ARM introduces new chips for mid-range devices
The biggest chip manufacturer, ARM has just announced its product line extension with three new models, which will be ready to power the 2014’s mid-range phones. Previously focused on high-end models, now ARM is ready to turn to more affordable handsets, those with a price up to $200. With the new chips extension, ARM is going to significantly increase the performance of the current mid-range phones. The newly announced products are: Cortex A12, Mali T622 and Mali V500.
The first product, Cortex A12 will offer 40% more processing power, compared with the current Cortex A9, according to ARM. That means Cortex A12 could be placed between Cortex A9 and Cortex A15 chip, found in Nexus 10 tablet and the new chip could be pared with Cortex A7, offering decreased power consumption of the future mid-range devices.
Mali T622 will be 50% more efficient than the previous Mali chips. The new model is designed to act as a GPU engine, offering efficiency in handling the central CPU tasks. Mali V500 is designed to work with 4k video and up to 120 frames per sec. and it features TrustZone technology developed after cooperation with Hollywood for preventing the piracy of 1080p videos. With this technology, the digital rights will be highly protected not just by the hardware, but the whole process from downloading to playing on the display will be monitored, ensuring great anti-piracy protection of the copyrights, ARM adds.
Being not so specific on release dates, ARM reveals that the new chips could be seen in devices sometime during 2014 and the company believes that they are going to change the marketplace. It won’t be surprising if these upcoming devices surpass the current flagships on the market in terms of characteristics.
Source: Reuters
