NVIDIA unveils the $799 RTX 4070 Ti

The rumors were true: NVIDIA finally unveiled its latest mid-range GPU, the RTX 4070 Ti. Starting at $799, it’s meant to be a slightly more reasonable alternative to NVIDIA’s $1,199 RTX 4090 and $1,599 4090. But yes, it’s still pretty costly — gone are the days when “mid-range” video cards were below $500. For the price, though you get a GPU that can play Cyberpunk 2077 three times as fast as the RTX 3090 Ti in Ray Tracing Overdrive mode (according to NVIDIA, at least).

While the RTX 4080 and 4090 Ti are targeted at 4K gaming, NVIDIA is positioning the RTX 4070 Ti as the pinnacle of 1,440p gaming beyond 120fps. DLSS 3 is a big reason for that — just like with the other 4000-series cards, it uses machine learning to generate entire frames, rather than the pixels DLSS 2 created. That means it should be able to deliver better overall framerates, especially when it comes to CPU-bound titles.

As the leaks foretold, the RTX 4070 Ti features 7,680 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR6X memory. In comparison, the 4080 sports 9,728 CUDA cores and 16GB of memory, while the 4090 has 16,384 CUDA cores and 24GB of RAM. Since it’s supposedly comparable to the 3090 Ti, you can expect the 4070 Ti to handle a bit of 4K gaming, especially with the help of DLSS 3. But really, it seems more like the card gamers with fast 1,440p monitors have been waiting for.

Surprisingly, NVIDIA didn’t spend much time on the 4070 Ti during its CES livestream, even though it will likely be the most popular 40-series GPU this year. If you’re looking for more of a bargain, NVIDIA’s 30-series GPUs are still fantastic and should start dipping in price soon. But for someone who wants the full power of NVIDIA’s Ada architecture, as well as DLSS 3, the 4070 Ti is the cheapest way in.

The RTX 4070 Ti will be available on January 5th, and you can expect to see a variety of options from different manufacturers.

South Korea fines Tesla $2.2 million over EV range disclosures

Tesla has suffered another blow after a South Korea regulator said it would fine the company 2.85 billion won ($2.24 million) for failing to disclose the shorter ranges of its electric vehicles in low temperatures. The Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) said that Tesla EV ranges drop by up to 50.5 percent in cold weather, compared with the ranges that the company stated online.

The antitrust agency claimed that Tesla exaggerated the ranges of its vehicles on a single charge, the performance of Superchargers and fuel cost effectiveness versus combustion engine vehicles, as Reuters reports. The KFTC said that Tesla did so on its South Korean website between August 2019 and recently.

Studies have shown that ranges for all EVs can drop significantly in colder weather, mainly because the battery that’s used to power those cars also heats the interior. Based on data from South Korea’s environment ministry, a local consumer group claimed in 2021 that the ranges of most EVs drop by up to 40 percent in cold weather. Tesla’s vehicles saw the biggest drop, according to Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty. Tesla doesn’t have a communications department that can be reached for comment.

While the fine is a relatively small one, it’s more bad news for Tesla. The company said on Monday that it set a new quarterly record for EV deliveries in the last three months of 2022 with more than 405,000 (an increase of nearly 97,000 compared with a year earlier). However, analysts expected Tesla to deliver 418,000 EVs last quarter. By 10:30AM ET on Tuesday, Tesla’s stock had dropped by over 10 percent compared with Monday. The company’s share price has plummeted by 72 percent over the last 12 months.

Watch SpaceX’s first launch of the year take 114 satellites into orbit

SpaceX is gearing up to launch the Transporter-6 mission today, January 3rd, and is hoping that the Falcon 9 rocket taking it to space will begin making its way to low-Earth orbit by 9:56 AM ET. The Transporter-6 mission will take off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida using a first stage booster responsible for taking over a dozen other previous missions to orbit, including 10 Starlink launches. It’s the company’s first launch of the year and the latest in SpaceX’s series of dedicated rideshare Transporter missions.

Transporter-6 will take 114 payload to space. As NASA Spaceflight notes, those include tiny picosatellites only a few centimeters in size to microsatellites that weight around 200 pounds for both scientific institutions and commercial entities. One customer is EOS Data Analytics, which will launch the first satellite for its agriculture-focused constellation on this mission. A couple of companies is also launching space tugs, or spacecraft that can transfer cargo from one orbit to another, that will deploy payload for customers of their own at a later date. 

SpaceX will livestream the Transporter-6 launch on YouTube, with coverage starting 10 minutes before liftoff is expected to happen. You can watch the live webcast below:

Apple is raising the price of battery replacements for older iPhones on March 1st

You’ll want to act quickly if you’re considering a fresh battery for an aging iPhone. 9to5Mac has noticed that Apple is raising the price of battery replacements for pre-iPhone 14 models by $20 on March 1st. For notched iPhones (iPhone X through iPhone…

Intel’s 13th-gen laptop CPUs offer up to 24 cores

Intel is bringing the power of its 13th-gen desktop CPUs down to laptops — all 24 cores worth. At CES today, Intel unveiled the Core i9-13980HX, the pinnacle of its mobile lineup. It features 24 cores (a combination of 8 Performance cores and 16 Efficient cores) and a boost speed of a whopping 5.6GHz. It’s the continuation of Intel’s high performance HX line, which debuted last year as a way to bring more power to beefier laptops. The company claims the new Core i9 CPU is 11 percent faster than last year’s top-end 12900HK when it comes to single-threaded tasks, and it’s 49 percent faster for multithreaded work (intensive tasks like encoding video and 3D rendering).

Intel’s 13th-gen HX lineup scales all the way down to the Core i5-13450HX, which offers 10 cores (6P, 4E) and up to 4.5Ghz boost speeds. Basically, if you’re hankering for more performance and don’t mind a hit to battery life, there should be an HX chip within your budget. The rest of Intel’s 13th-gen lineup looks noteworthy, as well. The P series chips, which are meant for performance ultraportables, will reach up to 14 cores, while the low-power U-series CPUs top out at 10 cores (2P, 8E) with the i7-1365U.

Intel 13th-gen HX CPU lineup
Intel

We weren’t too impressed with Intel’s previous P-series CPUs on laptops like the XPS 13 Plus — the performance gains seemed negligible for most tasks, while the battery life hit was massive. Hopefully Intel has made some improvements with its new lineup. The company also claims select 13th-gen chips will offer VPU (Vision Processing Unit) AI accelerators, which can help offload tasks like background blurring during video calls. The lack of a VPU was one major downside to the Intel-equipped Surface Pro 9 (and the one major advantage for the Arm model), so it’ll be nice to see some sort of AI acceleration this year.

Another pleasant surprise: New low-end chips. Intel quietly killed its Pentium and Celeron branding last year — now we’ve learned that they’ve been replaced with new N-series chips, simply dubbed Intel Processor and Intel Core i3. These chips are mainly focused on education and other entry-level computing markets, subsequently they’re only equipped with E-cores. Intel says its quad-core N200 chip offers 28 percent better application performance and 64 percent faster graphics than the previous-gen Pentium Silver N6000. Bumping up to the 8-core i3 N-305 adds an additional 42 percent in application performance and 56 percent faster graphics. Sure, we all want a 24-core laptop, but better low-end chips have the potential to help kids and other users who don’t need a boatload of power.

Aside from laptops, Intel also roundup out its 13th-gen desktop CPU lineup at CES. They’ll still reach up to 24 cores like the enthusiast-level K series chips, but they’ll “only” go up to 5.6GHz boost speeds, instead of 5.8Ghz. The company says they’re 11 percent faster in single-threaded performance and up to 34 percent faster when it comes to multi-threaded tasks. The 13th-gen desktop chips will also be compatible with 600 and 700-series motherboards, and they’ll work with either DDR5 or DDR4 memory, making them decent upgrades for modern Intel systems.

The Morning After: Samsung made an oven that can livestream your dinner

We’re moving on from washing machines. As part of its refreshed Bespoke smart home appliances lineup, Samsung has revealed a new high-tech oven. The new range also includes a washer and dryer, so maybe we haven’t quite moved on.

The highlight is its Bespoke AI Oven. It has a seven-inch screen and touch controls, and features air sous-vide, air frying, and steam cooking methods. The most intriguing element is the AI Camera inside. The camera can detect what you’re making and suggest optimal cooking settings if it recognizes the cuisine. You can even monitor the cooking using the screen or the SmartThings app (which you can use to control the oven remotely).

There’s also the option to take photos of your creation or even livestream the video feed. To someone. Anyone.

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

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I’m more intrigued by its ergonomics-monitoring safety vest.

TMA
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LG’s 2023 OLED TVs are up to 70 percent brighter

With a revamped interface and better sound options.

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Tesla set a new company record for vehicle deliveries

Over 405,000 Teslas shipped in Q4 2022.

Tesla delivered 405,278 electric vehicles over the final three months of 2022. It’s a new record for the company, but it still fell short of estimates from analysts. According to Tesla, the Model 3 and Model Y made up most of the company’s deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2022, with 388,131 of those vehicles making their way to consumers before the end of the year. Tesla faced macroeconomic and logistical challenges multiple times in 2022/ COVID-19 restrictions in China forced Tesla to suspend and reduce production at its Shanghai Gigafactory. Tesla also closed the facility during the last week of December.

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Samsung’s prototype Flex Hybrid OLED mobile display can both slide and fold

Last year at CES, Samsung folded its displays nearly every way you could think of, but this year it’s combining that with another trick — sliding. The Flex Hybrid OLED mobile screen, debuting at CES 2023, can both fold from one side and slide out on th…