Technologies

MediaTek’s Next Chip Will Boost Low-Power AI in Next Year’s Top Android Phones

The Dimensity 9500 ramps up competition for Android phone chips.

MediaTek has unveiled its next big chip for premium Android phones, promising improvements for performance and AI operations.

MediaTek’s chip, the Dimensity 9500, debuts at a seemingly deliberate moment just days before Qualcomm is set to reveal its own silicon, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. While we don’t know the latter’s performance metrics, it will almost certainly compete with the Dimensity 9500 to run the most powerful Android smartphones. The first phones running MediaTek’s new chip will be Vivo and Oppo handsets launching in October for release in Europe, South America and Asia, but not the US yet.

MediaTek’s Dimensity 9500 has a mix of improvements over its predecessor, last year’s Dimensity 9400. Its CPU cluster has 29% higher single-core and 16% higher multi-core performance, while also drawing 37% less power. Moving to Universal Flash Storage 4.1 (from UFS 4.0) enables memory, like in RAM, to read and write twice as fast. This also leads to 40% faster loading for large AI models, MediaTek said.

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The Dimensity 9500 roughly follows the design of MediaTek’s last few high-end chips. Its CPU cluster features an array of Arm’s newly-renamed C1-series silicon: one Arm C1-Ultra at 4.21 GHz, three Arm C1-Premium at 3.5GHz and four Arm C1-Pro at 2.7GHz.

For gaming, the Dimensity 9500’s graphics processing unit has 33% improved performance and is 42% more energy efficient, meaning longer play sessions on a device before needing to recharge it. The chip also doubles the performance of ray tracing, a technology enabling realistic shadows and reflections in mirrors and water surfaces that often pushes GPUs to their limits. The chip can render graphics at up to 120 frames per second with ray tracing turned on, and also supports graphics engines like Vulkan 1.4 and Unreal Engine 5.6.

Given the aggressive adoption of AI on mobile, it’s unsurprising that MediaTek also boosted artificial intelligence on its new chip. The Dimensity 9500’s NPU 990 has a smattering of upgrades over its predecessor, with 100% faster processing for the smaller 3 billion parameter models often used on smartphones (which typically top out at 7 billion parameters). The NPU (neural processing unit) is also 42% more power efficient when running small AI models. Finally, the mobile chip is the first in the industry to generate 4K images with AI, MediaTek said.

For large language models, the Dimensity 9500 is the first mobile chip to support BitNet 1-bit, which leads to 50% lower power consumption of LLMs.

The chip’s upgrades to camera processing include support for 4K portrait videos at 60 frames per second, as well as slow-motion 4K video at 120 FPS with Dolby Vision video that’s optically stabilized. The Dimensity 9500 carries on its predecessor’s support for up to 200-megapixel cameras.

The Dimensity 9500 also claims connectivity boosts over its predecessor, including 5CC carrier aggregation that increases bandwidth by 15%.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for April 8, #562

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for April 8 No. 562.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a tough one. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Working out.

Green group hint: Cover your face.

Blue group hint: NFL players.

Purple group hint: Leap.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Exercises in singular form.

Green group: Sporting jobs that require masks.

Blue group: Hall of Fame defensive ends.

Purple group: ____ jump.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is exercises in singular form. The four answers are crunch, plank, situp and squat.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is sporting jobs that require masks. The four answers are catcher, fencer, football player and goaltender.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is Hall of Fame defensive ends. The four answers are Dent, Peppers, Strahan and Youngblood.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is ____ jump. The four answers are broad, high, long and triple.

Technologies

The $135M Google Data Settlement Site Is Live — See If You’re Eligible

Use the settlement website to select your preferred payment method, and you may end up $100 richer.

You can now file a claim in the $135 million Google data settlement. The case centers on claims that Android devices transmitted user data without consent. Specifically, the class action lawsuit Taylor v. Google LLC contends that Google’s Android devices passively transferred cellular data to Google without user permission, even when the devices were idle. While not admitting fault, Google reached a preliminary settlement in January, agreeing to pay $135 million to about 100 million US Android phone users.

The official settlement website for the lawsuit is now live. The final approval hearing won’t occur until June 23, when the court will consider whether Google’s settlement is fair and listen to objections. After that, the court will decide whether to approve the $135 million settlement.

In the meantime, if you qualify and want to be paid as part of the settlement, you can select your preferred payment method on the official website. There, you can find information on speaking at the June 23 court hearing and on how to exclude yourself or write to the court to object by May 29.

As part of the settlement, Google will update its Google Play terms of service to clarify that certain data transfers do occur passively even when you’re not using your Android device, and that cellular data may be relied upon when not connected to Wi-Fi. This can’t always be disabled, but users will be asked to consent to it when setting up their device.

Google will also fully stop collecting data when its «allow background data usage» option is toggled off.

Who can be part of the settlement?

In order to join the Taylor v. Google LLC settlement, you must meet four qualifications:

Be a living, individual human being in the US.
Have used an Android mobile device with a cellular data plan.
Have used the aforementioned device at any time from Nov. 12, 2017, to the date when the settlement receives final approval.
You’re not a class member in the Csupo v. Google LLC lawsuit, which is similar but specifically for California residents.

The final approval hearing is on June 23, so you can add your payment method until then. The hearing’s date and time may change, and any updates will be posted on the settlement website.

If you choose to do nothing, you will still be issued a settlement payment, but you may not receive it if you don’t select a payment method.

How much will I get paid?

It’s not currently known exactly how much each settlement class member will receive, but the cap is $100. Payments will be distributed after final court approval and after any appeals are resolved.

After all administrative, tax and attorney costs are paid, the settlement administrator will attempt to pay each member an equal amount. If any funds remain after payments are sent, and it’s economically feasible, they will be redistributed to members who were previously and successfully paid. If it’s not economically feasible, the funds will go to an organization approved by the court.

Technologies

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 Might Come in 5G and 4G Cellular Models

If the rumor proves true, the 5G Galaxy Watch Ultra would rival the 5G-enabled $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3 that debuted last fall.

Samsung’s next high-end Galaxy Watch could support faster 5G speeds, but if this leak is true, it will depend on where you live. The rumored Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 might come in 5G and 4G cellular models, with availability for each smartwatch depending on the country.

According to the Dutch website Galaxy Club (and spotted by SamMobile), Samsung’s servers may have revealed a series of model numbers that point to 5G, 4G and Wi-Fi-enabled editions of the next Galaxy Watch Ultra, which would succeed the original model that debuted in 2024.

A representative for Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Galaxy Club website speculates that the 5G edition would be sold in the US and Korean markets, while the 4G edition would sell in the rest of the world. In the US, a 5G version of the Galaxy Watch Ultra would rival the 5G-enabled $799 Apple Watch Ultra 3, which debuted last fall. The 4G edition would have broader compatibility worldwide, since the earlier network is far more established.

It will likely be a few months until we hear anything official about the Galaxy Watch Ultra 2. Samsung typically unveils its new watches in the summer alongside its Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip foldable phones. Last year, Samsung unveiled the Galaxy Watch 8 and the Galaxy Watch 8 Classic, but otherwise left the prior 2024 Ultra in the lineup for those looking for a larger 47mm smartwatch.