We’re going through some pretty dang exciting times when it comes to mobile devices. If you recall, back in 2010 we were just rocking 1GHZ or faster single-core processors in smartphones and tablets. Soon after, dual-core and now gaining even more traction, quad-core.
While speeds and performance has been getting even better, graphics have managed to get better as well with the likes of the Mali 400 GPU and NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 setup. Heck, graphics on smartphones and tablets now are even better than the Xbox or Playstation 2. Soon though, mobile graphics will get even better and to the level of current consoles (developers and games permitting) thanks to an eight-core ARM GPU.
Currently, ARM is teasing some new GPUs with three of their upcoming models and could really improve upon what’s already available in devices. There is the quad-core T624 and the T628 and T678 which are scalable up to eight-cores. With those two models, the performance increase, as one would suspect, is pretty impressive. A whopping fifty percent more powerful while sipping the same amount of power.
ARM is said to be working towards console level gaming, incredibly high definition video well above and beyond 1080p, and 60fps UI on tablets and smartphones. It’s worth noting that NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 is scalable up to 12 cores, but ARM processors are far more prevalent in mobile devices.
The Xbox 360, PS3, and next generation consoles aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, however, we could see a future where our mobile devices perform just as well gaming wise and we can get up and running to a 1080p HDTV in no time at all. This of course means larger file sizes for games, but there’s something very appealing, especially if you can get a Bluetooth controller to work.