Apple’s M4 Is Up To 45 Percent Faster Than The M2, 25 Percent Faster Than The M3 In New Multi-Core Leak; Beats Snapdragon X Elite, M3 Pro Too

The Kirin 9010 succeeded the Kirin 9000S when Huawei officially unveiled the Pura 70 series earlier this year, but the company was also working on another version of its latest chipset without keeping anyone in the loop. Called the Kirin 9010L, the existence of this silicon was found thanks to a thorough investigation of the newly announced Nova 12 Ultra Star Edition, which differs from the regular version. Here, we look at what sets apart the Kirin 9010 and the Kirin 9010L.

A new Exynos chipset is said to enter mass production in the second half of 2024, as Samsung is expected to aggressively increase the adoption of its in-house silicon for the forthcoming Galaxy S25 series. The company has been stated on numerous occasions to employ its Gate-All-Around technology to its mobile chipsets, potentially giving it an edge against TSMC, which already has its second-generation 3nm process up and running, with the M4 being the first to utilize this node.

TSMC and Apple have formed a tightly-knit partnership and have worked closely to secure deals that give the iPhone maker an edge over the competition. Recently, Apple’s Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams reportedly visited Taiwan to extend the company’s lead against its rivals in the semiconductor race by securing the first batch of TSMC’s 2nm wafers. Assuming both parties come to an agreement, and chances are that they will, it could potentially add billions to TSMC’s revenue this year alone.

Qualcomm is expected to switch to its custom Oryon cores when it officially announces the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. A company executive claimed that the flagship SoC would be unveiled in October, making it the first silicon from the San Diego firm to transition to in-house CPU designs completely. However, this shift could cost Qualcomm’s partners a hefty sum, as one tipster claims that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be expensive, and phone makers will have to evaluate the overall configuration of their devices to sell them at competitive prices.

Apple has maintained its iron grip in the ARM chipset space, particularly in the single-core department, when it was reported that the M4 completely dominated the Geekbench 6 charts. Unfortunately, some individuals are just not satisfied with these results and have gone to great lengths to ensure that the latest iPad Pro models attain a record that will take a while to be broken, and that is achieving 4,000 points in the benchmarking application. As for how Apple’s latest flagship tablet achieved this figure, all it took was a little help from liquid nitrogen.

The M4 running in Apple’s latest 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro models is available in a 9-core and 10-core CPU option. We did report about the top-end version’s performance, and we were thoroughly impressed as it ran circles around the M2 and M3 and maintained a solid lead against the M3 Pro and Snapdragon X Elite. However, how well does the base variant perform, which has one performance core less than the top-tier version? In the latest benchmark, we find that there is little difference between them, but there will always be consumers who want the latest and greatest.

The latest 11-inch and 13-inch M4 iPad Pro models are equipped with Tandem OLED technology, making them the first consumer products to be equipped with such panels. The obvious benefits include higher brightness and richer colors, and perhaps the biggest perk of using an OLED apart from the battery life improvements is the longer lifespan of the displays. However, users may not appreciate that the addition of Tandem OLED actually results in worse battery life compared to the M1 version with mini-LED, at least according to the latest tests.

Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite will eventually face competition in the ARM-based AI chipset space from MediaTek and NVIDIA, who have reportedly joined forces to co-develop a new SoC whose design is said to be finalized in the third quarter of this year. The upcoming silicon is said to support advanced technologies, including being mass produced on TSMC’s 3nm process, with the new entrant possibly competing with Apple’s M4 when comparing lithography.

Apple officially discontinued its entire iPod range in 2022, leaving behind memories of a revolutionary product that strongly impacted the music and technology industry. It made little sense to continue selling these devices, as the company giant was selling iPhones in the millions, and its handsets could pretty much do everything the iPod could and more. However, there was a time when Microsoft founder Bill Gates was not so optimistic about Apple’s future with its music player family, stating that it could not sustain the iPod’s success, but there was a reason for these bold claims, as you will soon find out.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is expected to be announced in October this year, but with a few modifications, as an earlier rumor claimed that Qualcomm will adjust its frequency to reach 4.26GHz, possibly to obtain an advantage against Apple and its upcoming A18 chipsets. However, based on a recent discussion, it appears that these changes are only being done so Qualcomm can have an edge against its rival in Geekbench, with potentially little to no benefit in real-world applications.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 design was previously said to be finalized in April this year, with a target frequency of 4.00GHz and above. However, looking at Apple’s M4 and its high clock speeds that help the chipset attain a record-breaking single-core score, Qualcomm is rumored to introduce a chipset redesign with a new target frequency of 4.26GHz. This change is said to be made to take on Apple’s upcoming A18 and A18 Pro, which may also operate at higher frequencies to gain an edge against the competition.

The M4 was officially announced during Apple’s ‘Let Loose’ event, with the company praising the 10-core CPU version in droves. What thoroughly impressed us was when we reported that the latest chipset beat the M3 and M2 comprehensively while also managing a healthy lead against the M3 Pro and Snapdragon X Elite.