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[LUK@]

e l'iPhone si trasformò nel Note ....

 

 

[LUK@]

altro concept .... 

 

[LUK@]

da macrumors 

 

 

Apple's graphics partner for iOS devices, Imagination Technologies, has announced a new version of its PowerVR graphics architecture that includes ray-tracing capabilities. Apple currently uses the PowerVR G6430 graphics package from Imagination in its latest A7 chip that powers the iPhone 5s, iPad Air, and Retina iPad mini, so Imagination's new technology is likely of interest to Apple. 


Offering more realistic lighting and shadows, the new GPU design known as "Wizard" marks a significant leap forward by bringing ray tracing to mobile devices.

For the better part of the last eight years, we have been busy developing unique hardware and software technologies to radically lower the cost and dramatically increase the efficiency and performance of ray tracing. 

This work culminates at GDC 2014 with the official launch of the PowerVR Wizard GPU family, a range of IP processors that offer high-performance ray tracing, graphics and compute in a power envelope suitable for mobile and embedded use cases. This opens up the potential of highly photorealistic, computer generated imagery to a host of new real-time applications and markets not previously possible.

AnandTech has more on the developments, which are an extension of the Series6XT graphics profiled last month, noting that Imagination is combining ray tracing with traditional rasterized graphics.

Rasterization is still the fastest and most effective way to implement a number of real-time rendering steps – rasterization has been called the ultimate cheat in graphics, and over the years hardware and software developers have gotten very, very good at this cheating – so the idea is to continue to use rasterization where it makes sense, and then implementing ray tracing effects on top of scene rasterization when they are called for. The combination of the two forming a hybrid model that maintains the benefits of rasterization while including the benefits of ray tracing.

Comparison of traditional rasterized (top) and hybrid rasterized/ray-traced (bottom) scenes

Alongside the upcoming mobile GPU designs that will support ray tracing, Imagination's expertise in ray tracing will include an impact on game developers in the nearer term with yesterday's unveiling of version 5 of the popular Unity game engine. Unity 5 will leverage Imagination's ray-tracing technology to allow game developers to view lighting changes in near real time, accelerating the development process. 

Apple has not been explicitly mentioned as interested in taking advantage of the new Wizard GPU designs, but the company has used Imagination GPUs in all of its iOS devices and is a minority investor in Imagination, holding an approximately 10 percent stake in the company. 

As for timing, it seems that Wizard GPUs will not be making their way into products until 2015, indicating that they are not candidates for the iPhone 6, which is expected to debut later this year. Future iPhone models could, however, incorporate Wizard GPUs for more realistic graphics, and it appears that Imagination is banking on this technology becoming the standard for mobile GPUs in the future.

[LUK@]

iPhone 6 non punterà sul numero dei megapixel

 

Smartphone manufacturers are expected to continue their battle for pixel-pushing dominance in 2014 with new cameras of 13 megapixels and beyond, but according to one insider, Apple is currently expected to sit out on the megapixel race this year to concentrate on other ways to better images from its next iPhone.
 

People familiar with the matter have told AppleInsider that Apple will likely forego a high-megapixel camera in its 2014 iPhone offerings, in favor of tweaking other image-enhancing components. In other words, megapixels are less of a priority for Apple than overall image quality.

The current iPhone 5s is a good example of how Apple is not interested in playing the numbers game when it comes to camera sensor pixel count. Instead of boosting the number of pixels in the iPhone 5s camera, Apple enlarged each pixel's size to 1.5 microns in diameter, a 0.1-micron increase from the iPhone 5. The larger surface area increased the sensor's light gathering capabilities by 33 percent compared to the previous iSight rear facing camera. 

Outside of the camera sensor, Apple refined the iPhone's optics package to allow for greater light transmission. The 5s brought a faster f/2.2 lens group into the mix, offering better low-light performance and improved image quality.

This does not mean that the next-gen iPhone will stick with the same 8MP iSight camera as the iPhone 5s and 5c, but may suggest Apple is planning a more conservative upgrade route. The most recent resolution change was seen with the iPhone 4S to iPhone 5, which brought a 3MP bump.

Apple's apparent lack of interest in "out-megapixeling" its competition comes as a number of upcoming high-profile smartphone releases from iPhone competitors are expected to reach 13MP and beyond. In a research note issued this week, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo detailed how major manufacturers are racing to shoehorn 13MP+ CMOS image sensors (CIS) into this year's handsets, including Samsung, numerous Chinese brands, and even Amazon, which is expected to enter the smartphone market in the next 3 to 6 months.
 

Source: KGI Securities

Sony has been the sole provider for Apple's backside illuminated iPhone CIS products since the iPhone 4S. This is interesting considering he also expects the Japanese electronics giant to be the dominant supplier for this year's round of 13MP+ sensors, taking a 65.7-percent share of the market. 

"In terms of technology, Sony leads CIS suppliers with its BSI process, which boasts better sensitivity and color saturation quality," Kuo writes. "In 13MP and higher spec, the smaller pixel size creates more difficulty to sensitivity and color saturation. This is where Sony's BSI process stands out." 
 

The analyst sees shipments of smartphones carrying 13MP+ cameras growing 70 percent year-on-year, a rate significantly higher than that of phones using 8MP and 5MP shooters. Leading the charge is Samsung, which will also use Sony's CIS, as well as a variety of lesser-known Chinese brands.

Marketshare of 13MP-and-above smartphones will continue to rise in 2015 as higher resolution sensors replace the current high-end smartphone standard of 8MP. By the end of fiscal 2014, 13MP cameras will account for 65 percent of these high-resolution components, Kuo says.

Further, next-generation application processors (APs) coming out this year will offer support 13MP+ image sensors, meaning lower-end smartphones can use the technology as a growth driver. As seen below, most AP makers will have some sort of offering in 2014. The only company to keep its chips premium is Samsung. 

Rival Samsung, however, is one of the main contenders and will ship the Galaxy S5 with 16MP camera in the next couple of months.
 

One final graphic from Kuo's projections show Sony will launch a 21MP 1/2.4" CIS in the last quarter of 2014. Although the pixel count is nearly triple that of Apple's current iSight camera, the introduction may hint at the direction in which the company will be pulled by component purchasers as the megapixel race continues.

 

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[LUK@]

Images posted on Weibo claim to show an iPhone 6 under testing at Foxconn, via GforGames. The validity of these images cannot be confirmed, but the shots do line up with previous rumours. The iPhone 6 depicted here has a protruding camera (similar to the current design of the iPod touch), rounded edges and a considerably thinner profile than the current iPhone 5s.

Supposedly, these photos come from inside Foxconn itself. Drawings published on Friday reflect these images somewhat. A protruding camera component is part of the schematics, for example. Evidence of a thin chassis for the next-generation iPhone were originally found in January, albeit those pictures were as sketchy as these latest images.

 

 

Fake or not, the rumor mill is definitely converging on an iPhone design that melds together the aesthetics of the iPad mini and the current iPhone 5s with a screen much larger than the current lineup, with screen sizes expected in the 4.7inch and 5.5inch range as reported many times before.

 

Read more at http://9to5mac.com/2...14o2jy81yfaH.99

 

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