The wait for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf has been extremely long for fans, but it sounds like the end of the line is finally in sight, and it might have been worth it.
30.04.2024 - 06:17 / wccftech.com / Omar Sohail
Huawei achieved another milestone with its Pura 70 series launch and that is sourcing 90 percent of smartphone components from Chinese suppliers. With the U.S. export control barring foreign companies from shipping parts to the company to use in various products, Huawei was adamant about cutting off overseas manufacturers and relying on local firms to get the job done. So far, the progress has been impressive, and only a few components remain to completely eliminate dependency on supply chain partners outside of China.
A teardown and examination of the Pura 70, Pura 70 Pro, and Pura 70 Pro+ was done by Japanese investigation company Formalhaut Techno Solution, with Huawei Central reporting that 90 percent of the components belong to Chinese companies. However, the Pura 70 Ultra, which is Huawei’s top-end model, remains the exception, likely due to foreign suppliers possessing better technology than local suppliers, leaving the smartphone maker with little choice.
The Chinese manufacturers responsible for the necessary components are OFILM, HNLens Technology, Goertek, Sunny Optical, BOE, Goodix Technology, and Crystal Optoelectronics. Perhaps the most complex component to mass produce is the chipset, and various industry insiders have noted that it is nothing short of a miracle that Huawei found its footing in the silicon department. Bear in mind that the trade ban pretty much meant that TSMC and Samsung could not mass produce Huawei’s chipset designs.
Fortunately, the company persevered and relied on SMIC, China’s largest semiconductor firm, to mass produce the Kirin 9010, the direct successor to the Kirin 9000S found inside the Mate 60 series. However, Huawei stuck with using the same 7nm process for the Kirin 9010 as it did with the Kirin 9000S, suggesting that the shift to the 5nm node could happen when the Mate 70 family is announced in October of this year.
It appears that the U.S. export control did little to curb Huawei’s resurgence, and it only increased the former Chinese giant’s resolve to rid itself of foreign suppliers. While this move will likely mean that Huawei will remain limited to China, its competitors will indeed feel the heat in the coming weeks.
The wait for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf has been extremely long for fans, but it sounds like the end of the line is finally in sight, and it might have been worth it.
The ‘less than stellar’ demand for the Apple Vision Pro has caused shipment estimates to drop to 400,000 to 450,000 units for 2024, a massive drop compared to the previous 800,000 estimates. Consumers are discouraged from making the AR headset their daily driver thanks to its ludicrous starting price of $3,499, and even though Apple intends to launch the device overseas, its ‘expensive’ problem is yet to be addressed. Fortunately, the company might overcome this hurdle with the Apple Vision Pro 2, with a rumor claiming that the successor will have a starting price of $1,500 and will add two new suppliers, Samsung and SeeYa, to the list.
The U.S. trade ban on Huawei has materialized a completely different outcome than what the opposing authorities envisioned because the Chinese firm has not only mounted a strong comeback on its home turf with successive releases of flagship smartphones that have grown in popularity, but the company plans to one-up its efforts on the software side too. A new report states that Huawei fully intends to rid itself of Google’s Android operating system by switching over to HarmonyOS Next entirely. The new platform will reportedly house 4,000 apps at first.
A few rumors have clamored that Samsung intends to keep several areas of the Galaxy S25 Ultra unaltered compared to the Galaxy S24 Ultra, but the specifications bit might be another story. One tipster mentions that the Korean giant will finally introduce a RAM upgrade to its top-end flagship in 2025, but the internal storage might not change.
Samsung has commenced the rollout of its highly anticipated One UI 6.1 update to its flagship Galaxy smartphones from 2021 and 2022 in South Korea. This update, based on Android 14, introduces numerous enhancements and AI features to the Galaxy S22 series, Galaxy S21 series, and previous models of Galaxy foldable phones.
The Pura 70 flagship series officially launched by Huawei also sports the company’s new Kirin 9010, a 12-core SoC that delivers a slew of improvements over its predecessor, the Kirin 9000S from last year. However, regarding lithography, the Kirin 9010 and Kirin 9000S are pretty much identical, with a teardown revealing that Huawei stuck with SMIC’s 7nm process to mass produce its latest SoC.
The Apple Vision Pro might not be a hit in the consumer market as updated shipment estimates have dropped to 400,000 to 450,000 units for 2024, but the $3,499 head-mounted wearable is a success in the enterprise division, with companies thoroughly impressed with what has been crammed into the device. During Apple’s Q2 2024 earnings, CEO Tim Cook revealed that half of Fortune 100 companies have purchased the AR headset, and it has proven itself to deliver immense utility in various applications.
Huawei was reported to have attained a new milestone as its Pura 70 lineup was said to be comprised of 90 percent components sourced from Chinese partners. This approach would have meant that shortly, the company would be even less dependent on foreign suppliers that are strongly influenced by the U.S., assuming the claim turned out true. The report mentioned that the Japanese electronics consultancy firm Fomalhaut Techno Solutions analyzed the latest smartphones, but the Chief Executive has denied this information.
Despite having a packed roster of projects in the works, Marvel Studios faced another setback as they were forced to scrap yet another project. A planned series featuring a fresh character was reportedly axed, allegedly due to the poor reception of another film.
The demand for Apple Vision Pro is slowly dwindling, but the company’s long-term goals have not budged an inch. A new report states that the successor to the $3,499 AR headset could launch sometime by the end of 2026. However, there is a huge glaring issue that Apple needs to address, or this product category will most likely never take off, and that is pricing. For that to happen, the technology giant needs to bring down its component costs, but with each current-generation unit estimated to set back Apple by $1,542, the road to a more affordable head-mounted wearable is long and hard.
Apple Vision Pro surveys have been sent out to users ever since the headset launched earlier this year, but on this occasion, the company has sent customers a multitude of questions, wanting to learn about their experience and usage habits. What is interesting about the latest in-depth survey is that it was sent out shortly after the technology giant reportedly cut production of its latest head-mounted wearable to an estimated 400,000 to 450,000 annual units.
Huawei was previously rumored to be developing an Apple M1 competitor to take that ARM-based chipset market share away from the company. However, according to the latest information, the Chinese firm is using the Taishan V130 architecture to mass produce a silicon that can come close to the M3’s multi-core performance. It appears that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite is not the only one trying to carve out a piece of the pie.