Three weeks ago, Kurnal and Geekerwan dived deep into Nintendo's alleged Switch 2 chipset. The very brave Chinese leakers are notorious for their acquiring of pre-release and early silicon samples. Last week, their collective attention turned to a brand-new Xiaomi mobile chip: the XRING 01. After months of insider murmurs and official teasers, the smartphone giant recently unveiled its proprietary flagship SoC. According to industry moles, Xiaomi has invested a lot of manpower into a special chip design entity—leadership likely wants to avoid a repeat of prior first-party developed disappointments. Despite rumors of disappointing prototype performance figures, mid-May Geekbench results pointed to the emergent XRING 01 mobile chip being up there with Qualcomm's dominant Snapdragon 8 Elite platform. Die shot analysis has confirmed Xiaomi's selection of a TSMC 3 nm "N3E" node process; also utilized by the latest Apple, Qualcomm and MediaTek flagships. Overall die size is 114.48 mm² (10.8 x 10.6 mm), with 109.5 mm² of used area; comparable to Apple's A18 Pro SoC footprint (refer to Geekerwan's comparison shot, below).

Unlike nearby rivals, the XRING 01 seems to not sport an integrated 5G modem. Notebookcheck surmised: "it is rumored to use an external radio from MediaTek. It isn't located on the actual die itself, and likely a contributing factor to why its size is so small." Annotations indicate the presence of off-the-shelf/licensed Arm CPU cores (ten in total): two Cortex-X925 units, four Cortex-A725 units, two Cortex-A725 units, and two Cortex-A520 units. Additionally, an Arm Immortalis-G925 MP16 iGPU was identified. A 6-core NPU—with 16 MB of cache—was highlighted, but it is not clear whether this is a proprietary effort or something bought in. Observers have noted the absence of SLC cache. GSMArena posited: "the Geekerwan team speculates that (Xiaomi's) omission of the SLC has hurt GPU efficiency—it's pretty fast, but it uses more power than the Dimensity GPU at peak performance. The more efficient CPU combined with the fact that the GPU rarely runs at full tilt makes for pretty good overall efficiency in real-life gaming tests." The XRING department's debut product is impressive, but industry watchdogs are looking forward to refined variants or full-fledged successors.

In the weeks leading up to Computex 2025, industry watchdogs have noticed an uptick of next-gen Ryzen Threadripper PRO processor inside info leaks. AMD leadership is expected to introduce "Shimada Peak" 9000WX CPUs during a May 21 on-stage presentation. Despite the company's continued delivery of "silent treatment," external partners and other associates have alluded to an imminent arrival of Zen 5-based workstation-grade processors—very likely positioned as natural successors to Ryzen Threadripper PRO 7000WX (Zen 4) options. As of May 6, the Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO) website has produced another "official leak." The independent/non-profit body's recent publication of a dedicated "AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9000 WX-Series Processors" page was highlighted by VideoCardz. "Shimada Peak's" certification seems to pave the way for a looming launch; perhaps shortly after a rumored unveiling in Taipei, Taiwan. Processor technology observers reckon that a non-PRO 9000X series will arrive at a later date—so far, succeeding generation Threadripper leaks have not outlined an adjacent High-End Desktop (HEDT) line. Unfortunately, SATA-IO's latest repository update does not contain any additional supportive info.

As we draw closer to a rumored May 21 unveiling of AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT graphics cards, an uptick in accidental retail listings is expected. Earlier this week, a Brazilian shop inadvertently broke official guidelines by their revealing of a lone GIGABYTE Gaming OC 16 GB SKU. Keen watchers of new product registrations have already shared multiple instances of pre-release information—around late March, ASUS logged unannounced TUF Gaming, PRIME and DUAL Radeon RX 9060 XT models in South Korea. A series of leaks have outlined 16 GB and 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM configurations; with the latter's release status being in contention (up until last week).

As unearthed by momomo_us, ASUS seems to be readying 16 GB and 8 GB-based SKUs for an imminent launch. Four upcoming product identifiers were scraped from an unnamed retail outlet's webshop: TUF Gaming RX 9060 XT OC 16 GB, PRIME RX 9060 XT OC 16 GB, PRIME RX 9060 XT OC 8 GB, and DUAL RX 9060 XT 8 GB. Confusingly, the ASUS "twin fan" DUAL tag is applied to all identifiers—perhaps an error, or an indication of an (unlikely) all dual-fan cooled lineup. VideoCardz believes that this latest leak only represents a partial selection; past RRA registrations pointed to the existence of additional non-overclocked models.

Mid-way through April, a few Asian media outlets proposed a fairly recent formation of Xiaomi's "chip platform department"—most likely operating as part of the Chinese corporation's mobile phone development operation. Industry insiders claimed that this special branch was tasked with the designing of "Xuanjie" chipsets, with added expertise provided by an ex-Qualcomm marketing director. Weeks later, Jukanlosreve has weighed in with alleged new details. The keen tracker—of unannounced flagship smartphone chips and semiconductor business revelations—believes that previous leaks were of merit, but made some corrections.

Given reported greater than expected "new division" headcounts, Xiaomi probably established its "Xring SoC" team a while ago—on this topic, Jukanlosreve divulged: "it operates as a new company; independent of the original parent firm. It's not a small team either—it has over 1000 people. To be honest, I see it as a positive development if a domestically produced chip gets used in a domestically made smartphone and sold globally. I genuinely hope it becomes reality. If Xring succeeds, it might encourage more companies to get involved, and even engineers currently working at major firms could see better pay opportunities."

VideoCardz has put a spotlight on a compelling Intel Community announcement—ten days ago, a site moderator (RonaldM_Intel) disclosed that company engineers are currently engaged in the investigation of a major Arc graphics card-related issue. At the beginning of 2025, Hardware Unboxed uploaded a video article (see below) that delved into the Arc Xe2 B580 graphics card design's "big problem." Going back several months, review outlets observed B580 sample cards leveraging lower than expected performance when paired with older generation processors. As summarized by VideoCardz's recent report; significant performance drops were tracked when test units were linked up with AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or 5600 CPUs—relative to a more modern rig; powered by Team Red's Ryzen 7 9800X3D. Additionally, evaluators observed worrying signs when B580 cards were tested on platforms based on Intel's 9th Gen Core i5-9600K processor.

Budget-conscious buyers have embraced Team Blue's new generation cards, with many participants upgrading older builds with Intel Arc B580 12 GB and B570 10 GB graphics cards (original launch MSRPs: $250 and $220, respectively). Given that many owners will be sticking with prior-gen processors, industry watchdogs have leveled criticism at Team Blue—the company has disappointed many, with an apparent lack of action. Months after the fact—likely after a healthy intake of community feedback—Intel has officially acknowledged these issues. As disclosed by RonaldM_Intel's announcement: "thank you for your patience. We are aware of reports of performance sensitivity in some games when paired with older generation processors. We have increased our platform coverage to include more configurations in our validation process, and we are continuing to investigate optimizations."

AMD has not publicly announced its Radeon RX 9060 XT 16 GB and 8 GB graphics cards, but board partners have inadvertently "revealed" the existence of forthcoming custom designs. Team Red's RDNA 4 kick-off events did tease a second quarter launch of a Radeon RX 9060 Series cards, but have remained coy since the conclusion of late February celebrations. Over a month ago, VideoCardz cited AIB insider knowledge—regarding early specification details. In this morning's follow-up report, unnamed board partner moles have theorized a possible public unveiling of Radeon RX 9060 XT models: at next month's Computex 2025 trade show. Industry watchdogs believe that Team Red's lower end RDNA 4 are specced to compete closely with Team Green's GeForce RTX 5060 Ti lineup. NVIDIA and involved AIBs are reportedly gearing up for a retail launch this week.

The latest leak suggests AMD's Radeon RX 9060 XT design being readied—as standard—with (reference) game clock frequencies set at 2620 MHz, and boost clocks going up to 3230 MHz. In addition, VideoCardz has heard mutterings about "overclocked variants" boosting up to the 3.3 GHz mark. The much-rumored Navi 44 GPU die could sport 2048 stream processors—half of Navi 48's full SP count. Prior to this week, TechPowerUp's GPU database entry indicated the utilization of a speculative "Navi 48 LE" unit. Now amended, the Radeon RX 9060 XT listing mentions a tentative "Navi 44 XT" variant. Leaked guideline info allegedly specifies 500 W power supplies, as minimum requirements for incoming cards. A 550 W base level could be advised for overclocked/overengineered models. VideoCardz did not see any 16-pin power connected SKUs within leaked material; "most specs" feature 8-pin power connectors.

Samsung's foundry business seems to be busying itself with the rumored refinement of a 2 nm GAA (SF2) manufacturing node process—for possible mass production by the end of 2025, but company leadership will very likely be considering longer term goals. Mid-way through last month, industry moles posited that the megacorporation's semiconductor branch was questioning the future of a further out 1.4 nm (SF1.4) production line. Officially published roadmaps have this advanced technology rolling out by 2027. Despite present day "turmoil," insiders believe that a new team has been established—tasked with the creation of a so-called "dream semiconductor process." According to a fresh Sedaily news article, this fledgling department has started development of a 1 nm foundry process.

Anonymous sources claim that Samsung executives are keeping a watchful eye on a main competitor—as stated in the latest South Korean report: "there is a realistic gap with Taiwan's TSMC in technologies that are close to mass production, such as the 2 nm process, the company plans to speed up the development of the 1 nm process, a future technology, to create an opportunity for a turnaround." A portion of the alleged "1 nm development chip team" reportedly consists of veteran researchers from prior-gen projects. Semiconductor industry watchdogs theorize that a canceled SF1.4 line could be replaced by an even more advanced process. Sedaily outlined necessary hardware upgrades: "the 1.0 nanometer process requires a new technology concept that breaks the mold of existing designs as well as the introduction of next-generation equipment such as high-NA EUV exposure equipment. The company is targeting mass production after 2029." Samsung's current Advanced Technology Roadmap does not extend beyond 2027—inside sources claim that the decision to roll with 1.0 nm was made at some point last month.

According to reports from last year, Xiaomi was expected to unveil an oft-rumored proprietary mobile chipset design at some point in 2025. By October 2024, the Chinese technology giant allegedly reached the tape-out phase of its first 3 nm SoC—at the time, insiders posited that Xiaomi was seeking a manufacturing partner. Months earlier, a prototype design was linked to TSMC's 4 nm "N4P" node process—this rumor raised many smartphone watchdog eyebrows. Unlike many other Chinese firms, Xiaomi was reportedly allowed to select a fairly advanced manufacturing process at Taiwan's premier foundry service. In a past weekend news article, Wccftech outlined interesting circumstances: "(US) export controls have yet to affect Xiaomi, which is supposedly on track to launch its first in-house chipset later this year. However, while we reported last year that the company was scheduled to unveil its custom 3 nm SoC in 2025, we were disappointed to learn just the specifications of this version that will utilize TSMC's 'N4P' process. According to more details, this silicon will not sport any homegrown cores like Qualcomm has adopted for the Snapdragon 8 Elite."

Late last week, Jukanlosreve highlighted another leaker's prediction—regarding the technological foundations of Xiaomi's mystery flagship mobile processor. Fixed Focus Digital's Weibo post mentioned the "N4P" node, as well the utilization of current generation Arm Cortex-X925, Cortex-A725 and Cortex-A520 units. A speculated Imagination Technologies "IMG DXT 72-2304" integrated graphics solution is touted to outperform Qualcomm's Adreno 740 iGPU; as featured in their Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (2022) SoC. As highlighted by Wccftech's report, one of the publication's associates has deemed Fixed Focus Digital to be an unreliable source of inside track info. In response to Jukanlosreve's tweeted question, Mochamad Farido Fanani opined: "that's right, how does Xiaomi use N4P in its new chipset? But this guy always guesses blindly." Older leaks—based on "N4P" rumors—projected performance levels roughly on par with Qualcomm's first generation Snapdragon 8 chip. This model was introduced at the tail end of 2021.

According to a fresh Money Today SK news article, Samsung is expected to launch a next-generation Galaxy Ring model later this year—this tiny wearable device is touted to operate with a "dream battery" design. The South Korean giant's Electro-Mechanics division is reportedly tasked with the challenging development of "all-solid-state" batteries for all manner of ultraportable products. Yesterday's report suggests that Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Ring sequel—apparently scheduled for launch within Q4'25—will be driven by the Electro-Mechanics team's pioneering effort. The production of all-solid-state battery units is an expensive endeavor, so industry watchdogs have predicted tough retail conditions for the forthcoming "Galaxy Ring 2" rollout—the original unit was not exactly a "hot property" in terms of sales figures.

Money Today's inside sources reckon that the Electro-Mechanics branch will—eventually—fit all-solid-state battery designs inside new-gen earphones (aka Galaxy Buds) by Q4 2026, and very futuristic smartwatches by the end of 2027. Given cost considerations, larger all-solid-state solutions—potentially for usage in smartphones—are not in the pipeline. Around early February of this year, the development of Samsung's (inevitable) "Galaxy S26" mobile series was linked to alleged 6000+ mAh silicon-carbon battery units. The South Korean's smartphone engineering team is reportedly trying to play catch up with more advanced solutions, as devised by competitors in China. The status of Samsung's proprietary silicon-carbon prototype is the subject of much online debate, but certain insiders believe that employees are still working hard on the perfection of an ideal "battery formula."

NVIDIA and its laptop/notebook manufacturing partners have just about managed a very last minute launch of GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile, RTX 5080 Mobile, RTX 5070 Ti Mobile GPU-powered devices at retail. According to the latest reports, yesterday's—March 31—small trickle out of high-end portable "Blackwell" hardware qualified as a launch within the first quarter of 2025. Due to Team Green's GeForce RTX 50 series being affected by ROPs anomalies—across desktop and mobile platforms—involved firms anticipated deliveries being delayed into April. As stated early last month, unnamed industry sources divulged details about official instructions: "manufacturers (must) inspect already-produced notebooks with new mobile GeForce RTX 5000 graphics chips." Going further back in time, supply chain moles predicted that the entire product stack—starting at the top with GeForce RTX 5090 M, going down to RTX 5070 M—would be subject to postponements.

PC gaming hardware watchdogs noticed a very limited supply of GeForce RTX 5090 Mobile-based laptops on "day one," at least in North America. VideoCardz spent some time combing through Newegg listings, after hearing about the Q1 launch via official social media announcements. The likes of ASUS, GIGABYTE, HP, Lenovo, MSI and Razer opened up direct pre-orders on February 25, but yesterday's embargo lift seemed to extend to general retails outlets. VideoCardz noted that the cheapest—at $4299—GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop options were already sold out. MSI's North American store lists an "out of stock" Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition Norse Myth 18-inch model with an eye-watering price tag of $6199.99. Additionally, the publication pointed out the best GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop starting price: $2499.99. GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptops start at $1899.99 on Newegg, but RTX 5070 Mobile-based options seemed to be absent. The online retailer's stock notification system predicts late April or early May replenishments of higher-end stock.

ZOTAC GAMING has quietly added two more models to its SOLID GeForce RTX 50-series product range. Looking back into TechPowerUp's news archive, the Hong Kong-based manufacturer's latter half of March calendar has already introduced four brand-new SKUs, with adjusted dimensions. Two weeks ago, industry watchdogs spotted a low-key rollout of "slimmer profile" SOLID CORE GeForce RTX 5080 and RTX 5070 Ti options. As discovered earlier today by VideoCardz, ZOTAC has expanded its "no frills" range—again, without the issuing of an accompaniment press release. Starting with the most confusing aspect, their report highlighted the two-slot thick "GeForce RTX 5070 Ti SOLID SFF" model. The company's "SOLID CORE" cards were recently introduced with 2.5-slot thick shrouds, but attached I/O brackets still occupied three spaces. The original "SOLID" equivalents turned up at launch with substantial 3.5-slot thick cooling solutions.

Throughout early 2025, NVIDIA and certain board partners projected plenty of ballyhoo regarding multiple GeForce RTX 50-series custom options conforming to official "SFF-Ready" standards. ZOTAC seems to be heading in that direction with its "slimmer" new product strategy. Their freshly-added GeForce RTX 5070 Ti SOLID SFF SKU is advertised as an "NVIDIA SFF-Ready GeForce Enthusiast Card," and (thankfully) features a two-slot I/O bracket. A specification sheet lists this model's height as 41.6 mm—sporting a noticeable reduction in one dimension, when compared to SOLID CORE (56 mm) and SOLID (68 mm) equivalent dimensions. When looking at ZOTAC's brand-new GeForce RTX 5070 Ti SOLID CORE OC White Edition product page, we can see that it is simply a pale redecoration of the standard SKU. The manufacturer has seemingly missed another opportunity to bung in a matching white PCB design.

Digital Chat Station (DCS)—a tenured leaker of Qualcomm pre-release information—has shared new "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2" chipset details. Earlier today, their Weibo feed was updated with a couple of technological predictions. The announced smartphone chip's "SM8850" identifier was disclosed once again, along with the repeated claim that Qualcomm has selected a 3 nm "N3P" node process. Industry watchdogs expect to see the San Diego-headquartered fabless semiconductor designer introduce its next-generation flagship smartphone SoC in October. The current-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite platform was unveiled last Fall; sporting cutting-edge "Oryon" (aka Phoenix) processor cores and an integrated Adreno 830 graphics solution. DCS reckons that the natural successor will reuse a familiar "2 + 6" core configuration; comprised of two prime "big performance" units, and six "normal" performance-tuned units. An Adreno 840 iGPU was listed as DCS's final point of conjecture.

The incoming "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2" chipset was mentioned in the same sentence as rumored "Pegasus" cores (Phoenix's sequel)—slightly far-fetched rumors from 2024 suggested Qualcomm's upgraded processor architecture being tested at maximum frequencies of 5.0 GHz (on performance cores). As pointed out by Wccftech, Gen 1's performance cores run at 4.47 GHz (by default). In today's follow-up post, DCS claimed that Qualcomm's: "self-developed CPU architecture is now in the second generation, with a performance setting of over 380 W+." Industry watchdogs reckon that the "Snapdragon 8 Elite 2" chip will be capable of recording 3.8+ million point tallies in AnTuTu V10 gauntlets, thanks to the alleged utilization of ArmV9 architecture. DCS theorized that the speculated "SM8850" SoC will support ARM's Scalable Matrix Extension 1 (SME 1) and Scalable Vector Extension 2 (SVE2) instruction sets.

Last week, we heard rumors about NVIDIA delaying its launches of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and RTX 5060 by a couple of weeks. Initially, PC hardware watchdogs anticipated a product unveiling before GTC 2025 kick-off time. Industry insiders did not fully disclose the reasons behind Team Green's revised release schedules for more "budget-friendly" GB206 GPU-based offerings, but supply chain moles posited that GeForce RTX 5060 Ti graphics cards would reach retail by mid-April. As noted by VideoCardz last Saturday, a specific date was leaked by a reliable source: wxnod.

The tenured PC hardware soothsayer reckons that NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 Ti "will be released on April 16th at 9 pm" in 16 GB and 8 GB forms. According to VideoCardz's insider network, "briefings" regarding this alleged launch date were not yet distributed to key figures (i.e. board partners). An upcoming Wednesday rollout could be legitimate, given that Team Green and AIBs let loose GeForce RTX 5070 cards on March 5. A recent leak of GeForce RTX 5060 Ti "full specifications" indicates the laying of groundwork; leading to a potential launch in the coming weeks.

Over a year ago, industry watchdogs posited that Apple was patiently waiting in line at the front of TSMC's 2 Nanometer GAA "VVIP queue." The securing of cutting-edge manufacturing processes seems to be a consistent priority for the Cupertino, California-headquartered fabless chip designer. Current generation Apple chipsets—at best—utilize TSMC 3 nm (N3E) wafers. Up until very recently, many insiders believed that the projected late 2026 launch of A20 SoC-powered iPhone 18 smartphones would signal a transition to the Taiwanese foundry's advanced 2 nm (N2) node process. Officially, TSMC has roadmapped the start of 2 nm mass production around the second half of 2025.

According to Jeff Pu—a Hong Kong-based analyst at GF Securities—the speculated A20 (2026) chipset could stick with N3P. Leaks suggest that aspects of Apple's next in line "A19" and "A19 Pro" mobile SoCs could be produced via a 3 nm TSMC process. MacRumors has picked up on additional inside track whispers; about Apple M5 processors (for next-gen iPad Pro models) being based on N3P—"likely due to increased wafer costs." Pu reckons that Apple's engineering team has provisioned a major generational improvement with A20's AI capabilities, courtesy of TSMC's Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology. This significant upgrade is touted to tighten integration between the chip's processor, unified memory, and Neural Engine segments. Revised insider forecasts have positioned A21 chip designs as natural candidates for a shift into 2 nm GAA territories.

Late last month, industry insiders posited that pleasing progress was being made with Samsung's cutting-edge 2 nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) node process. The rumored abandonment of an older 3 nm GAA-based project—in late 2024—has likely sent the South Korean foundry team into overdrive. A speculated Exynos 2500 flagship mobile processor was previously linked to said 3 nm node, but industry watchdogs believe that company engineers are experimenting with a 2 nm GAA manufacturing process. According to the latest insider report—from FN News SK—Samsung Foundry (SF) has assembled a special "task force (TF)." Allegedly, this elite team will be dedicated to getting a newer "Exynos 2600 chip" over the finish line—suggesting an abandonment of the older "2500" design, or a simple renaming.

Samsung's recent launch of Galaxy S25 series smartphones was reportedly viewed as a disappointing compromise—with all models being powered by Qualcomm's "first-of-its-kind customized Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform," instead of in-house devised chipsets. According to industry moles, one of the SF task force's main goals is a boosting of 2 nm GAA production yields up to "economically viable" levels (roughly 60-70%)—apparently last month's best result was ~30%. Mass production of prototype chipsets is tipped to start by May. Samsung's reported target of "stabilizing their Exynos 2600" SoC design will ensure that "Galaxy S26 series" devices will not become reliant on Qualcomm internals. Additionally, FN News proposes a bigger picture scenario: "the stabilization of 2 nm (SF2/GAA) products, is expected to speed up the acquisition of customers for Samsung Electronics' foundry division, which is thirsty for leading-edge process customers." A forthcoming rival next-gen mobile chip—Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2—is supposedly in the pipeline. The smartphone industry inside track reckons that Qualcomm has signed up with TSMC; with a 2 nm manufacturing process in mind.

Last week, Samsung introduced its brand-new Galaxy S25 smartphone series—press material focused largely on various implementations of AI features, but industry watchdogs noted the crucial selection of Qualcomm-designed processors. A "first-of-its-kind customized Snapdragon 8 Elite Mobile Platform for Galaxy chipset" is the natural choice for this generation of Samsung flagship phones, given that proprietary Exynos designs have reportedly missed the mark (yet again). Samik Chatterjee—a J.P. Morgan analyst—believes that the latest collaboration will swell Qualcomm's revenues; he predicts a gain of $2 billion (USD). Snapdragon 8 Elite processors are utilized by the entire range of globally-released Galaxy S25 models.

The previous-gen S24 series featured a mix of Qualcomm-designed chips and Samsung Exynos silicon (for different regional markets)—market analysis estimates a total of 40 million unit shipments back in 2024. Previously, Qualcomm had a 70% share of Galaxy S24 chipsets—fast-forwarding to the present day, it becomes 100% with the rollout of Galaxy S25. Late last year, press outlets posited that the South Korean company's foundry division had moved on from a "problematic" 3 nm Gate-All-Around (GAA) process. Samsung's flagship-tier Exynos 2500 SoC was linked to this node, but insiders reckon that alternative external production avenues were explored—most notably with an arch-rival: TSMC. Industry moles reckon that Samsung's leadership has slashed foundry budgets for 2025—reports from last week suggest investments being halved, as teams move onto two nanometer processes.

Phil Spencer has professed that he is a proud owner of a Lenovo Legion Go handheld gaming PC, but has experimented with other mainstream portable devices in recent times. Polygon conducted an "extensive" interview with the CEO of Microsoft Gaming—headlines have been generated from this tête-à-tête, mostly focusing on his wishlist of additional digital storefronts appearing on Xbox platforms. Ecosystem familiarity seem to be a very important aspect (in Spencer's opinion)—something that the current crop of handhelds lack: "I want my Lenovo Legion Go to feel like an Xbox. I brought (the Legion Go) with me to GDC. I'm on the airplane and I have this list of everything that makes it not feel like an Xbox. Forget about the brand. More like: Are all of my games there? Do all my games show up with the save (files) that I want? I'll tell you one (game) that doesn't right now—it's driving me crazy—is Fallout 76. It doesn't have cross-save."

He continued: "I want to be able to boot into the Xbox app in a full screen, but in a compact mode. And all of my social (experience) is there. Like I want it to feel like the dash of my Xbox when I turn on the television. (Except I want it) on those devices." Industry rumors have swirled around the possible existence of an in-development Xbox handheld—Spencer confirmed that his hardware design team, headed up by Roanne Sones, has weighed up: "different hardware form factors and things that (they) could go do...What should we build that will find new players? That will allow people to play at times when they couldn't go play (in the past)?"

Earlier teardowns of 13-inch Apple M3 MacBook Air models revealed a pleasing storage performance upgrade. Popular American e-commerce watchdog, iFixit, has joined in on the fun—CEO Kyle Wiens has confirmed that the 15-inch M3 MacBook Air 256 GB base model also houses two 128 GB flash storage chips. A provisional repairability score of 5 out of 10 has been awarded—this verdict could change once iFixit staffers finish up in-depth investigations into Apple's latest thirteen and fifteen inch ultraslim notebooks. A revised figure might appear online once the site publishes its full how-to-guides.

iFixit's video teardown demonstrates that not much has changed when comparing the new models to Apple's M2 MacBook Air family of products. Tinkerers will face the usual obstacles, mainly dreaded pentalobe screw designs. The team discovered plastic pull-tabs during the removal of M3 MacBook Air batteries—a pleasing alternative to older (headache inducing) adhesive-fastened methods of securing power cells in place. The iFixit team had to deal with many fiddly screws and brackets during excavation efforts—they noted that Apple's interior design does not include any labelling, and the screws are not numbered. Framework's Laptop 16 was cited as a shining example of doing things correctly.

Microsoft's proposed $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard got the "go ahead" from the vast majority of regulatory bodies around the world, but the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) ultimately chucked a spanner into the works—consequently the deal's signing off date was delayed into the autumn. The top brass at Microsoft and Acti-Blizz have worked on a revised set of terms (to address concerns raised earlier this year), and the outcome has been semi-positive. The competition watchdog appears to be satisfied, prior to making a concrete announcement: "While the CMA has identified limited residual concerns with the new deal, Microsoft has put forward remedies which the CMA has provisionally concluded should address these issues. The CMA is now consulting on the remedies before making a final decision."

Under the newly redrafted deal—submitted for approval last month—Microsoft has agreed to transfer the rights to stream Activision games from the cloud to French video games publisher—Ubisoft—for a 15 year long term. The CMA's freshly published press release provides an insight into future infrastructures: "Under that new deal, Microsoft will not purchase the cloud gaming rights held by Activision, which will instead be sold to an independent third party, Ubisoft Entertainment SA (Ubisoft), before the deal is completed. The prior sale of the cloud gaming rights will establish Ubisoft as a key supplier of content to cloud gaming services, replicating the role that Activision would have played in the market as an independent player."

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a leading American venture capital firm is in the process of setting up its first international office (outside of its California base of operations) in the United Kingdom. One of their mission statements reads: "(we) invest in seed to venture to late-stage technology companies, across bio + healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games, and companies building toward American dynamism." News sites have reported on Facebook and Twitter being notable "safe" prospects for a16z's team in the past. The company is hedging its bets on the UK government's fairly lax approach to crypto and blockchain regulation, following crackdowns on the cryptocurrency industry in the US. News outlets point to a notable case where the North American financial watchdog/regulator is suing the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, due to activities "placing investors' assets at significant risk." The new Andreessen Horowitz London office is marked for a late 2023 opening—Chris Dixon the head of crypto investing at a16z has written about his firm's decision to embrace a new market location: "While there is still work to be done, we believe that the UK is on the right path to becoming a leader in crypto regulation...The UK also has deep pools of talent, world-leading academic institutions, and a strong entrepreneurial culture."

He has also declared that the UK Prime Minister - Rishi Sunak - is very pleased about a16z setting up shop in the City of London (financial district). The UK leader's statement reads: "As we cement the UK's place as a science and tech superpower, we must embrace new innovations like Web3, powered by blockchain technology, which will enable start-ups to flourish here and grow the economy. That success is founded on having the right regulation and guardrails in place to protect consumers and foster innovation. While there's still work to do, I'm determined to unlock opportunities for this technology and turn the UK into the world's Web3 centre. That's why I am thrilled world-leading investor, Andreessen Horowitz, has decided to open their first international office in the UK - which is testament to our world-class universities and talent and our strong competitive business environment."

Brad Smith, vice chair and president at Microsoft has been doing the rounds with the UK press, and the incensed executive continues to express anger about the nation's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) preventing his company's proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard. The UK antitrust watchdog yesterday blocked the deal on the grounds that a merging of (already massive) games publishers could result in a potentially catastrophic skew in Microsoft's favor within the fast growing cloud gaming market sector. The CMA's latest findings suggest that the takeover would "lead to reduced innovation and less choice for UK gamers over the years to come." This verdict comes as a major blow to Microsoft's gaming division following a number of victories - including Japan's competition regulator approving the takeover bid late last month. The company's gaming division (Xbox Game Studios) is awaiting verdicts from the EU commission and US Federal Trade Commission.

In a business-themed podcast interview (conducted by the BBC), Microsoft boss Brad Smith declared that the UK government's blocking of the merger represented a bad move "for Britain" in terms of attracting international business. Microsoft has been operating in country for four decades, and Smith casts doubt on that relationship - in his opinion - the mega corporation has experienced its "darkest day" in the region: "It does more than shake our confidence in the future of the opportunity to grow a technology business in Britain than we've ever confronted before. People are shocked, people are disappointed, and people's confidence in technology in the UK has been severely shaken." Smith insists that fledgling companies should look elsewhere to start a base of operations: "There's a clear message here - the European Union is a more attractive place to start a business than the United Kingdom."

Last week the US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG) Education Fund issued a report titled "Chromebook Churn", and the technology press was quick in its reading and analysis of this PDF document - filled with unfavorable findings. The main focus of the consumer watchdog's investigation was on a great uptake of Chromebooks in the education sector - schools in the United States of America have been providing a high percentage of their students with the relatively cheap ChromeOS-based laptop computers - especially during the pandemic period. The PIRG's Churn report cites numerous sources regarding disappointing Chromebook lifespans - schools are experiencing a high rate of hardware failure and technical issues relating to software updates - and as a result of these problems, irreparable devices are piling up as e-waste.

PIRG has called on Google and its manufacturing partners to effectively "double the life of these widely used laptops, saving schools money and helping the environment." Chromebooks are considered to be a cost effective entry into computing, but the watchdog reckons that a nice starter price tag does not reflect well when stacked up against the product's long term prospects. Schools are experiencing a high rate of Chromebook failures, especially once devices hit a three year long usage mark, and the required repair process is said to be problematic. PIRG states that warranty terms are unfavorable beyond the manufacturer set lifespan, and schools are having to pay for third party renovations and sourcing of spare parts (which is a complicated process in itself). The watchdog posits that schools in the USA could save a total of $1.8 billion (for taxpayers) - if Google doubles the lifespan of Chromebook, not accounting for extra maintenance costs.

Sony is not happy about the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recent provisional approval of Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and has highlighted the apparent removal of a Microsoft-owned game from being developed on the PlayStation 5. According to legal documents submitted to the UK government, Sony has taken issue with the watchdog's sudden change in opinion - the CMA's position was highly critical at the start of the year - and suspects that Microsoft's expensive PR campaign and submitting of "new evidence" to international competition regulators have influenced a change in direction of rulings. Sony's statement bears down on the unfair nature of the bid's approval: "The CMA's reversal of its position on its consoles theory of harm is surprising, unprecedented, and irrational."

Japan's Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) was the latest anti-trust governing body to give the takeover a thumbs-up, almost two weeks ago - a dramatic turn of events given that it happened on Sony's home turf. The embattled electronics corporation has taken notice of fresh developments in the press, and proceeded to mention controversy surrounding the Redfall platform war. Harvey Smith, the game's creative director, let slip too many details during a promotion tour and seemingly admitted that the higher-ups at Microsoft's Xbox division had decided to can the PlayStation 5 version of Redfall in favor of keeping it exclusive to Xbox, Game Pass and PC. Arkane Studios, as part of the ZeniMax Media Group, was acquired by Microsoft in 2021 - and certain games, already in development, were later released on the PlayStation 5 as timed exclusives, Deathloop being a prime example of this.

Japan's competition regulator, Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), yesterday issued a press release in which it announces an approval of Microsoft's proposed $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard. The JFTC's review has concluded and their members have: "reached the conclusion that the transaction is unlikely to result in substantially restraining competition in any particular fields of trade." This represents another regional victory for Microsoft, and follows last week's approval of the deal by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The JFTC has informed both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard that a cease and desist order will be not be issued, thus completing its investigation.

The timing of this new development is raising eyebrows - in last week's Senate Finance Committee, several US Members of Congress raised concerns about Sony's "monopoly" over the Japanese gaming market. The Japanese government was also accused of being complicit in its inaction and has: "allowed Sony to engage in blatant anti-competitive conduct through exclusive deals and payments to game publishers." Games industry watchdogs have questioned why another rival console and games company, Nintendo, was not brought up as subject matter in the debate. Microsoft has dedicated considerable resources into getting its proposed deal approved by international antitrust watchdogs, and has even offered to expand the Activision Blizzard games library onto Nintendo hardware platforms.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regulatory body has today delivered its provisional approval of Microsoft's proposed purchase of the Activision Blizzard group, but has added that it will conduct further reviews into the topic of whether the buyout will have any detrimental effect on competition in the area of cloud gaming services: "where the CMA is continuing to carefully consider the responses provided in relation to the original provisional findings. The CMA's merger investigation continues, and it remains due to issue its final report by 26 April 2023."

The antitrust watchdog's stance looks to have changed in a significant way since February, when it declared that Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard had the potential to "harm U.K. gamers". New evidence has been presented to the CMA in recent weeks, and its members have moved to provisionally conclude that: "overall, the transaction will not result in a substantial lessening of competition in relation to console gaming in the UK."