Satya regrets killing Windows Phone now!

Summary

This week's tech roundup covers Apple's price hikes for its services, Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with impressive AI capabilities, and the potential revolution in camera lenses with Canon's meta lenses. Additionally, we hear about Microsoft's regret over Windows Phone, and a sneak peek at Insta360's AI-powered, motorized webcam that offers high-quality video calls with built-in tracking.

Takeaways

• 📈 Apple has increased the prices of its services including Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and the Apple One bundle.
• 🎉 Apple is planning an event around Halloween, likely to feature the M3 series of chips.
• 🤖 Qualcomm revealed the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with a unique CPU core structure and improved AI capabilities, targeting leadership in the AI performance market.
• 📱 Xiaomi has launched the first phones with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, the Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro, earlier than usual.
• 📷 Canon is pioneering the development of meta lenses, thin and flat lenses that use nanostructures to bend light, potentially revolutionizing camera technology.
• 🔮 Meta lenses could eliminate the need for traditional curved optics, enabling extremely thin camera lenses for various applications.
• 💡 Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, admitted that giving up on Windows Phone was a mistake, echoing previous sentiments from other Microsoft executives.
• 🚗 California has ordered GM's Cruise to stop testing its driverless cars, citing safety concerns and misrepresentation of technology safety.
• 🛍️ Insta360 is offering a 15% discount and a free tripod for their AI-powered, motorized webcam, the Insta360 Link, through a special link provided in the video description.
• 🎥 The Insta360 Link webcam features built-in AI tracking, a large 1/2" 4K sensor, and high-quality microphones, enhancing video call experiences.
• 🔄 The Insta360 Link also offers advanced features like wideboard mode and view mode, and it can be easily set up with a single USB-C cable.

Q & A

Why did Apple increase the prices of its services?

Apple has joined other companies in making their own round of price hikes. Apple TV plus has gone from $6.99 to $9.99, and Apple arcade, Apple news plus, and the Apple One bundle are all also going up in price.

What is the significance of the Snapdragon 8 gen 3 chip for Android phones?

The Snapdragon 8 gen 3 chip has an unusual 5+2 CPU core structure and is built on TSMC's N4P process. It might have fixed audio dropouts with earbuds and can keep earbuds playing music across Wi-Fi, not just Bluetooth. It also shows significant gains in CPU and GPU performance, potentially eating into Apple's lead in the market.

What is the unusual feature of the new Snapdragon 8 gen 3 chip's CPU core structure?

The Snapdragon 8 gen 3 chip features an unusual array of five medium-powered cores, which is a departure from the typical big.LITTLE architecture commonly used in mobile processors.

What is the significance of the new meta lenses technology developed by Canon?

Meta lenses are thin and flat lenses that use an array of titanium dioxide nanofins to shape light waves, potentially revolutionizing camera lenses by eliminating the need for traditional curved glass optics and enabling extremely thin lens designs.

Why did Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, say that giving up on Windows phone was a mistake?

Satya Nadella expressed regret over the decision to exit the mobile phone market, suggesting that there could have been ways to make it work by reinventing the category of computing between PCs, tablets, and phones.

What is the Insta360 Link and how does it enhance video calls?

The Insta360 Link is a motorized webcam with built-in AI tracking and a large 1/2 inch 4K sensor. It enhances video calls by providing high-quality footage and automatically keeping the user in frame, even when they move.

What is the special feature of the Insta360 Link that allows it to follow a person around physically during a video call?

The Insta360 Link has a built-in AI tracking feature that allows it to automatically follow and keep the user in frame during a video call.

Why did Microsoft's previous CEOs also express regret over the handling of the Windows phone?

Both Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have previously expressed regret over Microsoft's approach to the mobile phone market, with Gates calling it his greatest mistake and Ballmer reflecting on the company's focus on Windows Vista that may have detracted from their efforts in mobile.

What is the potential impact of the new wave of ARM-based CPUs for Windows PCs on the PC form factor?

The introduction of ARM-based CPUs from companies like Qualcomm, Nvidia, AMD, and MediaTek could lead to an unprecedented time for the PC form factor, potentially allowing for new and innovative designs and capabilities.

What is the significance of the report suggesting that Nvidia and AMD are making ARM-based CPUs for Windows PCs?

The report indicates a shift in the CPU market, with major players like Nvidia and AMD expanding their offerings to include ARM-based CPUs for Windows PCs, which could increase competition and drive innovation in the industry.

What is the potential application of the new meta lenses technology in the smartphone industry?

The meta lenses technology could eliminate the need for the camera bump on smartphones, allowing for thinner and more aesthetically pleasing designs, as well as potentially enabling new camera capabilities.

Outlines

00:00

📈 Tech Industry Developments: Chip Innovations and Market Shifts

The script discusses recent advancements and strategic shifts in the tech industry, focusing on chip manufacturing and Windows-based devices. Apple has increased the subscription prices for its services, including Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, and Apple News Plus. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, with a unique CPU core structure, promises significant performance improvements, especially in AI capabilities. The script also mentions the launch of Xiaomi's new flagship phones and the potential of meta lenses in revolutionizing camera technology. Additionally, there's a nod to the challenges faced by the RISC-V industry and regulatory actions against GM's driverless cars.

05:02

📷 Meta Lenses and the Future of Camera Technology

Canon's development of meta lenses, a breakthrough in camera lens technology, is highlighted. These lenses use an array of nanofins made of titanium dioxide to shape light waves, allowing for thin and flat lenses that could significantly reduce the thickness of camera modules in devices. The technology has the potential to eliminate the camera bump in smartphones and could be a game-changer for digital cameras and various industrial applications. Canon is reportedly close to commercializing this technology, which could be a revolutionary step in the camera industry.

10:02

💡 Reflections on Microsoft's Mobile Strategy and Insta360 Link Promotion

The script reflects on Microsoft's past decisions regarding its mobile strategy, with CEO Satya Nadella expressing regret over the discontinuation of Windows Phone. It's noted that this sentiment has been shared by previous CEOs, indicating a collective belief that Microsoft could have been more successful in the mobile market. The video also promotes the Insta360 Link, a motorized webcam with AI tracking and a high-quality sensor, which provides excellent video quality for video calls and interviews. The Insta360 Link is praised for its ease of use, advanced features, and the additional benefit of built-in microphones.

Keywords

💡ARM-based chips

ARM-based chips refer to processors that use the ARM architecture, which is a popular design for mobile devices due to its energy efficiency. In the video, it is mentioned that chip manufacturers like Qualcomm, Nvidia, AMD, and MediaTek are all developing ARM-based chips for Windows, indicating a shift towards this architecture even for desktop and laptop processors.

💡Snapdragon X Elite

Snapdragon X Elite is a series of high-performance chips announced by Qualcomm, featuring 12 new Orion CPU cores designed by Qualcomm themselves. These chips are significant as they are expected to compete with Apple's M2 series and even desktop platforms from Intel and AMD, showcasing the advancement in ARM-based chips for computing beyond mobile devices.

💡Meta lenses

Meta lenses, as discussed in the video, are a revolutionary technology that uses nanostructures to focus light instead of traditional curved glass. Canon is highlighted as a pioneer in this field, with their implementation using nano imprint lithography. This technology could significantly change the camera industry by enabling thinner and flatter lenses, with potential applications in smartphones, digital cameras, and various industrial uses.

💡AI performance

AI performance in the context of the video refers to the capability of a chip to run artificial intelligence models and tasks efficiently. Qualcomm claims to be the market leader in AI performance with their new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which allows for local running of models like Stable Diffusion on smartphones, indicating a significant leap in mobile AI capabilities.

💡Windows Phone

Windows Phone represents the mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. The video discusses how Microsoft's CEOs have expressed regret over the decision to exit the mobile phone market. This decision is tied to the broader narrative of the video about the evolution of computing devices and the competition between different platforms.

💡Insta360 Link

Insta360 Link is a motorized webcam with built-in AI tracking and a large 1/2" 4K sensor, as mentioned in the video. It is highlighted for its high-quality video capabilities and features like gesture control and the ability to follow a subject automatically, making it an advanced tool for video calls and content creation.

💡AI tracking

AI tracking, as featured in the Insta360 Link, is a technology that uses artificial intelligence to follow and keep a subject in frame during video recording. This is particularly useful for video calls and content creation, as it allows for dynamic movement without losing focus on the subject.

💡TSMC 4 nanometer

TSMC 4 nanometer refers to a manufacturing process used by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to produce chips with a 4-nanometer feature size, which is a measure of the smallest elements on a chip. The Snapdragon X Elite chips are fabricated using this process, which is indicative of the cutting-edge technology used in these high-performance chips.

💡5G Wi-Fi 7

5G Wi-Fi 7 represents the latest standards in wireless communication. The video mentions these as features of the Snapdragon X Elite chips, indicating the inclusion of advanced connectivity options that support high-speed data transfer and improved network performance.

💡Stable Diffusion

Stable Diffusion is an AI model mentioned in the video that can be run locally on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. It is an example of the kind of complex AI tasks that the new chip is capable of handling, showcasing the chip's advanced AI processing capabilities.

💡Motorola prototype

The Motorola prototype is a concept device showcased in the video that can function as a normal phone, wrap around the wrist, or stand in different modes. While not a real product, it represents an innovative approach to device design and flexibility, hinting at potential future developments in the smartphone industry.

Highlights

Apple has increased the prices of its services including Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple News+, and the Apple One bundle.

Apple is planning an event around Halloween likely to feature the M3 series of chips.

Qualcomm introduced the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for flagship Android phones with an unusual CPU core structure.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 might have fixed audio dropouts with earbuds by maintaining music play across Wi-Fi.

Xiaomi 14 and 14 Pro, the first phones with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, have launched in China.

Motorola showcased a prototype phone that can be used as a normal phone, wrapped around the wrist, or popped into different standing modes.

New tools called Night Shade and Glaze can confuse AI by making subtle changes to art pixels.

sci5, a leading RISC-V company, has laid off employees and reduced their product portfolio.

California has taken GM's driverless cars off the road due to safety concerns and misrepresentation of technology safety.

Qualcomm, Nvidia, AMD, and MediaTek are making ARM-based CPUs for Windows, indicating a shift in the PC market.

Canon is close to commercializing meta lenses, a revolutionary technology using nanofins to shape light.

Meta lenses could eliminate the need for traditional curved optics, leading to thinner and flatter camera lenses.

Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, expressed regret over the exit from the mobile phone market and the potential for reinvention.

Insta360 Link is a motorized webcam with AI tracking and a large 1/4k sensor, offering high-quality video calls.

Insta360 Link can be used with a single USB-C cable and has a companion app for advanced features.

A special offer for Insta360 Link includes a free tripod and a 15% discount for orders before the end of the year.

Transcripts

hey happy Friday this we learned that

basically every chip maker from quac to

Nvidia AMD to mediatech they're all

making arm-based chips for Windows Canon

basically reinvented lenses and Saka

Adela decided that maybe killing Windows

phone was a mistake welcome to the fire

check

[Music]

out this video was sponsored by insta

360 where you can get 15% off and a free

tripod with my link more about this at

the end of the video okay I decided to

put the brief back to the front of the

video again based on popular request and

this week we are starting with apple the

company has joined basically everyone in

making their own round of price hikes

Apple TV plus has gone from $6.99 to

$9.99 while Apple arcade Apple news plus

and the Apple One bundle are all going

up in prize too boo meanwhile the

company this week also announced an

event called scary fast around Halloween

where they will most likely feature the

M3 series of chips and talking of chips

quac had its big Hawaii event and while

we're going to discuss their computer

chips a bit later they also brought out

their new Snapdragon 8 gen 3 for

Flagship Android phones too this one has

a really unusual OnePlus 5+2 CPU core

structure meaning an unusual array of

five medium powered cores it is built on

tsmc's n4p process and it might have

fixed audio dropouts with earbuds 2 as

it can now keep your earbuds playing

music across a Wi-Fi as well not just

Bluetooth nice the eth 3 has some

unusually big gains in terms of both CPU

and GPU performance this year eating

into Apple's lead and Qualcomm claims

that it's now the market leader in AI

performance so now you can locally run

models like stable diffusion right on

your phone really impressive meanwhile

the first phone with the brand new

Snapdragon 8 gen 3 chip the xiaomi 14

and 14 pro have already launched in

China which is unusually early as well

in last practical news Motorola showed

off a funky new prototype which can be

used like a normal phone all flat and

nice or it can be wrapped around your

wrist or it can even be popped up into

different standing modes definitely not

a real product but kind of fun and then

in case you hate that your art is used

to train AI there are now new tools

called night shade and glaze which

carefully and somehow invisibly make

changes to the pixels in art to confuse

AI so you can for example make them

confuse hats with cakes pretty wild and

then in sad news this week while we were

told that risk 5 is going to be the

future of chips the most influential

risk 5 company called sci5 just laid off

a bunch of employees and reduced their

product portfolio too that is not a

great sign and finally for the brief the

state of California has taken GM Cru

driverless cars off the road calling the

vehicles a risk to the public and saying

that the company had quote

misrepresented the safety of their

technology after it apparently quote

withheld footage from an ongoing

investigation ouch not a good look okay

from my first story of the week

apparently everyone is making arm-based

CPUs for Windows now including Qualcomm

Nvidia AMD mediatech and more so qualcom

is the most concrete one as they have

just announced their new Snapdragon X

Elite chips this week these have 12 new

Orion CPU cores that Qualcomm designed

itself the cores are running at 3.8 GHz

and two of them can even boost up to 4.3

GHz the chip only has high performance

CPU cores and the whole thing is fapped

on a tsmc 4 nanometer note qualum showed

off a ton of performance benchmarks to

claim that they will basically beat

everyone on the chip Market from Apple's

M2 series to even many hardcore Desktop

Intel and AMD chips these claims include

the CPU being up to two times faster

than the competition at significantly

less power as well versus Intel's x86

13th gen mobile platform and they

include beating Apple's M2 series even

on single threaded performance and even

on power efficiency of course these are

all super cherry-picked examples and all

the chip vendors will have a next

generation of chips coming out before

the Snapdragon chips actually launch but

still the Snapdragon stuff actually

looks pretty promising this time around

and beside the CPU and the GPU the chip

also has the usual 5G Wi-Fi 7 and other

typical qualum features that you'd

expect and a huge focus on AI this year

where they claim to be ahead of everyone

else but then beside just qualum a big

report this week also suggested that

Nvidia will make arm-based CPUs for

Windows PCS 2o and that so will AMD

meaning that big red will make both arm

and x86 chips and just a few months ago

mediatech also confirmed that they too

are making windows chips and that theirs

can even be paired with an Nvidia

graphics card and if you're wondering

this whole Rush is because Microsoft's

exclusivity deal with qualcom is likely

expiring in 2024 so there should be

space for real competition now Nvidia

already makes Tegra chips for mobile

devices and also arm CPUs for servers so

this definitely makes sense for them but

I wouldn't be surprised if even Samsung

and Huawei wouldn't give this thing a

shot together with a new wave of AI

Hardware in chips I actually think we're

looking at a pretty unprecedented time

for the PC form factor and I'll have a

whole dedicated video about this on my

tech outar channel in the next couple of

days okay and for my second story of the

week the world of cameras and in

particular lenses might just be shaken

up completely by a new technology called

meta lenses and in particular by Canon

okay you know how a lens is basically a

piece of curved glass that focuses light

because of its shape well a metal lens

can do the same basic light bending but

it is a thin and flat material the trick

is that the surface of this material is

covered by an array of titanium dioxide

nanofins and these are arranged so that

they each shape the light waves that hit

them so they all end up going where they

need to it is the same idea that we have

behind the traditional curved Optics but

that nanometer size this is pretty

insane and it means that a lens could be

less than a fraction of a piece of paper

in thickness

I mean that's crazy a flat lens that is

also thinner than a piece of paper is

insane apparently the optical

characteristics of this metal lens is

not the same as of a regular lens

apparently there's no depth of field

effect but still just imagine all the

implications you could get rid of the

smartphone camera bump or you could have

digital cameras with basically no lens

sticking out in the front or a million

different industrial applications Etc

scientists have been trying to make this

technology work for years and we've

gotten to the point where the lenses can

now be made in semiconductor Fabs

unsurprisingly Samsung has been looking

into the technology and has filed a

bunch of patents already but the current

news is that Canon claims they're

getting close to commercializing it at

Canon Expo 2023 B yet Canon's

implementation is made using Nano

imprint lithography which is the exact

technology that we talked about just

last week apparently Canon typically

shows things at this Expo that are

relatively close to hitting the market

so here's the hoping that a I understood

all these technical documentations

correctly and that be that the hype is

indeed real fingers crossed it could be

a revolution okay and for my third story

of the week asan nadela became the third

Microsoft CEO to claim that giving up on

Windows phone was a mistake and if I'm

counting correctly that's three out of

three now so although Microsoft this

week reported incredible earnings yet

again driven mainly by its Cloud

business like it has been almost every

quarter since Satya took over the big

man himself also said that he actually

regretted the phone situation quote the

decision I think a lot of people talk

about and one of the most difficult

decisions I made when I became CEO was

our exit of what I'll call the mobile

phone as defined then in retrospect I

think there could have been ways that we

could have made it work by perhaps

Reinventing the category of computing

between PCS tablets and phones that

matches Bill Gates saying that his

greatest mistake ever was Microsoft

losing to Android and Google saying back

in 2019 and of course poor old Steve

Balmer who said that quote I regret

there was a period in the early 2000s

when we were so focused on what we had

to do around Windows Vista that we

weren't able to redeploy talent to the

new device called the phone well I agree

with Gates and Balmer but even as

somebody who was a pretty big fan of

Windows 10 mobile and as somebody who

was daily driving a Lumia phone for like

a year or two I actually think that

killing off Windows 10 mobile was

probably the right call Microsoft

absolutely should have prioritized the

hell out of Windows Phone way earlier

and I think even the idea that they had

with Windows 10 mobile where you could

run the exact same universal windows

platform app across the desktop the

phone and even Xbox was a fantastic one

if they made that app framework at least

5 years earlier when the PC was still

much more important and when iPhone and

Android were way less dominant then I

think there's a pretty good chance that

many of us would still be running around

with Windows phones now but it's pretty

clear to me now in retrospect that when

Satya took over it was already way too

late and killing this off was probably

the right move okay and to finish up let

me show you something super cool wait no

this looks terrible this is the webcam

of my MacBook Air let's try this again

okay that's better and not only does

this camera look way better than the

previous one it can even follow me

around physically and if I want that to

stop I can just do this gesture and now

it

doesn't pretty cool and all of this

fancy footage is shot on this tiny

webcam how cool is that this is the

insta 360 link and it is a completely

motorized webcam with built-in AI

tracking and a massive half in 4k sensor

which is way way way bigger than

anything you have in your laptop or even

in most other dedicated webcams the

footage looks so good without even

trying that Tristan and I ended up

recording our whole podcast on these and

it's also my go-to camera for recording

interviews or doing cods where I need to

look really really good it's

plug-and-play with a single USBC cable

and with a fantastic companion app where

you can turn all the textures and other

features on and off you can save preset

positions here if you always want to

return to a certain setting and even the

microphones on it are pretty great

you're listening to the built-in

microphones of the insta 360 link right

now without any processing in a pretty

echoey room I think they sound pretty

great especially for a webcam and so

especially if your computer doesn't have

any microphones at all maybe you have a

desktop PC or something like that then

these will do double duty oh and when

you don't use it it actually goes to

sleep like this how cute is that now

there are a ton of advanced features

like wideboard mode where it magically

snaps to focus on a wideboard or desk

View mode where it magically corrects

for something that you ask it to film on

your desk but I personally just use all

this fancy Tech to keep myself in frame

for my calls and it works absolutely

great for that there's also a tripod

that you can use to prop up your camera

on your own and with my link in the

description you can get both the tripod

for free as well as a 15% discount if

you order before the end of the year so

check them out level up your video calls

and see you in the next

video