Apple plans to expand the lineup of laptops using its new, speedier in-house chips next year, aiming to grab a bigger share of the market, people with knowledge of the matter said.The company is working on a larger MacBook Air with a 15-inch screen for release as early as next spring, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public. This would mark the first model of that size in the MacBook Air’s 14-year history. Apple is also developing what would be its smallest new laptop in years.The new models underscore Apple’s strategy to use homegrown processors to make gains in a market led by Lenovo and HP. The company began splitting from longtime partner Intel in 2020 and announced its latest chip, the M2, at a developers conference earlier this week. Better performance and new designs have helped spur a resurgence for the Mac lineup, which accounts for about 10 percent of Apple’s sales.The 15-inch model under development is a wider version of the 13.6-inch MacBook Air that Apple announced this week. That design, unveiled at the developers event Monday, is thinner than recent models, relies on the M2 chip and abandons the previous wedge-shaped frame. It’s considered to be the biggest overhaul to the MacBook Air since it was introduced by Steve Jobs in 2008.Apple had previously considered a 15-inch variation for this year’s MacBook Air, but shelved those plans to focus on the 13.6-inch version. Still, even that model will take time to reach consumers. Despite the unveiling this week, supply-chain constraints will prevent it from going on sale until July.Apple has also begun work on a new 12-inch laptop and is considering launching it at the end of 2023 or in early 2024. If Apple moves forward with the release, it would represent the company’s smallest laptop since it discontinued the 12-inch MacBook in 2019.A spokesperson for Cupertino, California-based Apple declined to comment on the company’s plans.Apple debuted its last 12-inch laptop in 2015 with a slim frame, but the device was criticised for keyboard failures and sometimes sluggish performance. It’s unclear if the new 12-inch laptop would be a low-end device or a higher-end machine that’s part of the MacBook Pro line, which currently comes in 13.3-inch, 14.2-inch and 16.2-inch sizes.Between 2003 and 2006, Apple also sold a 12-inch version of the PowerBook, the predecessor to the MacBook Pro. And it briefly offered a MacBook Air with an 11.6-inch screen. Apple’s new Mac processors, based on the same architecture as the iPhone and iPad, are designed to let the company boost performance inside of slimmer casings.Apple is also planning new high-end MacBook Pros with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips for as early as the end of 2022, though the release date may slip into early 2023. These new 14-inch and 16-inch models, codenamed J414 and J416, won’t be radically new products beyond offering the speedier chips. Apple is also releasing a new 13-inch MacBook Pro next month with the same M2 chip as the MacBook Air.The M2 Max chip in the next high-end MacBook Pros will include 12 main processing cores and up to 38 graphics cores, up from a maximum of 10 processing cores and 32 graphics cores in the current models. New versions of the Mac mini and a revamped Mac Pro are also in testing within Apple, Bloomberg has reported. And the company is already working on an M3 chip destined for a future iMac and other products.The shift away from Intel chips has been a success for Apple so far, helping boost Mac revenue significantly. The company reported $10.4 billion (roughly Rs. 80,900 crore) in Mac sales during the fiscal second quarter, nearly double the $5.4 billion (roughly Rs. 42,000 crore) it generated in the second quarter of 2020, before Apple made the switch.Apple is also planning to release a larger version of the iPad Pro next year, Bloomberg has reported. The new model will take advantage of new multitasking capabilities included in iPadOS 16. And the company is readying new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pros for later this year.© 2022 Bloomberg LP

Lenovo has launched two new products in the Indian market today. First, Lenovo has launched the Tab P12 Pro tablet that is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC and gets a 12.6-inch touchscreen. Second, Lenovo has launched the Yoga all-in-one (AIO) 7 desktop powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 5800G SoC and AMD Radeon RX 6600M 8GB graphics. Both, Lenovo Yoga AIO 7 desktop and Lenovo Tab P12 Pro are currently only available for purchase on online stores. Let’s take a look at the pricing and other specifications of the new Lenovo tablet and AIO desktop.Lenovo Tab P12 Pro pricing and availabilityThe company has launched its new tablet, the Lenovo Tab P12 Pro, in India for a price of Rs. 69,999. It is currently available for purchase on Lenovo.com, Amazon, and Lenovo exclusive stores in Storm Grey colour with an all-metal build. The tablet will be available through other offline retails channels soon.Lenovo Yoga AIO 7 pricing and availabilityLenovo Yoga AIO 7 desktop has been priced in India at Rs. 1,71,990. The desktop is currently available for purchase through Lenovo.com and Amazon in Cloud Grey colour option. It will also be available in Lenovo offline retail stores later.Lenovo Tab P12 Pro specificationsThe Tab P12 Pro features a 12.6-inch AMOLED touchscreen with 16:10 aspect ratio and 2,560×1,600 pixels resolution. The touchscreen gets S-Stripe RGB subpixel layout for reduced graininess. The tablet supports Dolby Vision and gets colour gamut of 107 percent NTSC with up to 400 nits of brightness. For eye protection, the tablet comes with low-blue light emissions certification from TUV Rheinland. It uses SLS surround sound JBL speakers, quad audio channels, and Dolby Atmos integrated with Lenovo Premium Audio tuning for providing enhanced sound quality. The tablet will support Android 11 and later versions of the operating system.The tablet is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 SoC with Adreno 650 GPU and gets up to 8GB RAM + 256GB UFS 3.1 onboard memory. It also gets expandable storage option of up to 1TB. It features a massive 10,200mAh battery pack that delivers battery life of up to 14.6 hours for streaming online videos. The Tab P12 Pro is 5.63mm thin and weighs 565g. The display is surrounded by thin bezels and it is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The tablet also gets an 8-megapixel selfie camera along with a 13-megapixel wide rear camera and a 5-megapixel ultra wide rear camera.To get more functionality from the tablet, users can easily attach the optional keyboard with the help of the four-point pogo pin, and can make it stand horizontally with the help of its folio stand. The tablet is also being coupled with the Lenovo Precision Pen 3 stylus in India that auto pairs with the Tab P12 Pro, charges wirelessly, and has low latency. Lenovo is also offering Accidental Damage Protection One with the tablet that users can add to the package.Lenovo Yoga AIO 7 specificationsLenovo’s new desktop, Yoga AIO 7, has been claimed by the company to be world’s first all-in-one desktop to feature a 27-inch IPS touchscreen with 4K resolution that supports 100 percent sRGB colour standards. The display is designed to deliver 360 nits brightness and gets a borderless design on three sides as well. The desktop gets JBL Harman-certified stereo speakers. The screen of the desktop comes with tilt and turn adjustments because of the ergonomic hinges. The AIO is powered by the AMD Ryzen 7 5800H SoC with up to 45W thermal design power that allows users to run AAA gaming titles without any additional rendering time for 3D graphics. The desktop also features the AMD Radeon RX 6600M GPU with 8GB RAM.Lenovo Yoga AIO 7 (pictured) display can deliver up to 360 nits brightnessPhoto Credit: LenovoThe new Lenovo desktop comes with a 1TB SSD and runs on Windows 11. The Yoga AIO 7 also gets a removable 5-megapixel camera with its connector being on top. It will also come with a wireless keyboard and mouse, both in silver colour to match Cloud Grey colour of the desktop. Lenovo is offering a base warranty of 3 years onsite.For connectivity, Lenovo Yoga AIO 7 features multiple ports. On the left side, it gets one USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, one USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 port, and a 3.5mm audio jack for output and input. At the rear, it gets two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports, one HDMI-out 2.0 port, an Ethernet port, and the power connector.

Just weeks after announcing the first details of its upcoming Ryzen 7000 series desktop CPUs, AMD has disclosed an outline of its consumer and server products roadmap for the next two generations. The news comes from AMD’s Financial Analyst Day, during which CEO Dr. Lisa Su spoke about the company’s plans to capture a part of the projected $300 billion market for high-performance computing solutions. While the event is geared towards financial analysts and shareholders, disclosures about AMD’s competitive positions in various markets include information about upcoming products. The company also now has a new slogan: “Together we advance”.In the consumer market, AMD’s upcoming ‘Zen 4’ CPU core architecture will be the basis of the ‘Raphael’ generation of desktop CPUs, which will come to market as the Ryzen 7000 series before the end of this year. This will be a high-end product line using a 5nm manufacturing process, and AMD promises an 8 – 10 percent uplift in IPC (instructions per clock) performance as well as at least a 25 percent improvement in terms of performance per Watt. 4nm versions are also planned, though it isn’t clear what the segmentation will be. Zen 4 will also power the upcoming ‘Genoa’ line of Epyc server CPUs as well as a new line of ‘Bergamo’ based on a density-optimised variant called Zen 4c for cloud-native computing applications. ‘Genoa-X’ variants will feature AMD’s integrated 3D V-cache, a vertically stacked layer of high-speed memory on top of the CPU die. Another product line codenamed ‘Siena’ will target a new market in intelligent edge and communications equipment.  Following that, ‘Zen 5’ is a ground-up redesign planned for release in 2024 and should further improve performance and efficiency as well as introduce new optimisations for AI and machine learning for consumer Ryzen CPUs codenamed ‘Granite Ridge’. These CPUs will use 4nm and 3nm processes. The next Epyc generation will be codenamed ‘Turin’ and should be released in late 2024. AMD also confirmed that its next GPU microarchitecture, codenamed RDNA 3, will allow for a chiplet-based modular GPU design and will use a 5nm manufacturing process. It’s said to deliver a 50 percent improvement in performance per Watt. A 4th-gen Infinity Architecture interconnect standard will allow AMD to integrate third-party chiplets allowing for heterogenous platforms and increased customisability for clients.RDNA 3 will be seen in next-generation ‘Navi 3’ discrete GPUs, launching as the next Radeon RX series of products later this year. This architecture will build on RDNA 2, which has been used by multiple game console manufacturers this generation, hinting that the next generation will continue to leverage AMD’s hardware. RDNA 3 will also be integrated into upcoming ‘Phoenix Point’ mobile CPUs based on the Zen 4 architecture in 2023, with ‘Strix Point’ following in 2024. For professional markets, the CDNA 3 architecture and XDNA, which is the result of AMD’s acquisition of Xilinx, will help drive significant performance gains for new products in the AI and high-performance compute space. New Instinct MI300 accelerators for AI training and Alevo smart NICs for confidential computing are also expected to add to the company’s data centre portfolio.AMD sees growth in PC, console and cloud gaming as well as interactive metaverse applications and 3D content creation. Xilinx IP will be integrated across product lines to drive performance in AI inference and training workloads for consumers and enterprises. The company is also working on a unified AI software roadmap to make development more cohesive across various products.