ARM launches new GPU designed for wearables and IoT

ARM's media processor division recently released a new high-efficiency graphics processor, the Mali-470 GPU, which is designed for wearable devices and IoT devices, and aims to bring visual effects comparable to smartphones to these two platform products. The biggest advantage of Mali-470 is that it has a 50% performance improvement over Mali-400, which can help manufacturers bring graphics processing capabilities comparable to smartphones.

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The market size continues to grow

The wearable device market has been growing in recent years, and more and more devices and apps have begun to appear. ARM has always been closely related to wearable devices, and many products use ARM architecture processors. Now ARM has launched a new Mali-470 GPU.

It is reported that Mali-470 is the latest product in the Mali-400 series, which allows applications to run OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics standards. Currently, Mali-400 series GPUs have been used in more than 1 billion devices worldwide and have very efficient graphics processing capabilities. Many processors equipped with Mali-400 GPUs are used in wearable devices and IoT products, such as MediaTek MT2601 chip, which announced support for Google Android Wear system and devices at the beginning of this year.

The biggest advantage of Mali-470 is that it has a 50% performance improvement over Mali-400, which can help manufacturers bring graphics processing capabilities comparable to those of smartphones.

Expanding the smartphone user experience

We all like to enjoy high-quality images on the touch screens of smart devices, and this has become the most basic way for us to interact with smartphones and tablets. Therefore, we also need the same experience as smartphones on other types of products. However, for some products such as camcorders and cameras, the operational user experience is still not comparable to that of smartphones, and some are even very bad.

From watches to thermostats, industrial equipment controllers, warehouse equipment, office printers, in-car infotainment systems, and home appliances, the same excellent operating experience is required. For such devices, how to improve the interface quality while consuming less energy is the problem that Mali-470 can solve.

Why OpenGL ES 2.0?

In a high-quality user interface, every pixel counts, especially on small screens, where every pixel plays an important role in conveying information and making interactions more intuitive.

Currently, most emerging operating systems such as Android, Android Wear and Tizen use OpenGL ES 2.0, which can bring an optimal balance between pixel control, shading and energy saving. OpenGL ES 2.0 can enable Mali-470 to bring a more seamless experience in all applications.

The latest version of OpenGL ES adds a lot of additional features, such as a more realistic video game experience, and such an experience can also have the same effect on wearable devices and IoT devices.

Cut energy consumption in half

In addition to continuing the success of Mali-400, Mali-470 also reduces energy consumption by almost half while maintaining performance, which gives chip manufacturers more room to embed more graphics systems to meet the needs of low-power devices.