South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT said on Thursday that SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus — the country’s three major carriers — will provide more than seven million mobile subscribers with unmetered 400 Kbps data once their monthly allowances run out. First floated as part of a broader package of consumer-protection measures being assembled in parallel with its response to spiking memory and PC component prices, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon announced the program as one of many new obligations imposed on the three carriers in response to a sequence of security failures over the past year, calling unlimited, universal access one of the “basic telecommunications rights” that operators are expected to fund themselves.

400 Kbps might not sound like much, especially given that 5G can reach peak speeds in excess of 1 Gbps and standard-definition video streaming requires speeds of around 5 Mbps as a baseline, but it’s more than enough for very rudimentary activities like messaging and VoIP audio, or two-factor authentication.

It’s worth noting that the fallback to 400 Kbps only applies once a customer burns through their paid monthly cap, replacing the hard cutoff or overage charges that previously kicked in on affected plans.

Alongside the obligation to provide unmetered 400 Kbps access, the three operators have committed to increasing data and calling allowances for seniors, upgrading Wi-Fi services on public transport, and introducing 5G plans priced at $13.50 or below. Bae also pushed the carriers to direct more capital toward network buildout for AI workloads.

"Having gone through last year's hacking incidents, the weight of the telecom companies' responsibilities and roles has become even clearer," Bae said in a press release, emphasizing, “We have now reached a point where we must move beyond pledges not to repeat past mistakes and respond with renewal and contribution at a level of complete transformation that the public can tangibly feel." He went on to say that it’s important for the government to contribute to people’s livelihoods, including by guaranteeing what he called “basic telecommunications rights” for all citizens.

Each of the three network operators has been hit by a significant security incident in recent months. SK Telecom suffered a large-scale subscriber data leak, whereas KT was found to have deliberately pushed malware to roughly 600,000 of its own subscribers who were using a third-party BitTorrent-based file-sharing service, resulting in missing files and disabled PCs.

Starlink’s official social media channels are boasting about an incredible performance update on the way to mobile customers. A Tweet on Sunday claimed that the next-gen V2 satellites being launched by SpaceX would deliver “100x the data density of the current V1 generation satellites.” That’s the kind of upgrade multiplier anyone can appreciate.

The announcement will affect the Starlink Mobile service, which was previously branded as ‘Direct to Cell’ until recently. Whatever the moniker, this service provides satellite-to-phone communications – data, voice, messaging – across 32 countries spanning six continents. When enough V2 satellites get into LEO position, we’d say these “cellphone towers in space” are going to boost the service quality significantly.

The Starlink Direct to Cell, now Starlink Mobile, service only began to roll out commercially last July. However, compared to traditional mobile service providers, its only real draw is the inherent ‘connectivity where you need it’ and emergency coverage where space-based comms beat those on Earth.

100x, 20x, what the x?

Starlink Mobile’s current service, using V1 satellites, is currently only good for ‘light data’ and texts, according to a number of mobile-centric sites. Thus, the upgrade to V2 is going to be significant.

Putting some numbers to the claims, we see that the V2 upgrade is touted to deliver ‘5G from space,’ which is also compatible with 100s of existing LTE phones. Don’t get the 100x and 20x claims seen across Starlink social media and web pages mixed up. The V2 satellites upgrade is said to provide “100x the data density” compared to the current V1 satellites, with “around 20x the throughput capability” per satellite.

Starlink also expects terrestrial operator partners, like T-Mobile in the U.S., to provide services which “seamlessly transition between satellite and terrestrial networks without interruption or degradation in service.” Previous Starlink announcements point to a goal of peak speeds of 150 Mbps per user becoming realistic with the rollout of the V2 satellites.

SpaceX is currently planning up to 15,000 new satellites to power its ‘5G from space’ goal. Starship’s progress at putting the larger, more capable V2 satellites into space will impact the availability window of the enhanced service, but some V2 Mini satellites are already being launched to help bridge the gap.

Thus, early 2027 looks most likely to be when the initial V2 service will be tested in the early rollout stage.

Several cell providers have hopped on the 5G home internet service bandwagon, with T-Mobile, AT&T, and Verizon offering service in select areas across the United States. Now, a new player is entering the fray: Mint Mobile. Mint Mobile is a subsidiary of T-Mobile, which is a known quantity in this segment, and its new service is called MINTernet.

Unsurprisingly, MINTernet operates on T-Mobile's nationwide wireless network, offering unlimited 5G service. Now, whenever unlimited data is mentioned in the 5G realm, you should always look at the fine print. In this case, Mint Mobile says that once you consume over 1TB of data within your billing cycle, "network speeds vary and may be reduced." This is similar to the T-Mobile Home Internet policy, where the restriction is implemented after exceeding the 1.2TB threshold.

Regarding the speeds you can expect, the "Broadband Facts" label for MINTernet indicates that typical download speeds will range from 133 to 415 Mbps, while uploads should reach a maximum of around 55 Mbps. As for latency, expect to see 16 to 28 ms in most situations.

MINTernet costs $40 per month if you opt for the introductory 3-month offer, and this price is contingent upon paying the entire cost upfront ($120). However, if you already have a Mint phone plan (or intend to add one at the time of signup), your monthly cost drops to $30 ($90 upfront).

A 6-month plan is also offered at $45/month ($270 upfront) or $35/month ($210 upfront) with a phone plan. Finally, there's a 12-month plan that drops back down to $40/month ($480 upfront) or $30/month ($360) with a qualifying phone plan. All customers will get a free 5G gateway (modem/Wi-Fi router) with their order, along with a 14-day money-back guarantee.

Considering that MINTernet runs on T-Mobile's 5G network, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that my first run-in with its 5G home internet service ended in disaster in 2022. However, I revisited the service in 2024 with much better results, averaging over 600 Mbps for downloads and over 50 Mbps for uploads. T-Mobile Home Internet costs $50/month with autopay, so if you tick the right boxes, MINTernet will save you up to $20/month.

SoftBank successfully delivered end-to-end 5G connectivity to standard smartphones using an airborne base station, in a live field trial conducted in June, above Hachijō Island, Japan. The company used a light aircraft flying at 3,000 meters to simulate a high-altitude platform, linking ground infrastructure to devices via a 26 GHz feeder connection and a 1.7 GHz service link.

Unlike most “direct-to-device” projects that rely on satellites in low Earth orbit, SoftBank’s approach uses High-Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) that hover in the stratosphere, about 20 kilometers up. That altitude brings big advantages like lower latency and fewer of the power and Doppler challenges that present challenges to orbital links. According to SoftBank, the service link in the trial operated on the 1.7 GHz band, which is already supported by most 5G phones sold around the world.

The aircraft-mounted payload used beamforming to create six directional cells fixed in place on the ground, even as the aircraft flew a circular holding pattern overhead. The system automatically shifted beam coverage every 60 degrees of rotation, emulating the behavior of a future stratospheric platform while proving that stable cellular coverage is possible with real-world mobility.

UPDATE 2/27: Although Apple does not directly state that the iPhone 16e supports TDD networks, the bands that the company lists clearly indicate that it does. To that end, we introduce an appropriate fix for this story.

Apple on Wednesday formally introduced its first in-house developed 5G modem that will be used in the company's new $599 6.1-inch iPhone 16e smartphone, aimed at the mainstream audience. The modem is the first fruit from Apple's acquisition of Intel's 5G modem business unit six years ago.

Apple says its C1 is the "most power-efficient modem ever on iPhone" and delivers "fast and reliable 5G connectivity." Indeed, the modem supports most key 4G and 5G technologies, including sub-6 GHz 5G with 4x4 MIMO, Gigabit LTE with 4x4 MIMO, FDD-LTE, TD-LTE, as well as 3G and 2G capabilities for compatibility.

Yet, the company does not disclose how this energy efficiency was achieved. Apple could use its own custom Arm or RISC-V-based cores with optimized power consumption. Also, the company uses one of TSMC's 4nm-class process technology (presumably N4P) to make C1 chips (according to an interview with Reuters), which assists in reducing power consumption. Since Apple tends to tightly integrate its hardware (C1) and software (iOS 18), it can enable its own proprietary power states that allow it to cut power consumption without performance degradation.

For now, Apple's C1 is used exclusively inside the iPhone 16e, which is a mainstream handset that does not support a number of performance-enhancing yet power-hungry capabilities, such as Wi-Fi 7, mmWave 5G, and DC-HSDPA.

Millimeter Wave 5G can deliver very high data rates, but to achieve them, the phone has to pack phased-array antennas and rely heavily on beamforming. 5G handsets with mmWave support must constantly adjust beams and manage multiple antenna elements in real-time, which means greater signal processing, more frequent power amplifier usage, and higher power consumption.

The same applies to DC-HSDPA: the feature increases data rates by using two carrier frequencies instead of one, which inherently means that the device's radio components are working harder, leading to increased power consumption. However, this can all be optimized.

UPDATE 2/27: While the original story stated that the iPhone 16e did not support TDD networks, it indeed does and this is a valuable capability.

TDD networks use a single frequency channel for both uplink and downlink transmissions but at different time intervals, which adds flexibility and improves spectrum efficiency, making them beneficial in dense urban areas. However, TDD networks require strict timing synchronization between the phone and the base station, as well as switching between UL and DL, so the phone has to continuously adjust its transmission timing and radio circuits, which adds processing overhead and increases power consumption. Also, in weak signal areas, a phone has to increase its transmission power to maintain a connection, which is more taxing in TDD than in FDD. 

At this point, we do not know whether Apple's C1 lacks support for certain power-hungry features altogether, or if it is the iPhone 16e that omits certain features to cut its costs and power consumption. For example, the smartphone does not feature Apple's ultra-wideband chip, Thread networking technology, or MagSafe charging (although it does support Qi wireless charging and lacks magnets for MagSafe), and even the Camera Control button — four features that are cheap and easy to implement.

On the bright side, Apple's iPhone 16e is based on a rather powerful A18 processor with six cores and a cut-down quad-cluster GPU that comes equipped with enough memory to run Apple Intelligence applications.

Apple tends to use its own silicon instead of third-party chips whenever possible, so expect the C1 and its successors to be used more widely over time. For now, the C1 enables Apple to cut its costs (as it does not need to pay a premium to Qualcomm) and perhaps use it as bargaining leverage when negotiating prices with Qualcomm. Nonetheless, over time, Apple plans to use its own modems across all of its devices.

"C1 is the start, and we're going to keep improving that technology each generation, so that it becomes a platform for us that will be used to truly differentiate this technology for our products," Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies, told Reuters.

Asus introduced a series of networking solutions at CES, offering Wi-Fi 7 connectivity across gaming, professional, and home environments. The ROG Rapture GT-BE19000AI led the announcement as a high-performance gaming router with a first-of-its-kind built-in Neural Processing Unit (NPU).

The ROG Rapture GT-BE19000AI is aimed at gamers and power users who demand low-latency, high-speed internet with enhanced security and management features. It combines a tri-core architecture that integrates a CPU, NPU, and MCU (Micro Control Unit), enabling it to handle complex tasks more efficiently. Asus says that to reduce energy costs, the router features an AI Power Saving Mode, which offloads processing work to the efficient MCU when the network is idle. The router instantly jumps back into full performance mode when your connected device goes active. By integrating this feature, Asus claims a reduction in power consumption by up to 46%.

The NPU is said to help enhance local processing speeds, reduce latency, and improve overall energy efficiency, addressing the increasing demands of modern online gaming and multimedia consumption. Advanced features such as ROG AI Game Booster and Adaptive QoS 2.0 are specifically tailored to deliver stable and lag-free gaming experiences. These tools aid in prioritizing gaming traffic to minimize latency and ensure consistent performance across all supported games.

The router includes various security and functionality enhancements, with an integrated ad blocker, tracker blocker, network insight tools, and an RF scanner. These features provide users with better control over their network, potentially protect against threats, and maintain optimal performance during peak usage.

Asus also unveiled several other networking products. The RT-BE58 Go is a travel router designed for connectivity across different work settings, whether traveling, at home, or in the office. It supports 4G/5G mobile tethering, WISP mode for private hotspots over public Wi-Fi, and functions as a traditional home router. Additionally, it is capable of dual-band Wi-Fi 7 speeds up to 3600 Mbps and supports MLO and 4K-QAM technologies. It also comes with AiProtection. a dedicated commercial-grade security tool powered by Trend Micro, VPN support for up to 30 providers, and Safe Browsing capabilities.

The 5G-Go mobile router is another unique product for travelers, offering international roaming support in up to 232 countries. The router features durable, IP51-rated protection alongside support for 5G, delivering speeds of up to 5.95Gbps. Equipped with Wi-Fi 7, a 2.5G Ethernet port, and 10 Gbps USB tethering, it supports Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) for extended high-speed internet use. Other features include a 6030 mAh battery offering all-day power and a quick VPN feature.

The ZenWi-Fi Outdoor series targets users who require fast Wi-Fi 7 connectivity in outdoor spaces. The flagship ZenWi-Fi BD5 Outdoor offers dual-band Wi-Fi 7 speeds up to 5,000 Mbps with MLO and 4K-QAM technologies, extending coverage by up to 2,500 sq ft with AiMesh compatibility. Designed for harsh environments, it features IP65 water and dust resistance, ESD, and surge protection and operates in temperatures ranging from -30°C to 60°C. Installation is simplified with Power over Ethernet (PoE) support, dual 2.5G PoE-in ports, and versatile mounting options.

Security is prioritized with Triple-level Network Security, including AiProtection Pro, pre-installed VPNs, and customizable SSIDs for IoT and parental controls. The series also includes the ZenWi-Fi BD4 Outdoor, which provides dual-band speeds of 3,600 Mbps and coverage up to 2,450 sq ft.

6G is shaping up to be one of the largest jumps in network bandwidth in mobile service providers' history. Interesting Engineering reports that researchers have successfully created a 6G network that achieved a 938 Gbps transmission data rate.

For perspective, 938 Gbps is almost 5000 times faster than a good to excellent 5G connection on your typical 5G smartphone, which can operate at roughly 200 Mbps. It's even faster when you consider real-world 5G connections that don't have the best signal, which will generally provide well below 100 Mbps.

This impressive feat was accomplished by Zhixin Liu and his team at University College London (UCL). The team purportedly used a combination of radio waves and light-based communication across the broadest spectrum of frequencies ever recorded, ranging from 5 GHz to 150 GHz.

The researchers used a 145 GHz bandwidth wireless transmission using orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) for the test. This setup takes advantage of different transmission operations for various frequency ranges. The high-frequency mm-wave bands, including the 75 - 150 GHz bands, were generated by "mixing optically modulated signals with frequency-locked lasers on high-speed photodiodes."

"By frequency-locking two pairs of narrow linewidth lasers and referring to a common quartz oscillator, the researchers generated W-band and D-band signals with stable carrier frequency and reduced phase noise compared to free-running lasers, maximizing the use of spectrum.

By using OFDM format and bit loading, the researchers achieved a 938 Gbps transmission data rate with less than a 300 MHz gap between different RF and mm-wave bands."

Liu and his team purportedly talk with smartphone manufacturers and network providers about the technology they are developing. Specifically, the team's development aims to solve the 100 Gbps requirement of next-generation 6G base stations for communication between access points and hubs.

It’s been nearly two years since I wrote a three-part series on my experiences with T-Mobile Home Internet. My first encounter with the service was pleasant enough, as I experienced download speeds of 472 Mbps and upload speeds of 71.9 Mbps. While the downloads were comparable to what I saw with my Spectrum 400/20 cable internet plan, the upload speeds were roughly three times as fast. Better yet, the cost of admission was just $50 per month compared to the $65 per month I was paying for Spectrum internet.

However, things quickly went south two weeks after I initially activated my T-Mobile Home Internet service. I started receiving connection errors, which resulted in losing complete internet connectivity. After two days of no internet and no help from T-Mobile customer service, I crawled back to Spectrum internet, and have been with the service ever since. However, my brief encounter with T-Mobile Home Internet unearthed serious problems with the wireless service, T-Mobile's inability to deal with capacity issues, and customer service representatives that would lie to customers to get them off the phone or kick the can down the road regarding connectivity woes.

Considering significant time has passed since I said goodbye to T-Mobile Home Internet, I decided that now was a good time to revisit the service and see if things have improved.

Returning to T-Mobile Home Internet

Prior to and after my two-week stint with T-Mobile Home Internet, I’ve been using Spectrum’s 400/20 internet plan. The service works fine, and outages are minimal. I can probably count on a single hand how many times I’ve had a significant outage in the past five years. But in the back of my mind, I still couldn’t get past paying $65 a month for 20 Mbps upload speeds.

Last month, I saw a banner ad for T-Mobile Home Internet, which offered a $200 prepaid Mastercard promotion when signing up for its service. Being the cheapskate that I am, the $200 bonus coupled with the still low price of $50 per month with autopay made me decide to give the service another chance… for science. Sidenote: The $50 price is only achieved when you use autopay with a bank draft; otherwise, you pay $55 per month with autopay and a credit card.

Like before, signing up for the service was as easy as logging into my existing T-Mobile account, verifying that I could receive 5G coverage at home, entering my social security number (for a credit check), and confirming my payment details. I placed the order for the service on a Wednesday afternoon, and the welcome package with a 5G gateway arrived on Friday afternoon.

Setting up T-Mobile Home Internet

The old circular 5G gateway that I received in July 2022 is no longer in use. In its place, I received a Sercomm TMO-G4AR that T-Mobile now sends to new customers. The modem/router is a rectangular tower finished in flat white plastic. It has internal antennas for connecting to T-Mobile's 5G/LTE network. However, there are also connectors for attaching an external antenna if you have poor reception.

There are also two USB-C ports (one of which powers the unit), a SIM card slot, and two GbE ports. I wish there were at least four GbE ports, but I can live with just two.

Getting on the T-Mobile network is as simple as installing the T-Mobile Home Internet (or T-Life) app, scanning the QR code on the back of the device, and following the on-screen prompts. Even though the app told me to set the 5G gateway near a window, I placed it on my desk (where my old Motorola cable modem and Wi-Fi router were positioned) and received four signal bars (out of five).

To expedite the setup process for my plethora of wireless devices (I have over three dozen Wi-Fi devices in my home), I just reused the SSID from my existing wireless router and I was up and running.

The TMO-G4AR functions as a basic Wi-Fi 6 router, which had no trouble covering my two-story home and even outside. However, the big downside to using T-Mobile’s router is that it requires the use of an app to configure the router, and the options available are slim to none. You can change the SSID, network password, and specify frequency bands, but that’s about it. This is geared more toward people who want to set up the router and forget about it, so the in-depth customization that we see with the best Wi-Fi routers is not applicable.

T-Mobile Home Internet Performance

I’ve been using T-Mobile Home Internet with the TMO-G4AR for over a month now. During that billing cycle (March 22 through April 21), I’ve maintained a consistent four bars for signal strength and haven’t experienced any service dropouts. I also haven’t needed to reboot the device for any reason during that time.

Although T-Mobile bills its service as offering “unlimited” internet, the company says that your service may be subject to lower speeds due to data prioritization routines currently in place:

As of January 18, 2024, new T-Mobile Home Internet customers using more than 1.2TB of data in a billing cycle are also considered Heavy Data Users. The threshold number is periodically evaluated across our rate plans and brands to manage network traffic and deliver a good experience to all customers while offering a range of customer choices. You can always check the threshold amount for a rate plan by speaking with a representative, review our rate cards or T-Mobile.com, or by logging in to my.t-mobile.com, or the T-Mobile app.

Even though I used over 1.5TB of data during my first billing cycle, I never noticed any drops in download speeds while using the service. However, I do notice that my upload speeds vary widely depending on the time of the day. As you can see from these SpeedTest results using the app on my Mac, I’m getting downloads in the mid-600 Mbps range—and this is any time during the day. Uploads, however, range from 40 to 60 Mbps.

I haven’t changed my internet usage habits since switching from Spectrum back to T-Mobile Home Internet. That means multiple personal smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops are connected. That’s not to mention several test rigs that are always running and TVs that are streaming everything from Sling TV to Disney Plus to Amazon Video. In other words, I just use the service, and it works without issue, which is something I couldn’t truly say after my first two-week stint nearly two years ago.

Final Thoughts

After my nightmare of trying the T-Mobile Home Internet service in 2022, I had no intention of going back to the service. On a whim, I decided to give it another shot and I’ve been impressed by the promise of 5G home internet service. For an entire month, it has been rock solid day in and day out, and just as reliable as my Spectrum internet service. And the cost savings do add up, compared to what I was paying with Spectrum. A $15 savings per month translates into an extra $180 in my bank account. Throw in the $200 prepaid Mastercard that I’ll receive from T-Mobile, and I’d chalk this up as a win, so far.

However, my new “winning” streak with T-Mobile doesn’t discount the troubles I had in the past or troubles that other people had (or continue to have) with the service. Perhaps T-Mobile has upped its capacity to deal with an influx of customers. Maybe its customer support team has improved how it handles customers who call in with problems. 

It’s also likely the current generation of 5G gateways is more reliable, thus ensuring that customers have a better internet experience. Or maybe, I just got lucky this time? Who knows for sure, but I’ll just ride this 5G home internet train as long as I can and hope that the experience stays enjoyable.

According to Mac Rumors, during its first earnings call of 2024, Qualcomm has stated that Apple has extended its contract with Qualcomm's 5G modem patent till March 2027. Just a year ago, Apple extended this license to 2026 as it faced several ambitious challenges to create its in-house modem. Now after five months, Apple has seemingly decided to add another year to this license agreement likely because it faced several more challenges with its 5G modem design. 

The claim is backed up by Qualcomm's CEO Cristiano Amon, who said during an interview with CNBC, “We are very happy with the relationship with Apple right now, and we will continue to be supplying modems to them”. Apple has not yet commented on this recent extension. Apple has its own earnings calls later today which may confirm the statement.

In 2023, we twice reported that Apple's 5G modem project was postponed until late 2025 and then further delayed to 2026 with the possibility of further delays. The company originally had plans to introduce this chip in the iPhone SE during spring 2025, but it wasn't able to meet the required deadline. Because of this, Apple decided to exercise its unilateral option to extend Qualcomm's patent, adding two more years.

Apple's Quest for In-House Modem

Apple's modem project was kicked off by Tim Cook in 2018 to reduce its dependency on external suppliers. It would also save money as the company paid more than $7.2 billion to Qualcomm in 2022. Apple started hiring engineers for 'Project Sinope'. Not surprisingly, it faced several challenges such as slow performance and overheating. The chip was also too large, occupying half the internal space of its iPhones. In September 2023, the company decided to delay its plans to switch over by 2025 and have the contract with Qualcomm by 2026.

Apple has its primary focus on 6G chips but has not yet abandoned its first 5G modem ambitions, despite several setbacks. Reducing one's complete dependency on a single chipmaker is healthy long term goal, provided your product can compete. But this endeavour looks more like an arms race for cellular modem SoC, with Qualcomm being a dominant supplier and Apple facing several challenges and complexities enough to add at least a year in delays. 

Even with the best infrastructure and design team, making an in-house chip is extremely complicated. Apple isn't the first with such ambitious plans even within the smartphone industry. Samsung has been making its own in-house mobile SoC since 2010. It recently launched the Galaxy S24 series whose S24 and S24 Plus use Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for models sold in the US and Canada, while the rest of the world has variants with Exynos 2400.

In a live stream today, Chinese handheld gaming PC specialist Ayaneo unveiled its first device aimed at Android gaming. The new Ayaneo Pocket AIR looks a lot like the company's previous Windows-powered handhelds, but it manages to be thinner and lighter. Also, thanks to the Arm architecture, and retaining the "Windows handheld grade" battery, it is suggested that users can enjoy games "without worrying about battery life."

Android and Windows handheld markets may not really have a lot of overlap. On Tom's Hardware, we look most closely at PCs and PC gaming. PC AAA games titles are quite different from the library available on Android, except some common casual titles (and streaming services). 

Thus we think many readers won't be interested in this type of device for Android gaming, or games streaming, especially when they have powerful smartphones already. Nevertheless this device is worth a closer look to see Ayaneo's efforts in trying to jump into the Android market and compare the device with its Windows-powered lineage.

Starting with the basics, the Ayaneo Pocket AIR has a 5.5-inch 1080p AMOLED screen. The processor used is a 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 1200, which has 1x Ultra Core (Arm Cortex-A78 up to 3.0 GHz), 3x Super Cores (Arm Cortex-A78 up to 2.6 GHz), and 4x Efficiency Cores (Arm Cortex-A55 up to 2.0 GHz). Inside MediaTek's SoC there is also an Arm Mali-G77 MC9 GPU, support for various codecs, 5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and more. Despite the flagship smartphone guts, Ayaneo says that the Pocket AIR has an "x86-level powerful active cooling system." 

Similarly, it says this compact new device uses a "Windows handheld grade" battery, at 7,350mAh. Sadly, it hasn't been forthcoming with screen-on-time gaming endurance figures, so we will have to wait and see about extended battery life claims.

We have some physical details of the Ayaneo Pocket AIR to share, too. With its 5.5-inch screen you shouldn't expect a very hefty device, but at 380 g (13.4-ounces) it is about twice as heavy as a common-or-garden smartphone. The device's 'waist' is 17 mm thick. Ayaneo asserts that the Pocket AIR "fits easily in your pocket."

As the Ayaneo Pocket AIR is a pre-release, pre-crowdfunding stage device at the time of writing, we don't seem to have a great depth of specs, so details about memory and storage options seem to be absent right now.

Some other interesting details we have access to though, concern the controls. In brief, buyers of the Ayaneo Pocket AIR should expect a very similar extensive control set. So, here we have lots of buttons and pads including hall sensing joysticks and triggers, and there is the SoundTapMagic audio vibration system, an X-axis linear motor, and six-axis gyroscope included for your gaming delights.

On top of the Android installation, Ayaneo has ported its Windows gaming UI app, AYAHome, as well as the AYASpace management app. Another software nicety is the Ayaneo Cloud Game Database for retro gaming fans.

Running emulators looks like a focus of fun on the Ayaneo Pocket AIR, as there are many slides on the Ayaneo blog and Pocket AIR product pages highlighting this aspect of the device. Even its color scheme with "classic red and white," harks back to the 8- and 16-bit eras.

We don't have pricing or availability for the upcoming Ayaneo Pocket AIR. At the time of writing the firm is asking for sign-ups for news of its Indiegogo campaign launch. Let's hope it is priced competitively, to give this device some impulse purchase appeal. We've seen a lot of pricey handhelds from this firm recently, but it has made some sub-$300 devices in the past.

Today, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has added 802.11bb as a standard for light-based wireless communications. The publishing of the standard has been welcomed by global Li-Fi businesses, as it will help speed the rollout and adoption of the  data-transmission technology standard.

Advantages of using light rather than radio frequencies (RF) are highlighted by Li-Fi proponents including pureLiFi, Fraunhofer HHI, and the Light Communications 802.11bb Task Group. Li-Fi is said to deliver “faster, more reliable wireless communications with unparalleled security compared to conventional technologies such as Wi-Fi and 5G.” Now that the IEEE 802.11bb Li-Fi standard has been released, it is hoped that interoperability between Li-Fi systems with the successful Wi-Fi will be fully addressed.

Of course, Li-Fi isn’t going to sweep away Wi-Fi and 5G alternatives (nor wired networks). Radio waves still have a distinct advantage with regard to transmission through the atmosphere at great distance, and though opaque objects. Instead, work must concentrate on using horses for courses – with Li-Fi advantages being harvested where possible.

In the Fraunhofer HHI video above you can see a Li-Fi system re-using a building’s lighting infrastructure for data. Don’t worry, the lights don’t visibly blink or flash, as the data transmission uses part of the infrared spectrum.

Where Li-Fi shines (pun intended) is not just in its purported speeds as fast as 224 GB/s. Fraunhofer’s Dominic Schulz points out that as it works in an exclusive optical spectrum, this ensures higher reliability and lower latency and jitter. Moreover “Light’s line-of-sight propagation enhances security by preventing wall penetration, reducing jamming and eavesdropping risks, and enabling centimetre-precision indoor navigation,” says Shultz.

Now the IEEE 802.11bb standard is published, manufacturers can have greater confidence in the ecosystem and start integrating the tech, where suitable. One of the big wheels of Li-Fi, pureLiFi, has already prepared the Light Antenna ONE module for integration into connected devices. This 14.5mm long component (pictured above and top) is currently being provided to OEMs for evaluation. In its promotional materials the firm suggests that Li-Fi is preferable over Wi-Fi for: more connections without congestion, greater security and privacy, and doing the heavy lifting for the highest bandwidth tasks.

We expect to see a far fuller gamut of Li-Fi network devices, and user devices which support the standard, emerge between now and MWC next February.

Huawei Technologies, which is banned from using U.S.-originated technologies, is planning its return to flagship smartphone market by the end of the year, reports Reuters citing three research firms. The company will reportedly use Chinese fabs and technologies to produce advanced chips required for 5G handsets, although the details remain vague.

Reports from several research companies covering the Chinese smartphone market indicate that Huawei will likely be able to secure domestic 5G chips, thanks to its own developments in semiconductor design tools and chip manufacturing by the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. In particular, Huawei is rumored to make use of SMIC's N+1 manufacturing process, which belongs to 7nm-class production nodes, though it is likely that the high-tech giant will use a refined version of N+1.

Huawei's current flagship P60 Pro smartphone relies on Qualcomm's platform as well as the company's own Harmony OS operating system. Using SMIC's production node, the company could probably produce a cheaper handset for the mass market, increase sales of its smartphones, and gain experience with domestic technologies for 5G smartphones. The company has reportedly upped its smartphones sales projections for 2023 from 30 million to 40 million.

What remains to be seen is whether Huawei can produce a rival for the Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 platform using one of SMIC's nodes.

Earlier this year Huawei announced that it had developed electronic design automation (EDA) software to design chips based on 14nm-class and thinner process technologies, which represented a significant advancement for the Chinese EDA industry. Huawei expected to complete testing on this software in 2023 and indicated plans to use its EDA software to design its proprietary HiSilicon chips.

While Huawei does not have its own fabs and cannot access leading-edge process technologies at TSMC, IFS, and Samsung Foundry, it has been collaborating with SMIC, Chinese foundry champion, over building a fab and developing fabs tools for a while. The two companies could refine SMIC's N+1 and other advanced nodes to make them suitable for Huawei's HiSilicon SoCs, but this is our speculation at this point.

While Wi-Fi 6E routers for your home are a dime a dozen these days, that isn’t the case regarding portable routers. Today, Netgear announced the launch of its new unlocked version of the Nighthawk M6 Pro (MR6550), which brings faster internet connectivity to users on the go or for consumers that lack reliable fixed broadband service at home.

Compared to its predecessor, the M6 Pro adds Wi-Fi 6E connectivity and mmWave support for broader compatibility with 5G networks at speeds up to 8 Gbps (up from 2.5 Gbps max). The M6 Pro also features a larger 2.8-inch touchscreen (versus 2.4 inches) and ups maximum LTE speeds from 1.6 Gbps to 2 Gbps. 

The mobile hotspot has 3,600 Mbps of available bandwidth (2,900 MHz 5/6 GHz, 700 Mbps 2.4 GHz) and an integrated 2.5 GbE port (the M6 has just a 1 GbE port) on the back. You’ll also find a USB-C 3.1 Gen 2 port on the back, which is used for charging and data. Another intriguing addition to the M6 Pro are two TS-9 antenna connectors. This allows you to connect external antennas to boost reception beyond what the M6 Pro’s internal antennas can provide (an ideal setup for users that need internet connectivity in more remote regions).

The M6 Pro’s internal battery can also last up to 13 hours per charge, which should be sufficient for even the most demanding users, Netgear told us via video call. I also asked how mmWave connectivity would affect battery life but was assured that endurance hit would be minimal. The M6 Pro’s Wi-Fi coverage is roughly 1,000 square feet on battery power. However, if you connect it directly to a power outlet, coverage doubles to 2,000 square feet.

You might ask why you would want to use a mobile hotspot like M6 Pro when a smartphone can perform the same task. According to Netgear, 88 percent of people purchasing a dedicated mobile hotspot use it as their primary home internet connection. Many Americans live in rural areas with non-existent or substandard broadband connectivity, so a cellular-based solution is ideal — and smartphones can’t simultaneously support up to 32 devices like the M6 Pro can. 

Netgear’s research also found that 54 percent of people use portable routers as a “primary” connection in vacation homes, and 50 percent use them inside their vehicles while traveling. 

There is one “gotcha” to the M6 Pro, and that's would be pricing. You can get an AT&T carrier-locked version of the M6 Pro for $460 or pay $12.78 per month on an installment plan. However, the unlocked version will set you back $999.99 direct from Netgear (and soon from Amazon). According to Netgear, the unlocked M6 Pro is currently only supported by AT&T and Verizon SIMs that have previously been activated or with T-Mobile BYOD plans. However, it does note that new BYOD activations for AT&T and Verizon will be "coming soon."

As a part of Intel's strategy of devouring businesses that do not exactly fit its IDM 2.0 strategy, the company this week quietly started to exit its wireless wire area network (WWAN) business. The move has been in development for a while and while Intel is set to cease making 4G and 5G modems itself, it will continue to provide notebook solutions based on its CPUs yet equipped with MediaTek-badged modems, reports More Than Moore. 

While the world is getting more connected, connectivity is perhaps becoming a commodity business for companies like Intel that strive to be vertically integrated yet sell their products at high margins. This is perhaps why the company sold its 4G and 5G smartphone/tablet modem business  to Apple back in mid-2019 and this is why it is selling the remaining business to MediaTek. For MediaTek, Intel's PC modem technology will enable it to offer connectivity solutions for the whole stack of client devices, starting from humble Internet-of-Things gadgets and ending up with advanced ultrabooks used by road warriors. 

After Intel sold its cellular phone modem business to Apple — the key customer of this business unit so to speak — yet retained its crucial 4G and 5G patents (at least some of which it inherited from Infineon as a part of its 2011 wireless solutions acquisition), it kept offering 4G and 5G modem solutions as part of its laptop platforms. At some point, the company decided to team up with MediaTek and Fibocom for manufacturing of appropriate modems.  

Now, the company plans to transfer its 5G technology to Fibocom and MediaTek and is currently facilitating the transfer of driver code and licensing agreements to maintain customer experience. Although Intel intends to exit the 5G market by July, it will retain a small team to aid MediaTek, which adheres hardware, software and clients. The technology transfer is expected to be completed by May and is not expected to have any financial impact on Intel. Intel's OEM partners using 5G solutions can continue to collaborate with MediaTek to provide updates and upgrades to their existing product roadmaps. 

"As we continue to prioritize investments in our IDM 2.0 strategy, we have made the difficult decision to exit our WWAN client business for both LTE and 5G," said Eric McLaughlin, VP, GM Wireless Solutions, Intel, in a statement issued to More Than Moore. We are working with our partners and customers to facilitate a seamless transition to support their ongoing business and ensure our customers continue to have solutions for the connected PC segment." 

For Intel, its 4G and 5G modem business may not be the most profitable one. Furthermore, as Analyst Dr. Ian Cutress points out, the total available market of always-connected PCs (ACPCs) has not increased in the recent years. While there might be an influx of a ACPCs from Apple (which has appropriate modem technology it inherited from Intel) and Qualcomm, Intel may not be inclined to compete with these two platforms given allegedly limited profit margins in this sector.

Meanwhile, offering a whole stack of connectivity solutions makes a great sense for MediaTek, which is going to get the business unit.

"MediaTek has a strong history of delivering global wireless solutions, and continues to make investments in its wireless modem portfolio beyond the smartphone into PCs and other devices," a statement by MediaTek cited by More Than Moore reads.

For Huawei, it is close to impossible to procure chips for its server and communications products that are widely used in China and other countries. But that doesn't mean that the company cannot get chips at all; it just does not want anyone to know who sells them. At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the company demonstrated its new server motherboards with all chips covered with disguising tape and coolers to hide the names of its suppliers. 

Huawei still sells boatloads of servers and communication equipment in China and a number of other countries, but to build those devices, it needs chips. Virtually all chips today — whether they are logic or memory ICs — are designed using electronic design automation (EDA) tools developed in the U.S. and produced on equipment containing technologies created in America, so their suppliers need to get appropriate licenses from the U.S. Department of Commerce to sell them to Huawei or its subsidiaries.  

But getting those licenses is tricky, which is why Huawei likely has to buy chips on the gray market or use complicated means to get hardware from its developers. In both cases, the company prefers not to demonstrate what it uses openly and hides its suppliers, as we can see from images published on Twitter by Jay Goldberg, a 5G, IoT, and networking analyst focused on China. Of course, another reason to hide chips that it uses from prying is could be a way to conceal trade secrets from competitors (and we know that there are Chinese companies copying Huawei's products).

You need to expand the above tweet to see the images. One of the boards (marked at GFMPUB Ver. A) not only conceals logic chips using a radiator or tape, but even hides the supplier of the memory ICs. Another board, which looks like a prototype (or even a mockup) of a 4-way server motherboard, not only conceals the markings on some of the chips, but even does not carry processors, perhaps to guarantee that no one could guess their producer even if the board gets stolen.  

After Huawei became a victim of the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China on the grounds that it has ties with the People's Republic army, the company can no longer procure hardware and software from U.S.-based companies or containing technologies developed in America without getting an appropriate license from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Huawei's HiSilicon subsidiary lost access to advanced semiconductor production outside of China, which to a large degree blocked its advanced chip development. 

As it turns out, there are still ways for Huawei to obtain the chips it needs. Furthermore, the company is reportedly working with China-based SMIC — another company that lost its ability to develop at a rapid pace because of the U.S.-imposed sanctions — to build a fab capable of producing chips and system-in-packages it needs to build its products.

The United States government plans to stop granting export licenses to companies dealing with China-based Huawei and its subsidiaries. This will essentially leave the telecommunication giant without American technologies, reports the Financial Times. 

The U.S. Department of Commerce added Huawei and virtually all of its subsidiaries to the entity list in 2019 – 2020, to curtail its ability to build new products featuring U.S. technologies, and started to require companies exporting such technologies to Huawei to obtain an export license. But those licenses were actually granted, which is how Huawei and its affiliates got products involving technologies originating in the U.S. 

Huawei and its subsidiaries could not get the truly advanced technologies required for things like 5G networks. But the company could get chips required for various consumer electronics (including smartphones and PCs), plus telecommunication equipment, which kept the company afloat. 

But this is going to change soon, as the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently notified those companies that it would no longer grant licenses to export American technology to Huawei, according to Financial Times. Alan Estevez, the head of the BIS, is currently reviewing China-related export granting policies in a bid to figure out the next steps that the U.S. has to take. 

Back in October, the U.S. imposed sweeping sanctions against China's semiconductor and supercomputer sectors, in a bid to curtail the development of China's military capabilities, but this will also restrict the country's technological and economical advances. Imposing additional curbs against Huawei will certainly impact the Chinese economy more than it would impact the country's military capabilities, such as nuclear weapons or hypersonic missiles.  

Other recent actions of the U.S. government include imposing more restrictions on exports of wafer fab equipment (WFE) to China. To ensure that companies like SMIC do not have access to advanced fab tools, the U.S. reached a pact with Japan and the Netherlands to put curbs on exports by companies like ASML, Canon, Nikon, and Tokyo Electron. Some believe this will speed up the development of China's own wafer fabrication tech, but it will be particularly hard to do that without tech developed in the USA.

After becoming one of the leading suppliers of system-on-chips for inexpensive Chromebooks, MediaTek wants to address the market of Windows on Arm PCs. To meet the performance expectations of Windows users, MediaTek plans to develop SoCs with enhanced CPU and GPU performance; the company reiterated this week.

"In CPU and GPU we are having to make some bigger investments as a foundational capability [for PC-oriented SoCs]," said Vince Hu, a corporate vice president of MediaTek at the company's event, reports PC World.

MediaTek's Kompanio platforms for Windows on Arm PCs will include 'some of the technology' applied to high-end Dimensity SoCs for smartphones as well as 5G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and even display driver ICs (DDICs) specifically designed for laptops, the company revealed.

The company's latest Dimensity 9200 SoC for smartphones features eight general-purpose CPU cores and an 11-cluster graphics processing unit with hardware raytracing support. The CPU department includes one Arm Cortex-X3 performance-enhanced core operating at 3.05 GHz, three Cortex-A715 high-performance cores at 2.85 GHz, and four Cortex-A510 energy-efficient cores. Also, the SoC is compatible with LPDDR5X-8533 memory.

By contrast, MediaTek's top-of-the-range Kompanio 1380 SoC for higher-end Chromebooks features four standard high-performance Arm Cortex-A78 cores at 3.0 GHz, four standard energy-efficient Arm Cortex-A55 cores, 5-cluster Arm Mali-A57 graphics, and an LPDDR4X-2133 memory subsystem. However, the Kompanio 1380 is less capable than the Dimensity 9200, so MediaTek wants to enhance its PC SoCs before addressing Windows on Arm machines with them.

It is unclear whether MediaTek plans to use performance-enhanced Arm Cortex-X cores for its notebook SoCs or will develop its custom Arm-compatible cores like Apple. On the one hand, it is entirely logical for MediaTek to build custom high-performance cores if MediaTek plans to compete against Qualcomm's next-generation Snapdragon SoCs that will use custom cores from Nuvia. But on the other hand, this requires significantly more investments and effort than licensing high-performance out-of-box cores.

MediaTek has been gradually transforming itself from a developer of mainstream SoCs for consumer electronics and handsets to a supplier of premium application processors for advanced smartphones. As a result, it will be logical for MediaTek to start developing custom performance-enhanced IP in-house to differentiate from its rivals (most notably Qualcomm, Samsung, and Unisoc) and offer unique capabilities. However, it is unclear whether the company has such plans for now.

Over the last ten years, the Microsoft Surface Pro lineup has come to define the detachable two-in-one category. Recently, Microsoft has flirted with Qualcomm's Arm chips in a separate model from the mainline Intel versions. But with the Surface Pro 9, that's changing. For the first time, Microsoft is putting Intel's chips and Arm processors as options in the same device.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 with 5G ($1,299.99 to start, $1,899.99 as tested), the model with the Microsoft SQ3 processor, has the same dimensions, a 120 Hz display and the same keyboard (assuming you buy one) as the Intel model. Microsoft is planting a stake: Arm, the company is saying with its flagship tablet, is ready for primetime for Windows 11 on its flagship device.

If you want a 5G Surface, the SQ3 model is the only way to go. For some, that may be enough to make it the ​​best ultrabook. But there are tradeoffs. The SQ3 isn't as powerful as the Intel version, still has some compatibility issues (though significantly fewer than there used to be) with some Windows apps, and offers slower USB speeds.

But at its core, the Surface Pro 9 using SQ3 largely feels like any other Surface. Is Arm truly ready for the spotlight?

Design of the Microsoft Surface Pro 9

The Surface Pro 9 is following a formula. It's a thin tablet that can connect to a keyboard to become a full Windows 11 PC.

We reviewed the Pro 9 (with a Microsoft SQ3, more on that later) in the platinum color — the only one that Microsoft offers with Arm chips. It very much resembles the Surface Pro X, even more so than the Pro 8, with a thin chassis and rounded corners. The only marking on the system, besides some antennae lines, is a reflective Windows logo on the kickstand, which extends almost flat.

You still get a tall, 3:2, 13-inch display with thin bezels on the sides, though there remains a little room for slimming on the top and bottom. But that top does house a 1080p webcam and infrared sensors, so the space is being put to good use.

On the top of the device, there are power and volume buttons (the latter make great sense when used as a tablet, but less so when in laptop mode).

To use the Surface as a laptop, you'll need to add a keyboard. I suppose you could use a Bluetooth keyboard or a USB-C keyboard you already own, but the best way to go portable  is with Microsoft's own Type covers. In our review kit, that meant a $279.99 Surface Pro Signature Keyboard and Slim Pen 2 bundle, though there are cheaper Signature Keyboards without the stylus included ($179.99), or just a standard keyboard without room to charge a pen ($139.99, originally designed for the Surface Pro X. Either way, budget that into your purchase price.

The key board attaches to the bottom of the Pro 9 magnetically. Flip out the kickstand, and voila: a laptop – sort of. We've had ten years of the Microsoft Surface and this device still isn't great on the lap, but it works just fine on a desk.

There is a notable omission on the Surface Pro 9: a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Microsoft has gone the route of Dell, which removed the port on the XPS 13 and XPS 13 Plus, as has Apple in almost all of Apple's iPads. To be fair, Microsoft didn't have this port on the Arm-based Surface Pro X, but it's a first for the Arabic-numeraled line. I'm still of the opinion that it's nice to have a wired headphone backup, especially when a device isn't waterproof and there's not much reason for its removal. Losing the port doesn't feel terribly "Pro." Dell includes a USB-C to 3.5 mm dongle in its boxes, which is kind of a band-aid, but it's better than nothing. Microsoft should follow suit.

On the left side of the Surface Pro 9 are the two USB Type-C ports, but that's it for expandability other than the proprietary Surface Connect port on the right side of the device. (The Intel versions have Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4, so the Arm version is missing out here.) The latter port is used for the charging cable, though if you have a Surface Dock (or any USB-C dock), that could add more expandability.

The nano SIM card slot can be found under a door behind the kickstand. Any SIM ejector tool will pop the door off, exposing both the nano SIM slot and the SSD (see upgradeability, below). In fact, an ejector tool is included with the Surface Pro 9 — it's tucked into a card with all of the instruction manuals and warranty information.

Microsoft's tablet form factor makes the Surface Pro 9 considerably smaller than clamshell competitors that also run Windows 11. Without the type cover, it's 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches and just 1.95 pounds.  That's comparable to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which is 11.04 x 8.46 x 0.25 inches and lighter at 1.51 pounds.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13s, another Windows on Arm machine, is 11.76 x 8.13 x 0.53 inches and 2.35 pounds. The latest Dell XPS 13 is 11.63 x 7.86 x 0.55 inches and 2.59 pounds.  Apple's Arm-based laptop, the MacBook Air with M2, is 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches and 2.7 pounds.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Specifications

Windows 11 on Arm: Prime Time, Ready or Not

By putting the Microsoft SQ3 (based heavily on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, though we're not exactly sure how identical they are) in the mainline Surface Pro line, just like Intel models, Microsoft is suggesting that Windows on Arm is ready for prime time.

In many ways, Windows 11 on Arm is far better now than it was even just a couple years ago. With x64 emulation in Windows 11, plenty applications that were designed for x86 systems work, where they didn’t on the Surface Pro X and Windows 10.

Microsoft has been pushing for developers to create native Arm apps with various tools (announcing its own $599 dev kit recently), but Arm native software is still trickling in. Native apps include Edge, Microsoft Teams, Firefox, Photoshop, VLC, 7-Zip, Netflix, Handbrake and Zoom.

There are still some applications that don't work, like certain anti-virus applications, games and apps using anti-cheat drivers of OpenGL versions higher than 3.3. And, if you're using peripherals that need drivers that aren't built into Windows 11, you'll need to see if there are Arm64 drivers for them.

Most people who try Windows on Arm for light workloads and without specialized software should be able to use this device without issue. But for those looking for a true Pro experience, the Intel version is still more of a sure thing in terms of app compatibility.

Productivity Performance on the Microsoft Surface Pro 9

We tested the Surface Pro 9 with a Microsoft SQ3 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. The SQ3, we know, is based off the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, but it's unclear just how much is different with Microsoft’s silicon. We also have test results from an Intel model with a Core i7-1255U, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

In general day-to-day work, like sending emails, browsing the web, editing spreadsheets, the Surface Pro 9 was fine. But the SQ3 won't deliver the power that Intel versions of the Surface Pro 9 offer.

On Geekbench 5, an overall performance test based heavily on the processor, the Surface Pro 9 notched a single-core score of 1,126 and a multi-core score of 5,849. The Intel version of the Surface Pro 9, posting 1,633 on single-core and 5,849 on the multi-core test, was impressively speedier than on Arm.

The SQ3's single-core score is identical to the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, and the multi-core score difference is so small as to be negligible. The Dell XPS 13 (Intel Core i5-1230U) did better (1,596/5,489) in its out-of-the box optimized mode, and even better when pushed to ultra. But the top performer in the group was Apple's Arm-based laptop, the MacBook Air with M2, at 1,932 single-core and 8,919 multi-core scores.

Microsoft's Arm-based PC was the slowest on our file transfer test. It copied 25GB of files at a rate of 414.79 MBps, falling behind the next slowest, the ThinkPad X13s (550.95 MBps) and the rest of the pack. The Intel version of the Pro 9 copied the files at 816.2 MBps.

The Surface Pro 9 with SQ3 completed our Handbrake video transcoding test in 12 minutes and 58 seconds, surprisingly beating the ThinkPad X13s by a fair margin (perhaps there were updates to the  Arm native version of the app). This is also the one area where it also beats the Dell XPS 13 (16:53) in its optimized mode, though pushing the XPS 13 to ultra gets it down to a faster 12:12. The MacBook Air was the speediest at 7:52, and the Intel version was also faster at 9:34.

We ran our usual stress test on the Surface Pro 9: 20 runs of Cinebench R23. It's a tough one for even strong productivity notebooks, but because it's an x64 app, the Surface Pro 9 is emulating it. In a way, we're measuring the performance of the emulation. The system started with a score of 3,550.56 before bouncing around the low 3,000's and high 2,000's for the rest of the test. We couldn't get CPU clock speeds or temperatures because our usual software for that, HWInfo, is also designed for x86, and so only saw a virtual processor.

Display on the Microsoft Surface Pro 9

The 13-inch "PixelSense Flow" display on the Surface Pro 9 has a resolution of 2880 x 1920 and is in a 3:2 aspect ratio, which is taller for showing more of your work. It also has a dynamic refresh rate up to 120 Hz, which the company advertises as being specifically good for using a stylus.

I watched one of our test videos, Tears of Steel, on the Surface Pro 9, and the short film's colorful scenes were vibrant. Holograms in a lab were bright blues, pinks and greens, while a brain sitting on a table was a meaty, paler hue. The screen is also plenty bright, which made a dark scene in which a sniper looks off of a bridge easy to see. Max brightness was more than I needed in most cases when just using the device.

The Surface Pro 9's panel covered 74% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 104.4% of the sRGB space in our tests, effectively matching the Dell XPS 13 and landing within a few points of the MacBook Air. (In both measurements, the Intel model was slightly higher, but not by enough to say for sure this isn’t just test variance). The ThinkPad X13s fared better here at 82.9% DCI-P3 and 117% DCI-P3.

At 439.4 nits on our light meter, the Surface Pro 9 was superior to the ThinkPad's 309 nits and edged out the Intel model by a few nits. It was dimmer than the MacBook Air (489 nits) and XPS 13 (460 nits), but still very usable.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Stylus on the Microsoft Surface Pro 9

The Surface Pro 9, like its predecessors, ships without a keyboard or touchpad. If you want those — or a stylus — you'll have to pony up extra. For me, the keyboard is a must have.

With our review unit, Microsoft included the $279.99 Surface Pro Signature Keyboard and Slim Pen 2 bundle in a pretty "sapphire" blue colorway. The keyboard is covered in the soft Alcantara fabric that has come to be synonymous with the Surface lineup. Above the function and media keys, there's a small alcove that fits the Surface Pen, which allows for easy storage and wireless charging.

You can type with the keyboard angle up (and hiding away the stylus), or with the keyboard flat against the desk. I prefer the latter because while it's less comfortable, it doesn't bounce as much. I hit 115 words per minute on monkeytype on the type cover, though my accuracy dipped to 97%.

The Type Cover is nice and soft against the wrists, and I'm still a fan of Microsoft's key switches, which I've enjoyed for years. A type cover will never be as stable as a keyboard deck (see the Surface Laptop lineup, for instance), but the switches are the right amount of clicky for me.

The touchpad is just big enough for thee- and four-finger gestures, which all worked seamlessly during my time with the Surface Pro 9, switching desktops, changing apps and minimizing work with the drag of a finger.

The Slim Pen 2 hasn't changed at all. Its big trick is that it uses a custom processor, the G6, to create very slight haptic feedback while you write or draw. I didn't find it to be a game-changing feature when I first tried it, but I still think it's kind of fun. I do wish, however, that you could change the strength of the haptics, as I really only notice them when I press down for hard strokes. The pen also works well with the 120 Hz display, as you don't get that split second of lag between writing and seeing it on the screen. That makes a bigger difference to me than any haptics.

Audio on the Microsoft Surface Pro 9

Microsoft armed the Surface Pro with a pair of 2W speakers with support for Dolby Atmos. For a thin tablet, it actually sounds pretty decent. Paramore's "This is Why" had clear vocals and guitars, and I could even make out the bass though, like most laptops, it didn't have much of a thump.

Music and videos on the Pro 9 get plenty loud if you're sitting in front of it, though I have heard some other devices get louder. Still, for most people, the sound here should be totally fine.

Upgradeability of the Microsoft Surface Pro 9

Despite the fact that Microsoft often says that SSD repairs should only be done by authorized service providers, it is easier to get to the SSD in the Pro 9 than nearly any other laptop I've seen this year (that being said, nothing else on the device is upgradeable).

The SSD is under a door located behind the kickstand, and you can open it with a SIM ejector tool. The SSD is held down with a single Torx screw. Microsoft uses m.2 2230 SSDs, which are shorter than what you find in most laptops, and can be more expensive or harder to find replacements for.

The drive is an easy upgrade if you know what you're doing. If you don't, perhaps Microsoft is right. But other components, like the battery and motherboard, are under the display. You're probably best to let the professionals take care of that.

Battery Life on the Microsoft Surface Pro 9

The Surface Pro 9 with SQ3 should be able to last you a workday and then some. On our battery test, which involves constant internet connectivity, web browsing, video streaming and OpenGL tests with the display set to 150 nits, it endured for 11 hours and 50 minutes. The laptop also completed one battery life test run after just 10 hours and 10 minutes. But this was an outlier, with other results sticking close to the 11:50 mark, so we tossed the lower result. We suspect the 11:50 run is closest to the device’s typical unplugged runtime. 

The Intel model lasted ten hours flat on our tests, suggesting the Arm version can, typically, run a bit longer.

The ThinkPad X13s, also a Windows on Arm PC, did the best of the competitors at 15:02, almost an hour ahead of the MacBook Air (14:06). The XPS 13 also did well at 13:11. 

Heat on the Microsoft Surface Pro 9

To see how hot the Surface Pro 9 with SQ3 gets to the touch, we took sin temperature measurements while running our Cinebench R23 stress test, which is pretty heavy use for an Arm-based tablet. The hottest point was on the back of the talet, slightly to the right of the top half. That measured 39.2 degrees Celsius (102.56 degrees Fahrenheit).

Since the Surface Pro 9's keyboard and touchpad aren't connected to the rest of the chassis, they don't change in temperature during use, which is nice for when the system warms up.

Webcam on the Microsoft Surface Pro 9

The webcam on the Surface Pro 9 with SQ3 is ready to work from home. It's a 1080p sensor, and it works well. (Resolution and quality don't always go hand-in-hand, but it's great when they do!) In some sample photos taken in my apartment, I appeared sharp, with accurate color and virtually no pixelation.

The 10MP rear webcam is more likely to be used by professionals working in the field. I found that I had to play around a bit with close-up objects to get them in focus using the Windows camera app, but the colors were always good. 

Microsoft pushes the SQ3's NPU as being able to help push camera effects, like background blur and faking eye contact when you're looking at the screen with some AI help. These work (though the eye contact can only be so convincing when you're not looking at the camera, and can sometimes appear a bit odd), but in theory, they should be available in every machine running the Windows 11 22H2 update.

Software and Warranty on the Microsoft Surface Pro 9

Microsoft keeps the software light on its own devices. The only major application that came preinstalled was the Surface software, which provides easy access to warranty information and lets you change the settings for the Slim Pen 2 (assuming you have one). It also has access to Windows Studio effects for cameras in Windows 11, which is new to the latest Windows 11 22H2 update.

Windows 11 still comes with some bloat in the start menu, including Spotify, Disney Plus, WhatsApp, TikTok, Kindle, Instagram and Amazon Prime Video.

Microsoft sells the Surface Pro 9 with a one-year warranty.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Configurations

We tested the Surface Pro 9 in platinum with the Microsoft SQ3 processor, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD and 5G support, which totals $1,899.99. Microsoft also sent over a Signature Keyboard with Slim Pen 2 in Sapphire, an additional $279.99, all for a total of $2,179.98. 

Other keyboards start at $139.99, for the one originally designed for the Surface Pro X. You can get a signature keyboard alone for $179.99, while the Slim Pen 2 is $129.99 when bought independently.

The 5G version of the Surface Pro 9 starts at $1,299.99, with an SQ3, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage. It only comes in platinum.

For the first time, Microsoft is selling Intel and Arm chips in the same chassis as the Intel-based models. The cheapest Intel version (none of which support 5G), is $999.99 with an Intel Core i5-1235U, 8GB of RAM and 128GB SSD. Intel's versions top out at a Core i7-1255U, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. Several of the Intel versions come in other colors, including sapphire, forest and graphite.

The Intel versions have a few other changes: Those have Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4.0, rather than USB 3.2 on the SQ3 model. Additionally, it has Dolby Vision IQ support for the display.

With the differences in USB, Wi-Fi and a few other features, the Surface Pro 9 feels a bit like two different products that share a name. Both run Windows, and when it comes to light workloads, you may not know the difference. But with the same name, they should have a bit more feature parity than this.

Bottom Line

The Surface Pro 9 continues Microsoft's tradition of premium hardware (for a premium price), regardless of CPU architecture. By putting its Arm chip, the SQ3, in the same chassis (and under the same name), Microsoft seems to think it's Arm's time to shine on Windows.

By most measures, Windows on Arm is a huge leap forward from where it used to be. With x64 emulation, the majority of apps most people will use will at least run, though Microsoft needs to get more developers to make Arm native software on Windows.

For most people who already want the latest Surface Pro, the question will be between this and the Intel version. If mobile connectivity is of utmost importance to you,   the SQ3 model is the one to go with. But for more performance and faster ports, Intel is probably the one for you. Hopefully the fact the two models are under the same name doesn't confuse too many customers trying to find the best option for their needs.

For me, the Intel version is more of a sure bet, if only because you can guarantee compatibility with any Windows-based app. If you're not a power user (or know the software you need works well on Arm), that may not apply.

Apple is still ahead on Arm. Its M2 processor is faster than the SQ3. And perhaps more importantly, Mac developers have made a larger effort to move to native software (possibly because all future Macs will have Apple Silicon in them).

Perhaps moving the SQ3 to the Surface Pro 9 will show the world that Microsoft is serious about Arm. Ultimately, the Surface Pro 9 with 5G is a lightweight, portable system with long battery life, which may be what people primarily working on the go want. But I think some people will be surprised to see the two versions haven't reached feature parity under the now unified branding.

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Microsoft is launching the Windows Dev Kit 2023, which was announced back in May as "Project Volterra" at Microsoft Build. The developer box, powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 compute platform, costs $599 and will ship in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, China, France and Germany.

The idea of the Dev Kit is that developers will make Windows apps for Arm-based systems. It's an area where Windows has slowly been growing in terms of software support. Vendors such as HP, Asus and Lenovo have made Windows on Arm laptops to varying degrees of success, and Microsoft uses customized Qualcomm chips in its Surface devices (the latest, the Microsoft SQ3, will power the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 with 5G).

The desktop is tiny at just 8 x 6 x 1.1 inches, but still has plenty of ports for developers who need to power multiple monitors (as long as they're willing to use USB Type-C and Mini DisplayPort) and peripherals. There are three USB Type-A ports, two USB-C ports and an Ethernet jack.

Microsoft is also highlighting the Snapdragon's neural processing unit, or NPU, as a feature for developers to design AI and machine learning applications around, using models like PyTorch and SensorFlow. Microsoft claims that for some models, "the NPU is about 80-90 times faster than CPU and about 20 times faster than GPU."

Back in May, Microsoft announced its intentions to release an Arm-native toolchain for apps built for the architecture. It says that it has released previews of several of these and most will be available by the end of the year. Additionally, Visual Studio 2022 17.4 has Arm-native support in C++, C$, Windows SDK and App SDK components, and workloads for the web, UWP, Node.js and game development.

If Microsoft sees a future in which Windows on Arm is as prolific as Windows using x86 platforms (or more realistically, anywhere close), getting developers on board is crucial. That does make me wonder about the $599 price. Enterprise customers might be able to afford that, but that's a heck of a price for individual developers. Microsoft should be giving these away to even get individuals developing for Windows on Arm.

Microsoft has made a number of its own apps Arm-native, including Teams, Edge and Office. Other apps that made the switch include Firefox, Adobe Photoshop, VLC, Netflix, Handbrake, Zoom and 7-Zip. With Windows 11, Microsoft is supporting x64 emulation, but that's not the same as a native app. Some software still doesn't work, and games and many antivirus and applications still aren't up and running. Microsoft's Arm64EC is designed for developers to either build new Arm apps natively, or slowly integrate new features into existing apps.

Will the new hardware result in a slew of new Arm-native software, as well as more cloud, AI and machine-learning-based apps? It's unclear. But this $599 bet suggests Microsoft thinks there's interest. Only time will tell if the company is right. 

 Geniatech has unveiled its SOM-3568-SMARC board, a modest Arm chipset that complies with the SMARC 2.1 standard for compact, low-powered systems. Brought to our attention by CNX Software, the SoM looks a little like a RAM module with a 314-pin MXM edge connector. 

This is an industrial core board designed for use in applications such as digital signage or IoT devices, but as there's still a shortage of Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4s we can envisage it being useful for projects that would have used them. The DIMM form factor is reminiscent of the previous Raspberry Pi compute modules, and allows the I/Os from the chipset to be exposed in a convenient, easy to connect to way.

The SoC is a Rockchip RK3568, which matches four Cortex-A55 cores with 8GB of RAM, a Mali GPU, and a modest NPU. There's up to 128GB of flash storage on-board, and a wireless module with Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth 4.1. It can be connected up to a variety of ports on a carrier board via the edge connector, including two gigabit Ethernet sockets, HDMI, MIPI and LVDS available for displays, an SDIO slot, two lanes of PCIe 3 and one of PCIe 2.1, plus UART, I2C, and a four-lane MIPI camera interface. 

There's also USB — 2x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0 host, and 1x USB 3.0 OTG available to builders, and a 4G/5G cellular data module is available.

The board conforms to the smaller of the form factors specified by SMARC, measuring just 82 x 50 mm (3.2 x 1.9 inches). This makes it larger than the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, which measures 55 x 40mm (2.1 x 1.5in), and in the same ballpark as the Compute Module 3, which measures 67.6mm x 31mm (1.6 x 1.2in).

The product page makes much of the board’s video decoding abilities — which hit a peak of 4K at 60FPS, while it can record and encode video at 1080p 60FPS. As an industrial board it can put up with harsh conditions, including temperatures of -4°F all the way up to 185°F. 

Software comes in the form of Android and the usual Linux suspects such as Debian and Ubuntu, as well as Buildroot for embedded applications. There's no sign of the board yet on the Geniatech store, but a larger board equipped with the same RK3568 chipset sells for around $125.

Verizon announced on Wednesday that it had teamed up with Razer and Qualcomm for an always-connected portable game console that uses Google's Android operating system and allows to play Android games and games streamed from the cloud or a stationary game console.

The Razer Edge 5G game console leverages Qualcomm's Snapdragon G3X Gen 1 system-on-chip explicitly designed for portable gaming devices. Qualcomm introduced the SoC a little less than a year ago but still has not disclosed its specifications, so the only thing we do know for sure is that the Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform supports gaming at an up to 4K resolution at up to 144 frames per second, rendering in 10-bit HDR, Wi-Fi 6E, and 5G (including both sub-6GHz and 5G mmWave) connectivity. In addition, the platform allows you to attach a 4K TV or a display to the console and an XR accessory using a USB-C port.

Razer built a reference software developer kit equipped with a 6.65-inch Full HD+ OLED screen for Qualcomm, though it is unclear whether the Razer Edge 5G relies on the design aimed at game designers.

Razer has been trying to enter console gaming  (with Oyua) and portable gaming (with Razer Phone) markets for a while without significant success. Perhaps its Razer Edge 5G will always be connected and essentially rely on remote gaming platforms developed by third parties, and Android will be a more successful product.

Razer plans to announce more details about its Razer Edge 5G gaming system at its RazerCon event on October 15.

LG has announced the successful testing of 6G wireless data transmission tech it claims could see wireless internet speeds in excess of 1TBps. The demonstration, which took place at the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute in Berlin, Germany, used a frequency range of 155 to 175 GHz, much higher than the 24.25 to 52.6 GHz that make up the top end of the 5G spectrum.

The data transmission - the press release doesn’t specify what speed it actually achieved - took place over a distance of 320 meters, tripling the record of 100 m set in August last year using similar technology. This distance beats the reference design for urban cell coverage, which places base stations 250 m apart. For comparison, 5G wavelengths have a range of about 1,000 m, and 4G can manage around 10 miles.

As we’ve learned with Wi-Fi (currently testing at 5Gbps), the higher your transmission frequency, the shorter the range, so signal amplification that doesn’t dissolve into electronic noise is essential. The test used a multi-channel power amplifier with an output of more than 20 dBm, beating the previous trial by 5 dBm, and a low-noise amplifier on the receiving end. These technologies have been built into LG’s latest 6G modules, which have been designed to be easy for future fabrication plants to produce.

With 5G still not fully available outside major cities, it may seem premature to be testing its replacement, and discussions on 6G standardization aren’t expected to begin until 2025, with a commercial release around 2029. Much research into the area is coming from China. Scientists from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Osaka University in Japan announced they had created a chip capable of producing terahertz waves in 2020, while earlier this year Purple Mountain Laboratories of China claimed a data rate of 206.25 gigabits per second in a lab environment within the terahertz frequency band. 

"With the success of our latest demonstration, we are one step closer to realizing 6G speeds of 1 terabit per second in both indoor and outdoor urban areas," said Dr. Kim Byoung-hoon, CTO and executive vice president of LG Electronics. "LG will continue to cooperate with research institutes and industry innovators to further solidify its leadership in 6G technology. We expect 6G to be a major driver of future business and new user experiences, and there is no place we’d rather be than at the forefront of its development."

Fujitsu today announced it cracked Tbps+ speeds on fiber networking communication, unlocking the ability to transfer the equivalent to six 25GB Blu-ray discs in a single second. 

The company announced its most recent photonics technology (which is expected to have market availability by early 2023) unlocks up to 1.2 Tbps per wavelength, while enabling four times longer signal reach before the signal begins to decohere. With the roll-out of 5G tech and the development of even faster communication protocols, there'll be a greater and greater need to efficiently and rapidly shuffle data around — something photonics is particularly keen at.

Fujitsu claims breakthroughs across the board; not only are the signal reach and bandwidth per wavelength figures unheard of, but the company also managed to cut power consumption down to an industry-leading 120mW per transmission capacity (Gbps). 

The approach is an integrated one, and isn't limited to materials breakthroughs. Fujitsu designed its new optical networking solution in parallel with the world's first liquid-cooling solution for optical networking. A state-of-the-art digital signal processing LSI (DSP) is also deployed in the self-contained solution, which even pairs a low-level machine learning capability that aims to optimize power consumption and traffic. 

This last point is crucial as, according to Fujitsu, an optical networking system is rarely optimized to its implementation environment, and can't easily adapt to changing circumstances (such as signal or equipment degradation). The company says implementation of its machine learning system makes it possible to automatically capture and analyze the status of optical network components such as optical fibers and optical transmission systems with a high degree of accuracy, allowing for on-the-fly adjustments according to operating conditions.

All the innovations have led to a system that isn't limited to breaking records in the amount of data it can transmit. Fujitsu's networking solution also occupies a third of the space of a conventional air-cooled optical networking solution and has a greater operational capacity due to the improved cooling system. 

According to the company, all these improvements have led to a severely cut-down CO2 footprint for their networking solution (the company quotes a 70% reduction across manufacturing, logistics, and operation), which is definitely more than a simple checkmark on the "environmental sustainability" book.

If you recall, I penned an article late last month about switching from Spectrum to T-Mobile Home Internet. The reasons were simple: T-Mobile promised faster speeds, a lower price, no contracts, and many freebies for new signups. After installing the 5G Gateway in my home, everything appeared to go exactly as prescribed by T-Mobile. However, as soon as I discovered, T-Mobile Home Internet ultimately proved to be a disaster for me, forcing me to come crawling back to Spectrum.

But before we get to what made me cancel T-Mobile Home Internet, let’s discuss the positives.

What I liked about T-Mobile Home Internet

For the two weeks I had the service, I routinely saw peak downloads of 500+ Mbps and uploads of 70+ Mbps. The download speeds were roughly 100 Mbps higher than my Spectrum internet service, while the uploads were three times faster. I achieved this performance even though my signal “only” bounced between three to four bars (out of five).

My service was rock solid during those two weeks, with no dropouts. I had consistent performance around the clock. Peak speeds dipped slightly during the evening hours, but downloads were still comparable to Spectrum, while uploads were still double. This was an impressive performance considering we’re talking about a wireless 4G LTE/5G connection.

Another positive aspect of the service is that T-Mobile promises no data caps or data throttling/ prioritization. Considering that fixed internet providers like Spectrum and Comcast institute mandatory data caps on customers in certain markets, this was a big draw.

Finally, there were the freebies. By signing up for T-Mobile Home Internet, you receive a 50 percent discount on YouTube TV for a year, one year of Paramount+ for free, a discounted Philo TV subscription ($15/month), and a free Amazon Echo Show 5 smart display/speaker.

However, all those benefits are for naught if the service ends up quitting on you.

Why my love affair with T-Mobile Home Internet quickly turned to divorce

My T-Mobile Home Internet happiness came crashing down roughly two weeks after activating the service. The workday started normally. I had just finished my morning meeting for work, I had Sling TV on in the background on the Roku TV in my office, and I was writing a follow-up to my original T-Mobile internet story (which eventually morphed into the account you’re reading now). Then, the Roku TV suddenly complained that it had lost its internet connection. Shortly after, my Mac indicated no internet connectivity when I went to refresh a webpage.

I got up, walked over to the T-Mobile 5G Gateway, and saw it was reporting “No connection.” Every 30 seconds, it would show one signal bar, then cycle back to the No Connection error. I chalked it up as a fluke and power cycled the 5G Gateway. It booted back up and displayed the same status message about a lack of connectivity. At this point, I was pretty annoyed, so I started tinkering with the tall, cylindrical device.

I swiped across the circular touch screen and came across the Alerts page, which showed that I had a critical error message: “All PDN IP Connection Failure.” Because I needed internet to work, I turned on the Personal Hotspot on my iPhone (Visible Mobile, which uses Verizon’s network) and wirelessly tethered it to my Mac. Next, I typed the error message into Google and found several threads on the official T-Mobile Community Forums, Reddit, and other sites. It’s a problem that many people have encountered and one that T-Mobile seems reluctant (or unable) to fix.

I tried moving the device to every room of my house, upstairs and downstairs. I even plugged it into an outside receptacle to rule out any interference issues – no dice.

Contacting T-Mobile customer service

I was able to get in contact with a customer service representative within a minute of calling the support number. First, the customer service rep had me perform a power cycle (which I had already done multiple times). Next, I explained that I was getting the All PDN IP Connection Failure error and was told to perform a hard reset of the device by pressing the reset button on the back of the device with a paperclip. Unfortunately, that resulted in the device rebooting and presenting the same error message. He also had me remove and reinsert the SIM card to no avail.

At this point, the rep put me on hold and said that he would “do a few things” on his end to ensure that I could gain a signal and hence have functional service. However, when this step didn’t work, he put me on another five-minute hold and told me that he found the reason for my outage: a cell tower upgrade. According to the rep, T-Mobile was upgrading the tower from 4G to 5G, which is why I saw the error messages.

I found that explanation problematic for two reasons. For starters, the closest T-Mobile tower is about a mile from my house, and I had T-Mobile phone service about two years ago – with 5G connectivity. Secondly, I later had a friend with T-Mobile phone service come over, and they picked up a 5G signal with 4 bars (the maximum) on their iPhone.

Even more troubling is that the rep said this “upgrade” started that morning and would go on for 48 hours, which again seemed very odd. I was told that nothing else could be done on his end and to wait for the upgrade to be completed, then try again. Forty-eight hours without internet in the work-from-home age? That’s absolute torture.

The most I’ve been without internet with Spectrum in 20 years (even when it was called Time Warner Cable) was about 30 minutes to an hour. And that happened maybe once every two years or so. Waiting 48 hours was a bridge too far, but I complied.

Without access to home internet via our Orbi mesh router, all of our smart devices went “dumb.” No Echo speaker access, no control over our Ring cameras, no streaming TV services, etc. The best I could do was tether my iPhone to our Smart TVs around the house to watch Sling TV and Disney+ for the kiddos. During this time, I revisited the T-Mobile forums and Reddit to see what other people were experiencing.

Apparently, I’m not alone with the All PDN IP Connection Failure

Not surprisingly, other users say that they encountered much of the same commentary from T-Mobile customer service. Many never had service restored, even after having a replacement 5G Gateway sent to their homes. Here’s a sample of the responses from the T-Mobile forums and Reddit:

“I am having this “All PDN IP Connection Failure” error code as well. I have called T-Mobile’s support for 5 days in a row and no one can tell me what it means.” – eshoemake

“I started TMHI service a couple weeks ago. I’m 0.6 miles from a T-Mo tower.  The signal has been strong.  5G, 3 bars, decent Mbps.  Lost connection 2/18/22.  T-Mo tech said it was a tower issue.” – coyote

“I got T-Mobile home internet just over 2 weeks ago. Had blazing speeds, everything was working flawlessly. Then a week ago I lost all connection and kept getting the ‘PDN IP Connection Failure’ on my Nokia trashcan. Multiple calls/hours on the phone, multiple factory resets, etc, didn’t fix the issue. I’ve been sent 3 different Nokia trashcans in the past 6 days since Tech Support didn’t know the cause. All 3 do the same thing. I have not had internet for over a week now.” – Satcaster

“Why hasn’t anyone from T-Mobile replied? I’m having the same issue and haven’t found any reliable fixes from internet searches.” – Tannerqmartin

“I have been having the same problem for the last month. Still no internet. No resolutions. No answers. And T-Mobile seems clueless. So I have paid for a month of nothing. Many factory resets, swapping SIM cards, moving to different areas, new gateway, and still nothing.” – SJ_Traydrelia

“I had to cancel the service now ever since I got this error. I called the support line practically daily and spent ~1hr troubleshooting. It was just fine since I got it last year. Nothing changed in my setup at home, no new devices, etc. Internet connectivity had been unresolved for 7 days.” -- spindceate

Calling back to T-Mobile customer service

It was rough (I know, first-world problems), but we endured 48 hours, and the service never came back online. At this point, I was fed up. So I called customer service back and was told they didn’t know when the “upgrade” would be finished or when I’d get my service back. At that point, I told them to cancel the whole thing and return to Spectrum.

Maybe it was a rash decision, but I don’t have time for BS. Either your service works, or it doesn’t. And telling a customer to wait 48 hours for internet service to be restored is unacceptable, especially just outside the second-largest metropolitan area in North Carolina and home to Research Triangle Park.

It was at this point that I went crawling back to Spectrum. Since I never got rid of my Arris Surfboard cable modem, reactivating service was as simple as calling in and signing up for service. If there’s any consolation, Spectrum signed me up for three years of service at the same speeds I was spec’d for previously (500/20) at $49.99/month – a $20 discount compared to my previous rate. They say that the price is good for 36 months, after which I will likely have to perform my yearly dance with the retention department to maintain that pricing.

T-Mobile Home Internet was great when it worked, and I really wanted to give the service a chance. But leaving our family high and dry for two days with no ETA on restoring service, and the reports of customers who have never gotten their service back, killed any hopes that I had for T-Mobile Home Internet. 

I did reach out to T-Mobile’s PR team after canceling the service, inquiring about the All PDN IP Connection Failure error and tower upgrades, and received the following response:

Thanks for your patience as we sorted out what happened. It looks like there were upgrades in your area that probably caused your service disruption. However, our team looked into the issue and expects the issue to be resolved. If you’re interested, we’d love to get you signed up again for Home Internet. Let me know if you’re interested.

I received that response back from T-Mobile within 24 hours, and apparently, a team was tasked with finding the true root cause of my outages – I doubt that a regular T-Mobile Home Internet customer would get that treatment, but I digress. Also, I’ll never know if T-Mobile actually resolved the problem because the 5G Gateway is now back on its way back to the company. And my request for an explanation for the All PDN IP Connection Failure error also went unanswered.

Note: As with all of our op-eds, the opinions expressed here belong to the writer alone and not Tom's Hardware as a team.

Access to high-speed internet at home is practically a necessity these days. That need became even more apparent during the COVID-19 lockdowns, which forced families to work and learn from home. While most children have gone back to in-person learning, many adults have remained in work-from-home mode with no plans to change. Throw in our copious consumption of streaming TV services, large downloads for operating system updates, PC and console games, apps, etc., and it's clear that having a fast and stable internet connection is a high priority for many people.

Unfortunately, for many Americans, actual choices in high-speed internet carriers for your home are often extremely limited.

Why I Decided to Drop Spectrum Internet

I’ve been a long-time Spectrum Internet customer, even when it was previously known as Time Warner Cable. But having Spectrum internet isn’t by choice; it has long been the only option I have living in rural Garner, NC, situated just southeast of Raleigh. While AT&T Fiber and Google Fiber are available within 20 miles of my address, neither services my neighborhood. Given the regional internet monopolies around the country, Spectrum is still my only choice for high-speed cable/fiber internet.

But why did I decide to give Spectrum the boot? I was sick of having to jump through hoops yearly to keep my current service at a reasonable price. I’ve been paying $69.99 for 400/20 internet, but every year Spectrum jacks the rate to $84.99. Then I have to call their customer service line and waste 45 mins of my day to get them to reduce the rate back to $69.99. Sure, it’s a once-a-year thing, but I’ve been looking for an out.

A friend, who also just so happens to be stuck with Spectrum, asked me about other ISP options when it dawned on me that T-Mobile offers Home Internet at $50/month. I asked her to see if her address was eligible for service, and it was. She decided to take T-Mobile up on their two-week free trial offer and signed up for service.

At that moment, I asked myself: Could I also potentially ditch spectrum and go with a 5G wireless service as my primary link for home internet?

What is T-Mobile Home Internet?

T-Mobile Home Internet provides internet service to your home using a 5G gateway using T-Mobile's cellular network. The 5G gateway contains a 4G/5G modem that connects to T-Mobile's cellular network and combines a Wi-Fi 6 router for linking up all your devices. T-Mobile only offers its Home Internet service in areas with excellent coverage (for obvious reasons). And even then, not all addresses are serviced, based on network capacity.

T-Mobile Home Internet costs $50 per month when you sign up for Autopay ($55/month without Autopay), including all taxes and fees. If you are an existing T-Mobile Magenta Max mobile customer, your monthly price drops to just $30/month with Autopay. The 5G gateway is provided free, so there is no monthly equipment (modem) fee to pay (as is often the case with fixed-line providers like Spectrum and Comcast), and there are no long-term contracts to sign.

The goodies don't stop there. T-Mobile currently offers home internet customers 50% off YouTube TV for a year, Paramount+ free for a year, and Philo TV for $15/month (versus the standard rate of $25/month). If that wasn't enough, new signups get an Amazon Echo Show 5 (second generation) for free.

According to the company, you can expect "typical" download speeds of between 33 Mbps to 182 Mbps and upload speeds ranging from 6 Mbps to 23 Mbps. However, as you see below, actual speeds can be much higher, rivaling legacy cable companies. The other big thing that most people would probably want to know is the current situation with data caps, given that this service works on T-Mobile's cellular network. Surprisingly, the answer is that there are no data caps. While Comcast and Spectrum have implemented data caps on their fixed-line customers in multiple U.S. markets, T-Mobile thankfully eschews the practice–at least for now.

As for overall performance, T-Mobile provides the following disclaimer:

Speeds can vary depending on location, signal strength and availability, time of day, and other factors. Our speed projections are based on our analysis of internal and third-party data.

T-Mobile says its home internet service is available to 30 million Americans.

Signing up for T-Mobile Home Internet

Getting signed up for service was relatively easy. First, I clicked this T-Mobile link to enter my phone number and see if my home address was eligible. Once eligibility was confirmed, I was able to chat with a representative who asked me a few questions and sent me several secure links to enter my name, address, billing information, and social security number (to perform a credit check for the new hardware that would be sent to me).

After about 10 minutes, the signup process was complete, and I was informed that the 5G gateway would arrive within two business days. On the second business day, the 5G gateway arrived as promised via UPS, and I was eager to test it out.

First Impressions and Setup

After removing the 5G gateway from the box, I was struck by its size. It measures 8.5 inches tall and is silver in color. It’s shaped like a cylinder, reminding me of the first-generation Amazon Echo. On the back of the device, you’ll find a power port, a power button, a reset button, a USB-C port (which worked just fine charging my smartphone), a phone jack and two Ethernet ports. Unfortunately, compared to modern wireless routers, T-Mobile’s 5G gateway is lacking in port selection. So you may want to pick up one of the best network switches we’ve tested.

You’ll find a small, circular touch display on the top of the device. You can swipe across the screen to see your current signal strength, messages from T-Mobile, the number of connected devices, and battery status. Yes, the 5G gateway has an integrated battery, and it will continue to function if the power plug is pulled (this feature should come in handy during power outages).

To set up the gateway, you must first download the T-Mobile Internet app and install it on a smartphone. I then plugged the gateway into the wall in my office on the second floor of my house and powered it up. It booted up, performed a quick software update, then confirmed signal strength of three out of five bars. The app itself is very basic, with few controls for the router. You can see network status, signal strength, connected devices, change the SSID/passcode, and adjust the frequency bands. That’s about it. There are no parental controls, advanced wireless controls, access controls, MAC filtering, or anything like that. This is just a barebones setup that should work fine for most households. Power users will likely want to look elsewhere or simply connect their existing router to the 5G gateway.

At first, I was concerned about the signal strength, as I had the gateway situated on top of a bookshelf next to my cable modem, which isn’t near a window (T-Mobile suggests placing the gateway near a window for the best signal). I then stuck it near a window in my office and was greeted with the same three bars. I next took the 5G gateway downstairs on the opposite side of the house and placed it near a window. I still obtained three bars. At that point, I decided to just put it in the original location near the cable modem and proceed with the setup. After the initial setup, signal strength has hovered between three bars and four bars.

Upon opening the T-Mobile Internet app, I was asked to scan the QR code on the bottom of the gateway to expedite setup. This prepopulated the SSID and passcode, then began communicating with the gateway and the T-Mobile network for activation. After about 30 seconds, the setup process was complete, and I was ready to go.

At any given time, we have 40+ Wi-Fi devices connected to our wireless router (a first-generation Netgear Orbi RBR50 Wi-Fi 5 mesh router with two satellites). We're talking multiple laptops, smartphones, tablets, Smart TVs, Amazon Echo speakers, and about a dozen Kasa smart light switches, light bulbs and power outlets. Given the sheer number of Wi-Fi devices in my home, I opted to piggyback my Orbi off the 5G gateway to make things simple (granted, I could have just changed the SSID and password on the 5G gateway to match my Orbi, but I didn’t want to drop coverage that my router and two satellites provide through the whole house and outdoors).

Testing Performance

I first connected just my iPhone to the 5G gateway over Wi-Fi and performed a Speedtest. To my amazement, I registered download speeds exceeding 470 Mbps, while uploads came in at nearly 72 Mbps.

For reference, my Spectrum internet connection gives me 430 Mbps to 450 Mbps and tops out at around 21 Mbps for uploads. Subsequent tests have shown the 5G gateway hitting peak download speeds of 557.37 Mbps from my MacBook Pro (connected directly to the 5G gateway) around 3 p.m., which is unheard of for home internet out here in the sticks.

For a worst-case scenario, I tested again around 9:00 p.m. ET, and the 5G gateway's speeds dropped to around 400 Mbps for downloads and 40 Mbps for uploads. That's a steep drop-off, but still, plenty of throughput for our needs.

I next performed the same tests with my Orbi router plugged in via one of the 5G gateway’s two Ethernet ports. The download and upload speeds were unaffected, so I stuck with that setup.

I’m not a big gamer, so I’m primarily concerned with having a fast and stable internet connection 24-7-365. In the days that I’ve been testing T-Mobile’s Home Internet service, it’s been flawless. I haven’t experienced any service interruptions or significant speed shortfalls. The 5G gateway has remained slightly lukewarm to the touch, which cooler than the toasty Arris Surfboard SB6183 cable modem I’ve been using for years.

The 5G hotspot can simultaneously handle multiple Smart TVs streaming, my daily conference calls, my large file downloads, and just about anything else I throw at it.

Wrap-up

I went into this test a little skeptical of using a cellular-based internet service for my home internet, but those worries never came to fruition. Signing up for T-Mobile Home Internet was easy, the setup process with the app was minimalistic with little room for error, and the actual internet service has been rock solid. Throw in the fact that I’m saving $20 per month ($240/year), and the switch has been a no-brainer for our family.

About the hardest part of this whole process will likely be the phone call that I will need to make to Spectrum’s customer retention department to tell them that I’m canceling my existing service.

Note: As with all of our op-eds, the opinions expressed here belong to the writer alone and not Tom's Hardware as a team.

It really does feel like we're living in a science fiction novel sometimes — or an episode of Black Mirror, depending on your level of cynicism. 

Homes where every single appliance can be controlled through a single smartphone app. Intelligent virtual assistants capable of scheduling and prioritizing meetings and events. Sprawling digital ecosystems defined by remote work and connected endpoints. 

That's not even getting into what we have on the business side.

Industrial supply chains that are more efficient and streamlined than anyone could have dreamed possible. Supply chains defined by entire fleets of self-driving vehicles. And atop it all, the ever-present specter of artificial intelligence. 

Compare what we have today to how things looked just twenty years ago, and it's enough to make your head spin. Yet for all that our technology has evolved, it still has a long way to go. In few places is this promise and potential clearer than in the AIoT space. 

Making the Internet of Things smarter

For the uninitiated, AIoT is exactly what it sounds like — Artificial Intelligence of Things. It's a blanket term for a group of technologies designed to improve efficiency, human-to-machine interactions, data management, and analytics on IoT devices. And it's arguably one of the fastest-growing segments of the larger business-focused IoT market, with a 39.1% annual growth rate expected over the next five years. 

Yet many of its most compelling applications are, almost ironically, limited by hardware. Harsher operating environments such as those found in electric vehicles and industrial equipment place strict limitations on the nature of equipment that can be deployed. Some have sought to address this by minimizing hardware, leaving more sensitive components and their associated processes to be managed via 5G connectivity or the cloud. 

It's an imperfect solution, at best. The complex processes necessary for even something as simple as a hands-free delivery robot tend to place intense demands upon the network — in the worst-case scenario, this may even result in congestion that impacts performance. Moreover, regardless of how fast a connection may be, there will inevitably be some latency introduced between decision-making and execution. 

Given that many AIoT use cases require split-second decision making, this is untenable at best. 

The solution, then, is to cut out the middleman of the network. Businesses must ensure that processing and data storage both take place directly at the edge. In order to achieve this, they need hardware that's capable of surviving even the most extreme operating conditions without experiencing damage or degradation. 

That's where Innodisk comes in. 

How Innodisk is building an intelligent world

In 2021, Innodisk collaborated with its subsidiaries to create a data-centric industrial ecosystem for the AIoT. Known as the AIoT All-Round Service, it combines Innodisk's leading expertise in industrial flash and memory with advanced knowledge of artificial intelligence. Over the first year, multiple clients leveraged the service for everything from IPC embedded peripherals to firmware and software — including working together with a high-tech venture in the smart services sector to integrate its customized SSDs into their AI robots. 

Starting this year, Innodisk is taking things a step further. It's building out its smart services to target what may well be two of the most compelling trends in the Internet of Things, smart cities and software-defined electric vehicles. Designed to withstand heavy vibrations and harsh outdoor environments, Innodisk's AIoT technology solutions are ideally-suited for a wide set of use cases under these umbrellas. 

It's already completed one successful pilot in this arena. A multinational technology firm integrated Innodisks's wide temperature DRAM modules, industrial-grade flash storage, and a GPS tracker from its subsidiary into its electric vehicle fleet. Not only was it able to reduce pollution and noise emissions, but it also did so while simultaneously revolutionizing its retail delivery system. 

Yet even this is just the beginning in terms of what the AIoT can do — the tip of the iceberg, as it were. As the world continues to evolve, new technology, innovations, and use cases will inevitably emerge. And Innodisk is well-prepared for these advancements, and has set its sights squarely on its goal of helping to build a better, more intelligent world. 

When we say "all-day" battery life, we're usually talking about a laptop that lasts more than 8 hours, but what if there were a system that could run longer than 24 hours? Today, alongside some ThinkPad T-series and X1 Extreme laptops, Lenovo announced the ThinkPad X13s, an ultraportable that promises 28 hours of endurance thanks to its low-power Arm processor.

Available in May with a starting price of $1,099 in the U.S., the 2.35-pound, 13-inch laptop is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor that operates at a power-sipping 9w TDP and has built-in support for 5G and 4G cellular connectivity. The laptop will be available at AT&T and Verizon later in the year.

Windows laptops powered by Arm processors, specifically Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs, are nothing new. In years past, we've reviewed several models which touted long battery life and integrated cellular connectivity but came up short in terms of performance. Lenovo even got in on the game with its disappointing Flex 5G, but this is the first ThinkPad to use an Arm processor and the company told us that the performance is equivalent to that of a Core i5 processor.

We had a chance to see the ThinkPad X13s in person and it has the standard features of a ThinkPad, including a fantastically-tactile keyboard and a TrackPoint pointing stick. However, the color of the “Thunder Black” chassis is a little less black and more grayish than a regular ThinkPad, though it is a nice soft-touch material. The change in color may be because it's made from 90 percent recycled magnesium. Despite the materials, the laptop is made to pass the same series of MIL-STD durability tests as other ThinkPads.

One of the key challenges of any Arm-powered laptop is compatibility with apps that were compiled for x86. Windows 11, which will come preloaded on the ThinkPad X13s, is the first to allow Arm processors to run 64-bit, x86 apps. The jury is still out on how well those apps will perform, given the chip would need to go into emulation mode. 

On the bright side, there will be a number of native apps that are guaranteed to work. Lenovo, Qualcomm and Microsoft are partnering with software vendors to certify that their apps run on Arm via the MIcrosoft App Asure program. Lenovo cited Microsoft 365, Zoom and Sophos as apps that will have native support.

The ThinkPad X13s will be available with three screen options, all of which have 1920 x 1200 resolutions but vary based on brightness and touch capability. It will have up to a 1TB PCIe SSD and up to 32GB of LPDDR4x RAM. It will have a 5-MP webcam and an IR camera. Like some other recent ThinkPads, it will also have Computer Vision for enhanced human presence detection. 

The ThinkPad X13s will support Wi-Fi 6 / 6E, 5G sub6 and 5G mmWave, though the cellular options may depend on the market. The laptop will have two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports (10 Gbps).

Whether the battery life and 5G connectivity make the ThinkPad X13s worth the potential trade-offs in performance and app selection remains to be seen. One of the best ultrabooks right now, the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (Gen 9) that we reviewed in 2021 lasted for more than 15 hours on our battery test and it uses a standard Intel x86 processor.  

 New ThinkPad X1 Extreme With RTX 3080 Ti 

Back at CES 2022 in January, Lenovo introduced the latest version of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, but left announcements of other ThinkPad refreshes for later. Later is now as the company is showing its latest mobile workstation, the ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5.

As you would expect, the latest ThinkPad X1 Extreme has the newest 12th-Gen Intel H-series CPUs. It also has the latest Nvidia GPU options, ranging from an RTX 3050 Ti all the way up to an RTX 3080 Ti. Completing the trifecta of latest-gen internal components, the laptop uses up to 64GB of DDR5, 4800 MHz RAM. A new liquid metal thermal paste and vapor chamber promise enhanced cooling that Lenovo claims will boost performance up to 10 percent (presumably over a system that didn't have those solutions).

The 4.14-pound, 0.78-inch ThinkPad X1 Extreme has four options for its 16-inch, 16:10 display, ranging from a 1920 x 1200 panel with a 165 Hz refresh rate to a  3840 x 2400 panel that promises 600 nits of brightness, HDR400 and 100 percent coverage of the Adobe RGB color gamut. The 165 Hz panel option is new for 2022. If you combine that with any of the decent graphics card options with this screen, you could use this business laptop for serious gaming. 

If you need a lot of storage for your laptop, the X1 Extreme can deliver on that front, as it has two M.2 PCIe Gen 4 slots that can provide up to 8TB in total. You can also connect it to high-speed external storage, using one of its two Thunderbolt 4 ports. It also has two USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) Type-A ports, HDMI 2.1 out, 3.5mm audio and a full-size SD card slot. You can connect it to your network wirelessly via Wi-Fi 6E or optional 5G.

The ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 5 will be available in June with a starting price of $2049.

 Refreshed ThinkPad T-Series Laptops 

Lenovo is also releasing three new ThinkPad T-Series laptops, specifically updated versions of the 14-inch ThinkPad T14 and T14s, along with a new 16-inch ThinkPad T16. All three laptops will have 16:10 displays and be available with a choice of Intel 12th Gen processors or AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 series CPUs.

The lightest and slimmest of the series, the ThinkPad T14s starts at 2.7 pounds with an Intel CPU inside, but a slightly-heavier 2.84 pounds when powered by AMD. The AMD version is just 0.62 inches thick while the Intel model is a similar 0.65 inches thick. Both models have a range of screen choices, with a base resolution of 1920 x 1200, but only the AMD units can go up to 3840 x 2400 while the Intel one caps out at 2880 x 1800. The AMD-powered T14s has a single USB 4 port for high-speed transfers while the Intel model has dual Thunderbolt 4 ports.

The slightly-heavier and thicker ThinkPad T14 will start at less than 3 pounds and will be 0.7 inches thick. It will have two battery options, a lighter-weight 39.3 Whr battery and a heavier 52.5 Whr unit for extended longevity. The screen options are similar to those on the ThinkPad T14s, though both the Intel and AMD versions of the T14 will have a 3840 x 2400 resolution option.

Interestingly, the Intel version of the ThinkPad T14 will have optional RTX 2050 graphics, so there's the possibility of running some apps that use ray tracing on it. The Intel version will have two Thunderbolt 4 ports, but the AMD's ports cap out at USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps). Both models support Wi-Fi 6E.

The ThinkPad T16 is the replacement for the company's T15, 15-inch ThinkPad T-Series. It sports a 16-inch display that goes up to 3840 x 2400 resolution with a starting weight of 3.72 pounds for the AMD version, a bit less than the 3.9-pound Intel model. 

As with the T14, the ThinkPad T16's Intel-powered model will have optional RTX 2050 graphics. Both models will have a choice of 52.5 Whr or 85 Whr batteries.

The Intel versions of the ThinkPad T16 and T14 will be available starting in April with starting prices of $1,419 and $1399 respectively. In May, the AMD-powered ThinkPad T14s will ship with a starting price of $1399. Finally, June will see the launch of the Intel-powered T14s, the AMD-powered T16 and the AMD-powered T14 with starting prices of $1,529, $1,299 and $,1299 respectively.

No, no, no, this isn’t a fifth-generation Raspberry Pi, no matter how appealing that thought is, it’s a 5G development module allowing your Raspberry Pi 4 (or compatible) board to communicate via the new high-speed cell data network. Credit to CNX Software for discovering it.

The developmental add-on, from SixFab, takes the form of a HAT and enclosure, and connects to one of the Pi’s USB 3.0 sockets. The HAT contains an M.2 port, which can be optionally stuffed with either a Quectel RM50xQ 5G sub-6GHz modem with up to 2.5 Gbps downlink and 900Mbps uplink, or a Telit FN980 5G sub-6GHz and mmWave modem with up to 5.5 Gbps downlink and 1.5 Gbps uplink (limited to 5Gbps/1Gbps). 

Oddly, you don’t get to choose which modem you get if you buy it as a kit, but you can also buy the board, casing and antennas on their own and use your own M.2 5G modem, should you have a spare laying around. The kit will cost $595 with a modem, and $175 without. It doesn’t come with a Raspberry Pi 4 board, which may be a problem considering the current shortage. 

Looking rather like an upside down Star Wars AT-AT walker or drone, the devkit sports four antennas on the outside of its casing, which keeps both the Pi and HAT safely inside, visible through a clear plastic lid with a vent for its cooling fan. SixFab also makes 4G LTE and 3G hats for Raspberry Pi, but was beaten to the 5G crown by Waveshare, whose rather larger 5G kit has offered 4 Gbps (DL) / 500 Mbps (UL) since Fall 2020. It sells for $357 without the Pi board.

Described as “a comprehensive 5G toolset to develop, optimize and test your MTC/M2M projects,” SixFab’s 5G HAT can also work as a standalone 5G dongle connected over USB, extending compatibility to things like the Nvidia Jetson and just about anything that can run Windows or Linux, as these are the operating systems supported by its drivers. 

Qualcomm is taking its next stab at the PC space with two new SoCs. At its annual Snapdragon Tech Summit in Hawaii, the company announced its flagship Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 for PCs and budget-oriented Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 for laptops and Chromebooks. 

The Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 is based on a 5 nm process (the first in a PC, Qualcomm claims), with a Qualcomm Kryo CPU and Adreno GPU. Qualcomm hasn't listed specific core counts or clock speeds as of this writing, but the company says that the 8cx Gen 3 offers an 85% CPU performance improvement over the 8cx Gen 2 and 60% faster GPU performance, Additionally, it claims 60% better performance per watt over "the competitive x86 platform," as measured running Geekbench 5.

Like previous PC chips, Qualcomm is continuing to tout the idea of an "always on, always connected" PC, with support for 5G, 4G LTE, and Wi-Fi 6/6E. 5G modem support tops out with the Snapdragon X65, with 10 Gbps peak download speed and support for both sub-6 and mmWave technologies.

The on-board Qualcomm AI engine allows the 8cx Gen 3 to deliver over 29 TOPS (tera operations per second, measured in trillions), which is three times greater than the Gen 2. Qualcomm also continues to suggest its chips enable multi-day battery life (at least 25 hours) on a single charge.

In a press release, Qualcomm claimed that the GPU allows for gaming at full HD (1080p) up to 120 fps, "and is optimized to allow users to game up to 50% longer than certain competing platforms." The company didn't specify which platforms it was trash talking, but that test is based on using the game Big Rumble Boxing on Qualcomm reference platforms and commercially available machines. 

For video conferencing, the 8cx Gen 3 utilizes a Qualcomm Spectra image signal processor with camera startup that is 15% faster than the previous chip. It has enhanced autofocus, auto white balance and auto exposure, and works with up to 5K HDR cameras (and up to four cameras in total).

The 8cx Gen 3  also implements Microsoft Pluton TPM on the Qualcomm secure processing unit (SPU). There's also a camera-based security feature that uses a computer vision processor to make sure that Windows Hello cameras lock the screen when authorized users step away from their notebooks.

The Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3 is meant for entry-level Windows PCs and Chromebooks. Unlike the 8cx Gen 3, it's built on a 6 nm process. The company claims it offers up to 30% stronger CPU performance than competitive chips, but didn't name those competitors. In terms of AI, it offers 6.5 TOPS of performance.

Qualcomm's lower-end chip also has 5G support, albeit with a single modem option, the Snapdragon X53 with a peak download speed of 3.7 Gbps. This platform, too, supports both mmWave and sub-6 s GHz support.

Both chips follow Qualcomm's new naming scheme for both its mobile and PC processors, which ditch the company name entirely to focus on the "Snapdragon" sub-brand. Qualcomm is currently fighting an intense battle in the Arm space, with Apple proving to be a powerful competitor with its M1 chips offering strong performance and long battery life in fanless designs like the MacBook Air.

Qualcomm hasn't announced any devices powered by these new chips, but claims that they will begin to launch in the first half of 2022. Perhaps we’ll see some at CES in Las Vegas in January.

Samsung this week announced that it would build a new fab near Taylor, Texas. The new facility will produce chips for various applications and help the company better serve its clients in the U.S. when it comes online in 2024. The total cost of the fab is estimated at around $17 billion.

Samsung says that the new fab site near Taylor, Texas, will span more than 16 million square feet of space. Still, the company hasn't disclosed actual production capacity, possibly because it will build the fab in several phases, and its final capacity will differ from the initial capacity. Samsung plans to create 2,000 high-tech jobs directly, and thousands of related jobs after the fab goes online. The company's current fab in Texas employs 3,000 people directly and another 7,000 indirectly. 

The new fab will be located 16 miles away from Samsung Foundry's current semiconductor production facility in Austin, Texas. The proximity of the two fabs will allow them to share infrastructure and resources, including materials.

Samsung, one of the world's largest contract semiconductor makers, said it will start building the new fab in the first half of 2022 and expects the facility to become operational in the second half of 2024, suggesting a rather quick build-up and equipment move in. Samsung will spend $6 billion on buildings and property improvements, whereas tools will cost another $11 billion. 

Samsung didn't disclose which process technologies it will use at its new fab in Texas, but it claims that the fab will be used to make chips for mobile, 5G, high-performance computing (HPC), and artificial intelligence (AI) applications, clearly suggesting the fab will be more advanced than the facility near Austin, which is used to produce chips using down to Samsung's 14nm-class nodes (which includes 14LPP and 11LPP process technologies). The company also stressed that the site would be a key location of the company's global fab network. 

Samsung has searched for the right location for the plant for about a year. The company reviewed several states, including Arizona, New York, and Texas, but decided to stick to Taylor in Williamson County as the state, city, and county offered incentive packages worth hundreds of millions of dollars, reports Austin American-Statesman. 

"As we add a new facility in Taylor, Samsung is laying the groundwork for another important chapter in our future," said Kinam Kim, Vice Chairman and CEO, Samsung Electronics Device Solutions Division. "With greater manufacturing capacity, we will be able to better serve the needs of our customers and contribute to the stability of the global semiconductor supply chain. […] In addition to our partners in Texas, we are grateful to the Biden Administration for creating an environment that supports companies like Samsung as we work to expand leading-edge semiconductor manufacturing in the U.S. We also thank the administration and Congress for their bipartisan support to swiftly enact federal incentives for domestic chip production and innovation."

Although Razer is better known for some of the best gaming mice and gaming keyboards on the market, the company also has a line of products that cater to “productivity” sensibilities. To that end, the company today announced the new Pro Click Mini wireless mouse and the Pro Type Ultra wireless keyboard.

With the Pro range, Razer focused intently on quieter operation all-around, suitable for people who want to work in a tomb-like environment without the clickety-clack of keyboards or mouse buttons. Kicking things off is the Pro Click Mini, which is a downsized version of the currently available Pro Click. This wireless mouse uses silent switches that are good for up to 15 million clicks.

Razer says that you can connect the Pro Click Mini to three devices at a time using Bluetooth connectivity (which is a time saver when it comes to pairing/unpairing with your desktop and laptop, for example). If you use the included 2.4 GHz HyperSpeed USB dongle, you can bump that device count to four. The USB dongle conveniently stows inside the mouse when you remove the top cover.

You can expect to get fast and precise performance thanks to Razer’s 5G Advanced optical sensor (1000 Hz polling rate, 12,000 DPI, 35 G acceleration), while the HyperScroll wheel has two modes. The first mode provides a more tactile feel as you scroll through web pages or menu items. The second mode removes the software “indentations” for a more free-wheeling scrolling experience that's better for scrolling through huge documents or Excel sheets. Speaking of the scroll wheel, it also implements a four-way tilt-click mechanism and the mouse features a total of seven programmable buttons.

The Pro Click Mini is powered by two AA batteries, although only one is needed to work. With both batteries installed, the mouse can operate for up to 465 hours using the 2.4 GHz USB dongle or up to 725 hours over Bluetooth.

Switching gears to the Razer Pro Type Ultra, this keyboard improves upon its Pro Type sibling with the ability to work in wired mode while recharging. It also comes with a cushioned leatherette palm rest to provide a bit of added comfort for extended work sessions. 

Like the Pro Click Mini, the Pro Type Ultra is designed for quiet operation and features silent tactile keyboard switches (rated for 80 million key presses) and a soft-touch coating. In addition, these keys are backlit with white LEDs for low-light typing conditions. Also, like the Pro Click Mini, this keyboard can easily connect with up to four devices. 

When operating wireless using the 2.4 GHz USB dongle, Razer says that the Pro Type Ultra is good for up to 207 hours of use. If you switch to Bluetooth, you can add seven hours to that tally. However, if you decide to use the key backlighting at full brightness – either via 2.4 GHz or Bluetooth – battery life drops down to just 13 hours. 

According to Razer, the Pro Click Mini is available today, priced at $79.99 (compared to $99.99 for the larger Pro Click). However, the Pro Type Ultra won’t launch until later in Q4, priced at $159.99 (compared to $139 for the Pro Type).

DigiTimes reports that AMD and Mediatek may be in talks to establish a Joint Venture (JV). According to the publication, the JV would be focused on SoC-level data transmission technologies, such as 5G, Wi-Fi and even wired data transmission controllers. Should the joint venture materialize, we would be looking at Mediatek IP being integrated into AMD SoCs - with the focus apparently being placed on mobility hardware solutions such as laptops.

Sources close to DigiTimes reportedly point towards a 2024 market availability for any SoC designs that result from this joint venture. Lending credence to this report is the fact that both AMD and Mediatek have collaborated in the past: AMD integrated Mediatek's Wi-Fi 6 technology into their AMD RZ608 chip, which debuted in the AYANEO handheld games console. While the module is AMD-branded, it is in fact a rebranded version of Mediatek's MT7921K wireless communications module.

According to DigiTimes, AMD is looking to make its notebook solutions more attractive by integrating data transmission technologies; the Taiwanese Mediatek, which has become one of the foremost mobile SoC developers and which holds a rich 5G portfolio, seems like a natural alternative to Intel-developed solutions - competition between AMD and Intel is fierce enough that it's only natural that the Red Team wouldn't want to improve Intel's bottom-line by adopting the company's solutions.

Another interesting element to point out is that AMD's acquisition of Xilinx also opens up the door for IP collaborations in the wired and wireless high-speed data transmission technology world; perhaps the joint venture would see AMD and Mediatek leverage IP from both parties. DigiTimes' sources do seem to think that the joint venture between both companies would also be looking to sell their developed SoC solutions to third parties, instead of limiting its results to in-house products. However, Mediatek is one of the foremost providers of mobile SoCs (it surpassed Qualcomm in shipments for the global chipset market in 2020), and has a much deeper understanding of Wi-Fi 6 and related chip integration designs, as well as data on the manufacturing and supply infrastructure for these technologies. AMD would be able to cut out Intel-made data communications solutions, and MediaTek would increase its foothold in the notebook segment - an apparent win-win for both companies.

AMD has in the meantime responded to the DigiTimes report, saying it does not comment on market speculation; MediaTek, on the other hand, overtly denied the report - both standard responses when it comes to industry insider leaks.

Microsoft is taking a second swing at its dual-screen smartphone with the Surface Duo 2. The newAndroid device is meant to provide a massive update in performance, functionality and camera quality over the original Duo, which launched just over a year ago.

The new Surface Duo bumps up to the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G chipset, 8GB of RAM and a new triple-camera system, making up for two of the original's biggest weaknesses.

The two new displays are also larger, with smaller bezels. Together, they're 8.3 inches diagonally, up from 8.1 inches on the original, and they're both 5.8-inches individually (up from 5.6-inches). Interestingly, both are listed at slightly lower resolutions than the predecessor. That being said, they have the same pixels-per-inch at 401 PPI.

Microsoft claims other updates to the screens, however, that may make up for that, including 800 nits max brightness and a 90 Hz adaptive refresh rate, as well as support for HDR. . The displays are covered in Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

Additionally, the screens are slightly more curved toward the hinge than the original. That makes them slightly visible when the device is closed, letting you know if you missed a call or a text as soon as you take it out of your pocket (though you can still peek by slightly opening the screens, as well). This is a neat trick that Microsoft calls the Glance Bar, but considering the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 has a full outer display and the Galaxy Z Flip 3 has a small screen on the exterior that shows slightly more information, this just doesn't seem as helpful.

The new camera system includes a 12MP wide camera, a 12MP telephoto camera and a 16MP ultra-wide lens. That's far more impressive, at least on paper, than the single 11MP camera on the original Duo.

Microsoft will offer the Duo in two colors: glacier and a new obsidian black, the latter of which looked nice but got covered in fingerprints in my limited time with it. The phone feels far more substantial than the original, perhaps due to the extra weight. At 284 grams, it’s 0.07 pounds (34 grams) heavier than the original. I don't think it's heavy -- it just feels like a premium device.

It will come with Android 11, the latest release of Google's operating system. Microsoft is promising three years of updates and security fixes.

At 5.5 mm thick when it's open, Microsoft says this is the thinnest 5G phone, though it's 11 mm thick when it's closed. And now the cameras jut out, though that's not as big a deal as I expected. They're at a small angle, and yes, there’s a gap when you have the covers back to back. The lenses have a small rubber gasket protecting from damage, and it still felt decent, albeit a bit awkward, in the hand without them flush. 

There are also some serious quality of life improvements, including NFC for payments, Wi-Fi 6, better audio, and the fingerprint reader has moved onto the power button. There's also dual batteries adding up to 4,449 mAH and 23W fast charging.

Microsoft is also pushing this as, effectively, a gaming phone. The boost to 90 Hz displays makes games, whether local mobile games like Asphalt 9, which uses both screens at synced frame rates, or when using xCloud to stream console-grade games to a single display. The company is pushing 5G as a great way to stream movies and games to the Duo 2, though I could see that leading to some serious data overage charges. Microsoft is also listing the device as unlocked for all carriers.

There's also a new case you can use to magnetically attach the Surface Slim Pen or Slim Pen 2. The case also transfers power from the phone to the stylus, keeping it powered (There is no wireless charging for the phone, however.)

Otherwise, you'll still get a ton of Office 365 apps preinstalled, making it an ideal environment for Microsoft power users on the go.

We only had a short amount of time with the Duo 2, but it feels more premium than ever — far more like a premium device than the original did. The question, now, will be how it performs in the long term, and if more apps support a two-screen phone to make it a more useful device. The Surface Duo 2 is available for pre-order today, starting at $1,499.99, and will shop on October 21.

Microsoft's other announcements today include the Surface Laptop Studio, Surface Pro 8, Surface Go 3 and a Wi-Fi only version of the Surface Pro X.

JEDEC has published a new revision of the LPDDR5 standard (JESD209-5B) that covers some performance and power improvements to the original specification as well as LPDDR5X, an extension to LPDDR5 that increases a maximum data transfer rate to 8533 MT/s. LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X will co-exist and complement each other on the market. 

LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X are pin-to-pin compatible, greatly simplifying development of system-on-chips (SoCs) and platforms supporting the new type of memory. To enable higher data transfer rates and increase reliability of the upcoming low-power memory subsystems, LPDDR5X introduces pre-emphasis function to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (to enable higher clocks and performance improvements) and reduce the bit error rate as well as adaptive refresh management, and per-pin decision feedback equalizer (DFE) to enhance robustness of the memory channel (a page taken from the DDR5 standard). 

LPDDR5 features data rates of up to 6400 MT/s, so LPDDR5X provides a robust 33% performance improvement with its 8533 MT/s data date. The performance enhancement will be welcome by bandwidth-hungry applications, such as AI/ML and graphics processing. Also, if LPDDR5X gains support for PCs SoCs, these computers may get memory bandwidth not accessible even by machines using DDR5 memory, which will be a huge benefit, particularly for integrated graphics. 

So far, LPDDR5X has been endorsed by Micron and Samsung, so expect these companies to offer appropriate chips when there is demand. Meanwhile, Synopsys will offer IP (memory controller, PHY) to enable developers of SoCs to add support of LPDDR5X to their designs. 

"In lockstep with JEDEC's LPDDR5/5X standardization process, Samsung also has been working closely with leading manufacturers to pave the road for the next generation of smartphones, laptops and other mobile computing devices," said Doohee Hwang, principal engineer for mobile DRAM product planning, Samsung Electronics. 

Since the LPDDR5X proposal has been around for some time, it is reasonable to expect that the new memory standard will be adopted by SoC designers and makers of actual hardware sooner rather than later, especially considering how bandwidth hungry modern SoCs are for high-performance applications. Still, it is hard to tell when we are going to see the first LPDDR5X-enabled devices on the market. 

"As a leader in low-power memory, Micron collaborated closely with other JEDEC members to define LPDDR5X, providing the mobile ecosystem a critical advancement in higher bandwidth," said Osamu Nagashima, Micron senior manager of mobile systems architecture and vice chair of the JEDEC low power memories subcommittee. "LPDDR5X's higher speed interface will open doors to new 5G and AI use cases, delivering better user experiences across memory-intensive applications such as gaming, photography and streaming media."

Our world is more connected than ever and as 5G technology continues to connect more things around us together, keeping those devices, and the data that travels through them, secure is more important than ever. As the nature and severity of cyberattacks continues to increase around the world, we need more advanced security that starts at the deepest part of our devices. 

If recent events have shown us anything it’s that cyber criminals are becoming more capable and are targeting a wider range of companies than ever before. If your business has not yet deployed top-of-the-line, modern security features across your devices, it’s only a matter of time before your data is attacked.

AMD is a company that has been building and securing the chips and processors that power our devices for years and their new AMD Ryzen™ PRO 5000 Series Mobile Processors offer a whole new level of security.

AMD has engineered a multilayered, modern security approach into their new Ryzen PRO processors:

These new processors are designed from the ground up with multiple layers of security with the entire purpose of protecting and securing sensitive data from even the most sophisticated attacks. 

The protection starts with the architecture itself. It is designed from the ground up with security features specifically designed to defend against the sophisticated attacks we’re seeing from increasingly capable cyber criminals. 

Lost or stolen PCs can often cause a lot of headache for IT departments and business owners as they scramble to erase or destroy any sensitive data left on the computer. AMD Ryzen™ Pro Processors are the world’s first processor family with real time, full system memory encryption as a standard feature for business laptops. This feature is enabled by default for Microsoft Secured-core PCs on all AMD PRO platforms. 

AMD Secure Processor is an integrated on-chip security processor designed to help protect sensitive data and validate code before it’s executed.  When enabled, it helps protect your system & data from unauthorized software and applications running on your device.

One of the most common and detrimental ways hackers manipulate computers to access sensitive data is by modifying the memory to perform previously dis-allowed functions. AMD Shadow Stack builds hardware protections directly into the processor to mitigate the ability to modify memory to help make sure your data is safe and secure.

The best defense comes from everyone working together; that’s why quarterbacks have an entire line of players protecting them. With their new Ryzen PRO processors, AMD has partnered with several major OEM manufacturers, including Microsoft, to enable and compliment already existing enterprise-level security features. 

AMD Ryzen™ PRO Processors fully support the Microsoft Secured-core PC initiative, which relies on a combined effort from silicon providers, OEM partners, and Microsoft to provide deeply integrated hardware, firmware, and software for enhanced device security.  AMD PRO processors provide an added layer of enhanced security on Secure-core PCs by enabling memory encryption by default.

Businesses can no longer afford to rely on lax and outdated security measures for their laptops and just hope to never get attacked. Data is quickly becoming the revenue of businesses and criminals alike and, as your company generates and passes more and more data across your organization, you need to be confident that everything is safe and secure. 

 To make sure your business data and devices are secured, you can reach out to AMD here to get in touch today. 

The original HP Elite Dragonfly challenged the Lenovo ThinkPad line with its style and excellent keyboard. Now, there's a variant, the HP Elite Dragonfly Max ($2,199 to start, $2,789 as configured).

Despite the Max title implying that this device would be bigger, it’s actually the same size as the original, which is one of the best ultrabooks. This version adds a bright Sure View Reflect screen and 5G networking. But if neither of those appeal to you — the Sure View Reflect screen, in particular, suffers from some really harsh viewing angles that undercut its positives — you might be better off looking at the original Dragonfly or other options. 

HP Elite Dragonfly Max Specifications 

Design of the HP Elite Dragonfly Max 

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max is a slick, thin convertible laptop with a glittery matte black shell that feels durable but loves to collect fingerprints. There’s a symmetrical, reflective HP logo on the lid and a smaller logo below the screen, plus EliteBook and Bang & Olufsen branding on the keyboard deck.

What’s most noticeable about this laptop is the size, although it’s not especially larger or smaller than most other ultraportables. At 11.98 x 7.78 x 0.63 inches, it’s a little wider than the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 (11.6 x 8.2 x 0.6 inches) and the Razer Book 13 (11.6 x 7.8 x 0.6) but not too much thicker. But at 11.6 x 7.8 x 0.55 inches, the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano is significantly thinner than the HP Elite Dragonfly Max.

The Elite Dragonfly Max is on the lighter end when it comes to weight, however. Its 2.49 pound weight is only beaten by the ThinkPad X1 Nano’s 2 pounds. Meanwhile, the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and Razer Book 13 are 2.9 and 3.1 pounds, respectively.

Ports on the Elite Dragonfly Max are varied but poorly distributed. While the left side has the NanoSim card slot (if you have a model with cellular networking capabilities, as we did) and a single USB Type-A port, the convertible’s right side has two Thunderbolt 4 connections, an HDMI 2.1 connection and a single 3.5mm combination headphone/microphone jack. This uneven port distribution can make charging your laptop a pain if your desk setup makes its left side more accessible.

Productivity Performance of the HP Elite Dragonfly Max

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max is HP’s latest attempt to compete with Lenovo's ThinkPad, specifically the ThinkPad X1 Nano. That means it aims for plenty of productivity power, and comes equipped with the slightly more powerful Intel Core i7-1185G7 to accomplish this. But the ThinkPad, with the Intel Core i7-1160G7 and the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 and the Razer Book 13 with Intel's Core  i7-1165G7 CPU still offered strong performance and won out in some tests.

In Geekbench 5, a synthetic benchmark for testing general performance, the Elite Dragonfly Max achieved a single-core score of 1,512 and a multi-core score of 5,195. That puts it slightly ahead of the ThinkPad X1 Nano’s 1,473 single-core score, but about on par with its 5,155 multi-core score. But the XPS 13 2-in-1 and the Razer Book 13 beat it on both fronts, and by a much wider margin when it comes to multi-core performance. The former earned scores of 1,539/5,571, and the latter hit scores of 1,556 and 5,495.

The Elite Dragonfly Max did have a slightly faster SSD than its competitors, transferring 25GB of files at a rate of 558.9 MBps. The Razer Book 13 was the next fastest, hitting 479 MBps, while the ThinkPad X1 Nano came in towards the bottom of the pack with a 424.81 MBps speed. The XPS 13 2-in-1 was the slowest computer here, transferring the files at a rate of 405.55 MBps.

Our Handbrake video transcoding test, which tracks how long it takes a machine to transcode a video down from 4K to FHD, saw the Elite Dragonfly Max once again land on the weaker side. It took 19:44 to finish transcoding, while the ThinkPad X1 Nano took 16:55. The XPS 13 2-in-1 was faster at 15:52, while the Razer Book 13 was the quickest at 14:46. 

We also ran the HP Elite Dragonfly Max through Cinebench R23 for 20 consecutive runs to see how well it operates during an extended work session. Scores started out at 4,172 before dropping to the high 3,000s for most runs, and achieved an average of 3,925. There were a few peaks and valleys during tests, which might have been related to short bursts of throttling we noticed throughout the 20 runs. Most of the throttling happened during the beginning of the tests, but there were instances of it throughout. The CPU ran at an average 2,405.82 MHz clock speed during this test, and sat at an average temperature of 69.16 degrees Celsius (156.49 degrees Fahrenheit).

Networking Performance of the HP Elite Dragonfly Max

Our configuration of the HP Elite Dragonfly Max came with a Nano Sim card slot for 5G networking, plus a prepaid card from AT&T. When I tested the laptop in downtown Brooklyn, I found that it was only slightly slower than my home Verizon Fios connection.

I was able to watch videos, download apps and stream music with no interruptions. The biggest difference I noticed was the time it took to load pages, which would sometimes take about a second longer than on Wi-Fi.

Still, your experience will likely differ based on where you live and your choice of carrier.

Display on the HP Elite Dragonfly Max

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max is, no matter how you configure it, a pricey computer. And for that extra cost, you do get a new, almost absurdly bright HP Sure View Reflect display, which also packs novel privacy and anti-blue light technology. While we were impressed with a measured 707 nits of average brightness, we were let down by extremely strict viewing angles. This screen tended to wash out for me when I moved more than 45 degrees away from it, perhaps because of the privacy features.

But when I was sitting directly in front of the screen, I had a great experience even in my brightly lit office. I tested the screen by watching the latest trailer for Cruella on it, and colors were vivid while blacks were deep. Glare also wasn’t an issue, although the screen had some minor reflectivity to it. 

When I looked at the screen in a darker environment, reflectivity became less of a problem, but viewing angles still remained tight.

HP Sure View Reflect is one of HP’s privacy-oriented displays, with a built-in app (you can also turn it on with the F2 button) that turns the image into a blank copper rectangle when you look at it from more than 45 degrees away. This worked well for me when I turned it on, but given that the image is already so washed out at those angles, it seems like an unnecessary addition, especially because it also made my screen uncomfortably dim even when looking at it from straight on. I also wonder if building the screen to accommodate this technology reduces viewing angles even when the privacy feature isn’t turned on.

Still, there’s no denying that the screen is pleasant under optimal conditions. Our colorimeter showed it covered 81.7% of the DCI-P3 spectrum, which is much higher than the ThinkPad X1 Nano’s 71.6% and the XPS 13 2-in-1’s 70%. Only the Razer Book 13 came close, with 80.7%.

And, of course, 707 nits is immensely bright. The ThinkPad X1 Nano is much dimmer at the still very bright 430 nits. At 426 and 488 nits, respectively, the Razer Book 13 and the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 are in a similar boat. However, there is such a thing as diminishing returns, and we’re not sure that the extra brightness is worth it — we still had great viewing experiences on these competitors, some of which boast better viewing angles.

What might be worth the extra cost is HP’s Eye Ease technology. This always-on, hardware level anti-blue light filter supposedly shifts harmful blue light spectrum images to more comfortable places on the spectrum without affecting the look of the image. This is because the screen only targets a very specific area of blue light, rather than tinting the whole image yellow like most solutions. After a whole day of working on the Elite Dragonfly Max, I did notice a lack of eye strain; however, I’m not sure if it was a placebo effect. I tend not to feel too much strain from my regular monitor, either, and I feel like I’d need to judge this feature over the course of a few weeks or months to fairly assess it.

Keyboard, Touchpad and Stylus on the HP Elite Dragonfly Max

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max has a chiclet style keyboard that feels stiff and hard when pressing down keys, but I still managed to type quickly on it

On 10fastfingers.com, I regularly hit 78 - 79 words per minute, which is toward the upper end of my usual score range. However, I also had a number of typos during my tests, and keypresses didn’t exactly feel cushiony. Aside from the typical notches on the F and J keys, the keycaps also don’t have any distinct build features to help you find your fingers’ position by touch alone. This left typing feeling a bit like a chore, even if I technically typed speedily.

The large, 4.3 x 2.6 inch precision touchpad is, by contrast, a more pleasant experience. It feels smooth to the touch, and scrolling happens just as smoothly, although there’s enough friction to easily make precise adjustments. Multi-touch gestures like scrolling with two fingers or switching apps with three fingers were also a breeze to pull off.

There’s also a small, separate fingerprint reader to the right of the touchpad, which is a nice plus given that much of this computer’s competition integrates fingerprint readers into the touchpad instead, which creates dead zones.

Audio on the HP Elite Dragonfly Max

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max comes with four speakers by Bang & Olufsen (two top-firing and two bottom-firing) that have impressive bass. I listened to "Butter" by BTS on them, and I didn’t feel like I lost any information from the beat-heavy song. Audio was also clear with no tinniness, even on high vocals, and I could easily hear the song across my two-bedroom apartment at max volume.

At around 50% volume, I had about as optimal of a listening experience as I would expect to get from a device this size.

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max also comes with an audio control program called, well, HP Audio Control. T I didn’t hear much of a difference between its music, movie and voice presets.

Upgradeability of the HP Elite Dragonfly Max

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max is surprisingly easy to open for an ultraportable. It’s got five Torx T5 screws on the bottom, and the case easily lifts off after removing them. (The hardest part may be finding a Torx screwdriver.) Once you’re inside the laptop, you’ll have immediate access to both the Wi-Fi and 5G chips, plus you’ll see a silver shield above the battery with a pull tab on it. If you pull on that tab, you’ll have direct access to the laptop’s SSD.

Battery Life of the HP Elite Dragonfly Max

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max has an edge on battery life over its competition. In our battery benchmark, which continually browses the web, runs OpenGL tests over-Wi-Fi and streams video at 150 nits, the HP Elite Dragonfly Max held on for 13 hours and 9 minutes.

That’s a bit more than an hour longer than its longest-lasting competition, the ThinkPad X1 Nano, which had a 12 hour battery life on the same test. The Razer Book 13 lasted for 11 hours and 44 minutes, while the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 was the quickest to die with a 10 hour and 52 minute battery life.

Heat on the HP Elite Dragonfly Max

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max runs on the cool side for an ultraportable laptop, plus it has special software to keep it extra cool when it’s on your lap.

After 15 minutes of streaming video, the laptop’s touchpad measured 77.5 degrees Fahrenheit, while the center of its keyboard (between the G and H keys) was about 10 degrees hotter at 88.9 degrees Fahrenheit. The laptop’s underside was mostly about 90.1 degrees Fahrenheit, although it ran closer to 102.7 degrees Fahrenheit closer to its vents.

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max also has HP Context Aware software, which uses machine learning to detect when the laptop is on your lap so it can lower the performance mode. HP claims this can reduce the temperature by up to 9 degrees Fahrenheit, although you can turn the feature off if you’re using a lap desk and would prefer to prioritize performance. For my part, I noticed that the Dragonfly was still warm on my lap, but it did adjust its performance mode on and off as advertised. Unfortunately, I don’t have a temperature reading camera at home to test lap temperatures.

HP Elite Dragonfly Max Webcam

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max comes with a 5MP webcam that captures photos at 1440p, which is a higher resolution than you’ll find on even most desktop webcams. Plus, it’s also got a physical camera shutter.

That said, artifacts are still present on photos taken with this laptop’s camera, although lighting and color are accurate. The quality should be more than enough for most casual use cases, but my face is more pixelated than I like when I view this camera’s photos at full screen.

Pixelation becomes more noticeable in low-light environments, but color and lighting remain strong.

This camera’s performance in saturated lighting conditions is unique, but maybe flawed. I’ve never seen a webcam take such a detailed photo through a window pane before (usually, they’ll just depict windows as sheets of white), but my face is bathed in so much shadow that I’m not sure the camera counts as usable under these conditions.

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max also has two front-facing mics and two world-facing mics, which lets it use AI noise cancellation to help keep background noise out of calls. I found that the AI noise cancellation works well, although the microphone quality itself is questionable. My recordings sounded echo-y and especially muffled, and part of me wonders if the AI noise cancellation contributed to this.

This laptop also has a sliding physical webcam cover.

Software and Warranty on the HP Elite Dragonfly Max

This laptop does not skimp on the pre-installed software, with more than 15 HP-branded programs alone coming pre-loaded on it. And that’s not even everything. There’s also a program that tries to get you to install free trials for different Adobe Creative Cloud programs, plus typical Windows pre-installs like Microsoft Solitaire Collection and Maps.

At least the HP apps are generally useful. HP Wolf Security, for instance, is a free firewall not unlike Windows Defender. HP QuickDrop lets you easily transfer files across devices, including mobile phones. There’s even HP Easy Clean, which is a novel app that shuts down all of your laptop’s input for a few minutes so you can sanitize it without accidentally pressing any buttons (there is a 2-button keyboard shortcut to unlock your PC early if you need to, though).

But there’s no reason all of these utilities have to be their own separate programs. It’s easy to see them as clutter that way. If I were HP, I’d consider rounding up most of these functions into one central hub app, similar to Lenovo’s Vantage program.

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max also comes with a three-year limited warranty.

HP Elite Dragonfly Max Configurations

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max has two pre-built Wi-Fi only configurations, one pre-built Wi-Fi and 5G configuration and one fully customizable option. Our review configuration was that Wi-Fi and 5G pre-built option, which came with an Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 13.3 inch FHD display. It costs $2,789.

The Wi-Fi only pre-built models are $2,199 and $2,399, respectively, although the only difference between them seems to be whether the laptop uses an i7-1165G7 chip or an i7-1186G7 chip. Otherwise, you’ll get 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and a 13.3 inch FHD display.

The configurable option is exclusive to HP’s website, and starts at $2,409 for the Windows version (the website says it technically costs $3,347, but there’s a permanent $1,000 discount applied to it). You can shave $236 off the price if you want to go for FreeDOS, which might be useful if you intend to install Linux on the device.

More realistically, you’ll be configuring your PC to add on to it. Here, you can bump the CPU up to an i7-1185G7 processor and the RAM up to 32GB for a combined $489, and the SSD up to 2TB for $865. There’s also in-between options— bumping the SSD to just 1TB will cost you an extra $235, and there are 16GB and 32GB RAM bundles available for both the cheaper i7-1165G7 CPU and the more costly i7-1185G7 CPU.

You can also choose to go Wi-Fi only in a custom build, or go for either Intel XMM LTE ($155) or Qualcomm SnapDragon 5G ($440) networking. Plus, there’s add-ons like an optional Wacom pen, which costs $74.

HP’s website says custom builds won’t ship until October, although HP assured us that this is incorrect, and is in the process of sending us more information.

Bottom Line

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max is an expensive convertible with a great look and a bright screen that purports to have an anti-blue light feature, but it doesn't have a worthwhile power boost compared to cheaper options and doesn’t exactly make up for it with its keyboard or its display’s other specs. 

I acknowledge that our configuration has an extra cost tied to it thanks to the 5G, which was admittedly only slightly slower than my Wi-Fi when I tested it in downtown Brooklyn. But even without the 5G, this computer costs more than $2,000. Compare that to the ThinkPad X1 Nano, another business-class convertible which either beat it or performed on par with it in all of our productivity tests and only costs around $1,600 from certain e-tailers, and it’s hard to justify getting the Elite Dragonfly Max. 

Granted, the HP Elite Dragonfly Max has slightly better battery life and a much brighter screen than the ThinkPad X1 Nano. But viewing angles on this display are excessively strict, so it still comes with caveats. Plus, you lose out on that great ThinkPad keyboard and the ThinkPad X1 Nano’s 16:10 aspect ratio.

If you go for a non-business-class computer like the XPS 13 2-in-1 9310, you can get even more power for even less.

If you’re a business-oriented buyer and you really want 5G or bright displays or niche security software like HP Sure View, then this laptop might be for you. Otherwise, you can get more raw power for less elsewhere, plus maybe some better viewing angles while you're at it.

Seeed today announced the first member of its reServer System today. The reServer x86 series is designed for edge computing and IoT applications. The systems come powered by an 11th-Gen Intel processor, and higher-spec models feature Intel Iris Xe graphics.

Seeed's reServer is a compact piece of kit measuring 4.8 x 5.2 x 9 inches (124 x 132 x 230 mm), giving it enough height to house two 3.5 inch SATA drives and plenty of space for cooling using heat pipes and vapor chambers. The lowest spec reServer is the 11th-Gen Core i3 model with Intel UHD Graphics. If you want Intel Iris Xe graphics, then you should look at the i5 and i7 models. 

No matter which version you opt for, each has a TDP of 28W. The mainboard has M.2 expandability for SSD and 4G/5G connectivity, and you can upgrade the RAM to a maximum of 64GB of DDR4-3200. The onboard HDMI 2.0b port supports up to 4k60, and the Displayport connector provides up to 7680x4320 at 60Hz. An additional LCD eDP 40 pin connector provides another means to output video. In total, there are four simultaneous display outputs if we count the USB-C Thunderbolt 4 connection on the i5 and i7 models. An Intel I225-V Ethernet controller powers two 2.5Gb Ethernet ports. If wireless communications is more your thing, reSpeaker offers Wi-Fi 6, LoRaWAN and 4G / 5G via an optional module.

The i3 model has a single USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 port, whereas the i5 and i7 models have two USB 3.2 Gen 2 and two USB 2.0 ports. Also present are RS-232 / 422 and 485 COM ports along with a 28-pin breakout for an ATSAMD21G18 32-Bit Arm Cortex M0+ microcontroller which is programmable via the Arduino IDE.

To power the unit, we rely on an external power brick that supplies the needed 12V DC. For i5 and i7 models, we have the option of USB PD via the USB-C port.

Edge computing is computing performed near the source of the data rather than in the cloud. This means that a project or organization does not rely on the cloud infrastructure provided by an external company.

Seeed is aiming the reServer at many different applications, including the traditional small office/home office server, but more interestingly, they see applications in the industrial automation, smart vision/city and healthcare industries.

Price is available on request via a form on the product page.

Intel kicked off Computex 2021 by adding two new flagship 11th-Gen Tiger Lake U-series chips to its stable, including a new Core i7 model that's the first laptop chip for the thin-and-light segment that boasts a 5.0 GHz boost speed. As you would expect, Intel also provided plenty of benchmarks to show off its latest silicon.

Intel also teased its upcoming Beast Canyon NUCs that are the first to accept full-size graphics cards, making them more akin to a small form factor PC than a NUC. These new machines will come with Tiger Lake processors. Additionally, the company shared a few details around its 5G Solution 5000, its new 5G silicon for Always Connected PCs that it developed in partnership with MediaTek and Fibocom. Let's jump right in.

Intel 11th-Gen Tiger Lake U-Series Core i7-1195G7 and i5-1155G7

Intel's two new U-series Tiger Lake chips, the Core i7-1195G7 and Core i5-1155G7, slot in as the new flagships for the Core i7 and Core i5 families. These two processors are UP3 models, meaning they operate in the 12-28W TDP range. These two new chips come with all the standard features of the Tiger Lake family, like the 10nm SuperFin process, Willow Cove cores, the Iris Xe graphics engine, and support for LPDDR4x-4266, PCIe 4.0, Thunderbolt 4 and Wi-Fi 6/6E.

Intel expects the full breadth of its Tiger Lake portfolio to span 250 designs by the holidays from the usual suspects, like Lenovo MSI, Acer and ASUS, with 60 of those designs with the new 1195G7 and 1155G7 chips.

The four-core eight-thread Core i7-1195G7 brings the Tiger Lake UP3 chips up to a 5.0 GHz single-core boost, which Intel says is a first for the thin-and-light segment. Intel has also increased the maximum all-core boost rate up to 4.6 GHz, a 300 MHz improvement.

Intel points to additional tuning for the 10nm SuperFin process and tweaked platform design as driving the higher boost clock rates. Notably, the 1195G7's base frequency declines by 100 MHz to 2.9 GHz, likely to keep the chip within the 12 to 28W threshold. As with the other G7 models, the chip comes with the Iris Xe graphics engine with 96 EUs, but those units operate at 1.4 GHz, a slight boost over the 1165G7's 1.35 GHz.

The 1195G7's 5.0 GHz boost clock rate also comes courtesy of Intel's Turbo Boost Max Technology 3.0. This boosting tech works in tandem with the operating system scheduler to target the fastest core on the chip ('favored core') with single-threaded workloads, thus allowing most single-threaded work to operate 200 MHz faster than we see with the 1185G7. Notably, the new 1195G7 is the only Tiger Lake UP3 model to support this technology.

Surprisingly, Intel says the 1195G7 will ship in higher volumes than the lower-spec'd Core i7-1185G7. That runs counter to our normal expectations that faster processors fall higher in the binning distribution — faster chips are typically harder to produce and thus ship in lower volumes. The 1195G7's obviously more forgiving binning could be the result of a combination of the lower base frequency, which loosens binning requirements, and the addition of Turbo Boost Max 3.0, which only requires a single physical core to hit the rated boost speed. With Turbo Boost 2.0, Intel requires all cores to hit the boost clock speed, which makes binning more challenging. 

The four-core eight-thread Core i5-1155G7 sees more modest improvements over its predecessor, with boost clocks jumping an additional 100 MHz to 4.5 GHz, and all-core clock rates improving by 300 MHz to 4.3 GHz. We also see the same 100 MHz decline in base clocks that we see with the 1195G7. This chip comes with the Iris Xe graphics engine with 80 EUs that operate at 1.35 GHz.

Intel's Tiger Lake Core i7-1195G7 Gaming Benchmarks

Intel shared its own gaming benchmarks for the Core i7-1195G7, but as with all vendor-provided benchmarks, you should view them with skepticism. Intel didn't share benchmarks for the new Core i5 model.

Intel put its Core i7-1195G7 up against the AMD Ryzen 7 5800U, but the chart lists an important caveat here — Intel's system operates between 28 and 35W during these benchmarks, while AMD's system runs at 15 to 25W. That's because Intel compares the 15W Cezzane chips to its own 28W processors, which is far from an even comparison. Intel conducted these tests on the integrated graphics for both chips, so we're looking at Iris Xe with 96 EUs versus AMD's Vega architecture with eight CUs.

Naturally, Intel's higher power consumption leads to higher performance, thus giving the company the lead across a broad spate of triple-A 1080p games. However, this extra performance comes at the cost of higher power consumption and thus more heat generation. Intel also tested using its Reference Validation Platform with unknown cooling capabilities (we assume they are virtually unlimited) while testing the Ryzen 7 5800U in the HP Probook 455.

Intel also provided benchmarks with DirectX 12 Ultimate's new Sampler Feedback feature. This new DX12 feature reduces memory usage while boosting performance, but it requires GPU hardware-based support in tandem with specific game engine optimizations. That means this new feature will not be widely available in leading triple-A titles for quite some time.

Intel was keen to point out that its Xe graphics architecture supports the feature, whereas AMD's Vega graphics engine does not. ULMark has a new 3DMark Sampler Feedback benchmark under development, and Intel used the test release candidate to show that Iris Xe graphics offers up to 2.34X the performance of AMD's Vega graphics with the feature enabled.

Intel's Tiger Lake Core i7-1195G7 Application Benchmarks

Here we can see Intel's benchmarks for applications, too, but the same rules apply — we'll need to see these benchmarks in our own test suite before we're ready to claim any victors. Again, you'll notice that Intel's system operates at a much higher 28 to 35W power range on a validation platform while AMD's system sips 15 to 25W in the HP Probook 455 G8.

As we've noticed lately, Intel now restricts its application benchmarks to features that it alone supports at the hardware level. That includes AVX-512 based benchmarks that leverage the company's DL Boost suite that has extremely limited software support.

Intel's benchmarks paint convincing wins across the board. However, be aware that the AI-accelerated workloads on the right side of the chart aren't indicative of what you'll see with the majority of productivity software. At least not yet. For now, unless you use these specific pieces of software very frequently in these specific tasks, these benchmarks aren't very representative of the overall performance deltas you can expect in most software.

In contrast, the Intel QSV benchmarks do have some value. Intel's Quick Sync Video is broadly supported, and the Iris Xe graphics engine supports hardware-accelerated 10-bit video encoding. That's a feature that Intel rightly points out also isn't supported with MX-series GPUs, either. 

Intel's support for hardware-accelerated 10-bit encoding does yield impressive results, at least in its benchmarks, showing a drastic ~8X reduction in a Handbrake 4K 10-bit HEVC to 1080P HEVC transcode. Again, bear in mind that this is with the Intel chip running at a much higher power level. Intel also shared a chart highlighting its broad support for various encoding/decoding options that AMD doesn't support.

Intel Beast Canyon NUC

Intel briefly showed off its upcoming Beast Canyon NUC that will sport 65W H-Series Tiger Lake processors and be the first NUC to support full-length graphics cards (up to 12 inches long).

The eight-litre Beast Canyon certainly looks more like a small form factor system than what we would expect from the traditional definition of a NUC, and as you would expect, it comes bearing the Intel skull logo. Intel's Chief Performance Strategist Ryan Shrout divulged that the system will come with an internal power supply. Given the size of the unit, that means there will likely be power restrictions for the GPU. We also know the system uses standard air cooling. 

Intel is certainly finding plenty of new uses for its Tiger Lake silicon. The company recently listed new 10nm Tiger Lake chips for desktop PCs, including a 65W Core i9-11900KB and Core i7-11700KB, and told us that these chips would debut in small form factor enthusiast systems. Given that Intel specifically lists the H-series processors for Beast Canyon, it doesn't appear these chips will come in the latest NUC. We'll learn more about Beast Canyon as it works its way to release later this year.

Intel Always Connected PCs Update - Intel 5G Solution 5000 

Intel sold its modem business to Apple back in 2019, leaving a gap in its Always Connected PC (ACPC) initiative. In the interim, Intel has worked with MediaTek to design and certify new 5G modems with carriers around the world. The M.2 modules are ultimately produced by Fibocom. The resulting Intel 5G Solution 5000 is a 5G M.2 device that delivers up to five times the speed of the company's Gigabit LTE solutions. The solution is compatible with both Tiger and Alder Lake platforms. 

Intel claims that it leads the ACPC space with three out of four ACPCs shipping with LTE (more than five million units thus far). Intel's 5G Solution 5000 is designed to extend that to the 5G arena with six designs from three OEMs (Acer, ASUS and HP) coming to market in 2021. The company says it will ramp to more than 30 designs next year.

Intel says that while it will not be the first to come to market with a 5G PC solution, it will be the first to deliver them in volume, but we'll have to see how that plays out in the face of continued supply disruptions due to the pandemic. 

The Raspberry Pi has a knack for bridging the gap between different technologies but, in this project, it's combining the power of multiple routers into one connection point. This setup is referred to as a bonded router by its creator, Jona, and operates using a platform called Speedify.

The best Raspberry Pi projects tend to come out of necessity—often providing a solution to a specific problem. According to Jona, he was tired of the bandwidth limitations of rural internet and decided to merge multiple sources into one, stacking the available speed. Before this project, his network speed was capping around 2 - 5 Mbps but now it reaches up to 120 Mbps.

The Raspberry Pi is responsible for distributing network traffic between four individual internet access points (in this case, two LTE lines and two 5G lines). Jona also included a DSL failsafe to act as a backup in the event the bonded router connection drops.

If you'd like to recreate this project, you can download Speedify from the official website. It's available for Linux machines like the Raspberry Pi but also on Windows, Mac, iPad and Android devices. In Jona's setup, he's using an 8GB Raspberry Pi 4 with a 4G LTE HAT. It also has a USB hub connected to a 4-four gigabit Ethernet adaptor and a 5-port Netgear gigabit switch.

Read more about this project in detail on the project thread at Reddit and be sure to follow Jona for more cool Pi projects.

Ayaneo announced Sunday that 2,000 units of its handheld gaming device would soon reach Indiegogo backers with a surprise inside: The new AMD RZ608 Wi-Fi 6E module that, before yesterday's announcement, hadn't even been revealed to the public.

"The RZ608 announced today has never been revealed on the Internet," Ayaneo CEO Arthur Zhang said in the announcement, "so many of you don't believe it." But he assured Indiegogo backers that his company's "cooperation with AMD allows us to be the first to get the latest CPU and technical support among handheld consoles."

For anyone unfamiliar with Ayaneo: The device is essentially a Nintendo Switch based on the AMD Ryzen 5 4500U APU, commonly known as Renoir, paired with a proprietary cooling solution that's supposed to enable improved performance. It debuted on Indiegogo in March with a variety of configurations starting at $789.

Now it seems that Ayaneo will rely on AMD for more than just the Renoir APU. Zhang said in the announcement that the AMD RZ608 module offers support for Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and their predecessors. (Not everyone has a Wi-Fi 6E router, of course, especially since the global chip shortage has limited router supplies.)

Zhang also shared a screenshot of the AMD RZ608's specs:

The Wi-Fi Alliance said Wi-Fi 6E brings the "higher performance, lower latency, and faster data rates" offered by Wi-Fi 6 into the 6GHz band. This is supposed to "enable high-bandwidth applications that require faster data throughput, as well as lower latency connectivity that is specifically well suited for next generation uses."

Zhang said yesterday that Bluetooth 5.2 is supposed to offer "faster connection speed, lower latency, faster transmission speed, longer distance, lower power consumption, and better user experience compared to Bluetooth 5.0." More information about the spec can be found in this overview from Bluetooth SIG.

Ayaneo users will likely appreciate both improvements. There just seems to be one point of contention: AnandTech reported that the AMD RZ608 is "actually a rebranded MediaTek MT7921K module with an AMD logo on it." The performance should be the same, naturally, but the hype surrounding the module won't be.

Not that AMD rebranding MediaTek parts should necessarily come as a surprise. The companies reportedly started working together in September 2020 with plans to develop Wi-Fi 6 networking parts and, sometime in the future, 5G modems. It seems the AMD RZ608 could be the first product of that relationship to reach the public.

With the ongoing pandemic and chip shortages still making headlines semiconductor revenue totalled $464 billion in 2020 and will top $522 billion 2021, according to IDC. Despite widespread shortages, sales of chips are going to grow further this year as more devices are getting smarter and more chips are consumed overall. Fuelled by home working and education computing is set to be the main driver of growth as each PC uses dozens of chips many of which are made using an advanced process technology. Meanwhile, shipments of chips for smartphones, consumer electronics, and automotive applications will also be strong. 

Global semiconductor revenue increased by 10.8% last year to $464 billion and will grow another 12.5% this year to $522 million because of growth in consumer, computing, 5G, and automotive semiconductors, a new report from IDC says. Shortages of chips will continue through 2021, but since the industry will adopt more expensive chips for a wide variety of applications, sales of semiconductors are destined to grow once again.  

Semiconductors for PCs and servers outpaced the overall chip market and grew 17.3% year-over-year to $160 billion in 2020. There were several factors that drove sales of PC and server chips to new heights. Demand for PCs grew rather dramatically last year, which caused shortages. Meanwhile, CPUs and GPUs are made using sophisticated fabrication technologies and therefore are rather expensive. Finally, supply constraints allowed manufacturers to further increase prices of their products. IDC predicts that sales of semiconductors for computing will grow 7.7% to $173 billion in 2021. 

"Demand for PC processors remains strong, especially in value-oriented segments," said Shane Rau, research vice president, Computing Semiconductors. "The PC processors market looks strong through the first half and likely the whole year." IDC forecasts computing systems revenues will grow 7.7% to $173 billion in 2021. 

Chips for smartphones have been a major semiconductor revenue driver for about a decade since the market of handsets was growing rapidly. Last year unit shipments of smartphones dropped by 10%, but since new 5G devices use more expensive SoCs and more chips in general, smartphone semiconductor revenue increased 9.1% year-over-year. IDC believes that sales of chips for mobile phones will grow by 23.3% in 2021 to $147 billion. 

"2021 will be an especially important year for semiconductor vendors as 5G phones capture 34% of all mobile phone shipments while semiconductors for 5G phones will capture nearly two thirds of the revenue in the segment," said Phil Solis, research director for Connectivity and Smartphone Semiconductors. 

Chips for consumer electronics totalled $60 billion in 2020, up 7.7% year over year as sales of devices like game consoles, tablets, wireless headsets, smart watches, and set-top-boxes were strong. 

"New gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony, continued strong sales of wearables from Apple, and the rise in smart home networks managed by Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant will accelerate growth in 2021 to 8.9% year over year," said Rudy Torrijos, research manager, Consumer Semiconductors. 

Shipments of chips for automotive applications recovered in the second half of 2020, but many semiconductors for cars  are in tight supply now, a situation that will persist throughout 2021, according to IDC. Nonetheless, automotive semiconductors revenue is expected to grow 13.6% year-over-year, the analysts note. 

"Overall, the semiconductor industry remains on track to deliver another strong year of growth as the super cycle that began at the end of 2019 strengthens this year," said Mario Morales, program vice president, Semiconductors at IDC.

Nine years ago this week, my son was born and, to mark the occasion, I wrote an article, predicting 15 current technologies he would never use, because they would be obsolete by the time he would have a reason to interact with them. Now, as Isaac turns 9, it’s a good time to take a look back at my predictions and assess their accuracy. 

Why revisit an article that I wrote for a different website (laptopmag.com) nearly a decade ago? Analyzing the ambitious predictions I made at that time provides an abject lesson in how slowly technology actually changes and how soon children are exposed to grown-up gadgets. 

Looking at my listicle proves that I have no future as a futurist. Predictions like the death of windowed operating systems and the end of mice seem crazy right now, but were based on trends that were big at the time (everything going touch). Still, I got a few things right and other predictions are likely to prove true, just a few years later than I expected. 

Let’s have a look back at my predictions.

1.  No More Wired Home Internet 

In 2012, I predicted that, within a few years, ISPs would stop running fiber optic cables to customer’s homes and deliver home broadband via cellular. At the time, we’d seen some weak attempts at wireless home Internet, including some WiMAX plans from Clear (remember them?) and it seemed like the end of wires was just around the corner.

Fast forward 9 years and we’re just now starting to see the start of a movement toward home 5G. T-Mobile just launched its Home Internet service and Verizon 5G Home is available in 28 cities. Wired continues to be, by far, the dominant way to deliver reliable Internet to your home or office.

However, there’s reason to believe that fixed 5G Internet will be the dominant form of home and small business connectivity by the time Isaac enters college. 

“I do believe that in the long term it will happen,” Anshel Sag, a senior analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, told me. “The reason why is because the fixed costs of upgrading traditional copper and fiber infrastructure for individual users simply does not scale to meet the demand of all connected devices.”

Sag said that 5G is still in its infancy and that it will take three to four years before carriers have the bandwidth and availability that they need to compete with wired home Internet and another three to four years after that for consumers to start making the shift en masse. The key, he noted, is adding C-Band and more capacity in mid-band and millimeter wave. 

Once fixed 5G Internet goes mainstream, it will provide more competition and faster speeds to everyone from home users in rural areas to small businesses who are tired of their landlords deciding what carrier gets to wire the buildings. However, Sag says, you will still need a router as customers will have one large, high-performance receiver that sits near a window (or even outside) rather than giving every device in the home its own 5G connection.

Prediction Verdict: TBD. It looks like my son will remember using wired home Internet as a child, like I remember using rotary phones.  

2.  No Dedicated Cameras and Camcorders

In 2012, I predicted that point-and-shoot cameras and camcorders were so dead that my son would never use them. This has turned out to be correct. While he’s seen my mother, who is slow to give up on old tech, using her ancient Panasonic point-and-shoot, he’s never used a dedicated camera himself. 

Even nine years ago, it was easy to see that, outside of high-quality DSLR and mirrorless cameras, standalone cameras were over. According to NPD VP of Industry Analysis Stephen Baker, who studies consumer tech markets for a living, the market for point and shoots has shrunk by 90 percent since 2013.

Prediction Verdict: Right

3.  He Won’t Live with Landline Phones

This is kind of a gimme. When my wife was pregnant with Isaac, we canceled our home phone and went cellphone exclusive and, even in 2012, we were late to the game. So I predicted that my son would never use a landline phone and I also made it happen.

That being said, VoIP landline phones are still a part of many peoples’ lives. Cable and fiber optic providers continue to offer these services and many people, including my mom, still have them. When I was working in an office (pre-covid), we still had desk phones with individual numbers, but there are good reasons why a business would want to do that (ex: keeping work and home numbers separate).

Will my son grow up to have a home phone? No way. Could he work in an office that has business lines? Quite possibly.

Prediction Verdict: Right

4.  His Computers Will All Boot Super Fast 

In 2012, I wrote that, by the time my son uses computers, “new operating systems will be able to install updates and patches without requiring a reboot. However, if for some reason, you do need to restart the computer, boots will take only a couple of seconds”

I got this wrong (so far) because I overestimated how quickly operating systems and solid-state storage would improve and underestimated how young my son would be when he started using PCs. Isaac has been using PCs for several years now and all of them boot in around 30 seconds. That’s pretty fast, but it’s a far cry from “two seconds.”

Windows update hasn’t gotten any less annoying in the last 9 years and, if anything, it has gotten worse, with ever more required updates and even occasional errors. However, if you really want, you can get Windows 10 to boot pretty quickly as we managed to start it under 5 seconds after disabling a whole bunch of services. The one saving grace here is that, like most of us, Isaac puts his laptop to sleep and rarely reboots.

Prediction Verdict: Wrong 

5.  He’ll Never Use a Windowed Operating System

I predicted that, by the time Isaac was ready to use a computer, desktop GUIs would no longer have windows that you drag around and resize. Instead, I posited, touch-friendly UIs would dominate, not only on mobile devices, but even on computers. I got this wrong and I’m glad that I did.

Back in 2012, tablets were everywhere and Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest operating system, favored touch input over traditional mouse and keyboard use, eschewing the Start Menu for a screen full of finger-friendly tiles. Microsoft also pushed users and developers toward a new class of “modern apps,” which had large fonts and icons and were meant to run at either full screen or side by side, not in draggable windows. 

Though I hated Windows 8, I thought it was a harbinger of a world where every desktop OS, even macOS and Linux would be windowless. Thankfully, users rejected the Windows 8 UI in droves and everyone in the industry realized that what works on a mobile device isn’t ideal for a PC. 

Isaac has been using windowed operating systems since he was maybe five or six, so they seem very natural to him. His first one wasn’t Windows, but Kano OS, a flavor of Linux running on the Raspberry Pi. 

Prediction: Wrong 

6.  He Won’t Use a Computer with a Mechanical Hard Drive 

In my original article, I wrote “by the time my son gets his first new laptop, you won't be able to buy one without an SSD.”  As a hardware enthusiast, I was an early adopter of SSDs so I was using them in my PCs before Isaac was born in 2012. 

So every PC he’s used has had solid-state storage of some kind. The Raspberry Pis we spend so much time doing projects with boot off of microSD cards. The only hard drives he’s used were in older game consoles: an Xbox One and a PS3. 

He hasn’t technically gotten “his first new laptop” yet, because his daily driver is a hand-me-down, my old ThinkPad T440s, which has two SSDs. However, even if he bought one today, he’d most likely be getting one with an SSD as even sub-$300 systems now come standard with solid-state storage. If he was buying or building a desktop or configuring a gaming laptop, he could still get one with a hard drive inside for bulk storage, but SSDs are so cheap now that they’ve become standard. 

Prediction Verdict: Right 

7.  He Won’t Go to the Movies

In 2012, I predicted that movie theaters would die soon, but I didn’t say exactly how soon it would be. Isaac has gone to a couple of movies in the theatre, but as the past year has shown, theatres are on their way out and he may not be going to the movies at all as an adult.

In my original article, I said that a confluence of factors would kill movie theatres: the improving quality of home theaters, the eventual death of the 90-day theatrical window and the cost and hassle of the movie-going experience. I wrongly thought that 3D TV sets would play a role by making the theatre 3D experience moot, but they turned out to be a fad. 

However, ticket sales have been declining steadily since 2012, though in 2019, people still took 1.2 billion trips to the movies worldwide. The pandemic threw sales off a cliff in 2021, with just 223 million tickets sold, but even as life starts returning to normal, the box office will not. 

A number of major studios dumped the 90-day theatrical window in 2020 and 2021 and consumers saw how much more convenient it is to just stay home. Plus, if there’s any risk of getting exposed to diseases, many people will make the calculation that it’s just not worth the hassle. Theaters are even more dead than before. I’ll miss them, sort of.

Prediction Verdict: TBD, but likely to happen in a few more years.

8.  He Won’t Use a Mouse

In one of my worst predictions, I opined that my son would never use a mouse, because touch interfaces would replace point and click ones by the time he was ready to use a computer. This wasn’t wishful thinking on my part, because I prefer using a keyboard -- the clicker the better -- and mouse for productivity. 

Again, I thought Windows 8 and the rise of tablets was indicative of an anti-mouse trend. I also thought my son wouldn’t be using a computer until he was much older, but he’s been working with Linux-based Raspberry Pis and later Windows PCs, both with mice, since he was five. 

In the larger world, mice have remained popular too. According to Baker, sales in 2020 were 13 percent higher than in 2013, though he noted that, in the years between those dates, sales were basically flat. 

Prediction Verdict: Laughably wrong 

9.  He Won’t Use 3D Glasses, Because 3D Will Be Glasses-Free 

Around the time my son was born, it seemed like home 3D entertainment was the next big thing. The market was filled with 3D TVs, though people understandably hated using the expensive and bulky glasses that you had to wear for them. 

At the time, I had also seen a number of promising glasses-free 3D technologies in the years before my son was born. In 2011, Toshiba introduced the Qosmio F755, a 3D notebook with a webcam that used eye tracking technology to output 3D, without glasses. And two smartphones, the HTC Evo 3D and the LG Thrill also had glasses-free 3D. It seemed like only a matter of time before glasses-free 3D was everywhere and worked for multiple viewers at the same time.

Based on these trends, in my 2012 article, I predicted that “by the time my son is 10, large-screened devices like TVs will be able to offer a compelling glasses-free 3D experience to many viewers at the same time.”

My son won’t turn 10 until next year, but I can already call this one incorrect. The market for 3D TV and 3D phones, with or without glasses, has been dead for years. Lifewire’s Robert Silva, who wrote a post-mortem for 3D TV, notes that companies stopped making these sets all the way back in 2016. In analyzing their failure, Silva cites more than half a dozen factors, including competing standards, expensive glasses, poor image quality and no evolution to 4K. On the other hand, my prediction got one thing right: my son isn’t using 3D glasses.

Prediction Verdict: Wrong

10.  He Won’t Use a Remote Control 

Remote controls are an old and often frustrating technology. Most of them use infrared to connect your home entertainment system so, if there’s anything blocking the line of sight, they don’t work. And, despite the promise of universal remotes, we always end up with piles  of different remotes that go missing. 

So, in my article, I predicted that “by the time my son enters grade school,” remote controls would be replaced by either smartphone apps or gesture / voice commands. On the bright side, you can replace almost any remote with a smartphone app, depending on your TV, cable box or streaming box. You can also use voice assistants such as Alexa or Google Assistant to control your home theater. 

However, devices still come with dedicated pack-in remotes and most people still use them, because they are just so convenient. My son still uses the regular remote, though in theory, he could avoid it.

Prediction Verdict: Wrong 

11.  There Won’t Be Desktop PCs

The worst prediction I made in 2012 was that PC vendors would stop producing “most” desktop computers within six years. Laptops were getting a lot faster in the years before then and, in the last 9 years, the performance and price gap between desktop and mobile PCs has continued to narrow. 

In fact, if you’re looking to buy a prebuilt, non-gaming budget PC, there’s not much benefit to getting a desktop. For example, today at Best Buy, $399 gets you either type of system with a Core i3 / Ryzen 3, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. Sure, a desktop CPU is faster than the equivalent mobile one, but for non-techie consumers, the laptop seems like a better option because it’s portable and has a screen built right in. 

But, for those of us who truly care about performance or want the pride that comes from building your own computer, there’s still nothing like a desktop. According to Baker, prebuilt desktops accounted for 20 percent of consumer PC sales in 2013, but dropped to just 13 percent in 2020, so the numbers are down a bit. 

However, the number of people building their own desktops is on the rise. According to Baker, people bought 1.7 million empty PC cases in 2020, up from around 1 million in recent years. As for my son, he helped me build a desktop last summer.

Prediction Verdict: Wrong

12.  He Won’t Dial Phone Numbers

I predicted that, by the time my son is in high school, he’ll be contacting friends using online messaging or video chat of some kind and never even share phone numbers. But why wait? At the age of 9, he has no idea what anyone’s phone number is and he’s never dialed one, but he still gets and receives calls from friends and family on Facebook messenger.

Given how slowly standards like this change, I don’t think that the idea of having a unique phone number for each person / SIM card is going away by the time he’s in high school. However, I firmly believe that he probably won’t be communicating via standard phone with his friends at all. For the foreseeable future, though, we’ll still need old-fashioned phone connections to call businesses.

Prediction Verdict: Mostly Right

13.  He Won’t Watch TV in Primetime

In 2012, I posited that the growing popularity of streaming services, cord-cutting and time-shifting would lead to the end of “Prime Time” television, that magic period between 8 and 11 pm where all the hottest TV programs air. 

Fast forward 9 years and these trends have accelerated. For many of us, the real prime time is whenever Disney+ posts this week’s episode of Falcon and Winter Soldier or Amazon drops the next episode of the Expanse (in both cases, usually 3 am ET). However, traditional broadcast networks like ABC, NBC and CBS still release their best content during Prime Time and, given the way ratings drive commercial revenue for them, they are unlikely to change anytime soon, even though viewers are changing their habits and watching these same programs at different times via the web.

As for my son, he has never sat down to watch a Prime Time show, unless it just happened to be on and he caught it by accident. My guess is that he will never in his life say something like “I can’t go anywhere at 9 pm on Friday, because the X-Files is on,” which is what I would say back in the 1990s.

Prediction Verdict: Right 

14.  He’ll Never Use a Fax Machine 

I predicted that my son would never use a fax machine and, perhaps unsurprisingly, he hasn’t proven me wrong in his first 9 years. Some businesses and financial transactions still use faxes, because of issues accepting digital signatures. However, given that we can now scan and email documents or, in a worst case scenario, use fax software, there is zero need for a fax machine. I can’t remember the last time I sent or received a fax.

Baker said NPD no longer tracks fax machines so can’t even tell us how poorly they are selling. However, the market is full of printer / scanner/ fax combination devices so it’s always possible that someone is using those to actually send faxes.

Prediction Verdict: Right 

15. Optical Discs Will Be Gone  

In my article, I said that “it may take until my son turns 10 for the major entertainment companies to stop publishing in DVD and Blu-ray format, but make no mistake, discs aren’t long for this world.” He’s 9 now, but I’m pretty sure we won’t see the end of Blu-ray by next year so this prediction was premature.

In my son’s life, he’s used optical discs many times in PS3 and XBox game consoles. He’s also seen our collection of DVDs and Blu-rays, but noted that we almost never watch them and, in fact, we disconnected our Blu-ray player. So, now that we no longer play XBox or PS3, we are in effect a disc-free household at present.

However, there’s good reason to believe that optical discs and physical media in general will survive for quite a bit longer and that good reason is “when you own the disc, you actually own the content.” In the past several years, savvy consumers, especially movie buffs, have seen many instances where an online service either lost the rights to content or went out of business. The terms of service at many online movie and game services even say that they can’t be held liable if the content you bought suddenly goes offline forever. And there’s no good way to sell or trade-in a game or movie you own digitally. 

So where does that leave us? Some people will continue to buy movies that they want to keep on Blu-ray and, because of the trading of used games, even new consoles have optical drives at least as an option. However, the convenience of streaming means that those sales will get smaller and smaller over time.

Prediction Verdict: Wrong

Bottom Line

I have several takeaways from the exercise of making and evaluating these predictions. First and most importantly, the “higher tech thing” isn’t always the best thing for usability, even if companies want to push consumers toward it. 

At the time my son was born, it seemed like the leading platform vendors, especially Microsoft, were trying to kill the keyboard / mouse and windowed OS UI concept that had existed since the 1980s and replace it with touch-only interfaces. I hated this trend (I still miss having a keyboarded phone), but I thought it was inevitable. However, users pushed back, Windows 8 was an abject failure and today traditional PCs with windowed GUIs continue to hold their place alongside mobile devices with touch.

Second, It takes a really long time for well-established technologies to completely “die,” even if as with fax, everyone agrees that they are lame and need to go. But more often the reason that technologies hang around is that there are still good reasons for them. Optical discs are much less convenient than streaming, but they let you actually “own” whatever content you bought.

Finally, never underestimate the speed at which a child learns. I didn’t get my first PC until I was 13 and didn’t do my first build until 19 so I assumed my son wouldn’t be using “grown up” technology for a long time. Instead, he got his first tablet at age 1, was using Raspberry Pis by 5 and programming in text-based languages and using the command line by 7 and helping me build a PC at 8.

It might be time to add another supply issue to the list. Unizyx CEO Gordon Yang said the company is suffering the worst networking chip shortage in 30 years, DigiTimes today reported, and that it will likely have to raise its prices as a result.

Unizyx offers a wide array of networking products via its Zyxel and MitraStar DMS brands. Right now it's seeing increased demand because several next-generation technologies—5G networks, Wi-Fi 6, and Wi-Fi 6E—are all becoming more popular.

Yang told DigiTimes that Unizyx can't source enough networking chips to meet that demand. Even if it could, rising component and transportation costs would likely result in higher prices for Unizyx products anyway, according to the report.

That ought to sound familiar by now. Not just the networking chip shortage, although the global chip shortage is front-of-mind for many companies, but also the fact that transportation costs have risen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus made it much harder for the shipping industry to ferry raw materials, components, and finished products around the world. That difficulty naturally resulted in higher transportation costs for... pretty much everyone.

That might change this year. MSI chairman Joseph Hsu said in March that he expected transportation costs to fall as the shipping industry recovers from the pandemic, and those savings could eventually be passed on to consumers.

But for now, the networking chip situation Yang described sounds a lot like many other parts of the industry, from CPUs and GPUs to mobile processors and SSD controllers, along with other components we simply haven't been able to cover.

Unlike those issues, however, it's not clear how much the networking chip shortage will affect consumers in the near term. It's nearly impossible to find the best CPUs or the best graphics cards, and the best SSDs are likely to follow in the near future. Gauging the effect this could have on 5G wireless or Wi-Fi 6 and 6E rollouts is harder.

The chip shortage has expanded to the smartphone market, Reuters said Thursday, with Qualcomm reportedly struggling to make enough processors for its clients. That struggle could affect the availability—and pricing—of Android phones in the future.

This shortage reportedly stemmed from two problems: increased demand for Qualcomm processors and decreased availability of the parts used to make them. Sound familiar? It’s the same duo affecting the automotive and tech industries.

Reuters said the increased demand was partly caused by companies rushing to fill the void left by Huawei after the U.S. government sanctioned it. The rise of 5G has also helped, according to IDC, as has “pent-up demand” caused by COVID-19.

5G phones need 5G-capable processors, of course, which is where Qualcomm comes in. The company announced the flagship Snapdragon 888 5G Mobile Platform in December 2020; numerous manufacturers have already built phones around it.

Reuters said that, per an anonymous source, there’s a Snapdragon 888 shortage. Other sources reportedly told the publication that Qualcomm hasn’t been able to meet the demand for the processors used in low-end or mid-range smartphones, either.

That essentially means the entire band of Android smartphones, from budget models to flagship products, could be affected by the Qualcomm processor shortage. But the problem might actually start with another company: Samsung.

Qualcomm used Samsung’s 5nm process in the Snapdragon 888; it’s possible that production of that process hasn’t scaled enough to meet demand. Reuters said the company also relies on a Samsung factory in Texas for some of its radio frequency transceivers.

You might have guessed where this is going. In February, Samsung was asked to shut down that Texas factory to conserve power while the state responded to a winter storm that left millions of people without electricity, heat, or running water.

Samsung has struggled to get that fab running again because it needs to inspect, clean, and reconfigure all of its equipment. (All while making sure COVID-19 safety protocols are being followed, of course.) This could lead to even more delays.

This means Samsung can’t make smartphones without Qualcomm’s products, but Qualcomm can’t make those products without Samsung, either. It’s like an ouroboros that’s starving even as it consumes itself, but with 5G networking. 

Commercial laptops aren’t always known for their looks, with brands like Lenovo’s Thinkpad line prizing boxy, plain designs that emphasize power over style. But in late 2019, HP released the HP Elite Dragonfly, a slick business convertible that we dubbed the “Anti-Thinkpad” thanks to its ability to deliver performance while still keeping an attractive exterior.

Now, the Dragonfly brand is back with the HP Elite Dragonfly Gen 2 and the HP Elite Dragonfly Max, both of which have 11th Generation U-series processors. They’re also joined by a new HP Elite Folio, a lighter Qualcomm-based convertible.

The HP Elite Dragonfly Gen 2 maintains the same look as its Intel 8th Generation processor, but upgrades to Intel 11th generation U-series CPUs, with options ranging from Core i3 to Core i7. HP hasn’t released pricing info quite yet, but it’s set to hit stores this month. Aside from the processor update, the Gen 2 also comes with display options up to 3840 x 2160 4K with HDR400. That’s a higher max resolution than was available on the Gen 1, though that laptop’s FHD low power and FHD HP Sure View Reflect screens also return here. All screen options are touch-compatible, though you’ll have to buy a stylus separately if you prefer not to use your finger.

Like the Gen 1, the Gen 2 is thin and light, starting at 2.2 pounds and 11.9 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches. New here is an optional 5G modem, though that doesn’t seem to have added to the weight. You’ll also get up to 32GB of LPDDR4 RAM (soldered) and up to 2TB of storage. The laptop’s HP Quiet Keyboard has 1.3mm of key travel, and its included webcam has IR capability for Windows Hello.

The Dragonfly Gen 2 also has Bang & Olufsen audio, plus three microphones and plenty of software-powered noise reduction and audio boost features. HP has yet to make any battery life claims, but the Gen 2 does have fast charging that touts to be able to restore up to 50% of its power in 30 minutes.

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max, meanwhile, offers many of the same features as the Gen 2, but with a greater focus on audio and visual fidelity. It’s powered by either an Intel 11th gen U-series i5 or i7 processor, has just one display option that uses an FHD HP Sure View IPS touch screen, comes with either 16GB or 32GB of LPDDR4 RAM (soldered), and can accommodate storage up to 2TB. 

The Max’s keyboard and chassis are the same as the Gen 2, as its battery and optional 5G modem. The Max is a little heavier than the Gen 2, however, starting at 2.5 pounds. That probably has to do with its special input devices.

The HP Elite Dragonfly Max comes with 4 microphones (with AI audio optimization), plus a 5 MP + IR camera and what HP is calling an “eye ease display,” meaning it filters out blue light. HP has yet to give too much detail into how the Max stands out from the Gen 2, but we’re guessing that these advertised extras mean it was built with video calling in mind. Like the HP Elite Dragonfly Gen 2, it’s also set to come out this month, though pricing info isn’t available yet.

If you want a similar HP convertible experience but don’t need to be operating strictly at the high end, the HP Elite Folio 13.5 inch is also getting a refresh later this February, though pricing details aren’t available yet.

Like the HP Elite Dragonfly series, the Elite Folio can transform to operate either as a laptop or a tablet, but also has the unique ability to pull the screen forward to rest at an angle just between the touchpad and keyboard. It’s also fan-less, but in exchange for these features, you’ll be operating on mobile hardware.

The Elite Folio runs off a Qualcomm 8xc Gen 2 AC 3.15GHz processor with up to 16GB of LPDDR4x soldered memory. It has SSD storage up to 512GB, and in its most obvious improvement over a mobile device, has a 13.5 inch 1920 x 1080 touchscreen. It is 11.8 x 9 x 0.6 inches large and starts at 2.85 pounds, and like the Dragonfly options listed here, can come with an optional 5G modem.

The Elite Folio also has an integrated storage and charging cradle designed for the HP Elite Slim Active Pen, though HP has yet to say whether the pen comes with the system. 

Microsoft this week finally released a version of Windows 10 on Arm that supports x86-64 (x64) emulation to members of the Windows Insider program. The software giant says that the preview version of Windows 10 on Arm supports any x64 app whether they come from the Microsoft Store or any other source. 

Members of Microsoft's Windows Insider program with PCs powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon (or any other) ARM64/Armv8 system-on-chips (SoCs) who want to try the new version of Windows on Arm with x64 emulation should download the Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 21277 (RS_PRERELEASE) from the Dev Channel.  

To get decent app performance, users will also need to install a proper x64 driver for their Qualcomm Adreno GPUs, which is currently available only for Samsung's Galaxy Book S, Lenovo's Flex 5G, and Microsoft's Surface Pro X (more information and links here). Also, to support running both ARM64 and x64 C++ applications simultaneously, Microsoft advises installing a preview version of the ARM64 C++ redistributable. 

Microsoft does not reveal any information about its x64 emulator's expected performance for Armv8 processors, so it is unclear whether the software is good enough for demanding applications like Adobe's Photoshop, or is mostly aimed at things like browsers. It is also unclear how stable the emulator is. Meanwhile, the software giant recommends developers support their apps natively on ARM64 and has been providing appropriate tools — Windows SDK and Visual Studio — since 2017.  

Microsoft has been actively trying to bring Arm SoCs to the Windows PC space for almost a decade. Initially, the company wanted to offer an alternative to Apple's iPad. It released its Windows RT operating system in 2012, but the platform has never been popular, and Microsoft essentially canned the project in 2015 by axing its own Windows RT devices. The second attempt — sometimes called always-connected personal computers (ACPS) — was unveiled by Microsoft and Qualcomm in 2017. Instead of bringing an alternative to something on the market already, the two companies focused on a unique value proposition that Snapdragon SoCs can provide: long battery life and always-on connectivity. 

In addition to launching an x64 emulator for Armv8 SoCs, Microsoft also plans to release a number of its programs, including Microsoft Teams, compiled and optimized specifically for Arm SoCs. Furthermore, Microsoft is also expanding its App Assure program to include Windows 10 on Arm 64-bit devices to guarantee that custom software designed for particular customers would work on all Windows 10 platforms no matter which processor or SoC they use. 

Demand for advanced chips has been increasing gradually in the recent years and is expected to snowball faster in the coming years, due to trends like 5G, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and edge computing. A report from SEMI, an association of chip design and manufacturing supply chain companies, announced this week predicts that at least 38 new 300mm fabs will come online by 2024, significantly increasing available capacity. 

"The projected record spending and 38 new fabs reinforce the role of semiconductors as the bedrock of leading-edge technologies that are driving this transformation and promise to help solve some of the world’s greatest challenges," Ajit Manocha, SEMI president and CEO, said in a statement accompanying SEMI's announcement of its 300mm Fab Outlook to 2024 report. 

Over $250 Billion Spent on 300mm Equipment by 2024 

SEMI predicts that over $250 billion will be spent on 300mm fab equipment from 2019-2024, with equipment budgets hitting an all-time-record $70 billion in 2023.  

At least 38 new 300mm fabs will be built and dozens upgraded to produce chips using more advanced nodes, SEMI's conservative projection says. After the new and upgraded fabs come online by the end of 2024, the global 300mm fab capacity will reach over 7 million wafer starts per month (WSPM). In total, 161 300mm fabs will be operational by the end of 2024, up from 123 in 2019, if SEMI's predictions prove true.

Another factor associated with the projected spending boost is the industry's slow transition to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools that are more expensive than traditional deep ultraviolet (DUV) scanners and also require other advanced equipment in the fab. EUV is currently used only for logic, but Samsung recently started production of DRAM using a process that features some EUV layers. 

Taiwan to Lead the Pack 

Taiwan and South Korea have long been leading in terms of the number of operational 300mm fabs. Amid consolidation of the foundry industry and growing demand for leading-edge nodes, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has been increasing its capital expenditures rather rapidly. Taiwan will add 11 new 300mm fabs by 2024 (when compared to 2019), SEMI said, which is well ahead of other countries and even smaller regions. 

China, which is trying to meet its Made in China 2025 goals, is expected to build eight new 300mm fabs and dramatically increase its 300mm fab capacity market share to 20% by the end of 2024 (up from 8% in 2015). 

South Korean companies — namely Samsung and SK Hynix — will also pour in tens of billions of dollars in new fabs and equipment by 2024, but SEMI did not disclose the number of new fabs to be built. 

Memory Ahead of Logic

SEMI said that 3D NAND and DRAM will account for the bulk of the increase in 300mm fab spending. Considering that there is intense competition between four major makers of memory — Micron, Samsung, SK Hynix and Western Digital/Kioxia — and there are multiple new players emerging in China, this isn't surprising. 

Companies producing logic chips, such as Intel, GlobalFoundries, TSMC, UMC and others, are also expected to increase budgets significantly, though some will prefer to upgrade existing fabs rather than build new ones.

Want to add 5G to your Raspberry Pi project? This 5G HAT from Waveshare is exactly what you need.

We're no strangers to HATs for the Raspberry Pi, we even collected a list of our favorite Raspberry Pi HATs. So what exactly can you expect out of this one?

This HAT is known as the SIM8200EA-M2 and was created by Waveshare. It provides 3G, 4G and even 5G support for the Raspberry Pi.

The HAT comes with the SIM8200EA-M2 module, a base for the Raspberry Pi and HAT to attach to, a 5V 3A power adapter and five external antennas.

According to Waveshare, it's capable of 4 Gbps download speeds with up to 500 Mbps upload speed. It features an M.2 connector and also includes a GPIO extension header. This model is based on Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 and provides multi-band support.

This unit is currently priced at $399.99 on the Waveshare website. This is a steep price-point when compared to your average Raspberry Pi HAT, but could be worth the investment for 5G developers. Check out the product page for more details, specs and checkout options.  

Tiger Lake laptops are finally starting to hit store shelves, and today sees HP announcing its new Spectre and Envy devices with Intel’s 11th gen mobile CPUs. Highlights include a new 14 inch Spectre x360 convertible with a 3:2 aspect ratio and a 10th gen 13-inch Spectre x360 that comes with 5G.

Let’s start with probably the biggest surprise of the bunch, the HP Spectre x360 14. This is a new size for the lineup, which typically stuck to 13 and 15-inch configurations. 

Aside from its size and CPU, the key feature here is the 3000 x 2000 OLED touchscreen display. That’s a 3:2 aspect ratio screen, which means you’ll be able to see more of a website while scrolling in the Spectre x360 14’s laptop mode. But perhaps more intriguing is that when you convert the Spectre x360 14 into tablet mode, the screen will be about the size of standard notebook paper. We’re happy to see more 3:2 screens coming around, which have been popularized more recently by Microsoft’s Surface devices.

Aside from the novel display and form factor, the Spectre x360 14 uses an Intel Core i7-1165G7 CPU that has passed Intel’s Evo certification. This requires a 9 hour minimum battery life on a FHD screen, the ability to wake from sleep in less than one second and the ability to recharge the battery to at least four hours worth of power in 30 minutes. The Spectre x360 14 also uses Tiger Lake’s new Intel Iris Xe integrated graphics, which promise about double the performance over Ice Lake’s integrated graphics options.

The Spectre x360 14 also seems to make good use of its extra room over its 13 inch cousin, packing in 16GB of memory and 1TB M.2 SSD. It’s expected to come out later this October on HP.com at a starting price of $1,199.99. Best Buy and BestBuy.com will then start selling the laptop sometime in November.

 The HP Spectre x360 13 will come in both Wi-Fi and 5G versions this year. The Wi-Fi only model is similar to the Spectre x360 14, but scaled down. It has an Intel Evo Core i5-1135G7 CPU (with Xe graphics), 8GB of memory and a 512GB M.2 SSD. It also doesn’t share the 3:2 display of its cousin, instead opting for a 16:9, 3840 x 2160 OLED touchscreen. It will also release on HP.com later this October for a starting price of $1,199.99, with Best Buy also starting to list it in November.

The 5G model, then, is still a bit of a mystery. It’s not coming out until early next year, and HP hasn’t given too much info about its specs or price yet. We do know that it will still use a 10th gen Intel CPU, and that it will only be available in some regions. In the US, AT&T and T-Mobile will provide 5G service for the device, though carriers will vary by region.  

Closing up the announcement is the more mid-range Envy line. There’s two options here- the HP Envy x360 13 convertible and the HP Envy 13 laptop. Both devices will use Intel Evo Core i7-1165G7 CPUs, 8GB of RAM and a 1920 x 1080 IPS touchscreen. Storage differs between the two units, with the convertible carrying a 512GB SSD and the laptop using a 256GB SSD. 

The HP Envy x360 13 convertible is available now at Best Buy for a starting price of $949.00, and will hit HP.com in November. The Envy 13 laptop will hit HP.com later this October for $899.99.