ARM Announces New Cortex CPU And Mali GPU For Future Smart Devices

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)