Skip to main content

Nvidia’s Tegra 4i reference phone spotted, could be on sale early next year

Nvidia Tegra 4i Reference PhoneComponent manufacturers often build phones to show off what their products can do to help drive sales. These devices, sometimes known as reference phones, have appeared in the past, most notably in Intel’s case, as its first Medfield reference phone went on to become the Orange San Diego and the Lava Xolo X900.

When Nvidia first announced the Tegra 4i processor, it also discussed a reference phone codename Phoenix, which has a 5-inch, 1080p screen all wrapped up in an 8mm thick chassis. It was shown off at Mobile World Congress, where Nvidia confirmed it was looking to sign up manufacturing partners to use the Phoenix design. Now, a second Nvidia reference phone has been spotted, and Nvidia has similarly ambitious plans for it.

Recommended Videos

It has been seen by Anandtech.com, but it doesn’t have a cool codename, and instead wears “Brand” branding, so is clearly being used to entice manufacturers into licensing the device. It’s not as high-end as the Phoenix either, as it has a 4.8-inch touchscreen with a 720p resolution, but the Tegra 4i chip is inside and has 1GB of RAM, plus 4G LTE and HSPA+ connectivity. The chassis measures 7.9mm thick, and there is an 8-megapixel camera mounted in the top left of the device’s rear panel.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Nvidia apparently wants to get this unbranded model, along with the Phoenix, on sale during the first three months of next year. According to the report, it will be priced at around $300 to $400 without a contract, and Nvidia is also preparing an even cheaper, $200 device too.

The Tegra 4 hasn’t been seen in any smartphones yet, although we’re expecting something from ZTE in the near future, but it has recently appeared in several tablets, including those from Toshiba, and the new Asus Transformer Pad Infinity. With three reference phones now doing the rounds, it seems Nvidia is being proactive in speeding up the Tegra 4 and Tegra 4i’s adoption by phone manufacturers.

Topics
Andy Boxall
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
The iPhone SE 4 might feature the Dynamic Island instead of a notch
The back of the Apple iPhone SE (2022).

Newly-leaked images from tipster Evan Blass suggest the iPhone SE 4 might come with the Dynamic Island after all. Blass also shared code snippets that indicate several more yet-to-be-released Apple products, including the 11-inch iPad Air with M3, the 13-inch iPad Air with M3, the iPad 11th generation, and the iPhone SE 4th generation. Blass followed up his initial post with supposed visual assets for the devices, and notably enough, the iPhone SE 4 shows a Dynamic Island.

The Dynamic Island is faint. If you want to get a better look at it, we suggest making the image full-screen. Blass said he had color-corrected the image to make it more visible. However, Blass specifically stated that he had edited the image to make it more visible, so it's confirmed that, in this image at least, the phone has the island.

Read more
Gurman says waning iPhone SE stock could point to a new model
A close-up of the iPhone 14 Pro's camera module.

In the most recent release of his Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman — an Apple analyst and journalist — claims the rapidly shrinking stock of iPhone SE is a sign that a new model is just around the corner. The iPhone SE 4 has been the subject of numerous rumors and leaks, and experts have estimated a release window between March and April 2025.

Gurman's observation that stock is running low at locations across the country is a good indication that a new release is imminent; otherwise, the supply would be a lot steadier and more consistent. And though the current iPhone SE is still available for purchase through the Apple Store, a release in the next few months would give the iPhone SE 4 a release date that matches the other SE models before it.

Read more
The next iPhone SE may get a surprising name change
iPhone SE (2022) held in a mans hand.

The iPhone SE 4 is the long-awaited next entry in the iPhone SE lineup. Information about the device has been scarce, with only a few bits of information leaking out here and there, but now there's a newer, more surprising rumor: that the name of the next iPhone SE might actually be the iPhone 16E.

The news first broke in mid-December from a source that's relatively unknown in the U.S. and was limited to just Weibo. Now, Majin Bu, a tipster with a much more solid track record, shared a post on X recently that supports the news.

Read more