A new Android app has been found tricking unsuspecting users (even those with clean devices) into visiting malicious versions of popular websites, where they might end up giving away their login credentials, or even worse – money.
The findings come courtesy of Kaspersky, which found a malicious Android app carrying the Wroba.o/Agent.eq (a.k.a Moqhao, XLoader) malware was being distributed.
When the app is downloaded, it will try to connect to the Wi-Fi router the mobile device is connected to. To do that, it will try the most usual username/password combinations, as well as those known to come with factory settings (such as admin/admin). Should it succeed, it will change the DNS server to a malicious one the threat actor has control over.
Roaming Mantis
That allows the malware’s operators to redirect all users connected to that specific Wi-Fi network, including those without the malware, to malicious versions of popular websites.
For example, if a compromised endpoint connects to a public Wi-Fi in a busy cafe, and ends up changing the DNS server settings in the router, everyone else in that cafe that tries to connect to Facebook will actually be redirected to a fake Facebook page. There, they’ll be asked to provide their login information and if they do, they’ll end up giving away their login credentials to the crooks.
The researchers did not name the apps being distributed, but did say that the APKs were downloaded at least 46,000 times across Japan, Austria, France, Germany, South Korea, Turkey, Malaysia, and India. With more than 24,000 downloads, Japan is by far the most affected country.
The group behind the apps is allegedly Roaming Mantis. To protect against this type of attack, the best course of action would be to avoid connecting to important accounts on public Wi-Fi networks.
Major video game developer Blizzard Entertainment is set to cease its operations in China as it has failed to extend its agreement with the Chinese provider NetEase.
This means that gamers based in the country will need to connect to the best China VPN services to keep playing the likes of World of Warcraft, Hearthstone or Starcraft.
The news comes as US video game giant Activision Blizzard’s subsidiary company reported that NetEase refused an extension of the 14-year licensing deal, about to expire, that permits Blizzard games to be distributed across mainland China.
Diablo Immortal will be the only game released under a separate contract. Other titles won’t be available for users connecting within the country’s borders from January 23 onwards.
Following the update from Blizzard Entertainment, which bemoaned their inability to negotiate a six-month extension prior to the shutdown of Blizzard games in China, NetEase has issued a fiery response and tore down their local Orc statue live on stream.https://t.co/OQ4Q8xlHus pic.twitter.com/AfOe9rEiGsJanuary 18, 2023
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Blizzard and NetEase tensions grow
“Unfortunately, NetEase is unwilling to extend the service for six months based on the terms of the existing partnership while we look for a new partner,” announced the video game provider (opens in new tab) via its Weibo page on January 17.
Both NetEase and Blizzard Entertainment first reported the end of their commercial agreement in November last year. Blizzard reported to have been trying to negotiate an extension of further six months, the time to look for another partner and keep the distribution going. NetEase refused.
“We will not give up and will still do our best for everyone. We want you to understand that it’s not over yet. We will still try to find a national partner who shares our beliefs,” Blizzard assures to users.
In a prompt response (opens in new tab), NetEase lamented how the six-months extension deal was proposed only a week before, branding such a move “unequal” and “unfair.”
“In our view, Blizzard’s proposal – including today’s surprise announcement – is brash, unseemly and commercially illogical,” wrote NetEase, describing such a behavior as “riding a mule while looking for a horse, divorcing but still trying to live together.”
The China-based games distributor also denied speculations around its desire to gain control of Blizzard’s IP addresses, promising it would do its best to serve users until the end.
Some of the games set to suffer include World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft 3: Reforged, Diablo 3, Overwatch 1 and 2, Heroes of the Storm, the Starcraft series, and Hearthstone.
Blizzard Entertainment said it’s still looking for a partner, but experts don’t expect (opens in new tab) the titles to be out anytime this year due to the stringent regulatory process.
In the meantime, Blizzard developers recommend Chinese gamers to backup all their data so that their game progress will be stored until the next release.
How a China VPN can help
As mentioned above, gamers playing across mainland China will need to turn to a VPN service to keep playing all their favorite Blizzard games.
A VPN is software able to spoof users’ IP addresses. That’s because the internet traffic will look like coming from one of its many international servers instead. Gamers can then trick their ISP to think they are in a completely different country in seconds.
A gaming VPN is even advantageous in terms of performances. The ability to switch among different servers can help them avoid ISP throttling and increase ping rates, for example.
Besides this, though, using such security software is recommended for everyday usage, too. For people living in countries like China it is pretty much a necessity.
A spoofed browsing location is essential for accessing the long list of censored sites, for example. By encrypting all the data leaving a device, a VPN is also needed to escape online surveillance.
Big news for virtual reality fans: Sony has announced 13 more launch titles for the PSVR 2 library. This means that over 30 games will be available for the hardware when it releases next month.
The PSVR 2 headset will release on February 22 and comes bundled with a couple of VR 2 Sense controllers and headphones designed to fit directly into the headset itself. The bundle will set you back £529 / $549.99 / AU$879.95 but will not include any games. There will, however, be plenty of PSVR 2 games to purchase separately.
In a blog post (opens in new tab), Sony outlined 13 new launch titles for the virtual reality headset, offering an eclectic roster of games comprising of the sinister and psychedelic. On one end of the spectrum, we have Song in the Smoke: Rekindled; a VR survival action-adventure set in a shadowy fantasy world. On the other end, we have What the Bat?, an absurdist comedy where you have to navigate everyday tasks with baseball bats instead of hands. In a way: both are tales as old as time.
Some launch titles announced include fast rowing simulator Kyak VR: Mirage, gritty FPS Pavlov VR, melancholy storyteller Before Your Eyes, and boxing sim Creed: Rise to Glory. The additions to the lineup also include psychedelic rhythm games like Rez: Infinite, Thumper and Synth Riders: Remastered Edition.
Polygonic spree
Though many of the 13 newly revealed titles are remasters and rehashes of older games, the lineup boasts two titles that stand head and shoulders above the others. Before Your Eyes looks like a compelling, story-driven experience where you live out the memories of someone on the verge of death. It’s heavy, melancholic stuff, but it also looks eerily beautiful, judging from the trailer above.
The gloomy game also takes advantage of the PSVR 2’s internal camera, allowing you to make decisions simply by looking at objects and people in the game world. I love seeing VR used to deliver immersive experiences, and it seems like that’s exactly what Before Your Eyes aims to do.
The Last Clockwinder looks more whimsical, using a vibrant visual style to sell its puzzle elements. In Clockwinder, you can create clones that carry out your actions on repeat, allowing you to solve the title’s puzzles with clever sequencing. It looks like a delightful headscratcher with great promise.
However, Sony has already played its trump cards when it comes to the huge titles on offer. Grand Turismo 7, No Man’s Sky, and Resident Evil Village have already been announced for the PSVR 2. Whether or not the PSVR 2’s triple-A trifecta is enough to draw in consumers remains to be seen. That said, Sony’s roster of supporting titles looks promising. I can’t say whether or not Before Your Eyes or The Last Clockwinder will propel the PSVR 2 to superstardom, but it’s clear that both titles have something unique to offer.
Google has announced that it will be cutting around 12,000 jobs, in reaction to global economic circumstances.
According to Bloomberg (opens in new tab) (paywall), Google SEO Sundar Pichai sent an email to staff on Friday to notify them of the incoming redundancies, which will account for around 6% of the company’s entire staff.
It follows from earlier this month, when Alphabet, the parent company to Google, announced cuts to Verily and Intrinsic, their health and robotic software divisions respectively.
New priorities
Pichai stated in the email that the reason for the lay-offs was to “sharpen our focus, reengineer our cost base, and direct our talent and capital to our highest priorities.”
Among those priorities is the company’s focus on AI, perhaps in response to the hype around Open AI’s ChatGPT, which is backed by rivals Microsoft.
Pichai added that “I am confident about the huge opportunity in front of us thanks to the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI,” likely referring to the company’s 2014 takeover of the DeepMind AI.
But he added that, in order to “fully capture it, we’ll need to make tough choices.”
Google’s Q4 revenue grew last year of over the previous year’s, from $65.1bn to $69bn, but profit was down from $18.bn to $13.9bn. Pichai also mentioned last year that hiring would be slowing down.
The big tech lay-off phenomenon seemed to be sparked by Twitter, after Elon Musk acquired the company last October and promptly laid off about half of its employees (opens in new tab).
When will we see a Microsoft Xbox VR headset? It’s a question that everyone’s asked since s PSVR was released, but so far, the Redmond-based company has been reluctant to officially enter the field of console-based virtual reality.
However, it’s clear that VR isn’t a passing fad. The Meta Quest 2 (formerly known as Oculus Quest 2) is one of the most accessible and best VR headsets on the market we’ve seen since the Meta Quest Pro. Elsewhere, Sony has doubled down on its commitment to virtual reality with the PSVR 2 – its next-generation successor to PSVR, a new VR headset for the PS5.
VR gaming has arguably never been more popular, which has inevitably led to speculation over whether or not Microsoft will support the tech on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. After all, the only thing more impressive than seeing Microsoft Flight Simulator running on a console would be playing it using an Xbox VR headset. It officially supports PC VR headsets, after all.
Microsoft also has experience in the VR market with its HoloLens mixed reality headsets. It’s not too difficult to imagine the idea of Microsoft allowing functionality with Xbox Series X|S consoles instead of creating a proprietary headset just for the console, as Sony has done with PSVR.
Xbox VR: is it likely?
However, at the incredibly steep price of $3,500 for the HoloLens 2, the wireless headset simply isn’t at a consumer-friendly price point to be feasible, not to mention that as a mixed reality headset, it’s not designed to fully immerse you in VR.
Still, could Microsoft be gearing up to make its own affordable gaming-first consumer VR headset for Xbox Series X|S? Below, we’ve rounded up all the information and rumors on the matter, and whether playing Halo Infinite in VR could become reality in the near future.
Microsoft’s history with VR
(Image credit: Microsoft)
While Microsoft hasn’t officially announced that its making a VR headset for Xbox consoles, it’s been involved with the technology in various ways. The Kinect made for Xbox 360 used RGB cameras and infrared detectors for motion-sensing inputs without a controller, which it also (albeit unsuccessfully) added to Xbox One.
It might have been feasible for that technology to be implemented with VR, similar to Sony adapted its PlayStation Move controllers and the PlayStation Camera for its original PSVR headset. Microsoft has also collaborated with Valve and HP in designing the HP Reverb G2 VR headset, and it also released its own mixed reality headset, the HoloLens.
However, the latter is astonishingly expensive, with HoloLens 2 starting at $3,500, making it unviable for consumer gaming. It’s not even designed to fully immerse you in virtual reality, either, as it’s a mixed-reality experience that relies heavily on AR: augmented reality.
However, it was also reported last month that Microsoft has scrapped the development of HoloLens 3, leaving its future commitment to VR in doubt. On the other hand, with a greater interest in consumer VR and the metaverse (something mentioned as part of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $67.4 billion), it could also be that the company is changing direction.
The intent might be developing a more affordable consumer-friendly VR headset, rather than the pricey HoloLens. That range has so far been focused on business use, including commercial contracts with the US army. If this was the pivot though, it wouldn’t explain why it’s had trouble retaining specialist staff. LinkedIn profiles show at least 25 Microsoft mixed-reality employees left for Meta in 2021, including several multi-decade veterans. Still, Microsoft has shown interest in this space recently.
During Meta Connect 2022, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella joined Mark Zuckerberg to confirm that Xbox Cloud Gaming is coming to Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro (formerly Project Cambria). Unfortunately, these games remain a flatscreen experience, so you can’t suddenly jump into a VR mode for big hits like Forza Horizon 5.
The VR gaming market may be small compared to consoles, with Sony’s PSVR having sold through just 5 million units as of January 2020 (compared to the over 110 million PS4 units sold in its lifetime), but it is nonetheless growing. The Meta Quest 2 (or Oculus Quest 2) has gained ground as a wireless and self-contained headset that can still be plugged into a more powerful PC, playing games like Half-Life: Alyx.
With Sony releasing PSVR 2 in February 2023, there’s a sense that Microsoft won’t want to miss out on this emergent market by developing its own consumer-friendly headset. The potential to transform the experiences of its games could also be huge. Imagine just how more immersive Microsoft Flight Simulator would be when you’re right in the cockpit looking out over literally anywhere in the world.
We’ve seen a similar impact with PSVR, though it was admittedly held back by its less than impressive technical specs. Nevertheless, it provided an even more realistic experience in Gran Turismo Sport (and we hope that Gran Turismo 7 will get VR support for PSVR 2 when it arrives). Even Minecraft has PSVR support, one of Microsoft’s biggest first-party games.
Nonetheless, there’s a lot of untapped potential from this new console generation. However, Microsoft would need to act fast if it doesn’t want to be left behind when it comes to virtual reality.
Why you shouldn’t expect VR for Xbox Series X|S
(Image credit: Sony Computer Interactive Entertainment)
Yet, despite the potential of VR, the market does remain rather niche. It’s one that Microsoft may simply want to avoid it, fearing a potentially small return. In terms of power, there’s no doubt that Xbox can run VR games. However, when broached on the topic, CEO of Gaming Phil Spencer’s main concerns highlight why the platformer holder isn’t yet ready to bring VR to its consoles.
In 2017, following the reveal of Xbox One X at E3, Spencer appeared in a Giant Bomb video (opens in new tab) where he discussed Xbox’s lack of VR. While he said he was a “believer in the category”, he had reservations over its suitability in the living room, especially with the cords.
This barrier may have been addressed over the years, with PSVR 2 requiring just one cable and doing away with the need for an external camera. Meanwhile, the Meta Quest 2 is fully wireless but when it comes to processing power, that’s also one of the weaker headsets on the market.
Spencer hasn’t ruled out Microsoft getting to a point where it would invest in VR, but Xbox owners probably shouldn’t expect a dedicated headset (or third-party headset support) anytime soon. Or, at least not until another console generation when pricing, audience reach, and the problem of cables, have hopefully been resolved.
Can you use a VR headset with Xbox Series X|S?
Xbox Series X|S does not officially support any VR headset. Although a message discovered by Italian Xbox users (opens in new tab) in 2021 saw a pop-up message indicating that “An update for the VR headset is available” when connecting an Xbox Wireless Headset, Microsoft has since quashed this rumor as a translation error. There is also no Xbox software that supports any VR modes currently.
A MacBook Air with M3 chip will be unleashed on the world by Apple in the second half of 2023, if a new rumor is to be believed.
As MacRumors (opens in new tab) flagged up, this comes from DigiTimes (opens in new tab) (not our most favored reliable source, it has to be said – and we’ll come back to that later), which asserts that the MacBook Air arriving later this year will use a 3nm chip (meaning it’ll be an M3, dropping down from the 5nm process used with the M2 SoC).
DigiTimes tells us: “The supply chain is more focused on the more affordable MacBook Air, which is expected to be updated in the second half of 2023 and may be equipped with a 3nm processor.”
Note that there’s a certain amount of vagueness here in that the claim is the portable may have a 3nm (M3) chip. Of course, we heard similar rumors that the M2 Pro and Max could be built on 3nm last year, but they turned out to be false, with Apple saving the drop in process for the M3 (which will doubtless go this route).
Something else to note here, as MacRumors points out, is that earlier this week a more reliable Apple leaker, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, put forward the claim that the MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch will get refreshed with 3nm M3 Pro and M3 Max chips come 2024 – but Kuo did not mention the MacBook Air getting the M3.
Analysis: MacBook Air 15-inch with M3 to cause a bit of buyer’s remorse?
There are a couple of questions with this rumor. Firstly, nothing is mentioned about what the MacBook Air spec might be, and if there’ll be a new MacBook Air 15-inch (much rumored for some time now) alongside a 13-inch model debuting in the second half of 2023. We’re left guessing on that point, although previously the rumor mill has theorized an earlier launch for a 15-inch incarnation of the Air (namely the first half of this year, so perhaps at WWDC).
Secondly, we do need to load up on the caution and skepticism here, as DigiTimes has been known to be, shall we say, less than accurate – particularly around Apple rumors in our experience. Indeed, the publication came forth with a story that the new MacBook Pros weren’t going to come out early in 2023 just a few days before these models were actually launched; so that’s a pretty sizeable faux pas in recent history right there.
If a MacBook Air 15-inch version does indeed pitch up further down the line this year, that could potentially cause some buyer’s remorse for those who decide to pull the trigger on a new MacBook Pro now, perhaps. There’s no shortage of folks wanting a larger-screened MacBook Air, to benefit from more display real-estate in an Apple notebook that’ll be far more affordable than a MacBook Pro, but should still be solidly powerful with new M3 silicon inside.
Indeed, that drop to 3nm should usher in some pretty impressive performance and efficiency boosts, perhaps meaning much better battery life – or a sleeker power pack inside, for a smaller and more portable Air (offsetting, perhaps, at least some of the weight gain from making the Air larger with a 15-inch spin). The 13-inch version could be very ‘airy’ indeed, then.
Still, we remain doubtful on this one, though, as it seems that an M3 launch later this year would be pretty fast-moving for Apple (what with the more powerful M2 flavors only just having turned up). And what’s more, other rumors haven’t pointed to a MacBook Air with M3; and as mentioned above, Kuo is currently only talking about the next Pro refreshes for the M3 SoC (to happen next year).
Still, that doesn’t mean DigiTimes can’t be right on this one, but we’ll reserve judgement for now, as we’ll surely hear more from the grapevine elsewhere soon enough if this is how things really will pan out.
Microsoft has announced that it will officially cease sales of Windows 10 licenses through its website on January 31, marking an end of sorts to the reign of the world’s current most popular operating system.
The OS (which comes in Home and Pro variants) has been around since late 2014, with a full public release in July 2015. After the faltering mishaps that were Windows Vista, 7, and 8, Windows 10 was a breath of fresh air – a return, many felt, to the glory days of Windows XP and its straightforward, effective interface.
Although the new kid on the block Windows 11 arrived towards the end of 2021, making it now more than a year old, adoption hasn’t exactly been swift; as of December last year, the market share held by Windows 10 was still more than four times that of its successor.
If you want to buy a copy of Windows 10 Home or Pro directly from Microsoft (opens in new tab), then, you’ll need to do so before the end of January. The OS costs $139 / £120 / AU$225 for the standard Home variant, and $200 / £220 / AU$339 – no, we don’t know why the UK version of Windows 10 Pro is more expensive.
Windows 10 has been around for a long time now, and it will be sorely missed. (Image credit: Lenovo)
Not on Windows 11 yet? Have no fear
Fortunately, Windows 10 will continue to receive key security and stability updates for a while yet. Microsoft had previously confirmed that official support for the OS would finally terminate on October 14, 2025 – so there’s no need to rush if you haven’t upgraded to the latest version of Windows yet.
This news of Windows 10’s end-of-sale closely follows the actual end of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1, as Microsoft stopped providing updates for those operating systems on January 10. We were happy to see Windows 8 dead and buried, but there are still plenty of users out there rocking pre-10 versions, which are now left open to bugs and cyberattacks.
It’s worth noting that while Microsoft will no longer sell Windows 10 for download via its website, third-party sellers will likely continue to retain stock of install codes for the OS for a while yet – those won’t suddenly become invalid. We also have no way of knowing what deals Microsoft may have with its OEM partners, so there’s every chance that laptop and desktop PC manufacturers will continue to buy copies of Windows 10 to use in their products in the meantime. We can likely still expect to see the OS appearing in everything from budget laptops to powerful gaming laptops this year.
If you’re using an older OS and would prefer to use Windows 10 rather than 11 right now, it’s also important to remember that you could already buy the OS cheaper from other sources even before Microsoft announced that it would no longer be selling it directly. Amazon has cheaper keys, but you can also be a bit crafty and get an OEM key from sources like Kinguin (opens in new tab) for even less. Bear in mind, though, that these aren’t necessarily the most reputable retailers, so you will be assuming a degree of risk.
It’s not really surprising that Microsoft is starting the process of sending Windows 10 off to the big motherboard in the sky. Windows 11 adoption hasn’t been as fast as the tech giant would probably have liked, so this push will hopefully see more and more people moving to the newest version of the OS. So if you’re looking to upgrade, we’ve got a handy-dandy guide for you.
PayPal has issued a warning to some of its customers that their accounts have been breached, and some sensitive data compromised.
In its report (opens in new tab), the company confirmed that on December 20, 2022, an unauthorized third-party accessing a number of PayPal accounts. Further investigation uncovered that whoever was behind the attack, accessed the accounts between December 6 and December 8, 2022.
“During this time, the unauthorized third parties were able to view, and potentially acquire, some personal information for certain PayPal users,” the warning reads. That data includes users’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers, individual tax identification numbers, and/or dates of birth.
No evidence of misuse
PayPal did not explain exactly how the attackers managed to access these accounts, other than stating that there is “no evidence” the login credentials were taken from the company’s systems.
BleepingComputer reports that the breach is the result of credential stuffing, a type of attack in which hackers “stuff” the login page with numerous credentials taken elsewhere until one eventually works.
This method relies on people using the same passwords across multiple services so that if one gets breached, all are at risk. The same report also claims 34,942 accounts were compromised, and that transaction histories, connected credit or debit card details, and PayPal invoicing data were also likely accessed.
What the hackers will do with the data obtained in the attack remains to be seen. At the moment, PayPal does not have any evidence the data was misused, but it’s safe to assume it will be used in identity theft (opens in new tab), phishing, or other forms of social engineering attacks.
To protect its users, PayPal reset the passwords for the affected users, and “enhanced security controls” requiring users to set up a new account on their next login. Also, the users were given one year free identity monitoring services through Equifax.
Just when you thought your subscription bills couldn’t get any bigger, Amazon has announced a price increase for its Music Unlimited streaming service – and it could sadly point to a similar boost to Spotify’s fees.
Starting from February 21, subscribers to both the individual and student Amazon Music Unlimited plans in the US and UK (opens in new tab) will have to shell out more for the same service. The individual plan will go up from $9.99 / £9.99 to $10.99 / £10.99 per month, while students will have to pay $5.99 / £5.99 a month (up from $4.99 / £4.99).
These rises have unfortunately become the norm across music streaming services, with Apple also boosting its individual plan by the same amount last October. As you can see from the table below, Spotify is now something of an outlier among its closest streaming rivals, but there are good reasons to believe that won’t remain the case for long.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Music streaming pricing
Service
Monthly price
Monthly student price
Amazon Music Unlimited
$10.99 / £10.99 (from Feb)
$5.99 / £5.99
Apple Music
$10.99 / £10.99
$5.99 / £5.99
Spotify
$9.99 / £9.99
$5.99 / £5.99
Deezer
$10.99 / £11.99
$5.99 / £5.99
Tidal HiFi
$9.99 / £9.99
$4.99 / £4.99
At Spotify’s earnings call in October 2022, the streaming service’s CEO Daniel Ek said that a price rise in the US “is one of the things that we would like to do”. He added that “if you think in light of our competitors raising prices, that obviously gives us more confidence going into it, too”.
In other words, Amazon Music Unlimited’s upcoming rise only makes an imminent Spotify rise more likely. This could also potentially affect the long-mooted Spotify HiFi service for high-resolution audio fans, which has previously been rumored to cost $19.99 per month. If the price of that ‘Platinum’ tier, if it ever arrives, goes above that rumored price point, it could become a tough sell in the current climate.
Streaming services do vary in their bitrates and audio quality, which is why Spotify currently lags behind Tidal, Apple Music, and Amazon Music Unlimited in our guide to the best music streaming services. In fact, Tidal HiFi currently looks like a particularly good deal, particularly as it generally pays artists a higher amount per stream than its rivals.
Analysis: Free trials can provide temporary relief
(Image credit: Future)
The most annoying thing about these streaming price hikes is that you aren’t getting anything extra beyond vague promises of future improvements. Amazon says the upcoming Music Unlimited rise, for example, is so that it can “offer you our service in the usual quality”.
For many, these monthly increases can start to add up and make a music streaming service difficult to justify. Some services do offer cheaper options – for example, on Music Unlimited there’s a Single-Device plan (which will remain at the current $4.99 / £4.99 per month price). But as the name suggests, this means you can only stream music on one Amazon Echo device.
If you’re prepared to jump around and set some reminders, another option is to embrace each streaming service’s free trial to reduce bills to zero in the short term. As we showed in our recent guide to canceling subscriptions, it’s possible to get ten months (or eight months, in the UK) of free music if you chain together the free trials on offer from Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify Premium, Tidal, YouTube Music and Deezer.
Naturally, these offers are only available to new subscribers, so you won’t be able to embrace trials for services you currently use (or have already used in a free trial). But if you’re looking to escape the music streaming price hikes in the short term, those free trials are certainly worth exploring – as long as you set a reminder to cancel before that first monthly charge.
Nvidia’s RTX 4060 Ti is under the speculation spotlight again, as following a leaked spec update yesterday, we now have a performance estimation for the mid-range Lovelace GPU.
The bad news, though, is that this approximation of performance is not what you – or anyone else – want to hear. If Kopite7kimi is right, then the RTX 4060 Ti is going to be equivalent to the RTX 3070 in terms of its frame rate shifting power.
Okay, so we have to remember this is just a rumor, and it could be off the mark – perhaps some way off the mark (let’s hope so).
However, even hearing this level of performance aired as a rumor is seriously worrying in terms of the direction Nvidia is potentially heading with the RTX 4060 Ti. In terms of it being very much a smaller step up from the RTX 3060 Ti than the rest of the Lovelace range has taken from their respective counterparts.
Maybe we can hope for better things on the pricing front. Or maybe not, if a MyDrivers (opens in new tab) article (highlighted by VideoCardz (opens in new tab)) is right – add further salt here – which cites sources who claim that the RTX 4060 Ti will hit shelves with a price tag of around $499 in US currency (about £400/AU$720) – the same as the RTX 3070. The purported launch date for this mid-range GPU still stands in the middle of 2023, as previous speculation has contended.
Analysis: Er, this can’t be right… can it?
A price tag of ‘below $500’ as noted by VideoCardz seems to indicate that Nvidia might be considering a price tag of $499. In theory, perhaps this could be lower, but the suggestion is certainly that it’ll cost more than the 3060 Ti retailed for ($399 in the US at launch).
The performance rumor on Twitter is the more worrying part of these fresh revelations, though. If the assertion that the RTX 4060 Ti will be on par with the RTX 3070 is correct, that’s a massive disappointment. Basically, this means Nvidia is looking to make the RTX 4060 Ti have about as minimal a generational gain as would be feasible. Remember, only one step down from the RTX 3070 is the 3060 Ti, and you could hardly have a situation where the 4060 Ti was level in performance with its predecessor.
In that light, this is something of a baffling rumor – we hope, and indeed believe, it’ll turn out to be wrong. For us, the RTX 4060 Ti surely has to stand up to the speed of the 3070 Ti, or at least be very close to that.
That said, the leaked specs for the 4060 Ti thus far do indicate a disappointingly weak card, with just 8GB of VRAM (and a 128-bit memory bus), along with fewer cores than the 3060 Ti by a fair way. And if the latest speculation of 160W for power usage is correct, that points to some possibly rather tame clock speeds for the GPU to boot.
These specs could be wrong of course – indeed all these rumors could be – and even if this is Nvidia’s plan right now, it could change before release (which is still a good half a year away).
Hopefully, Nvidia will realize that going weak sauce with the RTX 4060 Ti will be a seriously unpopular move, especially if that pricing is kept relatively high for the card (as has very much been the theme with Lovelace graphics cards so far). Simply because this is such an important GPU for the average PC gamer in terms of the mid-range sweet spot.
