Arm unveils trio of new processors for more efficient mobile devices
Handsets will be the new laptops if Arm has its way.
As we demand better graphics, quicker response times and more realistic XR experiences from our mobile devices, the computational, graphic and visual processing units are increasingly being challenged to keep pace. However, three new processor designs debuted by Arm at an event in San Francisco on Thursday promise to deliver faster performance, more immersive gaming, UHD 8K visuals, and smarter AIs on tomorrow's mobile devices.
The architectures are part of Arm's 2019 client IP platform and dovetail with the company's AI/ML development platform, Project Trillium. First up, the new ARM Cortex-A76 CPU is the latest in the company's line of high performance designs. Built for use in laptops, the Cortex-A7x series can already be seen in a number of Windows10 PCs. Last year's model, the A75, boasted 20-plus hours of battery life. The new A76 promises to increase that efficiency by 40 percent with a simultaneous 35 percent jump in performance, according to Rene Haas, President of Arm's IP group.
Arm's Mali-G series of high performance GPUs is also slated for a generational update come 2019. The G76 is reportedly offer 30 percent more efficiency and performance density than the current generation architecture seen in 2017's Mali-G72 model. This improvement will enable more mobile devices to run a wider variety of high-end games as well as support apps that more heavily integrate AR and VR aspects into their gameplay.
Mobile movie buffs will also have something to crow about, especially those that can't afford the RED Hydrogen One's price tag. Arm announced on Thursday that the new Mali-V76 VPU will be capable of either decoding a single 8K UHD signal up to 60 fps at a time or four 4K 60 fps streams simultaneously. Drop the resolution a bit to regular HD and the V76 will be able to display as many as 16 streams at the same time.
