Ahead of Intel’s Computex 2017 conference being organized in Taiwan, SoftBank-owned ARM has today taken the wraps off its first set of Dynamiq mobile processors — Cortex-A75 and Cortex-A55. It is coupled with an updated graphics processors — Mali G72. We are well-aware of the fact that artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented/virtual reality are defining trends of the future and this is a necessary step for simplifying the usability of the same.
Firstly, we have been introduced to the new Cortex-A75, which is an upgrade to the company’s previous high-end flagship processor called Cortex-A73. It has brought along notable improvements in processing power as the chipmaker boasts of a 20 percent boost in performance at the expense of the same power consumption as existing mobile processors.
The highlight of the processor, however, will have to the availability of ML (machine learning) and other advanced use cases on the edge. You no longer require an internet connection to help your AI programs learn and update according to the needs of the user. It will now be possible to simply integrate ARM Cortex-A75 into the smartphone or other IoT device to enable complex use cases right there. It means smarter devices that are optimized to understand our usage patterns on the fly.
Commenting on the capabilities of the Cortex-A75, Stefan Rosinger, Product Manager at ARM said:
Cortex-A75 brings a brand-new architecture that continues the rapid upward trend in processor performance while retaining the critical power efficiency achieved by its highly successful predecessor. The new Cortex-A75 CPU will extend performance and it will also expand the capabilities of the CPU to handle advanced workloads that are transforming applications and business in exciting ways.
As mentioned in the official blog post, you can either use the Cortex-A75 standalone with up to 4 high-performance chips, or in a big.LITTLE combination with the Cortex-A55 processor, with up to 8 processors. Yes, ARM has unveiled a second processor in its A-series lineup but it hasn’t been given an extensive boost — equal to the Cortex A-75.
The successor to the Cortex-A53 processor has been in the works for around two years and has finally been unveiled just ahead of Computex 2017. It took long enough for the chipmaker to introduce significant upgrades to this processor, which is now 15 percent more power efficient than the previous-gen processor. ARM’s new chip also comes with two times more memory performance and 10 times more scalability options. Talking about the same, the blog post adds,
The Cortex-A55 delivers sustained performance for a significantly longer duration compared to today’s Cortex-A53 solutions. This is critical for user experiences in markets such as AR, VR and MR that are expected to dominate the future mobile landscape.
Last but not the least, ARM has also unveiled an upgrade for its graphical processor unit (GPU) in the form of Mali-G72. This is an upgrade to the previous-gen Mali-G71 processor, built on the latest Bifrost architecture to provide even greater performance within an ever smaller area and power budget. One can expect the new ARM GPU to be 1.4 times more performance efficient than its older brethren. It will have 25 percent higher energy efficiency, 20 percent improvement in area efficiency and 17 percent increase in ML efficiency — most neccesary — as well.
The U.K-based chipmaker first unveiled its multi-core architecture technology called DynamIQ earlier in March. ARM then talked about how it wanted to integrate its latest processors to build an efficient setup that is capable of handling computing demands for AI software solutions. This architecture provides heterogeneous processing capabilities at the compute model itself — handling the complex AI, VR and AR processes on the chip itself. It is an addition to the company’s existing big.LITTLE configuration and it still requires the two high-range and mid-range chips to work in sync for the desired output.
