With the growing workload of inference tasks on mobile devices, state-of-the-art neural architectures (NAs) are typically designed through Neural Architecture Search (NAS) to identify NAs with good tradeoffs between accuracy and efficiency (e.g., latency). Since measuring the latency of a huge set of candidate architectures during NAS is not scalable, approaches are needed for predicting end-to-end inference latency on mobile devices. Such predictions are challenging due to hardware heterogeneity, optimizations applied by ML frameworks, and the diversity of neural architectures. Motivated by these challenges, in this paper, we first quantitatively assess characteristics of neural architectures and mobile devices that have significant effects on inference latency. Based on this assessment, we propose a latency prediction framework which addresses these challenges by developing operation-wise latency predictors, under a variety of settings and a number of hardware devices, with multi-core CPUs and GPUs, achieving high accuracy in end-to-end latency prediction, as shown by our comprehensive evaluations. To illustrate that our approach does not require expensive data collection, we also show that accurate predictions can be achieved on real-world NAs using only small amounts of profiling data.

It's IFA 2019, and that can only mean one thing: Gadgets abound for an entire week straight. LG, as it's apt to do, introduced an incrementally refined phone in the LG G8X (the successor to the LG G8). But the accessory the Seoul company unveiled alongside it is arguably more interesting: an updated version of its snap-on Dual Screen product that improves upon the original in several respects. Pricing has yet to be announced for the G8X and revamped Dual Screen, but we'll keep our eyes peeled for more details. LG anticipates both will ship in Q4.

Chinese benchmarking outfit Master Lu has now released the list of best mobile chipsets in terms of AI performance for the first half of 2019. The list of combined processors for Q1 2019 was topped by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, followed by the Snapdragon Apple A12 and the Kirin 980 chipset from Huawei. As is expected, we've got the Snapdragon 855 in the lead, followed by Apple's excellent A12 chip. Yes, you heard that right, MediaTek has managed to get the Helio P90 up there, and it's apparently a pretty great performer when it comes to AI performance. According to Master Lu, while the Helio P90 isn't exactly the most powerful chip around, the AI performance on it is above most other competitors.

While Qualcomm has integrated several gaming-specific technologies into its Snapdragon mobile processors, on Tuesday the company announced something a little different: a version of its Snapdragon 730 optimized for gaming, dubbed the Snapdragon 730G. Though mobile gaming may be an idle pastime with American consumers, it's a way of life overseas. Over 586 million mobile gamers are in China alone--twice the population of the United States, according to Qualcomm's Hiren Bhinde at Qualcomm's technology summit last December. It isn't clear which phones and mobile devices Qualcomm has in mind for the Snapdragon 730G, but recent gaming phones from Asus ROG and Razer indicate that Qualcomm was designing for what they hope will be a trend. Though most premium smartphones use Qualcomm's 8-series CPUs like the Snapdragon 855, the new 7-series chips are designed for a slightly cheaper but still premium phone.

Flagship features continue to trickle down from $1,000 phones to their more-affordable brothers, and the same is happening with the chips that power them. Qualcomm unveiled new midrange mobile CPUs today that offer advanced features typically reserved for high-end phones, like AI processing and gaming enhancements. The Snapdragon 730, 730G and 665 are supposed to show up in (presumably cheaper-than-flagship) devices in mid-2019, meaning we may have a slate of budget-friendly handsets to look out for. For the first time, Qualcomm is launching a gaming-specific version of a chipset alongside the regular one. The Snapdragon 730G (G stands for Gaming, get it?)

A monochromatic bird's-eye view of a city with multiple connected wireless points (Photo: GETTY IMAGES) MAUI, Hawaii--After a relatively ho-hum 2018 for mobile phones, 2019 is looking to be gangbuster year for smartphones and the whole wireless industry. In addition to the launch of foldable phones, next year also promises to see the debut of the world's first devices that can connect to next generation 5G wireless networks. Current smartphones use 4G LTE networks to send and receive all the photos, videos, texts, social media updates, emails, phone calls and other types of information that we consume on our trusty devices. While 4G networks have gotten faster and more reliable since their debut in 2009, technology innovations continue to move forward and the entire industry is on the verge of a once-a-decade generational shift to the next "G"--hence 5G. And 5G promises to bring with it not just faster connections to the mobile telecom networks offered by AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint--although that's certainly an important part of it--but the ability to create new types of experiences as well.

Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 855 mobile processor offers a ton of new features that could be potentially enabled on next-generation smartphones--almost too many to list. But we managed to see some of the best in action. After Qualcomm finished announcing the Snapdragon 855, the company opened a pair of demo rooms showing some of the 855's flagship features. Through PCWorld's video team didn't make it to the event, I was able to record video demonstrating some of the new capabilities of the mobile chip, including improved battery life and gaming performance, intelligent audio filtering, and 4K recording with HDR. They all ran on prototype phones with the Snapdragon 855 chip inside. Unfortunately, what we didn't get to see included object identification and replacement, one of the features that taps into the computational aspect of the Snapdragon 855's Spectra image signal process (ISP).

As we hurtle towards 2019, Qualcomm has been busy introducing the world to its latest products that are likely to drive next year's biggest trends. To be clear, there are a lot of highlights here. This is the first mobile processor to support multi-gigabit 5G, and is one of the first chips built on 7-nanometer architecture. The Snapdragon 855 also features (among other things) advances in AI processing and graphics prowess -- let's take a closer look. For all of Qualcomm's talk abut 5G, the 855 is fascinating because it mainly relies on a new, built-in X24 LTE modem, not the Snapdragon X50 5G modem we've heard so much about lately.

But the new Kryo 485 core includes something unusual: a "prime core." Typically, a Snapdragon chip includes four "performance" cores and four "efficiency" cores, the latter optimized for lower power. The Snapdragon 845 uses four ARM A75 cores at 2.8GHz and four A55 cores running at 1.8GHz. Qualcomm says the Kryo 485 within the Snapdragon 855 is 45 percent more powerful. Here are the speeds of each of the Snapdragon 855's Kryo cores. But there are some interesting differences between the 845 and the 855.

This morning, we have a very important message for you from Tom Cruise and news about the hardware that will be inside many of 2019's most popular phones. It's not a 5G world yet, but we're getting ready, and that might mean adjusting to some very strange notch placements. And a new fingerprint sensor that works from within the display.Qualcomm's Snapdragon 855 chipset will power your next flagship phone It's been clear for a while now that 2019 will be the year of 5G, and it's little surprise that the Snapdragon 855 will support "multi-gigabit" data speeds on 5G networks as they light up around the country. SVP Alex Katouzian also pointed out that the 855 was designed to trounce last-generation chipsets when it comes to AI performance -- we can expect up to three-fold performance gains when it comes to these complex computations. He even detailed a new way to sense fingerprints from inside an all-screen phone: with Qualcomm's new ultrasonic sensor.