A4

Owners of upcoming iPhone and iPads could enjoy a boost in graphics power 20 times greater than that offered by current models, according to enthusiast site AppleInsider.

Such a leap in power would come courtesy of new graphics processing units developed by U.K.-based Imagination Technologies, which builds the GPUs for Apple's mobile products.

Announced at CES on Tuesday, Imagination's new PowerVR Series6 GPU core chip family is touted as providing 20 times or more of the performance of the current generation.

As a result, "it enables Imagination's partners to deliver amazing user experiences in … Read more

Audi's A4 has grown up to be a substantial competitor to the immovable 3 Series. The company is also in a head-to-head race with BMW to offer the most innovative in-dash navigation, interface, and media options. Brian Cooley takes you for a drive in the 2011 A4 2.0T to check the tech.

You can also read the full CNET Review of the 2011 Audi A4 here.

Why is the Leaf outselling the Volt? Those pesky flying cars just won't go away. Infiniti and Scion think small is the next big thing. And we take you for a drive in the no longer small 2011 Audi A4.

• We love the 2011 Audi A4 2.0T

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Amid serious legal squabbling between Apple and Samsung, Intel may have an opportunity to land Apple as a chip customer, according to analysts.

''Based on a number of inputs, we believe Intel is...vying for Apple's foundry business,'' wrote Gus Richard, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co., in a research note, according to a report in EE Times.

Foundry refers to contract manufacturing. Samsung is currently the foundry for Apple's A4 and A5 processors, which are used in the iPhone 4 and iPad 2.

This may be a golden opportunity for Intel, according to another analyst. "Given the strained relationship between Apple and Samsung over IP (intellectual property) issues, there is a window where Intel can become the foundry of choice for Apple," said Ashok Kumar, an analyst with Rodman & Renshaw, in a phone interview.

Though Intel is relatively new to the foundry business, it already has one customer on record, Achronix Semiconductor. But it also has at least two more confidential customers, according to a source familiar with Intel's foundry business.

That said, gaining Apple as a customer would move Intel into the contract manufacturing big leagues with the likes of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC)--also rumored to be a future Apple foundry. In fact, Intel isn't there yet. "It's not the sort of thing that could happen easily or quickly," said the source. … Read more

Select iOS application developers have been given versions of the iPhone with Apple's dual-core A5 processor, according to a new report.

Citing an anonymous source, 9to5mac says Apple has given some prominent game developers prototype versions of the iPhone that pack the A5 processor to test their applications. These units are said to be otherwise identical to the current version of the iPhone 4, except for the faster internals.

The A5 processor made its debut within the iPad 2. A successor to the A4 processor, which can be found in the first generation iPad and the iPhone 4, the … Read more

While changes in the ancient market-share rivalry between chipmakers Intel and Advanced Micro Devices were unremarkable in 2010, the emergence of Apple as a force was anything but.

"The competitive state of affairs remained very much the same two-horse race it has been for more than 20 years, with Intel firmly in the lead and AMD a distant second," IHS iSuppli said in a research note today.

Intel finished 2010 with an 81 percent share of global microprocessor revenue, up a scant 0.4 percentage points from its 80.6 percent in 2009. Meanwhile, AMD ended the year … Read more

The oft-quoted DigiTimes, a Taiwanese tech industry favorite publication, has revealed that Apple is outsourcing the production of its A5 processor chip, which many expect will be based on the ARM Cortex A9 design and used in the forthcoming iPhone 5, to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

AppleInsider reports that Apple's A4 chip is currently produced by Samsung Electronics, but the move to Taiwan Semiconductor for production of the A5 chip is because of Samsung's inability to keep up with Apple's supply demands.

This rumor follows many regarding Apple's iPhone lineup, including a larger, 4-inch screen and … Read more

The iPhone 4 got a pre-emptive teardown on Monday, courtesy of CEO Steve Jobs at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference.

Though a precommercial version of the iPhone 4 was notoriously taken apart by Gizmodo--and no doubt other meticulous teardowns will follow--there's nothing like an official peek inside by Jobs to set the record straight.

So, what's going on inside? Not surprisingly, one of the key goals is to pack more features and functionality into a smaller space: at 9.3mm thick, the device will be 24 percent thinner than its predecessor. And to make this point, an Apple video released Monday shows an animation of the Apple A4 chip package … Read more

As usual with product releases from Apple, numerous online sources compete to show detailed teardowns of the devices when they are available. Not only do people test the physical durability (even going so far as to blend the original iPhone), but they also benchmark the devices to see if they live up to the advertised specifications. With the iPad, however, some folks have gone one step further to bring a full teardown of the custom A4 chip.… Read more