Arm delivers compelling visual experiences to the mainstream

By Ian Smythe; Senior Director, Client Line of Business, Arm

March 06, 2018 -- The content our smartphones need to process is becoming increasingly complex. Whether they realize it or not, consumers are demanding more from today’s mainstream and low-cost devices, and support for a rich, multi-layered user interface and a broad range of the latest applications and technologies is an absolute must.

What's more, machine learning (ML) isn’t simply the domain of premium smartphones any more. Arm understands this better than anyone as more than 90% of the AI-enabled units being shipped today are based on Arm architecture[1]. Users at all levels expect to use apps that utilize ML with ease, and gaming has started to push the boundaries of mainstream mobile, with 3D gaming, mixed realities, and 4K content ever more prevalent.

To deliver innovative solutions that meet the demands of next generation experiences, we're announcing a brand-new Mali Multimedia Suite of Video, Display and Graphics processors. The new suite of IP integrates seamlessly with existing DynamIQ-based CPUs and other Arm IP to complete Arm's next generation solutions for Mainstream mobile and DTV.

Included in the Mali Multimedia Suite of IP are:

• Mali-G52 & Mali-G31 GPUs; delivering premium experiences to DTV, mainstream, and entry-level mobile
• Mali-D51 Display Processor; efficiently enabling more complex visual experiences on Mainstream devices
• Mali-V52 Video Processor; enabling efficient 4K60/4K120 content on Mainstream devices

Mali-G52 GPU: Enabling advanced use cases for mainstream devices

Mali-G52 builds on the success of its predecessor, Mali-G51, to bring even greater graphical complexity, allowing more ML functions to be performed within the power and bandwidth constraints of the mainstream mobile system. It also features:

• 30% more performance density: Mali-G52 utilizes wider execution engines with up to 8 pipelines compared to the four of its predecessor to provide greater graphics performance in the same silicon area
• 15% energy efficiency reduces the power consumption and thermal output of your device and supports greater game time for even battery-draining technologies like AR
• 3.6x the ML performance of the previous generation product ensures next-gen ML use cases are supported across all tiers of device

For more information on the Mali-G52 read our blog.

Mali-G31 GPU: Exceptional user experience in the smallest area

We’ve mentioned that compute requirements have increased across all tiers of devices and users now expect a certain quality of content even in the mid-tier and the increasingly challenging DTV UI space. We deliver that with the Mali-G31, which is:

• The first Ultra-Efficient GPU to be built on the innovative Bifrost architecture
• Arm’s smallest processor to support OpenGL ES 3.2 and the latest generation Vulkan API, giving developers access to millions more devices
• 20% smaller, with 20% better performance density than its Bifrost predecessor, Mali-G51, saving silicon area while saving silicon area and delivering exceptional energy efficiency

For more information on the Mali-G31 read our blog.

Mali-D51: Arm’s most efficient display processor

Mali-D51 takes many of the benefits of 2017’s Premium display processor, Mali-D71, and consolidates them our smallest ever DPU. It's the first mainstream display processor to be built on the Komeda architecture, and achieves:

• 30% power saving across the entire system compared to its predecessor
• Double the scene complexity, supporting the 8 full layers as per the Mali-D71
• 50% better memory latency for seamless and highly efficient content casting

Fully optimized to work seamlessly with the other IP in the Mali Multimedia Suite, Mali-D51 even brings HDR to the mainstream when combined with Assertive Display 5, and provides system-wide memory management efficiencies in collaboration with CoreLink MMU-600.

For more information on the Mali-D51, visit our blog.

Mali-V52: Enabling efficient 4K60 content

More and more of our favorite content is being produced in higher resolutions than ever before, meaning 4K content is quickly becoming an essential requirement. The Mali-V52 provides:

• 20% better upload quality than its predecessor, providing clearer, crisper video
• 38% smaller silicon area, ensuring incredible quality visuals are achievable at all levels
• Double the decode performance enabling 4K content for all mainstream devices

For more information on the Mali-V52, visit our blog.

Machine learning makes its way to the mainstream

Machine learning (ML) is becoming more pervasive and cuts across devices for every user. The cameras in premium and mainstream phones now recognize our face and our fingerprints by running ML algorithms, a task that does not require SoCs to have the latest neural-network processing engines. In mainstream devices it's not always practical to dedicate silicon and engineering effort to ML processors, it requires every component of the SoC to be used to its best advantage on a workload-by-workload basis, and the combination of DynamIQ CPUs and the Mali-G51 deliver improved ML performance for these existing applications.

Gaming & mixed realities

Arm is working with our ecosystem to break through economic barriers and provide more mobile users with an opportunity to engage in immersive experiences across all use cases. The mobile gaming industry, for example, is booming, which means increased demand for the most lifelike graphics possible on mobile devices. Now factor in the skyrocketing consumption of mobile VR, AR and mixed-reality content, and Arm must do even more than the already challenging task of delivering bigger gains and efficiencies in scalable CPU and GPU performance-per-milliwatt every year…and we are. We’re increasing our content developer resources for the latest APIs such as Vulkan, and ensuring Arm IP works seamlessly with Google’s ARCore. Stop by and see us at GDC 2018 to see and hear more.

Delivering ultra-responsive, enhanced UI for DTV

Gone are the days when our TVs simply showed one picture and plain text menu. Now we have layers upon layers of UI complexity, bringing in pre-integrated apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime to support advanced voice control to gesture recognition. These features, as well as the ability to play picture in picture, or a video wall of up to 16 videos running at once, are requiring more from the DTV’s SoC. They need responsive and efficient support without compromising visual quality.

Arm partners have shipped more than 125 billion chips to-date, and by 2021 that number will be 200 billion because of our ongoing dedication to innovate and deliver scalable CPU, GPU, video, and display architectures across the widest-range of devices in the computing industry. It’s a principle clearly evident in today’s launch as Arm is now enabling compelling experiences for the mainstream.

[1] IDC WW Embedded and Intelligent Systems Forecast, 2017-2022 and Arm forecast

About Arm

Arm technology is at the heart of a computing and connectivity revolution that is transforming the way people live and businesses operate. Our advanced, energy-efficient processor designs are enabling the intelligence in more than 125 billion silicon chips and securely powering products from the sensor to the smartphone to the supercomputer. With more than 1,000 technology partners, including the world's largest consumer brands, we are driving Arm innovation into all areas compute is happening inside the chip, the network and the cloud.