Technical Glossary (1935 terms)

Standardized hardware and benchmark definitions across smartphones, laptops, CPUs, GPUs, SoCs, and tablets.

C-band — The 3.7-4.2 GHz spectrum used for mid-band 5G, balancing coverage and speed. [ CONNECTIVITY ]
C-rate — A charge/discharge rate relative to battery capacity. [ BATTERY ]
CAMM — Compression Attached Memory Module — a thin laptop memory format. [ MEMORY ]
CAS latency — The delay (in clock cycles) before memory responds to a request. [ MEMORY ]
CCD — An older image-sensor technology mostly used in specialty cameras. [ CAMERA ]
CCT flash — A flash that adjusts colour temperature to match ambient light. [ CAMERA ]
CDMA — Code Division Multiple Access — a legacy 2G/3G standard. [ CONNECTIVITY ]
CDNA — CDNA is AMD's GPU architecture family for data-centre compute. [ CHIPS ]
CFexpress — A high-speed memory card standard used in professional cameras, faster than SD. [ STORAGE ]
CMOS — The image-sensor technology used in nearly all phone cameras. [ CAMERA ]
CMOS chip — A CMOS chip is the image sensor that converts light into electrical signals. [ CHIPS ]
CPU — The main processor that executes apps and system tasks; more cores/clock = faster general performance. [ PERFORMANCE ]
CPU Cores — Independent processing units in a CPU; more cores handle more tasks at once. [ PERFORMANCE ]
CPU Socket — The physical slot a CPU plugs into; the socket determines which motherboards a CPU supports. [ PERFORMANCE ]
CPU benchmark — A CPU benchmark measures processor performance on defined workloads. [ BENCHMARK ]
CPU-Z — A utility that identifies CPU, memory, and motherboard details. [ BENCHMARK ]
Cache — Small, ultra-fast memory on the CPU that stores frequently used data to avoid slow RAM access. [ PERFORMANCE ]
Cadence — Cadence is a US company that supplies chip-design software and IP. [ BRANDS ]
Camera Zoom — How much a camera magnifies a scene; optical zoom keeps detail, digital zoom crops it. [ CAMERA ]
CarPlay — Apple's system for projecting iPhone apps onto a car's display. [ SOFTWARE ]
Ceramic Shield — Apple's glass-ceramic screen glass marketed for higher drop and scratch resistance. [ DISPLAY ]
Cezanne — AMD codename for the Ryzen 5000 mobile APU generation. [ CHIPS ]
Chrome — Google's Chrome web browser, built on the Blink engine. [ SOFTWARE ]
ChromeOS — Google's operating system for Chromebooks, centred on the browser. [ SOFTWARE ]
Cinebench — A rendering benchmark (Maxon Cinema 4D) that stresses multi-core CPU performance. [ BENCHMARK ]
Clock Speed — How many cycles a chip executes per second (GHz/MHz); higher usually means faster, within power limits. [ PERFORMANCE ]
Coffee Lake — Intel's 8th-9th Gen Core microarchitecture (2017-2018). [ CHIPS ]
ColorOS — ColorOS is Oppo's custom Android interface for phones. [ SOFTWARE ]
ColorOS 15 — ColorOS 15 is an Oppo Android interface generation. [ SOFTWARE ]
Comet Lake — Intel's 10th Gen desktop microarchitecture (2020). [ CHIPS ]
Contrast Ratio — The ratio between the brightest white and darkest black a screen can show; OLED has infinite contrast. [ DISPLAY ]
Control Center — A swipe-accessible panel of quick settings and controls. [ SOFTWARE ]
Core — Intel's mainstream processor line for PCs and laptops. [ PRODUCT LINES ]
Core Ultra — Intel's newer Core processor line with integrated NPU. [ PRODUCT LINES ]
Core Ultra 5 125H — Intel's Meteor Lake mobile CPU with an NPU (launched in 2024). [ CHIPS ]
Core Ultra 7 155H — Intel's 16-thread Meteor Lake mobile CPU (launched in 2024). [ CHIPS ]
Core Ultra 7 258V — Intel's efficient Lunar Lake CPU (launched in 2024). [ CHIPS ]
Core Ultra 9 185H — Intel's top Meteor Lake mobile CPU (launched in 2024). [ CHIPS ]
Core i3-12100 — Intel's budget 4-core Alder Lake CPU (launched in 2022). [ CHIPS ]
Core i5-12400 — Intel's value 6-core Alder Lake CPU (launched in 2022). [ CHIPS ]
Core i5-13600K — Intel's 14-thread hybrid Raptor Lake CPU (launched in 2022). [ CHIPS ]
Core i5-14600K — Intel's hybrid Raptor Lake refresh CPU (launched in 2023). [ CHIPS ]
Core i7-13700K — Intel's 16-thread hybrid Raptor Lake CPU (launched in 2022). [ CHIPS ]
Core i9-13900K — Intel's 24-thread flagship Raptor Lake CPU (launched in 2022). [ CHIPS ]
Core i9-14900K — Intel's flagship hybrid Raptor Lake refresh CPU (launched in 2023). [ CHIPS ]
Corning — US glass maker famous for Gorilla Glass used as phone screen protection. [ BRANDS ]
Corona benchmark — The Corona benchmark measures photorealistic CPU rendering speed. [ BENCHMARK ]
Corsair — US brand making RAM, SSDs, PSUs, and gaming peripherals including Vengeance memory. [ BRANDS ]
Cortex-A — Arm's application-processor core family for phones, tablets, and laptops. [ CHIPS ]
Cortex-A510 — An Arm midrange efficiency core released with Armv9. [ CHIPS ]