ARM announces the Cortex-A78C, a new variant of a next-gen high-end core

ARM’s new Cortex-A78C core is based on its previously launched A78. However, the company insists that it has diversified the audience for its series (which also consists of the A78E) with this core. It has apparently been optimized for “high performance, heavily threaded workloads”.

Like the A78, this new C variant is compatible with the Mali-G78 GPU. However, it is geared toward different formations in a single DynamiQ arrangement (by which ARM cores are combined with others to form a processor). The A78 can conform to big.LITTLE architectures (or 1+3+4 arrangements, as is likely to be the case in 2021).

However, up to 8 of its C siblings can be used to create an all-big chipset: no A55s or X1s required. This intriguing concept could (according to ARM) handle the next-gen demands of what it calls “digital immersion”. These applications range from productivity-focused tasks to virtual- or augmented-reality (AR or VR) gaming.

The Cortex-A78C core also supports ARM’s latest security-focused features. They include Pointer Authentication (PAC), which is rated to reduce exploits of the return-orientated programming (ROP) and jump-orientated programming (JOP) by over 60% and 40% respectively. However, and possibly most importantly, it has an L3 cache of 8MB.

Therefore, ARM is adamant that CPUs based this new Cortex-A78C core would be ideal for prosumer- to enterprise-grade portable devices – even laptops, perhaps – or gaming headsets, whereas the A78 is best for smarphone SoCs. However, it does sound like they might also be attractive to OEMs in the mobile gaming space as well. Time will tell where these fresh new CPU cores will end up.

Apple’s ARM-based MacBook Air will reputedly launch at US$799 with the MacBook Pro 13 priced at US$1,099

We are but one week away from Apple’s next hardware event, where the company is expected to announce its first ARM-powered Mac hardware. Apple will announce a new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13 based on its new ARM architecture, according to Mark Gurman and Debby Wu of Bloomberg, which may be joined by a revised version of the MacBook Pro 16.

Leaker @000leaker has gone one further, though. Posting on Twitter, the account claims that Apple will launch the ARM MacBook Air for as low as US$799, with prices rising to US$999 for what we presume will just be higher memory SKUs. We should stress that @000leaker does not have the best track record, but there have been rumours that Apple will price its ARM Mac hardware at cheaper price points than its current Intel ones.

Additionally, the account claims that the new MacBook Pro 13 will cost between US$1,099 and US$1,299. Meanwhile, a 12-inch MacBook will apparently follow in Q1/Q2 2021, before 14-inch and 16-inch Pro models arrive in Q2/Q3 2021. @000leaker adds that the MacBook Pro 14 will retail for upwards of US$1,799, which would be quite the price hike from the MacBook Pro 13.

Apple is expected to equip the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13 with full bore versions of the A14 Bionic, the 5 nm chipset that it uses in the new iPad Air and iPhone 12 series. The company may not brand its first ARM laptop chip as the A14 Bionic though, but it is thought to offer between eight and twelve processor cores.

Librem Mini V2: A powerful mini-PC with a Comet Lake Core i7 processor and up to 64 GB of RAM

Not even a year has passed since Purism released the Librem Mini, but the company has now unveiled a second-generation model. Unsurprisingly, Purism has called its latest machine the Librem Mini V2, which also offers a hint of the breadth of upgrades that the mini-PC has been afforded.

According to the manufacturer, the Librem Mini V2 has been upgraded to a Core i7-10510U, a 15 W chip from Intel’s Comet Lake-U family. While this is an upgrade from the Core i7-8565U that the company included in the first Librem Mini, the change will only yield a 6% performance improvement, based on our database.

Elsewhere, the Librem Mini V2 remains identical to its predecessor. The machine has two SO-DIMM slots for up to 64 GB of DDR4-2400 RAM, one M.2 slot for an NVMe or SATA III drive, along with a 2.5-inch drive bay for another SATA II drive. Additionally, Purism continues to equip its mini-PC with two video outputs, seven USB ports, an RJ45 connection and optional Bluetooth/Wi-Fi.

The Librem Mini V2 starts at US$699 with 8 GB of RAM, a 250 GB SATA SSD and a combination of coreboot + SeaBIOS. The machine can be configured up to US$3,193, though. The Librem Mini V2 is available to order now.

The Vivo X60 may be able to “switch” between its new OriginOS and Android

Vivo has set its next Developer Conference for November 19, 2020. It is now rumored to unveil a successor for the X50 premium smartphone line at this event, not to mention a whole new operating system. According to a recent leak, it is to be called OriginOS and will be improved compared to the company’s existing Funtouch OS, an Android skin based on version 11 at the latest.

The prolific leaker Digital Chat Station claims to have an interesting new detail on this new software to divulge. Apparently, the X60 will be able to run either it or Android at the user’s whim.This could be interpreted to mean that OriginOS is in fact an entirely discrete in-house product, like Huawei’s HarmonyOS, and, moreover, supports dual-booting.

However, it is much more likely that its substantially altered UI and that of a more standard Android nature will be interchangeable at the touch of the software button mentioned in this new leak. Therefore, it may be as much like a custom launcher as anything. In other OriginOS news, Vivo has reportedly also got it running on older devices that include the iQOO Pro, 3 and Neo3 smartphones.

The Nokia 6300 and Nokia 8000 are making a comeback; new 4G models to debut in a few weeks

Roland Quandt claims that HMD Global has some nostalgia up its sleeve. Writing on Twitter and WinFuture, Quandt states that the company plans to revive the Nokia 6300 and Nokia 8000, following the successes of re-launching the Nokia 3310 and Nokia 8110 4G.

The two reborn classics will support 4G LTE, according to Quandt, so they should also support other modern connectivity like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. If the Nokia 6300 and Nokia 8000 are anything like the Nokia 8110 4G, then they should run KaiOS, a fork of Firefox OS. KaiOS is also open-source and has spawned custom ROMs, such as GerdaOS.

Quandt expects HMD Global to unveil the Nokia 6300 and Nokia 8000, rebranded as the Nokia 6300 4G and Nokia 8000 4G, within the next few weeks. The two devices should launch with popular apps installed, like Facebook, WhatsApp, Google Maps, YouTube and Twitter, among others. We would expect HMD Global to have improved the Nokia 6300 and Nokia 8000 in a few areas, but new 4G models should retain the charm of the original models.

AMD’s Ryzen 5 5600X is allegedly spotted running at 6GHz via CPU-Z

AMD has launched its Ryzen 5 5600X processor along with the rest of its Vermeer-based siblings, although it has yet to become available. However, this has not stopped it from bring very active in preliminary leaks about its performance. It may have demonstrated its superiority over the Intel Core i5-10600K in Cinebench scores today alone (November 2, 2020).

The new APU may not have stopped there, however: it may also have shown potential fans what it can do when overclocked. It normally runs at 3.7GHz with a boost up to 4.6GHz; however, according to a pnael of CPU-Z results posted by @TUM_APISAK, it is capable of reaching 6.1GHz.

This new leak seems accurate in terms of the specs and properties returned via the analytical tool:six cores; a 7nm archiitecture; the AM4 socket and a TDP of 65 watts (W). There is one discrepancy in which its voltage is listed as 0.1V. Then again, this may be a detection fault in the program.

It is not clear how this frequency may have been achieved (presuming it is genuine), although it is nearly certain that it may not have been achieved using AMD’s Wraith Stealth cooler. CPU-Z’s benchmarking facility has also been used on the 5 5600X recently, resulting in a single thread score of 643 and 4814 in multi-thread scores.

Again, this was better than the i5-10600K in the same test. Therefore, it seems that the Ryzen 5 5600X will at least make a solid alternative to this chipset.

Apple likely to unveil the ARM-based 13-inch MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and 16-inch MacBook Pro on November 10

Despite their announcement several months ago, Apple has been fairly tight-lipped about when it will unveil the world’s first ARM-based Macbooks. Earlier reports have told us that the notebooks would likely land before the year ends. Thankfully, that wait got a whole lot shorter, as Apple just announced its ‘One More Thing’ event on November 10.

A report from Bloomberg suggests that Apple will unveil three new Macbooks at the event, namely a 13-inch MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and a 16-inch MacBook Pro. Renowned Twitter leaker l0vetodream also confirms that there will be two 13-inch MacBooks but neglected to mention the exact model.

We can also expect Apple to unveil a new iPad Pro alongside the MacBooks. An earlier report told us that Apple’s in-house silicon was likely to come in two variants, one with eight cores and the other with twelve. The former will likely be a modified version of the A14X Bionic, which is also set to power the iPad Pro.

Considering that MacBooks need to pack a more formidable punch than iPads, we can expect Apple to use a 4+4 (power/efficiency) configuration on the eight-core chip and an 8+4 layout on the eight-core variant. There’s a more powerful sixteen-core version of the silicon due to hit the shelves in 2021.

The Nokia 10 PureView is now tipped to be a 2021 flagship with a seriously premium display spec

Nokia has developed a habit of allegedly developing flagship phones and then canning them for nebulous reasons. Now, it may have a new one in the works, which may be aimed at a launch in 2021. This 10 PureView has come up in rumors before, albeit without many additional details.

Now, NokiaPowerUser says it has heard from its sources that the phone is set to rock the Snapdragon 875 SoC. This would probably make it a Nokia flagship in 2021. Then again, it is also slated not to launch until the second half of the year, by which time slightly newer chipsets and devices based on them might have emerged.

However, none of them is likely to make another claim the blog is making for the 10 PureView, which is that it will have a display made with “sapphire glass”. OEMs have not offered this spec since the HTC U Ultra special edition in 2017. (Not that it did that company a lot of good in the end.)

NokiaPowerUser also claims the phone will have the “multi-lens” Zeiss-branded camera system for which its series is known. However, it does not know how much the phone might cost on its putative launch. In addition, the manufacturer itself is yet to acknowledge this new leak.

Google Pixel 5: An overview of the test results

After the 5.7-inch Pixel 4 and the 6.3-inch Pixel 4 XL, Google now takes a step backward: The Pixel 5 uses a 6-inch OLED display with an FHD+ resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. In addition, there are 8 GB of RAM, 128 GB internal storage, and the Snapdragon 765G mid-range SoC with an integrated 5G communication module.

Although with its mid-range SoC, the Pixel cannot really compete against the high-end competitors, it still offers more than sufficient performance for everyday tasks. Its 4080-mAh battery is also suitable for everyday use, ensuring a very long battery life for the smartphone.

Android 11 and a very good dual camera system

The Pixel 5 already runs Android 11. In addition there is the promise from Google that the Pixel 5 will be provided with updates of the Android operating system and security patches for at least 3 years. The 3-year time frame starts with the introduction of the Pixel 5 into the Google Store USA, which was in mid-October.

Even though the Pixel 5 only has a dual camera system with a 12.2 MP resolution, it plays among the top as far as image quality is concerned, which is traditionally one of the strengths of the Google Pixel series. The Pixel 5 not only takes very good pictures in daylight, but the results are still impressive in bad light conditions. As in the Pixel 4 XL before, there is again an Astro Photo mode for hobby astronomers. 

However, the Pixel 5 is also not free of faults. For example, we missed the option for storage expansion or a more current WiFi module – the Pixel 5 is limited to the slightly aged WiFi 5 (WLAN 802.11ac). And with its stereo speakers, one of which is hidden below the display, the Pixel 5 also does not impress either, since the sound is very thin.

Motorola Moto G 5G to launch with a Snapdragon 750G, a 5,000 mAh battery and 6 GB of RAM

Motorola has a new smartphone in the works, reputedly codenamed Kiev. While the device has been rumoured for a while, XDA Developers and u/kutlay1653 on Reddit have revealed multiple details, including a hands-on photo. According to the former, Motorola will launch the device as the Moto G 5G; a slimmed-down version of the Moto G 5G Plus that Motorola launched earlier this year.

The Moto G 5G will rely on the Snapdragon 750G, Qualcomm’s new mid-range gaming SoC, along with 6 GB of RAM. Additionally, the device will be available with 128 GB of storage and a 6.66-inch display. According to Mishaal Rahman of XDA Developers, the screen will have a 60 Hz refresh rate and a resolution of 2,400 x 1,080 pixels. There will also be a punch-hole for a 16 MP camera, which will be complemented by a 48 MP Samsung GM1 primary camera, an 8 MP Samsung S5K4H7 telephoto lens and a 2 MP OmniVision OV02B10 macro lens.

A 5,000 mAh battery will be powering the Moto G 5G, too. Motorola is expected to release the device on Verizon in the US, but there will be four models: XT2113-1, XT2113-2, XT2113-3 and XT2113-5. A release date or pricing remains unknown for the time being, though.