Chips

Samsung kicking Apple to curb for LCD panels, report says

Updated at 6:30 p.m. PT with Samsung denial.

Samsung's display business plans to end its LCD panel supply agreement with Apple as of 2013, the Korea Times is reporting.

The publication, citing an unnamed senior Samsung source, said Samsung is taking the step because it "believes its American partner is no longer a cash-generator due to the iPhone maker's stiffer supply-chain management structure." Basically, Samsung isn't making as much from Apple's display purchases as it did in the past.

Samsung expects to replace the lost Apple business with orders from Samsung's … Read more

iPod Touch tough to repair

Apple's latest iPod Touch is pretty tough to repair, iFixit said amid its teardown of the device that also showed some differences from the iPhone 5.

The site gave the fifth-generation iPod a ranking of 3 on a repairability scale of 10, with 10 being the easiest. It noted it's difficult to open the case, but it's not impossible, and the battery is flanked by notches that makes it fairly easy to remove.

However, the volume buttons, microphone, LED flash, and power button are connected with one ribbon cable. To repair one component would require replacing the … Read more

Apple's A6 processor appears faster than previously thought

The silicon powering the new iPhone 5 appears to be more powerful than previously thought.

The A6 processor found in Apple's next-generation smartphone has been clocked at 1.3GHz by a new version of iOS benchmarking software Geekbench, faster than the 1.02 GHz previously reported .

The new version of Geekbench, which landed today at the App Store, "features a dramatically improved processor frequency detection algorithm, which consistently reports the A6's frequency as 1.3GHz," Primate Labs John Poole told Engadget.

Earlier results posted by Geekbench suggested the A6 was roughly twice as fast as any chip … Read more

iPhone 5 camera powered by Sony sensor

Sony has been on a roll with its camera image sensors, and a close look by ChipWorks shows that the iPhone 5 uses one of its products for the main camera.

A close-up photo shows the Sony brand name on the 8-megapixel sensor at the heart of the camera.

It's not a big surprise: Sony is very competitive with image sensors these days, and former Sony CEO Howard Stringer let slip earlier this year that Sony was supplying camera technology to Apple.

But the iPhone 5 has two cameras, of course. The lesser one, a front-facing camera for videoconferencing … Read more

Apple reportedly cuts order for Samsung chips for new iPhone

Apple has cut its orders for memory chips from Samsung for its next-generation iPhone as it tries to reduce its dependence on its legal foe and competitor, according to industry sources.

Samsung has been a primary supplier of both DRAM and NAND storage for iPhones, iPads, and iPhones, but Apple has been reducing its orders to the South Korean electronics giant in an effort to diversify its supply lines, according to a Reuters report.

Meanwhile, the Korea Economic Daily reported that Apple had completely dropped Samsung from its list of memory chip suppliers for the first shipment of the new … Read more

Apple, Qualcomm reportedly tried to buy exclusive TSMC favor

Apple and Qualcomm reportedly tried to secure exclusive access to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. smartphone chips by making separate investment offers in the custom chip maker in excess of $1 billion.

The cash would have assured the investors that production would have been reserved for their products, but both bids were rejected, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The two companies were trying secure manufacturing resources to satisfy increasing demand for smartphones, a market Bloomberg Industries estimates to be worth $219 billion.

CNET contacted Apple and Qualcomm for comment and will update this report when we learn more.

TSMC, … Read more

Samsung to invest up to $4 billion in Texas plant

Samsung is investing billions of dollars into a plant in Austin, Texas, that's known to produce Apple's mobile processors.

The company said yesterday that it'll spend between $3 billion and $4 billion retrofitting its facility to improve production of more-advanced mobile processors, the local newspaper, Austin Statesman, is reporting. About half of the facility will be updated.

According to the Statesman, the work should be completed during the second half of 2013, allowing the entire facility to focus efforts on system-on-a-chip (SoC) processors for smartphones and tablets.

Last year, reports surfaced saying Samsung was producing Apple's A5 processor for the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S … Read more

Gazing into the WWDC crystal ball: Updated iMacs, MacBook Pros, what else?

During the upcoming WWDC conference in San Francisco, Apple is expected to announce updates to its Mac line of desktop and laptop computers. This may include the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops, Mac Pro desktop, iMac all-in-one, and perhaps even the Mac Mini small form factor desktop.

Rumors, leaks, alleged lists of part numbers, and blurry photos of spec stickers have all surfaced in the past weeks. Some of these sources seem more reliable than others, and Apple prognosticators are wrong at least as often as they are right. The leaked part numbers and spec sheets found here and … Read more

Apple's new iPad: Hands-on

Editors' note:CNET's full, rated review of the third-generation Apple iPad is now available.

The iPad's new screen is a stunner. That's really all you need to know about the new iPad (yes, that's the name). That, and a reminder that pricing still starts at $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model, with 4G starting at $629.

Forget all of the minor tweaks and incremental updates Apple has made to its third-generation tablet. The faster processor, the upgrade to 4G data, the improved camera--it's all housekeeping. It's the stuff it had to do. It's the stuff any manufacturer could have done.

Now, increasing the iPad's screen resolution to 2,048x1,536 pixels that exceeds any current tablet or laptop--that's a move only Apple has the scale and industry muscle to pull off. At this point, if Apple decides that the next iPad will be made from unicorn tears, I wouldn't bet against it. … Read more