World’s first 10nm SoC is a big deal

Kaby Lake, the third generation 14nm was launched in 2016 and it looks like Cannon Lake 10nm Intel CPU might only launch in late 2017. But it is fairly certain that the Snapdragon 835 mobile SoC is going to ship in the first half of 2017.

World's first 10nm SoC uses Samsung’s fabs

Qualcomm and Samsung have announced that the latest Snapdragon 835 is using Samsung’s 10nm process technology. One thing is clear the 2017 Snapdragon is now officially the Snapdragon 835.

There is more to life than pixels

Nvidia just announced its fiscal Q3 2017 (not a typo Ed.) and the company reported record revenue of $2 billion, up 54 percent from a year ago. This is finally proof that Nvidia is more than a GPU outfit, as it finally expanded beyond its core business - gaming and professional graphics.

Exynos 7 Dual 7270

Samsung has begun mass production of the Exynos 7 Dual 7270 which is being billed as the “world’s first” mobile processor designed for wearable devices that is built on the 14-nanometer FinFET process technology.

2x A73, 4X A53 and 4X A35

MediaTek has started making rather unique chips and its strategy was even followed by some of its competition. Helio X20 / X25 was the world’s first deca-core SoC that did a decent job, but Helio X30 again packs deca-core with an impressive alignment. 

Faster and slower

Qualcomm is returning to the two high end chips strategy and you can expect to see two variants of what we call Snapdragon 830 today. They will end up with two different product numbers, one being higher than the other.

As Snapdragon 830 is 10nm

We are quite surprised that few people concentrated on one of the major downsides of the Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus – its clunky quad core A10 Chip. Far from being cutting edge, Apple is using 16nm and not the 10nm manufacturing process as many expected. Most of its competitors will soon announce their 10nm SoC.

Faster version of 16nm Helio P20

Just as it did with Helio X20, Mediatek is about to release a faster than the base original of the P20 called the P25. 

Next, next generation

Vega 10 will evolve to Vega 20 in 2017 and 2018 and this will be AMD’s next big thing.  It is codenamed Navi and will be a 7nm FinFET GlobalFoundries product that should surface in late 2018 or early 2019.

Replaces Vega 10, 32GB HBM 2

Vega 10 is Radeon Technology Group’s first HBM 2 part and should launch in early 2017. AMD – RTG is also planning a successor called Vega 20 that might launch later in the year.