of flash memory solutions, is excited to introduce the SL500 Portable SSD, the latest addition to its portable SSD lineup. Featuring a super-slim, solid aluminium unibody construction that fits in the palm of your hand, the Lexar SL500 Portable SSD delivers exceptional 2000 MB/s max read and 1800 MB/s max write speeds for maximized efficiency.

The SL500 Portable SSD is compatible with a wide range of devices. It is a slim and convenient companion for the iPhone 15 series, serving as a backup for photos, videos, and more. It pairs especially well with iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max devices. It supports Apple Pro Res Recording allowing users to shoot directly to the drive in 4K at up to 60 FPS. Paired with Mac OSX 10.6+, Windows 11/10/7/8, or Android 4.4+, it offers substantial extra storage. It can also be used to store massive game files for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro, PlayStation 5 with system software version 4.50 or higher (playing or storing PS4 games; storing PS5 games), Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S (playing or storing Xbox One games; storing Xbox Series X | S games). It also comes with Lexar DataShield, a 256-bit AES encryption software to keep files secure.

In the world where the largest companies are riding the AI train, the biggest of them all—Apple—seemed to stay quiet for a while. Even with many companies announcing their systems/models, Apple has stayed relatively silent about the use of LLMs in their products. However, according to Bloomberg, Apple is not pushing out an AI model of its own; rather, it will license Google's leading Gemini models for its iPhone smartphones. Gemini is Google's leading AI model with three variants: Gemini Nano 1/2, Gemini Pro, and Gemini Ultra. The Gemini Nano 1 and Nano 2 are designed to run locally on hardware like smartphones. At the same time, Gemini Pro and Ultra are inferenced from Google's servers onto a local device using API and the internet.

Apple could use a local Gemini Nano for basic tasks while also utilizing Geminin Pro or Ultra for more complex tasks, where a router sends user input to the available model. That way, users could use AI capabilities both online and offline. Since Apple is readying a suite of changes for iOS version 18, backed by Neural Engine inside A-series Bionic chips, the LLM game of Apple's iPhones might get a significant upgrade with the Google partnership. While we still don't know the size of the deal, it surely is a massive deal for Google to tap into millions of devices Apple ships every year and for Apple to give its users a more optimized experience.

According to renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple is actively working on a foldable 20.3-inch MacBook, with mass production expected to begin in 2027. In a recent post on X/Twitter, Kuo stated that this foldable MacBook is currently Apple's only foldable product with a clear development schedule. Kuo's revelation comes amidst frequent inquiries about whether Apple plans to mass-produce a foldable iPhone or iPad in 2025 or 2026. His latest survey indicates that while Apple may explore these options, the foldable MacBook is the only device with a definitive timeline. This is not the first time rumors have circulated about a potential foldable MacBook from Apple. In 2022, display industry analyst Ross Young and Bloomberg's Mark Gurman both reported that Apple was interested in launching a foldable device with a screen size of around 20 inches.

Details about the foldable MacBook's design remain scarce, but it is expected to feature a single foldable OLED display that can be used in various configurations, such as a laptop mode with a virtual keyboard on the lower half of the screen or as a large tablet when fully unfolded. While competitors like Samsung, Motorola, and Huawei have already released foldable smartphones, Apple appears to be more cautious, focusing on perfecting the technology before bringing a product to market. As the foldable device market evolves, it will be interesting to see how Apple's unique take on the form factor fares. As Apple's first foldable product, it will be interesting to see what design choices are made and what hardware configuration will be present. But we are still relatively far away from the actual release of 2027.

Team Group, the global memory provider of top-of-the-line storage solutions, today announced the release of the MagSafe-compatible Team Group PD20M Magnetic External SSD. It is one of the lightest and thinnest MagSafe-related products on the market. Weighing merely 40 g and measuring only 0.82 cm, the PD20M is easy to grip and take on the go. You can attach it to a mobile device without any additional accessories, and its elegant curved design allows you to comfortably hold it in your hands.

The Team Group PD20M Magnetic External SSD has a magnetic strength of over 0.8 kg, making it able to snap on a mobile device instantly. The stylish and portable design allows users to store valuable data on their phones in a variety of situations. The PD20M Magnetic External SSD uses the USB Type-C interface and is compatible with most devices that use it. These include the Apple iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max smartphones, which have a maximum transfer speed of 10 Gbps. Able to store data in a flash, the PD20M delivers performance and convenience, making it the ideal solution for expanding storage capacity.

Apple today announced changes to iOS, Safari, and the App Store impacting developers' apps in the European Union (EU) to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The changes include more than 600 new APIs, expanded app analytics, functionality for alternative browser engines, and options for processing app payments and distributing iOS apps. Across every change, Apple is introducing new safeguards that reduce—but don't eliminate—new risks the DMA poses to EU users. With these steps, Apple will continue to deliver the best, most secure experience possible for EU users.

The new options for processing payments and downloading apps on iOS open new avenues for malware, fraud and scams, illicit and harmful content, and other privacy and security threats. That's why Apple is introducing protections—including Notarization for iOS apps, an authorization for marketplace developers, and disclosures on alternative payments—to reduce risks and deliver the best, most secure experience possible for users in the EU. Even with these safeguards in place, many risks remain.

For Backbone's first-ever game collaboration, we've partnered with the legendary Kojima Productions to bring you the Backbone One - DEATH STRANDING Limited Edition controller. This collaboration commemorates the release of DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT for iOS. The Backbone One controller features custom product and packaging designs that blend the innovative design of the Backbone One with the artistic vision of Hideo Kojima and his award-winning title, DEATH STRANDING. Backbone One - DEATH STRANDING Limited Edition includes a free copy of DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR'S CUT for iOS. Your complimentary copy of the game also gives you the ability to play it on iPad and Mac. The best way to experience DEATH STRANDING on your iPhone 15 is with Backbone! Tomorrow Is In Your Hands.

Designed in Partnership with Kojima Productions
Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind DEATH STRANDING and founder of Kojima Productions, is renowned for his innovative storytelling and game design approach. His collaboration with Backbone is a further testament to his vision of pushing the boundaries of gaming, blurring the lines between console and mobile experiences.

A DigiTimes Asia report posits that TSMC is preparing another VVIP foundry lane for Apple Inc.—insiders claim that the Taiwanese foundry giant is in the process of expanding production capacity into next generation 2 nm nanometer fields. This expensive and time consuming endeavor is only made possible with the reassurance of big customers being added to the foundry's order books. TSMC's 2 nm-class N2, N2P, and N2X process technologies are due in 2025 and beyond (according to recent presentation slides)—these advanced packages are set to drop with all sorts of innovations: nanosheet gate-all-around (GAA) transistors, backside power delivery, and super-high-performance metal-insulator-metal (SHPMIM). According to a DigiTimes source "Apple is widely believed to be the initial client to utilize the (next-gen) process."

Apple and NVIDIA were reported to be ahead of many important clients in the queue for TSMC's 3 nm process nodes, so it is not surprising to see old patterns repeat (according to industry rumors) again. Apple is expected to update its next generation iPhones, iPad, and Mac laptop product lines with more advanced Bionic and M-series chipsets in 2025. Last year's roster included a rollout of 3 nm TSMC silicon across Apple A17 Pro and M3 ARM-based processors.

Gaming peripherals brand GameSir showed off a couple of interesting mobile game controllers. These convert your smartphone into a handheld game console by wrapping a game controller around them. The X2S Type-C is a generational update to the popular X2, and comes with support for the iPhone 15 series. Its thumb sticks and analog triggers feature Hall effect sensors with anti-drift. In addition to the main body being adjustable telescopically to acommodate phones of different lengths, the USB-C connector itself moves sideways, so it can take phones where the USB-C port isn't perfectly in the center. The G8 features much of the same thing, including the Hall effect sticks and triggers; but comes with a more ergonomic design, and magnetic detachable face-plates.

Crucial, the client-focused brand of memory giant Micron Technology, showed off a handful new innovations at its booth along the sidelines of the 2024 International CES. First up, is a prototype USB4 portable SSD and prototype desktop SSD. These are proofs of concept, and not actual products. With this, Crucial is testing the waters with USB4 and its delicious 40 Gbps bidirectional bandwidth, which unlocks a new generation of fast removable storage devices. The prototype USB4 portable SSD comes in a tiny chassis about the size of a burner phone. It is a PCB with an M.2-2280 slot with PCIe Gen 4 x4 wiring, connected to an ASMedia ASM2464PD USB4 bridge chip. An OEM Micron Gen 4 SSD with 232-layer 3D TLC NAND flash and LPDDR4 DRAM cache, is installed on this drive. The CDM reading for this drive is 3821 MB/s sequential reads, with 885 MB/s sequential writes.

Next up, is a larger desktop SSD prototype (which again, isn't an actual product but a proof of concept). Its metal chassis is about the size of a 3.5-inch HDD. Inside is at least one M.2-2280 Gen 4 slot (there are probably more); with a preinstalled drive. An ASMedia ASM2464PD handles things here, too. The performance is mostly similar, at 3792 MB/s sequential reads, but with significantly increase 3803 MB/s sequential writes. This may seem unspectacular because Thunderbolt 4 has been delivering 40 Gbps for many years now, and we've had TB4-based external SSDs; but USB4 somewhat democratizes this kind of bandwidth.

AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is an open-source resolution upscaling technology that takes lower-resolution input and uses super-resolution temporal upscaling technology, frame generation using AMD Fluid Motion Frames (AFMF) technology, and built-in latency reduction technology to provide greater-resolution output images from lower-resolution settings. While the technology is open-source, it battles in market share with NVIDIA and the company's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). However, in the mobile space, there hasn't been much talk about implementing upscaling technology up until now. According to a popular leaker @Tech_Reve on X/Twitter, we have information that AMD is collaborating with Samsung and Qualcomm to standardize on upscaling technology implementations in mobile SoCs.

Not only does the leak imply that the AMD FSR technology will be used in Samsung's upcoming Exynos SoC, but some AMD ray tracing will be present as well. The leaker has mentioned Qualcomm, which means that future iterations of Snapdragon are up to adopt the FSR algorithmic approach to resolution upscaling. We will see how and when, but with mobile games growing in size and demand, FSR could come in handy to provide mobile gamers with a better experience. Primarily, this targets Android devices, which Qualcomm supplies, where Apple's iPhone recently announced MetalFX Upscaling technology with an A17 Pro chip.

Best-selling gaming headset and leading gaming accessory maker Turtle Beach Corporation (Nasdaq: HEAR) today announced their acclaimed Turtle Beach Atom Mobile Game Controller is now available for gamers on iPhone. The Atom Controller is the brand's compact and portable mobile gaming controller with a unique design. The Atom's two ergonomic grip modules fit every Apple iPhone 14, 13, 12 & 11 model, and adjustable spring-loaded clamps ensure there is no need to remove phone cases.

The two Atom modules stay connected wirelessly using Turtle Beach's proprietary 2.4 GHz link to perform as a single unit when gaming, while low-latency Bluetooth guarantees a lag-free connection with any smartphone when cloud gaming on Apple Arcade, Xbox Game Pass, GeForce Now, Steam Link, and more. When it's time to stow-and-go, the two Atom modules magnetically combine to effortlessly fit in a pocket or in its included carrying case. Popular Mac fan site Cult of Mac recently reviewed the Atom Controller for iOS and gave it a 4.5/5 score, saying, "Don't struggle with on-screen controls when gaming on your iPhone. The Turtle Beach Atom Controller is the way to go." The Atom Controller for iOS comes in a Cobalt Blue colorway and is available today at Turtle Beach and participating retailers worldwide for $79.95 MSRP.

An Apple "iPhone16,1" was put through the Geekbench 6.2 gauntlet earlier this week—according to database info this pre-retail sample was running a build of iOS 17.0 (currently in preview) and its logic board goes under the "D83AP" moniker. It is interesting to see a unit hitting the test phase only a day after the unveiling of Apple's iPhone 15 Pro and Max models—the freshly benched candidate seems to house an A17 Pro system-on-chip. The American tech giant has set lofty goals for said flagship SoC, since it is "the industry's first 3-nanometer chip. Continuing Apple's leadership in smartphone silicon, A17 Pro brings improvements to the entire chip, including the biggest GPU redesign in Apple's history. The new CPU is up to 10 percent faster with microarchitectural and design improvements, and the Neural Engine is now up to 2x faster."

Tech news sites have pored over the leaked unit's Geekbench 6.2 scores—its A17 Pro chipset (TSMC N3) surpasses the previous generation A16 Bionic (TSMC N4) by 10% in single-core stakes. Apple revealed this performance uplift during this week's iPhone "Wonderlust" event, so the result is not at all surprising. The multi-score improvement is a mere ~3%, suggesting that only minor tweaks have been made to the underlying microarchitecture. The A17 Pro beats Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in both categories—2914 vs. 2050 (SC) and 7199 vs. 5405 (MC) respectively. Spring time leaks indicated that the "A17 Bionic" was able to keep up with high-end Intel and AMD desktop CPUs in terms of single-core performance—the latest Geekbench 6.2 entry semi-confirms those claims. The A17 Pro's single-threaded performance is within 10% of Intel Core i9-13900K and Ryzen 9 7950X processors. Naturally, Apple's plucky mobile chip cannot put up a fight in the multi-core arena, additionally Tom's Hardware notes another catch: "A17 Pro operates at 3.75 GHz, according to the benchmark, whereas its mighty competitors work at about 5.80 GHz and 6.0 GHz, respectively."

Baseus Technology, the leading global consumer electronics brand, has prepared a stack of fast-charging USB-C chargers, the "Let's C" lineup. It includes fast chargers, power banks, charging cables, digital power strips, and car chargers for the iPhone 15.

Fast, Durable, and Sustainable Let's C Cables
Baseus Let's C Flash Series II, the USB-C to C Cable is a full-featured cord that supports up to 240 W fast charging and a data transfer speed of up to 40 Gbps, which is perfect for moving ProRes files shot with the new iPhone 15 Pro lineup. It was tested only to take 5s to transfer 10 GB files according to test results from Baseus, and it also supports a high-resolution output going up to 8K@60 Hz. This level would fascinate even videophiles.

Apple today debuted iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, designed with aerospace-grade titanium that's strong yet lightweight to deliver Apple's lightest Pro models ever. The new design also features contoured edges and a customizable Action button, allowing users to personalize their iPhone experience. Powerful camera upgrades enable the equivalent of seven pro lenses with incredible image quality, including a more advanced 48MP Main camera system that now supports the new super-high-resolution 24MP default, the next generation of portraits with Focus and Depth Control, improvements to Night mode and Smart HDR, and an all-new 5x Telephoto camera exclusively on iPhone 15 Pro Max. A17 Pro unlocks next-level gaming experiences and pro performance. The new USB‑C connector is supercharged with USB 3 speeds—up to 20x faster than USB 2—and together with new video formats, enables powerful pro workflows that were not possible before. And with the addition of Roadside Assistance via satellite, the iPhone 15 Pro lineup builds on Apple's innovative satellite infrastructure to connect users to help if they have car trouble while off the grid.

iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will be available in four stunning new finishes, including black titanium, white titanium, blue titanium, and natural titanium. Pre-orders begin Friday, September 15, with availability beginning Friday, September 22.

TrendForce expects that memory suppliers will continue their strategy of scaling back production of both DRAM and NAND Flash in 2024, with the cutback being particularly pronounced in the financially struggling NAND Flash sector. Market demand visibility for consumer electronic is projected to remain uncertain in 1H24. Additionally, capital expenditure for general-purpose servers is expected to be weakened due to competition from AI servers. Considering the low baseline set in 2023 and the current low pricing for some memory products, TrendForce anticipates YoY bit demand growth rates for DRAM and NAND Flash to be 13% and 16%, respectively. Nonetheless, achieving effective inventory reduction and restoring supply-demand balance next year will largely hinge on suppliers' ability to exercise restraint in their production capacities. If managed effectively, this could open up an opportunity for a rebound in average memory prices.

PC: The annual growth rate for average DRAM capacity is projected at approximately 12.4%, driven mainly by Intel's new Meteor Lake CPUs coming into mass production in 2024. This platform's DDR5 and LPDDR5 exclusivity will likely make DDR5 the new mainstream, surpassing DDR4 in the latter half of 2024. The growth rate in PC client SSDs will not be as robust as that of PC DRAM, with just an estimated growth of 8-10%. As consumer behavior increasingly shifts toward cloud-based solutions, the demand for laptops with large storage capacities is decreasing. Even though 1 TB models are becoming more available, 512 GB remains the predominant storage option. Furthermore, memory suppliers are maintaining price stability by significantly reducing production. Should prices hit rock bottom and subsequently rebound, PC OEMs are expected to face elevated SSD costs. This, when combined with Windows increasing its licensing fees for storage capacities at and above 1 TB, is likely to put a damper on further growth in average storage capacities.

Best-selling gaming headset and leading gaming accessory maker Turtle Beach Corporation today announced their acclaimed, hyper-portable Turtle Beach Atom Mobile Game Controller is coming to iPhone users next month. The Atom Controller is a compact and portable mobile gaming controller with a unique two-piece design. The Atom's two ergonomic grip modules fit every Apple iPhone 14, 13, 12, and 11 model, and adjustable spring-loaded clamps ensure there's no need to remove phone cases. When gaming with an iPhone placed in the middle, the two Atom Controller modules communicate with each other wirelessly using Turtle Beach's proprietary 2.4 GHz wireless link.

Low-latency Bluetooth connects lag-free to iPhones when cloud gaming on Apple Arcade, Xbox Game Pass, GeForce Now, Steam Link, and more. When it's time to stow-and-go, the two Atom modules magnetically combine to effortlessly fit its included carrying case, and into a pocket. With the earlier launch of the Atom Controller for Android, Game Tyrant called it, "A game changing device that makes mobile gaming so much more enjoyable," while Android Police praised it as, "An excellent device," and gave it a 9/10 review score.

Beats today announces Beats Studio Pro, the next generation of Beats' iconic, bestselling over-ear headphone. With all-new and improved interior components, Studio Pro offers next-level audio fidelity, fully-adaptive Active Noise Cancellation and Transparency modes, Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, UltraPlush leather cushions, up to 40 hours of battery life, Lossless Audio via USB-C3 and enhanced call performance.

Beats Studio Pro is available to order starting today in four premium colors, Black, Deep Brown, Navy and Sandstone, for $349.99 (US) from apple.com. Starting tomorrow, Studio Pro will be on-shelf at Apple Store locations and authorized resellers in its beautiful new packaging that was designed with the environment in mind.

Elgato, a subsidiary of CORSAIR (NASDAQ: CRSR), and leading provider of hardware and software for content creators, today announced a major update to the digital version of its celebrated Stream Deck, Stream Deck Mobile. The Stream Deck Mobile app turns any smartphone into a handheld productivity interface. With today's update, Stream Deck Mobile becomes free to use for up to six keys, for anyone with an iPhone or iPad. Other core app changes introduce more ways for users to control their favorite apps and customize their setup.

Now with its "freemium" app model, Stream Deck Mobile is more accessible than ever for millions of customers worldwide. Users can get the best of Stream Deck on their iPhone or iPad for free - including six keys, unlimited actions, and hundreds of plugins for popular apps. An optional Pro subscription or purchase unlocks advanced features like custom layouts, backgrounds, and up to 64 keys - double that of Elgato's largest physical device, Stream Deck XL.

TrendForce reports that inventory reduction in Q1 fell short of expectations and coincided with the industry's traditional off-season, leading to overall subdued demand. However, due to new product release and a surge in urgent orders for specialized specifications, Q1 revenue of the global top ten IC design houses remained on par with 4Q22, with a modest QoQ increase of 0.1% for a total revenue of US$33.86 billion. Changes in ranking included Cirrus Logic slipping from the top ten as well as the ninth and tenth positions being replaced by WillSemi and MPS, respectively. The rest of the rankings remained unchanged.

The smartphone supply continues to grapple with overstock, but AI applications are entering a period of rapid growth
Qualcomm witnessed an uptick in its revenue, largely attributed to the launch and subsequent shipments of its latest flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8Gen2. The company saw 6.1% in QoQ growth in its smartphone business, which effectively offset the downturn from its automotive and IoT sectors. As a result, Qualcomm's Q1 revenue increased marginally by 0.6%, cementing its position at the top of the pack with a market share of 23.5%.

Apple announced a joint partnership with Google in submitting a new industry specification to curtail unwanted tracking via Bluetooth location-tracking devices currently on the market. The new standard would provide tracker detection across both iOS and Android, regardless of the brand of the tracker being used. The proposal addresses the concerns surrounding the ease in which a person can be tracked by a sneaky location-tracker stuck to their person, possession, or vehicle by bad-faith actors using the technology to stalk individuals. Apple has previous released updates to their Find My service which will alert the victim if they are being tracked by an unknown AirTag, but this tech relies on the person having an iPhone. Third party detection apps exist on Android, but they're far from perfect and aren't currently officially supported by any of the parent companies making Bluetooth location trackers.

The proposal has received industry wide support from other manufacturers such as Samsung, Tile, Chipolo, eufy Security, and Pebblebee. Advocacy groups such as The National Network to End Domestic Violence and the Center for Democracy & Technology have also contributed to the specification draft. The draft has been submitted via the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) with a three month review and comment period open to interested parties that would like to weigh in on the proposed specification. After this period Apple and Google will work to address concerns and feedback before putting the specification into production by the end of 2023, unifying a tracking alerts system on all future versions of iOS and Android.

The global economy has faced increased inflation risks and downstream inventory corrections in 2H22, which have affected IC design houses faster than wafer foundries, as they are far more sensitive and responsive to market reversals. TrendForce reports that adverse factors such as weak overall consumption, restrictions from China, and the slowdown of corporate IT spending and CSP demand have impacted the revenue performance of the world's top 10 IC design houses in 4Q22, leading to a QoQ decline of 9.2%, or approximately US$33.96 billion.

TrendForce predicts that the revenue of these top 10 companies keep declining—though with a slight convergence—into 1Q23, owing to ongoing inventory corrections across the entire supply chain as well as Q1 being the traditional off-season for consumer demand. Demand will continue to be weak despite new product launches and inventory replenishment in the supply chain.

An online tipster, posting on the Chinese blog site Weibo, has let slip that Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile chipset is touted to pack some hefty graphical capabilities. The suggested Adreno "750" smartphone and tablet GPU is touted to offer a 50% increase over the present generation Adreno 740 - as featured on the recently released and cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. The current generation top-of-the-range Snapdragon is no slouch when it comes to graphics benchmarks, where it outperforms Apple's prime contender - the Bionic A16 SoC.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC is expected to launch in the last quarter of 2023, but details of the flagship devices that it will power are non-existent at the time of writing. The tipster suggests that Qualcomm has decided to remain on TSMC's 4 nm process for its next generation mobile chipset - perhaps an all too safe decision when you consider that Apple has upped the stakes with the approach of its Bionic A17 SoC. It has been reported that the Cupertino, California-based company has chosen to fabricate via TSMC's 3 nm process, although the Taiwanese foundry is said to be struggling with its N3 production line. The engineers at Qualcomm's San Diego headquarters are alleged to be experimenting with increased clock speeds running on the next gen Adreno GPU - as high as 1.0 GHz - in order to eke out as much performance as possible, in anticipation of besting the Bionic A17 in graphics benchmarks. The tipster theorizes that Qualcomm will still have a hard time matching Apple in terms of pure CPU throughput, so the consolation prize will lie with a superior GPU getting rigged onto the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Apple's engineering team is rumored to be adjusting performance targets set for its next generation mobile SoC - the A17 Bionic - due to issues at the TSMC foundry. The cutting edge 3 nm process is proving difficult to handle, according to industry tipsters on Twitter. The leaks point to the A17 Bionic's overall performance goals being lowered by 20%, mainly due to the TSMC N3B node not meeting production targets. The factory is apparently lowering its yield and execution targets due to ongoing problems with FinFET limitations.

The leakers have recently revealed more up-to-date A17 Bionic's Geekbench 6 scores, with single thread performance at 3019, and multi-thread at 7860. Various publications have been hyping the mobile SoC's single thread performance as matching that of desktop CPUs from Intel and AMD, more specifically 13th-gen Core i7 and 'high-end' Ryzen models. Naturally the A17 Bionic cannot compete with these CPUs in terms of multi-thread performance.

According to TrendForce's latest survey of the global foundry market, electronics brands began adjusting their inventories in 2Q22, but foundries were unable to rapidly adapt to this development because they reside in the more upper portion of the supply chain. Moreover, revising procurement quantities of long-term foundry contracts takes time as well. Hence, only some tier-2 and -3 foundries were able to immediately respond to the changes in their clients' demand. Also, among them, 8-inch wafer foundries made a more pronounced reduction in their capacity utilization rates. As for the remaining foundries, the downward corrections that they made to their capacity utilization rates did not become noticeable until 4Q22. Hence, in 4Q22, the quarterly total revenue of the global top 10 foundries registered a QoQ decline for the first time after 13 consecutive quarters of positive growth. The quarterly total revenue of the top 10 foundries came to US$33,530 million, reflecting a drop of 4.7% from 3Q22. Moving into 1Q23, TrendForce projects that the quarterly total revenue of the top 10 will show an even steeper drop on account of seasonality and the uncertain macroeconomic situation.