Flashback: MediaTek's Helio X20 chip with 10-core CPU was ahead of their time

Modern smartphone chipsets are awesome – their CPUs reach incredible clock speeds of up to 3.46GHz on the iPhone 14 Pro series (Apple A16). The Android rivals aren’t far behind at 3.36GHz with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2. But while raising the clock speed is a simple way to increase performance, it comes with major issues, mainly related to much higher power draw and overheating. Can you go faster while keeping the clock speed low? Sure you can, just throw more cores at the problem. That must have been the line of thought back in 2015 when MediaTek announced the Helio X20, the world’s first...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/flashback_a_look_back_at_the_10core_cpus-news-59511.php

Weekly deals: the best smartphone deals from the US, the UK, Germany and India

This week Samsung's newly Unpacked devices went on sales in the first wave of markets – the Galaxy Z Flip5 and Z Fold5, the two Watch6 and three Galaxy Tab S9 slates – so we’ll check out offers from Samsung itself as well as Amazon. Samsung aside, there are interesting deals on Motorola foldables and bar phones too, plus mid-rangers from other brands and some interesting accessories as well. USA The UK Germany India USA Friday was the first day of open sales for Samsung’s latest foldables. This means that pre-order promos are over, but there are still some...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/weekly_deals_the_best_smartphone_deals_from_the_us_the_uk_germany_and_india-news-59524.php

Google Pixel Fold's built-in speakers support Spatial Audio

The Google Pixel Fold unveiled in May supports Spatial Audio over wired and wireless headphones for a more immersive experience, and three months later, we now learn that Google's first foldable smartphone supports Spatial Audio over its built-in speakers as well. This revelation comes from Telegram user SageSushi via XDA-Developers' former Editor-in-Chief Mishaal Rahman, who shared a screenshot on X (formerly Twitter) showing Spatial Audio support for Pixel Fold's built-in speakers. If you own a Pixel Fold and want a more immersive audio experience through the foldable's speakers,...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/google_pixel_fold_spatial_audio_speakers-news-59535.php

Weekly poll results: most agree that Apple switching to USB-C is an improvement

Last week’s poll shows that people are excited for Apple’s move to USB-C – it’s the right choice, even if the EU had to strong-arm Cupertino into doing it. The EU isn’t alone anymore, Saudi Arabia will make USB-C mandatory for portables from 2025, Brazil is still considering its options. Anyway, a few are worried about the e-waste that will be created by the move, but the vast majority see it as a necessary, even positive move. What really troubles people is whether Apple will limit USB-C functionality on the iPhones. Current Lightning cables (and other accessories) need to be MFi...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/weekly_poll_results_most_agree_that_apple_switching_to_usbc_is_an_improvement-news-59491.php

Samsung Galaxy Watch6 review

Introduction At first glance, Samsung was very docile with the upgrades to its Galaxy Watch6 series. But you could argue that there was very little wrong with the Galaxy Watch5 series and that all the upgrades we got were useful or thoughtful. The new watches use the new Exynos W930 chipset, which is nearly identical to last year's W920. Both are made on a 5nm process and have dual-core Cortex-A55 processors, but the new chip has a higher 1.4GHz clock speed, which Samsung says makes for an 18% increase in speed. The Watch6 series also bumps the RAM up to 2GB. On the software...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_watch6_review-news-59466.php

Google might implement hardware requirements for future foldables

A shiny new foldable smartphone is great, but despite the massive improvements that have been entering the foldable niche lately, there is still a certain level of uncertainty regarding device longevity and rigidity associated with foldables. All you generally have to go by are manufacturer informal assurances and third-party fold tests, like this recent one which revealed that the Motorola Razr 40 Ultra only managed 126,266 folds despite being manufacturer rated for 400,000 cycles. You get the point. As per some insider info courtesy of Mishaal Rahman, Google might be looking to...

Source: https://www.gsmarena.com/google_might_implement_hardware_requirements_for_future_foldables-news-59530.php