We first heard rumors about Honor’s first foldable smartphone back in June last year. At the time, we only learned that the device would feature in-folding panels from BOE and Visionox. Following that, we didn’t see any new information about the device until last month, when Honor shared a teaser confirming its name — Honor Magic V. Last week, Honor further revealed that it will launch the device on January 10 and gave us a glimpse of its design. The company has now finally lifted the covers off its first foldable phone, and here’s everything you need to know about it.
Honor Magic V: Specifications
Specification
Honor Magic V
Dimensions & Weight
Dimensions:
Folded: 160.4 x 72.7 x 14.3mm
Unfolded: 160.4 x 141.1 x 6.7mm
Weight:
Burnt Orange: 288g
Space Silver, Black: 293g
Display
Cover:
6.45-inch OLED
2560 x 1080 pixels
431ppi
21:9 aspect ratio
120Hz refresh rate
Main:
7.9-inch OLED
2272 x 1984 pixels
381ppi
90Hz refresh rate
SoC
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
Adreno 730
RAM & Storage
12GB+256GB
12GB+512GB
Battery & Charging
4,750mAh
66W fast charging support
Security
Side-mounted fingerprint scanner
Rear Camera(s)
Primary: 50MP f/1.9
Secondary: 50MP f/2.2 ultra-wide
Tertiary: 50MP f/2.0 Spectrum Enhanced
Front Camera(s)
42MP f/2.4
Port(s)
USB Type-C
Audio
Stereo speakers
Connectivity
5G
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 6 (2.4GHz + 5GHz)
Bluetooth 5.2
Software
MagicUI 6 based on Android 12
Colors
Black
Space Silver
Burnt Orange
The all-new Honor Magic V features a design similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3. It looks like a regular smartphone when folded, featuring a 6.45-inch 120Hz FHD+ display on the front with a hole-punch cutout for the selfie camera and a rectangular camera module on the back. When unfolded, it reveals a massive 7.9-inch foldable OLED display with a 2272 x 1984 resolution and 90Hz peak refresh rate. The device features Honor’s advanced waterdrop hinge technology which, the company claims, is the slimmest compared to similar products in the market.
On the inside, the Honor Magic V packs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, paired with 12GB RAM and up to 512GB of onboard storage. As far as the camera hardware is concerned, the Honor Magic V includes a 50MP f/1.9 primary shooter, a 50MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, a 50MP f/2.0 “Spectrum Enhanced” camera, and a 42MP selfie shooter.
Rounding off the hardware is a 4,760mAh battery that offers 66W fast charging support. Other noteworthy features include an independent security chip to store sensitive information, a graphene-based intelligent cooling system, and IMAX Enhanced certification.
On the software front, the Honor Magic V runs the company’s latest Android skin — MagicUI 6 — based on Android 12. The software includes several new features to help users make the most of the foldable form factor, including multi-window support, new shortcuts for split-screen mode, and more.
Pricing & Availability
The Honor Magic V will be available for purchase in China starting January 18. It’s priced as follows:
12GB+ 256GB: CNY 9,999 (~$1,570)
12GB+512GB: CNY 10,999 (~$1,725)
At the moment, Honor has not shared any information regarding an international launch. We’ll make sure to let you know as soon as we learn more.
Apple first revealed an iPhone SE model back in March 2016. The phone features the familiar iPhone 5S design and was aimed at people looking for an affordable device. Four years later, the company released the iPhone SE 2nd Gen — which has an iPhone 8 exterior and remains one of the best iPhones to buy today. However, it would be a good idea to hold back on this purchase if you’re not in a hurry. That’s because the 3rd Gen could be revealed as soon as this Spring.
As MacRumors reports, Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter mentions that the iPhone SE 3rd Gen could be revealed in March or April. The phone is expected to retain the same iPhone 8 design while bringing newer components to the table. If the rumors were to be true, this iPhone will be the first SE model that supports 5G networks. It is also said that it might be powered by the Apple A15 Bionic chip, which is included in the iPhone 13 lineup.
Apple currently sells the iPhone SE 2nd Gen for $399 in the US. It’s still unclear how much the upcoming model will cost. However, it’s safe to assume that it’ll remain in the same price range — considering it’s Apple’s affordable option. And just like the 2nd Gen, it’s expected to feature the same 4.7-inch LCD display, Touch ID home button, thick bezels, and 12MP rear camera.
In addition to the iPhone SE 3rd Gen, Apple could also be revealing a new 27-inch iMac and a high-end Mac Mini powered by the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips during its virtual Spring event. Additionally, Gurman expresses that WWDC will most likely remain a virtual event this year, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Do you plan on buying the upcoming iPhone SE 3rd Gen? Let us know in the comments section below.
The smartphone market now has a decent selection of foldable phones to choose from, if you are in the market. The clamshell-style is one of the more popular types of foldable devices, with Samsung leading the way in sales with the Galaxy Z Flip3. Since the launch of this device, HUAWEI has begun selling its own phone with a flip function called the P50 Pocket. Each phone has its own strengths, so let’s take a look at the areas where the HUAWEI P50 does it better than Samsung.
No More Hinge Gap
One of the most common complaints from users of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 is the gap in the hinge. When the phone is closed shut, a small gap can be found between the two screens. When HUAWEI designed the P50 Pocket, they made sure to create a phone that doesn’t have a gap. So when the P50 Pocket is closed, both screens lie flat against each other.
The P50 Pocket also has a slimmer build altogether. Measuring only 15.2mm from one end to the other when the phone is close, which is smaller than the 17.1-15.9mm measurement on the Galaxy Z Flip3.
A Larger Display
While it isn’t a dramatic difference, the HUAWEI P50 Pocket has a slightly bigger screen than the Galaxy Z Flip3. The P50 Pocket fits a 6.9″ folding display at 1188×2790, while the Galaxy Z Flip3 has a smaller 6.7″ screen at 1080×2640.
Since you’re getting a phone with the ability to fold to half its size, opting for the larger display is probably a good idea. A slightly higher resolution benefits the 21:9 screen on the P50 Pocket, as your games, movies, and apps will look fantastic on this display.
No Folding Crease
Another common complaint about the Galaxy Z Flip3 is that users will find a crease begin to form in the center of the display, after moderate use. This is also an issue found in most other flip phones with these flexible folding screens. HUAWEI claims to have fixed this common issue to the point where users won’t experience it at all on the P50 Pocket.
More RAM and Storage
While these two phones share very similar specs across the board, the Premium Edition of the P50 Pocket will offer 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The Galaxy Z Flip3 will max out at 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. So the extra boost in memory is there for anyone that needs it. Both phones share the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, so you can expect similar performance from both of these devices.
A Bigger Battery with Faster Charging
For anyone that values fast charging speeds and large batteries, the P50 Pocket is going to be the better option. HUAWEI put a large 4000mAh battery in their phone, with a 40W fast charging capability. The Galaxy Z Flip3 has a smaller 3300mAh capacity, and the fast charging maxes out at 15W.
In conclusion, both of these phones are great options for anyone looking to get a new flip phone, but the HUAWEI P50 Pocket exceeds in many ways that should be seriously considered. You can find out more information on the HUAWEI P50 Pocket on the official page here.
We thank HUAWEI for sponsoring this post. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.
As someone who uses both iPhones and Android phones but prefer using the latter, it’s pained me for years that the best smartwatch by far — the one made by Apple — only works with the iPhone, which means whenever I was using an Android phone, I knew the smartwatch paired to it was second rate. The biggest issue was that, compared to Apple’s wearables, most Android watches had comparatively slow performance and lackluster features set — a problem that was partly Wear OS but mostly due to underpowered chipsets like the Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 3100.
This problem was, I don’t want to say “fixed”, but at least alleviated in 2021, with Samsung and Qualcomm each releasing new wearable SoCs that improved performance significantly. It’s the latter chip — Snapdragon Wear 4100 Plus — that powers the just-announced Skagen Falster Gen 6, and the improved speed is immediately noticeable compared to 2020 Wear OS watches.
Skagen Falster Gen 6 Specifications: Click to expand
Skagen Falster Gen 6: Specifications
Specification
Skagen Falster Gen 6
Build
Stainless steel casing
Glass face
Dimensions
Thickness 11.5mm
Watch face 42mm
Display
1.28-inch AMOLED
326 ppi
SoC
Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100+
RAM & Storage
8GB storage + 1GB RAM
Battery & Charging
Battery size not disclosed
Rapid charging (0-80% in 30 minutes)
Audio & Microphone
Single loudspeaker
Single microphone
Sensors
PPG Heart Rate
SpO2
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Compass
Altimeter
Off-body IR
Ambient Light
Software
Wear OS
About this review:Skagen provided XDA a review unit of the watch before launch. Skagen did not have any inputs in this review.
Skagen Falster Gen 6: Design and Hardware
The Skagen Falster Gen 6 may have just hit the market, but it is not new per se. This is actually a rebranding of the two-month-old Fossil Gen 6. They have the exact same internals, so you’re getting 8GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, all the usual sensors like accelerometer, gyroscope, altimeter, etc, plus that aforementioned Snapdragon Wear 4100+.
Since Skagen is a Danish-inspired brand that aims for “Danish-minimalism,” the Falster Gen 6 comes in a smaller, sleeker body than Fossil’s Gen 6, without the raised bezel, and thin, detached lugs. I’ve been wearing the beautiful but bulky Huawei Watch GT 3 prior to switching to the Falster Gen 6, and the latter’s much smaller size was a breath of fresh air.
The Huawei Watch GT 3 (left) and the Skagen Falster Gen 6.
I am a fan of the watch’s matte black coating over the stainless steel frame (it also comes in silver), but not so much of the cheap rubbery strap. There is a version with a leather strap plus you can use any third-party 20mm strap, so this is not a huge deal.
And while the Falster Gen 6’s 11.5mm thickness is a hair thinner than the Fossil Gen 6, is still thicker than the Apple Watch Series 7 or Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. I also question the need for three physical buttons (the middle one is rotatable), as a combination of screen swipes, taps along with a single button should be enough for navigating a smartwatch UI. Plus they get in the way when I bend my wrist up 90-degrees, such as when I’m trying to do pushups.
The Falster Gen 6 can track just about everything rival smartwatches from Apple and Samsung can do, except EKG
Still, I’d say overall the Skagen Falster Gen 6 is a good-looking sleek smartwatch that doesn’t get in the way of long sleeve sweaters or jackets. The 1.28-inch AMOLED screen looks great in a vacuum, but compared to the Huawei Watch GT3, it doesn’t get as bright, and colors don’t pop as much.
There’s a loudspeaker on the left side of the watch casing and a mic on the right side. They both work fine — I was able to take phone calls even outside with traffic noise, and both myself and the other party could hear each other fine.
Around the back are the usual sensors: the Falster Gen 6 can track just about everything rival smartwatches from Apple and Samsung can do except EKG (electrocardiogram). Otherwise, blood-oxygen level, steps walked, stairs climbed, heart rate, GPS tracking are all here.
Fossil/Skagen did not disclose battery size, but I have been able to get a day and a half on a single charge. Right now, as I’m typing this, my watch has been off a charger for 26 hours and there’s still 37% battery left. While a day-and-half is fine for me, I must mention that there are rival smartwatches from Fitbit and Huawei that can last way longer — the Fitbit Sense and Huawei Watch GT 3 can go five to six days on a single charge. Fossil/Skagen also claims the watch can add 80% in 30 minutes of charge, but I could not recreate those speeds. Half an hour of charging a completely drained Gen 6 only added 67% of battery in my testing, which is quite off the marketing number.
A bigger gripe for me is the Falster Gen 6, like 99% of smartwatches, uses a proprietary charger, meaning you need to bring that cable with you on trips, and if you lose it, you must buy another one. Huawei’s recent smartwatches can be charged wirelessly via any Qi charger. That’s the way smartwatches should go. Or at least use USB-C.
The Falster Gen 6 watch is rated 3ATM, meaning it can withstand rain and light splashes, but you can’t really take it swimming.
Skagen Falster Gen 6: Software and Performance
Fossil was left in a rough spot when Google and Samsung announced a surprise partnership last year at Google I/O that essentially gave Samsung first dibs at Wear OS 3. This means the Skagen Falster Gen 6, like the Fossil Gen 6, runs on the older Wear OS 2. While Fossil promises an update to Wear OS 3 will come sometime in 2022, we must review the watch for what it is — running outdated software.
For the most part, I had no issues with the Falster Gen 6’s performance. The UI moves around smoothly, and I enjoy being able to rotate the middle button to scroll down. There are some noticeable shortcomings, like the inferior Google Maps integration. When I am navigating with Google Maps and wearing a Galaxy Watch 4, I get turn-by-turn instructions that show on my wrist. This doesn’t happen on the Skagen Falster Gen 6. Wear OS 3 also has superior watch face complications and has exclusive access to a Wear OS-specific YouTube Music app.
There is one crucial thing the Skagen Falster Gen 6 get right that the Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 does not — it has Google Assistant
There is, however, one crucial thing the Falster Gen 6 gets right that the Galaxy Watch 4 does not — it has Google Assistant! Samsung’s latest smartwatches may be running Wear OS 3, but it’s not a pure Google version of the software. Instead, it’s littered with Samsung’s services, including the significantly inferior Bixby.
So while the Falster Gen 6’s Wear OS 2 is a bit slower and lacks some features of Wear OS 3, it can at least access the best and smartest digital voice assistant on earth.
Google Maps on the Falster Gen 6
Another feature that the Falster Gen 6 can do quite well is allowing me to respond to text messages from various chat apps via voice dictation. This sounds like a simple enough feature, but very few Android smartwatches get this right. Huawei and Xiaomi’s smartwatches, for example, can only show notifications, they cannot actually respond. Fitbit Sense can only do canned responses. Any Samsung or Wear OS watches from before 2021 technically could respond, but the voice dictation was so painfully laggy, they were virtually useless. Only in 2021, when there was the aforementioned silicon upgrade from Samsung and Qualcomm, did some Android wearables finally become capable enough to handle voice dictation in a timely manner.
You can also respond to messages with an on-screen keyboard on the Falster Gen 6, but the QWERTY keyboard is very cramped, resulting in typos often. This is another area where the Galaxy Watch 4 is superior, as it offers a scribbling method of text input (copied straight from the Apple Watch) that works much better than pecking on a tiny keyboard.
Fitness tracking on the Falster Gen 6 is fine. It’s been raining all week in Los Angeles, so I have been unable to go for runs, but the watch did track my steps accurately. I also tried SpO2 and heart rate tracking with the Falster Gen 6 alongside the Apple Watch Series 7 and Galaxy Watch 4 and all the results were similar. Sleep tracking worked okay, I think Fitbit’s sleep tracking is still the best-in-class, in that it doesn’t get tricked into thinking I’ve woken up just because I tossed and turned a few times.
Google Fit, the default health app to track data for Wear OS devices, is also a bit lacking compared to similar apps from Fitbit, Apple, Samsung, or even Xiaomi. The interface is complicated, and instead of showing you actual data, Google Fit has a habit of showing you some arbitrary point system, like “you earned 40 points for an afternoon walk.” I don’t care about the points, just show me how many actual steps I walked!
There are, sadly, very few watch face selections in the Wearable app, and while third-party apps like Facer have more options, the app itself is a bit spammy, with constant push notifications, lots of ads, and some watch faces requiring money that isn’t clearly labeled
Skagen Falster Gen 6: Conclusion
I really enjoyed my time wearing the Skagen Falster Gen 6. Yes, the software isn’t as zippy as a Galaxy Watch 4, and battery life isn’t as impressive as Fitbit Sense or Huawei Watch GT 2. But the Falster Gen 6 can do one thing better than those other watches for me: it allows me to check my phone less often.
This is because I use Google Assistant often, and I get a lot of chat messages throughout the day (Slack, WeChat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal). The Skagen Falster Gen 6 with Google Assistant support, and a functional way to respond to notifications fit whats I need.
Galaxy Watch 4 (left) and Skagen Falster Gen 6.
However, at $295, the Falster Gen 6 is $50 pricier than the Galaxy Watch 4, so if you don’t need Google Assistant often (or if you somehow are okay with Bixby), then the Galaxy Watch 4 is a better performer at a lower price.
Fossil's newest smartwatch released under its Skagen branding, this is a clean and minimal-looking Wear OS watch that, despite outdated software, still does smartwatchy things quite well.
At a launch event in China on December 28, 2021, Xiaomi unveiled the latest version of its Android skin — MIUI 13. As you’d expect, MIUI 13 comes with a bunch of new features and performance improvements, including new privacy features, a new system font, a bunch of cool wallpapers, and even a version optimized for tablets. Here’s a quick overview of everything new in MIUI 13, followed by its wallpapers, rollout schedule, download links, and more.
MIUI 13: New Features and Performance Improvements
MIUI 13 brings several performance improvements over the previous release — MIUI 12.5. Xiaomi claims that the latest version of its custom Android skin offers better app fluency with 15% fewer dropped frames in third-party applications when compared to the previous release. Xiaomi’s native apps also run better on the new release, with 23% fewer dropped frames.
Xiaomi claims that MIUI 13 ranks at the top in Master Lu’s fluency test, beating Android skins from other OEMs on devices across all price points. Xiaomi has also improved the multitasking capabilities on MIUI 13, and the software now lets you have up to 14 apps open in the background on a flagship device at any given time.
Xiaomi has also worked on making MIUI 13 more secure for the end-users with new features like face verification protection, privacy watermark, and fraud protection. At the moment, we don’t have the complete details for all these features. However, we do know that the privacy watermark feature will let you add a watermark to images that you share to prevent misuse.
New privacy and security features
The fraud protection feature, on the other hand, consists of a couple of different measures to protect users from online and telecom frauds, like “E-fraud warning,” “Official logo,” Fraud application installation interception,” and “Transfer protection.”
MiSans font
As mentioned earlier, MIUI 13 also includes a new system font called MiSans. It’s a flat and minimal font with rich Opentype features, like automatically adjusting the height of hyphens to uppercase and lowercase letters. The font is free to download for both personal and commercial use.
MIUI 13 live wallpapers
Furthermore, MIUI 13 comes with a host of new live wallpapers that showcase crystal formation. Xiaomi says that these wallpapers were captured using a polarization microscope via 8K timelapse photography. We’ll make sure to share these new wallpapers with you as soon as the first build of MIUI 13 starts rolling out to devices.
MIUI 13 widgets
In addition, MIUI 13 also includes support for a bunch of new widgets, like “Super Countdown Day” and “Water Measuring Cup”. The company only gave us a glimpse of these new widgets during the launch event, but we expect to learn more details in the coming days.
Along with MIUI 13 for smartphones, Xiaomi also announced MIUI 13 Pad during today’s launch event. MIUI 13 Pad is an optimized version of Xiaomi’s Android skin for large-screen devices. It brings some additional features to help users make the most of the extra screen real estate. Xiaomi has also worked with developers to optimize apps for this new tablet interface and the company claims that over 3000 apps have already been adapted for large screens.
Along with all the new features mentioned above, MIUI 13 Pad includes a few additional features to improve the multitasking experience on large-screen devices. These include features like a new shortcut to quickly switch between full screen and windowed modes, window scaling, a global taskbar with drag and drop support for multitasking, and more. MIUI 13 Pad also offers support for a bunch of keyboard shortcuts to enhance productivity.
MIUI 13: Rollout Schedule
Xiaomi plans to start rolling out MIUI 13 to the first batch of devices by the end of January 2022. The new Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12 Pro, and the Xiaomi 12X will be among the first devices to receive the update, along with the Mi 11 Ultra, the Mi 11 Pro, and the Mi 11.
MIUI 13 rollout schedule for global models
First batch (Q1 2022)
Mi 11
Mi 11 Ultra
Mi 11i
Mi 11X Pro
Mi 11X
Xiaomi 11T Pro
Xiaomi 11T
Mi 11 Lite
Mi 11 Lite 5G
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
Xiaomi 11 Lite NE
Xiaomi Pad 5
Redmi 10
Redmi 10 Prime
Redmi Note 8 (2021)
Redmi Note 10 Pro
Redmi Note 10 Pro Max
Redmi Note 10
Redmi Note 10 JE
MIUI 13 rollout schedule for Chinese models
Public Beta version — First batch (mid-January 2022)
Xiaomi Civi
Xiaomi MIX 4
Redmi K40 Game Enhanced Edition
Redmi Note 10 Pro
Xiaomi 11 Ultra
Xiaomi 11 Pro
Xiaomi 11
Xiaomi 11 Youth Edition
Xiaomi Pad 5
Xiaomi Pad 5 Pro
Xiaomi Pad 5 Pro 5G
Xiaomi 10S
Redmi K40 Pro
Redmi K40
Redmi K30S Extreme Edition
Redmi K30 Extreme Edition
Xiaomi 10 Extreme Edition
Xiaomi 10
Xiaomi 10 Pro
Redmi K30 Pro
Redmi Note 11 5G
Redmi Note 9 4G
Redmi Note 9, Redmi 10X Pro
Redmi 10X and Xiaomi CC9 Pro
Second batch (TBD)
Redmi Note 11 Pro
Redmi Note 11 Pro+
Redmi K30 5G
Redmi K30i 5G
Redmi K30
Xiaomi 10 Youth Edition
Redmi Note 9 Pro
Redmi Note 10
Stable rollout — First batch (end of January 2022)
List of Devices that have received MIUI 13 or MIUI 13 Pad
Here are the devices that currently have a stable MIUI 13 build available. Note that the devices are sorted alphabetically for their codename. Generic flashing instructions are available at the bottom of this article. However, we advise users to refer to the device forums for specific flashing instructions for their device, in case there are any variations or special instructions that need to be followed.
Note that these are generic flashing instructions that should generally be applicable across Xiaomi, Redmi, and POCO devices. However, there is a possibility that there is a variation that is unique to your device, so we strongly advise visiting your device forums for device-specific instructions.
Honor will soon be unveiling its first-ever foldable phone to take on the lies of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and OPPO Find N. The company has been teasing the upcoming phone on social media for a while now. Just a few days ago, the company gave us a sneak peek at the phone’s design and confirmed the launch date. Now ahead of the official launch, leaked specifications and renders of the Honor Magic V have surfaced online.
Leaked renders and specifications of the Honor Magic V come courtesy of Ishaan Agarwal and MySmartPrice. As you can see in the renders attached below, the phone features a design similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 3. The back houses a triple camera setup with the Honor logo perpendicular to the camera module. Meanwhile, the outer cover display has a centered hole-punch for the selfie camera. The phone is said to come in three colors: Orange, Black, and White.
According to Agarwal, the Honor Magic V will feature a 7.9-inch OLED main display with 2272 x 1984 screen resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. Meanwhile, the outer cover display is said to be a 6.45-inch FHD+ panel offering a 120Hz refresh rate. The phone will reportedly be powered by Qualcomm’s newly announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset, paired with 12GB RAM and 256GB/512GB storage. In terms of camera hardware, we’re told the phone will feature a triple camera setup consisting of a 50MP f/1.9 main shooter, a 50MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, and a 50MP f/2.0 “Spectrum Enhanced” (likely a monochrome sensor) camera. Over on the front, you’ll find a 42MP selfie shooter. Elsewhere, the Honor Magic V will reportedly pack a 4,760mAh battery with 66W fast charging support and has DTS:X Ultra speakers. Finally, it will run MagicUI 6 based on Android 12 out-of-the-box.
The Honor Magic V is officially launching in China on January 1o, so we won’t have to wait long to learn more about the company’s first foldable offering.
After a successful run with the 5000 series CPUs, AMD kickstarted its 2022 product launches with a new generation of chips for the notebook market. AMD marked the beginning of a busy and important year with its new Ryzen 6000 series mobile processors. These “Rembrandt” APUs feature up to eight powerful Zen3+ cores and its latest RDNA 2 graphics to deliver reliable performance for day-to-day workloads, gaming, and more. There’s a lot to discuss when it comes to the Ryzen 6000 series mobile chips, so we decided to curate all the information in place. Here’s everything you need to know about the new AMD Ryzen 6000 mobile processors:
The Ryzen 6000 family of mobile processors has ten different SKUs that are divided into two main categories. There’s the U-series which includes 15W-28W hardware to power portable thin and light notebooks, and then there are the H-series with up 35W and 45W+ units for high-end gaming laptops. Together, we’re looking at quite the lineup which AMD says will be used in over 200 premium machines in 2022.
AMD Zen3+ Cores
The AMD 6000 series processors are built on the updated AMD “Zen 3+” core that is optimized to deliver high performance-per-watt. It’s worth pointing out that these are the fastest AMD Ryzen processors yet, with up to 5GHz clock speeds. The new Zen3+ cores have now some advanced power management features to increase the overall endurance of these chips. The new Ryzen 6000 series mobile processors use up to 30% less power than the previous-gen processors in some workloads, which is quite impressive.
AMD RDNA 2 Architecture-Based Graphics
The AMD Ryzen 6000 series mobile CPUs, in case you don’t know, are also the first mobile processors to feature RDNA 2 architecture-based iGPU. RDNA 2 allows the new APUs to perform twice as fast as the last-gen APUs. The Rembrandt APU is the industry’s first APU with hardware ray-tracing, and AMD says it works flawlessly with the help of the company’s Fidelity FX Super Resolution. The new 6000 mobile chips have up to 12 graphics compute units with up to 2.4GHz GPU frequency. This is an upgrade from eight Vega units that we’ve seen in the past from AMD.
With up to 1.5x larger GPU Compute Engines and up to 1.5X more memory bandwidth, AMD is touting the new chips to be able to deliver a truly playable gaming on-the-go experience. The company is promising 1080p gaming at varying graphics settings with just the APU. This means, even the portable thin and light machines should be able to handle your gaming needs, without forcing an to upgrade to a more powerful machine.
AMD has also announced a set of new mobile graphics solutions that allow users to benefit from AMD’s Advantage platform when paired with the new H35+ CPUs. Pairing a Ryzen 6000 series mobile processor with, say, a 6000 series mobile GPU will allow the system to use SmartShift Max for dynamically adjusting power consumption between CPU and GPU for better performance and power efficiency.
DDR5 Support & Microsoft Pluton
As expected, AMD’s new Rembrandt CPUs also have updated memory controllers with support for up to DDR5-5200 and LPDDR5-6400. AMD hasn’t mentioned anything about DDR4 support which makes us believe the new APUs have ditched DDR4 support entirely in favor of the new standard. The new units also jump from PCIe 3.0 to PCIe 4.0 with 8x support for a discrete GPU and 12x split between storage and chipset. There’s also support for USB 4 and WiFi 6E, which means laptop manufacturers can follow Thunderbolt 3 specifications. The USB 4 support is not to be confused with Thunderbolt 4, though.
AMD also briefly mentioned the fact that its Ryzen 6000 CPUs features Microsoft Pluton Support. The first mentions of Pluton processor date back to November 2020 when Microsoft said it’s working with silicon partners including AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, etc., to enable chip-to-cloud security technology using Pluton. This, combined with other security features offered by AMD including AMD Secure Processor and AMD Memory Guard, the Ryzen 6000 series CPUs are touted to be some of the most secure chips on the market.
AMD Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs: Specifications
Let’s take a look at the Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs that’ll power the next-generation of laptops and other mobile computers in 2022 (includes both 15W-28W, 35W, & 45W+):
Specification
AMD Ryzen 9 6980HX
AMD Ryzen 9 6980HS
AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX
AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS
AMD Ryzen 7 6800H
AMD Ryzen 7 6800HS
AMD Ryzen 5 6600H
AMD Ryzen 5 6600HS
AMD Ryzen 7 6800U
AMD Ryzen 5 6600U
Cores
8
8
8
8
8
8
6
6
8
6
Threads
16
16
16
16
16
16
12
12
16
12
Base Frequency
3.3GHz
3.3GHz
3.3GHz
3.3GHz
3.2GHz
3.2GHz
3.3GHz
3.3GHz
2.7GHz
2.9GHz
Max Boost Frequency
5.0GHz
5.0GHz
4.9GHz
4.9GHz
4.7GHz
4.7GHz
4.5GHz
4.5GHz
4.7GHz
4.5GHz
L2+L3 Cache
20MB
20MB
20MB
20MB
20MB
19MB
12MB
12MB
20MB
19MB
Default TDP
45W
35W
45W
35W
45W
45W
45W
35W
15W – 28W
15W-28w
GPU Compute Units
12
12
12
12
12
12
6
6
12
6
GPU Core Max Boost
2.4Ghz
2.4Ghz
2.4GHz
2.4GHz
2.2GHz
2.2GHz
1.9GHz
1.9GHz
2.2GHz
1.9GHz
Node
6nm
6nm
6nm
6nm
6nm
6nm
6nm
6nm
6nm
6nm
All the new AMD Ryzen 6000 Series processors are built using TSMC’s 6nm process technology. The Ryzen 9 6980HX sits on top of the product stack carrying 8 cores and 16 threads. This particular, as you can see, can be boosted to hit a max frequency of 5.0GHz, making it the fastest Ryzen chip on the market. This is one we expect locking horns with Intel’s Core i9-12900HK as well as the Apple M1 Max chip. The Ryzen 9 6980HS is also just as powerful, although it defaults to 35W, as opposed to 45W+ on the 6980HX.
All the Ryzen 9 and Ryzen 7 CPUs, as you can see, also have a larger GPU Compute Engine with as many as 12 GPU compute units. This, as we mentioned earlier, is an upgrade from eight Vega units as seen in previous Ryzen APUs. The Ryzen 6000 U-series chips will enable powerful experiences for those who’re looking to buy notebooks with thin and form factors.
AMD Ryzen 6000 CPUs Release Date & Pricing
AMD’s Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs are available to OEMs right now, which means it’s only a matter of time till we start seeing new and improved versions of the existing laptops on the market. A handful of manufacturers including Lenovo, HP, Razer, MSI, Alienware, etc., have already announced a bunch of new laptops powered by the Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs.
The Ryzen 6000 series only has mobile chips, which will be shared with OEM partners for building new machines. AMD’s next generation of desktop CPUs will be launched under 7000 series. You can check out our AMD Ryzen 7000 series article to know what to expect from the next-gen CPUs later this year.
AMD Ryzen 600 CPUs: Suggested Links
AMD has partnered with a lot of manufacturers to bring 6000 series of chip-powered notebooks to the market. Here are links to some of the important articles we think are worth taking a look at while discussing Ryzen 6000 chips:
AMD Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs: Frequently asked questions
There seems to be a lot of confusion around the Ryzen 6000 series CPUs, so we decided to curate some of the most frequently asked questions around these CPUs. Here, check them out:
What's the AMD Ryzen 6000 mobile CPU release date?
AMD has already announced the Ryzen 6000 series mobile CPUs. In fact, different OEM partners have also announced a bunch of Ryzen 6000 mobile CPU-powered laptops. They’ll be available on the market in a couple of months.
Do the Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs support Thunderbolt 4?
AMD has confirmed that the new Ryzen 6000 series mobile CPUs support USB 4, but not Thunderbolt 4. Thunderbolt 4 availability is still limited to Intel-powered notebooks.
How many CPU and GPU cores do the Ryzen 6000 chips have?
The new AMD Ryzen 6000 series mobile chips have up to 8 CPU cores and up to 12 GPU compute cores.
What's the maximum boost frequency of Ryzen 6000 series?
The new Ryzen 6000 series chips have a max boost frequency of up to 5GHz. The Ryzen 9 6980HX is the first Ryzen CPU to hit the 5GHz mark.
Will there be Ryzen 6000 series desktop CPUs?
AMD has decided to skip the 6000 series and move directly to the 7000 series for its desktop chips. The new Ryzen 7000 series desktop CPUs will arrive later this year.
Do the Ryzen 6000 series mobile CPUs support DDR5 memory?
Yes, the Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs support DDR5 memory. In fact, the updated memory controllers for 6000 series chips doesn’t seem to support DDR4 memory.
AMD Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs: Final Thoughts
The new laptops powered by the Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs will be available shortly. Looking at the comparison figures shared to us by AMD, it definitely feels like these new chips are ready to offer incredible performance in the notebooks market. Even the low-powered 15W-28W Rembrandt APUs are said to be up to 3x faster than the competing hardware such as the Intel Core i7-1165G7 and GeForce MX450. We’ll have more to talk about the performance once we get a chance to use the next generation of laptops powered by these chips. In the meantime, you can also check out our Intel Alder Lake Deep Dive to see what Intel’s been cooking behind the scenes to enable powerful experiences with its 12th-gen Alder Lake chips for both desktops as well as mobile computing.
