Motorola Razr 2022 To Get Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen1 Chipset

The Motorola Razr of 2022 has made a physical appearance in some capacity, confirming leaks that it will look quite different compared to before. But the way it looks aside, other things that we know of the device come from leaks. Though on this front, some things have changed, as the company has revealed two bits of info on what the phone packs.

As Android Authority reports, the company has shared on Chinese social media Weibo that the Motorola Razr 2022 will come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen1 chipset. Considering that it hasn’t gotten an official launch yet, this is good news. The base Snapdragon 8 Gen1 would be just a little out of date by the time the phone becomes available.

Separately, one post which the report attributes as coming from a Motorola executive states that the Razr of 2022 will also get a 3500mAh battery. By today’s standards, that is a pretty small battery for a smartphone. But hopefully with the more efficient chipset, it would be enough for the foldable phone to last a day at the very least. The executive also claims that the phone will also have good battery management, which would be nice if it’s true.

Beyond these two points though, we’ll still have to go with what we know from previous leaks. Leakster Evan Blass has claimed that the Motorola Razr 2022 will have a Full HD+ display, either 8GB or 12GB of RAM, 256GB or 512GB of storage space, a 50MP primary + 13MP wide angle and macro camera combo, and a 32MP punch hole secondary camera.

Whether or not these are accurate, we will have to wait for the launch to find out. On that note, the report claims that Motorola will be officially unveiling the Razr 2022 on 2 August, so it won’t be too long a wait.

MediaTek Announces Flagship-Tier Dimensity 9000 Chipset For Mobile Devices

MediaTek is finally looking to close the gap with its rival Qualcomm, which have been dominating in the smartphone chipset market for quite some time now. Just recently unveiled is the company’s latest 5G SoC, the Dimensity 9000, that is specially designed to power flagship-tier Android mobile devices – something that the company has been sorely lacking for several years.

The MediaTek Dimensity 9000 also holds several other firsts to its name, including being the first chip to be built on TSMC’s 4nm process, alongside ARM’s new v9 architecture. The latter includes a single 3.05Ghz Cortex-X2, three 2.85GHz Cortex-A710 cores, four 1.8GHz Cortex-A510 efficiency cores, and a 10-core Mali-G710 GPU.

For AI processing, the chipset features the company’s latest fifth generation six-core APU, which is claimed to offer four times the performance and power efficiency compared to its predecessors. Also onboard is MediaTek’s new 18-bit Imagiq Gen 7, the world’s first ISP (image signalling processor) that can support image captures of up to 320MP and transferring data at 9 gigapixels per second. Video-wise, its encoder is capable of recording up to 8K resolution videos at 30fps, supports simultaneous 4K video recording on three different cameras, and features Super Night mode for low-light capture.

Connectivity-wise, the Dimensity 9000 offers an onboard 5G modem with 3GPP release 16 features, 3CC carrier aggregation (supporting up to 7Gbps downlink speeds), and MediaTek’s own PowerSave tech for improved battery life. Despite being based on the company’s first mmWave modem, the chipset only supports sub-6GHz 5G connectivity at this stage. It is also claimed to be the first to support Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E standard.

The company did not mention any upcoming smart devices which would be equipped with the  Dimensity 9000 SoC at this time. Nevertheless, it won’t be long until we see the announcements pop up from the usual industry players, especially with the new year closing in. It remains to be seen whether the new flagship MediaTek chip is on par or better in terms of performance when compared to its Snapdragon-branded rival.

Intel Confirms 600 Series Chipset Support For Alder Lake-S, Raptor Lake-S CPUs

Intel appears to have provided confirmation that its upcoming 600 series motherboards will support both 12th generation Alder Lake-S and 13th generation Raptor Lake-S CPUs, when all three products launch in the future. The chipset board’s compatibility was discovered within documentation submitted to the SATA-IO, the body responsible for getting hardware vendors to adhere to SATA specifications and other accessories.

Breaking down the document further, it lists the model number and name of the product, Alder-Raptor Lake, along with four device IDs, 7AB0, 7ACB, 7A30, and 7A4B. Beyond that, however, there is no further information about the chipset board.

That said, the discovery does provide a bit of good news for the future; rather than create another motherboard chipset for each consecutive CPU generation, Intel has once again chosen to enable backwards compatibility between its 12th and 13th generation Core series lineup. Much like the Z270 chipset that supports both its 6th generation Skylake and 7th generation Kaby Lake processors, albeit with less features available for the former.

As for the CPU lineups themselves, we at least know that Alder Lake-S is set to be the second lineup to use a hybrid processor architecture, the first having been its 10th generation Lakefield CPUs that were recently discontinued, at least for its laptop segment anyway.

We also know that the Alder Lake-S will be the first CPU lineup to move away from the already archaic 14nm die lithography and into 10nm. Further, the new CPU series is expected to support the new DDR5 memory standard, as well as PCIe 5.0 and the possibility of a 14-core CPU as one of its offerings.

Intel Alder Lake-S “Socket V” Chipset To Feature Lower Z-Stack, Rectangular Design

Intel’s 12th generation Alder Lake-S desktop CPUs are expected to make their debut sometime before the end of the year and while rumours may suggest that the top-of-the-line model will support as many cores as AMD’s current flagship Ryzen 9 5950X, little else is known about the lineup. That is, up until now.

According to a report by the German tech site, Igor’s Lab, Alder Lake-S’ chipset isn’t just shipping out with a larger LGA1700 chipset – codenamed Socket V – but it will also be the first socket to house a completely new processor design in a long time. Specifically, blueprints obtained by the German publication point at Socket V supporting a processor with a rectangular design. Further, the Z-Stack, which is the total height of the CPU package, will be lower by approximately 1mm.

Not only that, but Igor also seems to have stumbled upon a set of blueprints that point to a new cooler that seemingly makes use of the high-performance thermoelectric cooling technology. This isn’t the first time such a cooler has made headlines; with its LGA1200 chipset, Intel partnered up with Cooler Master to create and launch the MasterLiquid ML360 Sub-Zero cooler.

Igor also managed to get his hands on schematics that seem to detail a low-profile reference cooler that look like they could be bundled with the lineup’s mid-range and entry-level processors at launch. Naturally, given the increased die size and pin density, it is very unlikely that this cooler will be backwards compatible with LGA1200 chipsets.

Google And Samsung Reportedly Developing New Chipset For Upcoming Pixel Smartphones

Companies such as Huawei and Apple have been developing their own smartphone chipsets in order to reduce reliance on those supplied by third-parties. According to 9to5Google, it appears that Google may soon be joining the ranks of the aforementioned brands, as it is reported that the firm is manufacturing its own system on chip (SoC) for its upcoming Pixel models.

The publication claims that the tech giant has partnered with Samsung to develop this new mobile processor, which is allegedly codenamed as “Whitechapel.” It also noted that the component carries the model number “GS101,” which it speculates that the letters “GS” is an acronym for “Google Silicon”. The new chipset is believed to be based on Samsung’s Exynos chipset, and is said to be developed with the company’s system large-scale integration (SLSI) division.

Other than that, 9to5Google added that Whitechapel is part of Google’s “Slider” project, which is said to be a “shared platform” for its first SoC. The project is linked to two others codenamed as “Raven” and “Oriole” – believed to be the upcoming Pixel smartphone models that are slated to launch in late 2021. Aside from powering handsets manufactured by the company, the report said that the new Google-Samsung chipset would be featured in upcoming Chromebooks as well.

For those unfamiliar, Google has equipped its flagship phones with Qualcomm developed SoCs since the first Pixel model, with the latest iteration – the Pixel 5 series – featuring the Snapdragon 765G. Whether the first-party Whitechapel chipset is capable of performing on par with its competitors or better, remains to be seen. Provided that this rumour is to be believed, of course.

Huawei Reportedly Developing Kirin 9000L Chipset With Samsung; May Debut On P50 Series

It is said that Huawei is developing a third variant of its Kirin 9000 chipset, which is also rumoured to be featured on its upcoming P50 flagship series. According to a Weibo post by Chinese leakster WHYLAB, the new chipset – known as the Kirin 9000L – will be produced by Samsung Foundry.

The leak suggests that the “L” variant will feature a slower clock speed compared to its siblings, the Kirin 9000 and 9000E. Specifically, the alleged chipset is said to be built on Samsung Foundry’s 5nm EUV (Extreme  Ultraviolet Lithography) process node, and is capable of topping at 2.86GHz via its largest core. Additionally, the 9000L will also feature a Mali-G78 GPU with 18 cores, as well as one large and one small NPU (neural processing unit) cores for AI-based processing.

For comparison, the original Kirin 9000 is capable of reaching clock speeds at 3.13GHz via its largest core, and features a 24-core GPU as well as two large and one smaller NPU cores. Considering the power differences between the two chipsets, it is likely that Kirin 9000L variant will be featured on the standard variant of the yet-to-be-announced P50 series – provided that this leak is to be believed.

The source’s claim of Samsung’s involvement in the production of the new alleged chipset is shaky at best. At this time, it is not known whether the Korean tech giant has been given permission from the US government to produce chipsets for Huawei. The company was, however, granted a license back in October 2020 to supply the Chinese company with OLED panels for its current and future smartphone production.