Samsung will be the beneficiary of last week's announcement that PortalPlayer's media chip will not be used in upcoming flash-based iPods.
PortalPlayer's media chip has been used in Apple's iPod from the beginning, but PortalPlayer's stock dropped on the news that Apple had decided to pass on their upcoming PP5021 media processor chip.
While PortalPlayer's current chip will continue to be used in current iPods, eeTimes reports that Samsung has been working with Apple on a "PortalPlayer killer" 32-bit chip based on ARM technology. This new chip has been chosen for use in future flash-based iPods.
I knew PortalPlayer would take a dive, said Jon Kang, senior vice president for the technical marketing group at Samsung Semiconductor Inc. (San Jose, Calif.), the U.S. chip arm of South Koreas Samsung (Seoul). I knew that we would win this design."
Few details are provided on the benefits of the switch. Samsung, however, is also the supplier of much of the NAND flash memory provided in the recent Flash-based iPods.
Based on these component reports, there has been speculation that the flash iPods will see a revision later this year.
Apple has begun inviting selected members of the media to a product launch experience in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 28, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In a post on X, Gurman described the gathering as an "all-day product launch experience" for touchscreen MacBooks, a new iPad mini, and Macs equipped with M6 chips.
Gurman previously reported that Apple would introduce the...
Thursday October 15, 2026 5:27 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple has an unreleased iPad mini Smart Folio listed on its French regulatory website, hinting that a new iPad mini is coming. The case's A3632 model number doesn't match current or past iPad mini cases.
Apple appears to have added the case to its website recently, and it's listed alongside iPhone 18 Pro accessories added in September.
The listing doesn't include any iPad mini specs, but...
Apple's $1,999 iPhone Duo asks buyers to pay more for a folding screen while accepting almost 40 compromises compared with the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, spanning camera capabilities, everyday usability, and ownership costs.
At equivalent storage capacities, the iPhone Duo costs $800 more than the iPhone 18 Pro and $700 more than the Pro Max. Its main attraction is a radically...
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
