June 24 - 7:40am EDT   Apple's newest iPhone actually costs slightly more to make than the older version in spite of the more modest update, iSuppli says. The iPhone 3GS' total bill of materials amounts to $178.96 for a 16GB model, or slightly more than the previous $174.33 of the 8GB iPhone 3G. Some of the cost difference is attributed to recent rises in the prices of NAND flash memory; although 16GB costs less to make than it did a year earlier, a small rebound due to economy-driven supply cutbacks means Apple has had to absorb some costs to double its storage. [full story]

June 19 - 7:45am EDT   A teardown of the just-launched iPhone 3G S by RapidRepair this morning has revealed that Apple is using a processor capable of HD video and otherwise more than what Apple has enabled. The disassembly confirms the existence of a 600MHz ARM processor, Samsung's S5PC100, based on the much more advanced Cortex A8 platform. However, official specifications (PDF) show that the chip could run at 833MHz and that, while Apple officially limits video recording to 640x480, the full-speed component could not only play but capture 720p. [full story]

June 18 - 2:50pm EDT   Toshiba and NEC together said today that they would extend their agreement with IBM to produce 28 nanometer chip technology. The deal sees the members of the larger alliance continuing to work on the smaller, more efficient technology with the intention of using it for home user products. They now also say they expected 28nm to be particularly useful for "mobile communication devices" such as smartphones. [full story]

May 27 - 11:30am EDT   AT&T today explained some of the key details behind a planned upgrade for its 3G network, including improvements to the infrastructure underneath. Having initially run a trial, the carrier now says it plans to start upgrading its network to 7.2Mbps HSPA this year and should have the faster service in place on all its connections by 2011. While actual speeds are likely to be lower, the peak is twice as fast as for the existing 3.6Mbps network. [full story]

April 23 - 7:40am EDT   Taiwan-area integrated circuit maker WPG is said today to be shipping power management chips for Apple's next-generation iPhone. The United Daily News says the part production will ramp up to where WPG will be producing "several million" chips per month. While not necessarily connected to the supposed contract, the firm is expected to boost its revenue between 5 and 10 percent in the spring and may be helped by such a deal. [full story]

April 17 - 9:35am EDT   IBM announced on Thursday that it, along with partners Chartered Semiconductor, GlobalFoundries, Infineon, Samsung and STMicroelectronics, are jointly developing a 28-nanometer low-power, high-k metal gate (HKMG) bulk complementary metal oxide (CMOS) semiconductor for use in future processors. The technology would be used in mobile and consumer electronics devices such as Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), where it would extend battery life. The 28nm chips would reportedly provide a 40 percent performance gain and more than a 20 percent power decrease compared to 45nm technology in a chip that's about half the size. [full story]

March 20 - 12:30pm EDT   Apple's next iPhone should have improved Internet access, SAI claims. A "plugged-in" tipster in the cellular business has told the publication that a "significantly faster" connection will be part of the update without mentioning other details. It's not known whether the unnamed insider is alluding to the cellular access or to Wi-Fi, either of which is potentially upgradeable with the update. [full story]

February 12 - 9:20am EST   Epson and Infineon today published first details of a new chip they hope will make GPS more commonplace in phones. The XPOSYS is one of the smallest single-chip GPS processors ever and measures just 26mm square (0.04in square) thanks to being built on a 65 nanometer manufacturing process. Shrinking the design not only lets GPS fit into smaller devices but cuts power use by about half versus earlier mobile GPS chips and thus prevents the heavy battery drain common to most cellphone-level GPS. [full story]

January 23 - 1:35pm EST   German RAM producer Qimonda has filed for bankruptcy on Friday in a Munich court, according to a report. The move follows an unsuccessful search for funding of the equivalent of about $384 million which was in addition to an earlier approved deal that would see it get the equivalent of about $415 million. As the original sum still has not been received by Qimonda despite being approved last month, it is believed the company is only days away from insolvency. [full story]

January 15 - 10:35pm EST   Infineon yesterday quietly introduced a new transceiver chip that may dictate the future of the iPhone and other handsets. The SMARTi LU is touted as the first single-chip radio to include the new Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard for 4G Internet access and does so through a smaller, 65 nanometer assembly process that keeps the design small. It also includes the advanced HSPA+ standard for 3G as well as legacy support for 2G-era EDGE data and GSM calling. [full story]

January 7 - 7:55am EST   Apple may be turning to Broadcom for the cellular hardware in future iPhone models, say Taiwan-area manufacturers allegedly aware of the changes. Although the company currently uses Infineon chips for the phone's core functions, the insiders claim to have seen circuit boards for either revised or future iPhones with unnamed Broadcom parts for the cellular baseband and RF functions. The swap could suggest a partial or complete replacement of Infineon for the next wave of Apple's devices. [full story]

December 18 - 3:30pm EST   AT&T confirmed on Thursday that it has started testing some of it next-wave 3G services through a trial in Chicago. The upgrade follows previously revealed plans and gives users of supporting devices a theoretical peak 7.2Mbps download speed versus the 3.6Mbps of the current network. Upload speeds aren't mentioned but may not change depending on whether the service continues to use the older, download-focused HSDPA spec or the full HSPA format, which supports 2.9Mbps. [full story]

November 7 - 4:55pm EST   In addition to filing a lawsuit against graphics hardware maker NVIDIA back in July, technology licensing company Rambus has filed a formal complaint against the company on Thursday with the US International Trade Commission. Rambus has requested an investigation of NVIDIA products that it hopes would lead to the barring of importation, sale for importation and sale after importation of the latter's products that Rambus believes infringe on nine of its patents. [full story]

August 18 - 12:50pm EDT   Problems with reception on the iPhone 3G may have been acknowledged by Apple's CEO, a new report claims. In a response to a customer complaint, an e-mail has allegedly been sent by Steve Jobs, saying: "We are working on some bugs which affect around 2% of the iPhones shipped, and hope to have a software update soon." The message is believed to be legitimate because of Jobs' occasional willingness to reply to general mail, and his typical terseness. [full story]

August 14 - 9:45am EDT   Unusual reception problems with the iPhone 3G are indeed attributable to Infineon's 3G chip, say two anonymous sources. Described as "well-placed," the individuals claim that approximately 2 to 3 percent of iPhone traffic is suffering from connection troubles, which may also include continual shifting between 3G and 2.5G networks. By comparison, the normal rate of dropped calls for AT&T is about 1 percent. [full story]