iPad 5 and iPad mini 2 tipped to arrive in time for Christmas

Apple is apparently preparing a tablet onslaught in the run up to Christmas as the iPad 5 is tipped to break cover this Autumn, closely followed by the iPad mini 2.

Now, before we all get hopelessly carried away, it's worth bearing in the mind that this news comes via Digitimeswhich isn't the most reliable when it comes to leaks.

The Taiwanese site claims to have spoken to "supply chain makers", who were able to confirm the iPad 5 would begin production in July/August, with a release date following soon after.

• Here's what we know about the iPad 5 so far

According to the report the iPad 5 will be 20 to 30 per cent lighter than its predecessor thanks to a super slim touchscreen panel, plus it'll sport a thinner bezel and a design more akin to the current iPad mini.

Mini's second-coming delayed

It's not all about the 9.7-inch slate though, with the dubious sources also chiming in on the 7.9-inch iPad mini 2 - which has apparently been delayed until November.

The time scales have been pushed back due to the impact the original iPad mini had last year on Apple's workforce when it launched alongside the iPad 4, and it's having to stagger its slates this time around.

No details on the iPad mini 2 were provided in the report but the pint-sized tablet is expected to get a screen resolution boost to Apple's famous Retina display and a bit more power under the hood - although it looks like we're just going to have to wait and see.

ARM's new Cortex A-12 processor joins the battle for midrange smartphones

British Manufacturer ARM has unveiled a new Cortex A-12 processor at Computex 2013, aimed at mid-range tablets and smartphones in the region of US$250 (about AU$258, £163) to US$350 (about AU$361, £228).

The Cortex-A12 will succeed ARM's Cortex-A9 processor, which was used in the iPhone 4s, Galaxy S3 and a variety of android tablets.

With up to four cores, ARM said that the new design is 40 per cent more efficient than the A9 and 30 per cent faster. Devices sporting the new A12 processor are expected to arrive in late 2014 or early 2015.

Race to the middle

James Bruce, ARM's lead mobile strategist, said that there is huge growth in mid-range mobile markets, with devices above and around $200 (about £130, $206 AUS) expected to ship more than 500 units by the end of 2015.

ARM faces stiff competition from other manufacturers who also want to capitalise on the growing affordable tablet and smartphone market. Intel recently announced a range of new processors, including the Bay Trial and Haswell processors, which are aimed at Android devices.

41-megapixel Nokia Eos codenamed 'Elvis' shimmies in latest leaked specs

The long-rumored Nokia Eos, said to sport a 41-megapixel camera and a quad-core processor, is on schedule to be released this summer on AT&T, said a new report today.

The PureView-packing Nokia Eos (or EOS) was detailed in a report at Windows Phone Central, which claimed to have spoken with numerous sources who have seen the phone themselves.

According to the site, the Nokia EOS with PureView will feature 32GB of storage, a 720p OLED display, FM radio, and a yellow polycarbonate body.

Don't forget that gorgeous 41-megapixel camera with Xenon flash, which this report said will take two versions of every photo - one at 35MP and one at 5MP for sharing online.

Elvis will enter the building

The rumored Nokia EOS reportedly carries the internal codename "Elvis," though other than the phone's obvious swagger there's no clear reason for it.

In reality it's most similar to Nokia's 808 PureView; it's essentially a Windows Phone'd version of the 2012 device.

It's also about 1 millimeter thinner than the Lumia 920, though with a larger bump in the body for the souped-up PureView camera. Unfortunately, that means no room for an SD card, according to the WPC's sources.

The Nokia Eos "Elvis" is also said to feature Nokia's new Nokia Pro Cameraapp with manual focus and other fun photography functions, plus a "flip-to-silence" feature that lets you send incoming calls to voicemail by flipping the phone upside-down.

WPCentral said from what they've seen a July launch makes sense, lining up nicely with what we've previously heard as well. Finally, it added that AT&T won't be the only carrier to get it, though it will likely be the first.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 specs include Intel Atom inside

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 was announced this week to no one's surprise. What is a bit shocking is that the tablet will shift to using an Intel Atom Clover Trail+ System-on-a-Chip.

As the first Intel-powered Android tablet, the company's 1.6GHz dual-core Atom Z2560 processor replaces the popular ARM Cortex-A9 found in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1.

Intel, further moving in on ARM's lucrative territory, is also supplying the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 LTE chip with a model-dependent XMM 7160 4G or XMM 6262 3G modem.

All of this is good news for Intel. Although it's the world's largest semiconductor company, it has been slow to provide mobile solutions to tablet and smartphone manufacturers.

This deal is one of many the company has lined up for its Atom Z2560 processor.

Full Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 specs

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 release date is this month, according to Samsung.

The South Korean manufacturer also revealed the specs for its Intel-powered tablet, which measures 243.1 x 176.1 x 7.95mm.

When it comes to onboard memory, the Tab 3 will come in two different sizes. The 16GB version will give users approximately 11GB of real space.

The 32GB version has about 26.3GB of user memory, but all models can be expanded with an additional 64GB of microSD memory.

Samsung seems quick to admit that system files do limit user memory after the heat it took over the diminished capacity of its Galaxy S4 smartphone.

The Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 sticks with 1GB of RAM, 3MP and 1.3MP front and rear cameras, and USB 2.0.

However, it trumps the Tab 2 with Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0 and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

Galaxy Tab 3 8-inch also announced

The smaller Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 8-inch model was also announced by the company with a slightly slower 1.5 GHz dual-core processor.

However, it has more memory with 1.5GB of RAM and a higher resolution 5-megapixel rear camera.

Just like the Galaxy Tab 3 10.1, this iPad mini-rivaling tablet has a June release date.

AMD ushers in new performance desktop processors

AMD has announced its new dual and quad-core desktop processors, formerly codenamed Richland. Once again known as the A4, A6, A8 and A10 from retailers and in systems, there are various versions available up to 4.4GHz with 4MB of cache and up to 779 GFLOPS of compute power in the top-end quad-core A10.

Once again these are known as APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) and are hybrid GPU and CPU chips that boast Radeon HD 8000 series graphics on board.

AMD says the new chips boast a 21 per cent graphics performance hike compared to last year's Trinity APU (914 vs 1,104 in 3D Mark Fire Strike).

Several Richland desktop chips are available

In terms of general PC performance, AMD's figures for PC Mark 7 suggest an eight per cent performance increase compared to Trinity.

Comparing performance between 2011, 2012 and 2013 APUs

AMD says that its 1.3 billion transistor die gives over 42 per cent of the space to graphics cores compared with an estimated 31 per cent on Intel's new Haswell Core chips. It believes balanced, hybrid GPU-CPUs are clearly where the market is heading and Intel seems to agree.

The news follows on from last month's launch of the Richland mobile processors as well as two other types, Kabini for mainstream laptops and Temash for lower powered devices such as tablets and hybrids. Check out our A4-5000 review here.

AMD talked up the gaming capability of the new chips

AMD isn't giving up on the desktop segment yet though. "PCs are still shipping over 300 million units a year. It's a good business, but it's facing some challenges," said Dr. Lisa Su, head of Global Business Units for AMD at the launch attended by TechRadar.

"The desktop channel is an important part of the market for AMD." But it's clear that, like Intel, AMD sees a bigger future for portables than desktops as that's where the innovation clearly is. Don't believe us? Check out what we thought of Intel's top-end Haswell CPU, the Intel Core i7-4770K.

The new APUs are targeted against the Core i3 and Core i5

Do these 'leaked' iPhone 5S parts show Apple is about to change design?

While far from legitimate, parts reportedly from the iPhone 5S hint at a new shape for the iPhone.

These pics come from Weibo, which has played host to a number of leaks over the years, and show the parts compared to their two predecessors' versions, the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5.

The SIM tray is now a golden colour, hinting at a wider range of colours – although it could as easily be simply a clarification of the standard silver by opting for a two-tone effect.

What's more interesting is the internal stuff, which for the most part is dramatically reduced in size compared to what's come before.

Credit: Weibo

This could mean a few of things: the new iPhone 5S will be a whole new design, something that will reboot the franchise in the face of strong Android competition; space could be being made for new internal components (an updated camera and NFC), or Apple is just making it all a bit lighter and the iPhone 5S will look the same as the previous model.

When's it coming?

The iPhone 5S release date isn't set to be any time soon – traditionally it will show off the new software first and we haven't even got to 20 June when the updated iOS 7 software is set to be shown off.

Credit: Weibo

It's most likely we'll get a new iPhone in September of this year, as that's the time Apple has seemingly settled on for nabbing the most visibility with smartphone users, while also making sure it's got a strong product in the run up to Christmas.

Or these pictures could all be bogus and Apple will make the iPhone 5S out of reconstituted banana. You never know, these days.