Phone Hacks - Magisk Manager v5.5.4 Adds Fingerprint Authentication Support to Superuser Prompt

Magisk Manager v5.5.4 Adds Fingerprint Authentication Support to Superuser Prompt

Report: MediaTek’s Flagship Helio X SoC Line May Return in the Second Half of 2018

At one time, MediaTek was a rising star. Despite issues with abiding by the GPL for the release of kernel sources, its processors became more and more popular for smartphones made in China. This was because MediaTek’s system-on-chips were cheaper than Qualcomm’s and in the low-end and mid-range price ranges, MediaTek’s chips had competitive performance as well.

However, the situation has since changed. The Taiwan-based chip maker has found it increasingly difficult to cope with competition from Qualcomm, and in recent years, its chipsets haven’t been competitive in terms of performance and power efficiency against Qualcomm’s chipsets. As Qualcomm has bounced back from its issues, MediaTek has struggled, and accordingly, its market share of smartphone processors has decreased.

The problem came to a head when MediaTek launched its flagship Helio X30 SoC in the market. The company admitted at launch that only a few devices would use its latest-and-greatest chip, and in practice, it’s been used in devices numbering in the single digits. In contrast, Qualcomm had a great year with the Snapdragon 835, as all OEMs apart from Samsung (except for in the U.S.) and Huawei opted to use the chip in their flagship smartphones.

Consequently, reports stated that MediaTek was seemingly moving back from the flagship smartphone chip market. This was bad news for competition, as we have already seen the exit of a few notable chip makers in the past. Now, a Digitimes report states that MediaTek’s Helio X series flagship smartphone chipsets are expected to stage a comeback in the second half of 2018 at the earliest, in order to prepare for the advent of the 5G era. The report adds that MediaTek will continue to tap the mid-range and high-end smartphone markets with its Helio P series in the first of this year.

Digitimes states that the Taiwan-based chip maker has worked out “at least” three new-generation chips which will be fabricated using TSMC’s 7nm process. This is said to show the company’s determination to have a presence in the world’s top smartphone chip market, according to the report. (It’s worth noting that last month, a report stated that TSMC would manufacture the Snapdragon 855 on its 7nm process.)

The report continues by stating that MediaTek has been actively developing AI chip solutions, which isn’tably an important focus of competitor chips such as the HiSilicon Kirin 970. The company’s customers, which include Oppo, Vivo, Sony, LG, and others, are said to be upgrading their smartphone models in line with the advent of the 5G era. Therefore, MediaTek is expected to return to the top-tier smartphone smartphone chip market in the second half of 2018 or 2019.

Why did Helio X30 fail to win customer support and build a large customer base? This was because top smartphone vendors such as Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi have rushed to carry out in-house development of their smartphone chips, according to the report. Tough competition from Qualcomm is also said to be a factor as Qualcomm’s budget and mid-range SoCs have steadily improved over the years.

The failure of the Helio X30 is said to have forced MediaTek to stop production of Helio X series chips and suspend related investments in the second half of 2017 in order to prevent gross margins for mobile processors from further declining, according to Digitimes. Developments throughout 2018 will ultimately prove the veracity of this report, but we hope to see more competition in the chip industry, as that has the potential to benefit end users.

Source: Digitimes

tags : android auto, android wear, android device manager, android 1, android phone, android messages, android studio, android tablet, android emulator, android tv, android p, android 17, android tv box, android browser, android keyboard, android apps, android best games, android oreo, android lost, android latest version, android versions, android central, android police, android, android one, android screen recorder.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Google Reportedly Paying Apple $9 Billion to Remain Default iOS Search Option

Image
It’s widely known that Google pays Apple a certain amount of money on a semi-regular basis to make sure that it remains the default search engine option on iOS devices. It has been said in the past that iOS devices equal about 50 percent of Google’s search revenue on mobile devices, so it’s imperative to the company to keep that spot on Apple’s devices. Before the end of 2017 it was reported that Apple was getting upwards of $3 billion from Google to secure that spot. But now, more than a year later from that report, it sounds like the company may be paying a lot more to Apple. Business Insider is reporting information shared by analyst Rod Hall that states Google is now paying $9 billion this year to retain its default situation on iOS devices. What’s more, Hall actually thinks that number will increase by next year, and Google could be paying Apple for those default rights to the tune of $12 billion. Hall also echoes those earlier reports, saying ““Apple is one of the biggest chann
Read more

How to Get iPhone XS Depth Effect Control On iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus

Image
The iPhone XS and iPhone XR have a brand new feature. After you click a Portrait Mode photo, you can go into the Edit menu and change the intensity of the bokeh. Basically, you can change the background blur (make it softer or more pronounced) after you’ve already clicked the photo. Apple is touting this as one of the best new features in iPhone XS . But you can get it on iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus and even the iPhone 7 Plus using a third party app. The new depth effect sensor in iPhone XS blurs photos different parts of the background at a different rate. So the effect you get is similar to that on DSLR. This is not the same as what phones like Pixel 2 do. Since the app in question requires depth data to work, it will not work on iPhones with a single camera at the rear like the iPhone 6, iPhone 7, or the iPhone 8. How to Edit Background Blur in Photos on iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus The app in question is called Focos and we’re big fans of the app. The app made it to our b
Read more

Facebook Uses Your 2FA Phone Number for Targeted Advertising

Image
Being stalked from one website to another by persistent advertising is a real issue, but some companies, like Apple, have made strides to try and reduce its impact . But targeted advertising isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, especially if Facebook has any say in the matter. The company has recently confirmed that it does indeed go to some pretty great lengths to provide information to advertisers, with this latest effort definitely one of the social networking giant’s worst. A couple of days ago, Gizmodo ran a piece that outlined how Facebook uses the phone number some users added to take advantage of two factor authentication as a way to target those same individuals with ads. This is an extension of how Facebook already handles phone numbers saved to the platform’s profiles. How it works normally is if you add your phone number to your Facebook profile, and then add your phone number to some online retailer’s online presence, those two sources can match and be used to target advert
Read more