ARM, the company that has its hands in almost every chipset on the current market, recently announced its next-generation lineup of products, designed for what it describes as the “5G era”. These new products a new Cortex CPU, a Mali GPU, and a Neural Processing Unit (NPU).
First on the list is the CPU, otherwise known as the Cortex-A78. The new processor is a direct successor to the current Cortex-A77 and while it’s based on the same architecture, it has approximately 20% better performance and efficiency. All while maintaining the same mobile thermal efficiency as the Cortex-A77.
Speaking of Cortex processors, ARM also announced that it is introducing its Cortex-X1 CPU as part of its Cortex-X program for partners. Specifically, the program is designed to allow them to play around with different customisations and differentiation of its products. Ultimately allowing partners to play around with a multitude of solutions for different use cases.
Moving on, ARM also announced the Mali-G78 GPU. Like the CPU counterpart, the new mobile GPU is a direct successor to the Mali-G77 GPU and is based on its current Calhall architecture. Performance-wise, manufacturers can expect a 25% increase in graphics performance relative to the last generation.
Last but not least of the announcements is the Ethos-N78, an NPU ARM specifically designed to address Machine Learning use cases on smartphone applications, specifically smartphone-based AR applications to smart home-hubs. On top of that, the Ethos-N78 is highly scalable and is also 25% more efficient than the Ethos-N77.
At the time of writing, ARM did not specify when its next-generation CPUs, GPU, and NPU will hit the market. However, and interestingly enough, one of its partners happens to be the German-based video game studio, Crytek, who says that it is aiming at bringing its CRYENGINE to the Android ecosystem through the use of the new ARM GPUs.
(Source: ARM)
