Qualcomm's in the money as Snapdragon provides a record year

Snappy snaps

With 2012 proving a record-breaking year, Qualcomm's smartphone-powering Snapdragon chips are keeping the company's bank vault nicely stocked with cash.

In its financial year 2012, Qualcomm's revenues were up 28 per cent, its operating income was up 13 per cent, its net income was up 43 per cent and, we hate to sound like a broken record, but its earnings per share were up too.

As a result, the company raked in a net income of $6.11 billion for the year. That's about £3.8 billion or AU$5.9 billion.

Lend us a fiver

It's looking a touch less rosy in the quarter-based results, with income for the final three months of Qualcomm's financial year up only 5 per cent – although, crucially still up.

As tech waves go, Qualcomm is riding a good one with its CEO Dr Paul Jacobs attributing the huge cash harvest to the explosion of wireless data and the smartphone market.

It won't stop there, either, with Dr Jacobs saying that he expects "double-digit revenue growth in fiscal 2013" as a result of a robust Snapdragon and 3G/LTE roadmap. In English? More money coming next year.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/processors/qualcomms-in-the-money-as-snapdragon-provides-a-record-year-1111091

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Sources say Apple reducing Samsung's role in chip production

Expect fewer Samsung chips in iOS devices

A new report once again points to Apple wanting to put more than just an arm's length between the Cupertino company and bitter rival Samsung as the firm's primary chip provider.

According to The Korea Times, Apple has already reduced its involvement with Samsung, though it's still relying on the manufacturer for the A6 chips powering its latest idevice, the iPhone 5.

"There are three kinds of chip clients," an anonymous Samsung source allegedly told The Korea Times.

"Some want us to handle everything from chip design, architecture and manufacturing. Some want us to just design and manufacture. Some want us to just make the chips. Apple is now the third type."

"Samsung's agreement with Apple is limited to manufacturing the A6 processors. Apple did all the design and we are just producing the chips on a foundry basis," the source added.

Change is in the air

Since the A6 processors used in the new iPhone were entirely designed by Apple, the firm is freed to take its production elsewhere without running into another patent face-off with Samsung.

Recent reports indicate that Apple is courting Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for future chip production.

TSMC is capable of building chips for Apple using its advanced 20 nanometer manufacturing process, which would create chips that are 30 percent faster and 25 percent more efficient than the current 28nm chips found in the iPhone 5.

Another Samsung official commented on the possible shift to TSMC chips, telling The Korea Times, "Samsung has already acknowledged that Apple has an appetite to carry out its own central processing unit (CPU) design."

Losing Apple as a client would surely mean a big loss for Samsung, but the firm reportedly isn't worried as the unnamed Samsung official went on to cite increased custom CPU orders coming in from Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments.

In the meantime, Apples can't afford to completely cut Samsung out yet, forcing the two rivals to continue a deteriorating partnership.

However, when Apple is finally ready to announce its next-generation A7 processor (or whatever it will be called), don't expect to see Samsung's name anywhere near it.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/sources-say-apple-reducing-samsungs-role-in-chip-production-1104625

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Sources say Apple reducing Samsung's role in A6 chip production

Expect fewer Samsung chips in iOS devices

A new report once again points to Apple wanting to put more than just an arm's length between the Cupertino company and bitter rival Samsung as the firm's primary chip provider.

According to The Korea Times, Apple has already reduced its involvement with Samsung, though it's still relying on the manufacturer for the A6 chips powering its latest idevice, the iPhone 5.

"There are three kinds of chip clients," an anonymous Samsung source allegedly told The Korea Times.

"Some want us to handle everything from chip design, architecture and manufacturing. Some want us to just design and manufacture. Some want us to just make the chips. Apple is now the third type."

"Samsung's agreement with Apple is limited to manufacturing the A6 processors. Apple did all the design and we are just producing the chips on a foundry basis," the source added.

Change is in the air

Since the A6 processors used in the new iPhone were entirely designed by Apple, the firm is freed to take its production elsewhere without running into another patent face-off with Samsung.

Recent reports indicate that Apple is courting Taiwanese Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for future chip production.

TSMC is capable of building chips for Apple using its advanced 20 nanometer manufacturing process, which would create chips that are 30 percent faster and 25 percent more efficient than the current 28nm chips.

Another Samsung official commented on the possible shift to TSMC chips, telling The Korea Times, "Samsung has already acknowledged that Apple has an appetite to carry out its own central processing unit (CPU) design."

Losing Apple as a client would surely mean a big loss for Samsung, but the firm reportedly isn't worried as the unnamed Samsung official went on to cite increased custom CPU orders coming in from Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments.

In the meantime, Apples can't afford to completely cut Samsung out yet, forcing the two rivals to continue a deteriorating partnership.

However, when Apple is finally ready to announce its next-generation A7 processor (or whatever it will be called), don't expect to see Samsung's name anywhere near it.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/sources-say-apple-reducing-samsungs-role-in-a6-chip-production-1104625

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Goodbye OMAP? Texas Instruments to stop investing in mobile processor business

Texas Instruments has announced it will stop investing in mobile chips, and turn its attention to the "embedded processor" market instead.

The saying goes “when the going gets tough, the tough get going,” however it appears Texas Instruments took it in a slightly different way to the rest of us, as it has announced it’s taking a step back from the incredibly competitive mobile processor market.

It was TI’s Senior VP of Embedded Processing Greg Delagi who announced the news at an investor meeting on September 25, saying “the [smartphone] opportunity is less attractive as we go forward,” and talked about the market being “dominated by a couple of players.”

While Texas Instruments may not be as well-known as Qualcomm or Nvidia, it is America’s second largest chip manufacturer and its OMAP processors can be found in devices such as the Amazon Kindle tablet, B&N’s new Nook tablets, a wide variety of Huawei smartphones, the Panasonic Eluga, several Motorola Droids and Kobo’s new range of Android tablets too.

Texas Instruments may be taking a step back, but it’s not a total retreat, as Delagi promised that it would continue to support smartphones and tablets that use OMAP chips, but wouldn’t be dedicating the same level of investment as it had done in the past.

What this will mean for the forthcoming OMAP 5 isn’t clear. This exciting chip is expected to start appearing in devices towards the end of this year or early next, and uses ARM’s dual-core Cortex A15 architecture, much like Samsung’s Exynos 5 Dual. A video showing an early test indicated the OMAP 5 was set to be quite a beast, so let’s hope it’s still on its way.

So what will Texas Instruments be doing instead? It’s going to concentrate on something called “embedded processing,” where chips are used in appliances, big industrial machinery and most importantly, cars. Delagi showed the embedded processing market to be worth $18 billion, and that the automotive slice of that pie was worth $6.5 billion alone.

The news has seen Texas Instruments’ stock take a fall, and analysts voice their concern over the decision. That said, others predict that if embedded processing takes off, the move could be very profitable.

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/texas-instruments-stops-mobile-processor-investment/

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Apple ditching Samsung memory chip in iPhone 5?

iPhone 5 to come with no Samsung inside?

Reports come from supply chain insiders suggest that Apple has reduced its orders for Samsung memory chips and that it will reduce the chips' usage in the iPhone 5.

Although Samsung is on the Apple supplier list for initial runs of the new iPhone, Reuters' source says that the company is trying to wean itself off the DRAM and NAND chips for later production runs.

"Samsung is still in the list of initial memory chip suppliers [for new iPhones]. But Apple orders have been trending down and Samsung is making up for the reduced order from others, notably Samsung's handset business," the Reuters source said.

Update: Bloomberg sources "familiar with the matter" have also claimed that the first batch of new iPhone handsets will not sport Samsung's memory chip, with the Cupertino-based firm opting for another one of its supplies as it was unable agree a price with its Korean rival.

Saucy

Another source, this time speaking anonymously to the Korea Economic Daily reckons that Apple has completely dropped Samsung from the memory chip suppliers even for the first batch of iPhone 5s.

But it's not down to the neverending patent battle between the two nemeses, with the source insisting that Apple was trying to widen its supplier pool anyway, no biggie.

Update: Another Bloomberg source revealed that the first batch of iPhone 5s will also snub Samsung's display – LG has already started producing screens for the next iPhone - but Apple will pop the South Korean firm's processor chip inside the device.

Samsung is said to be making up for the lost Apple business by upping supply to its own mobile handsets, including the Samsung Galaxy S3 which is selling great-guns.

We're sure both companies will be fine. The iPhone 5 is set to be unveiled at an event on September 12, with or without the Samsung hardware.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/apple-ditching-samsung-memory-chip-in-iphone-5-1095462

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