Why ARM in Graphics?
The ARM Mali family of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) scales from the Cost Efficient Graphics Roadmap which focuses on delivering high quality graphics within the smallest possible area, to the Performance Efficient Graphics Roadmap which is designed specifically to bring the highest levels of performance to premium devices with a particular emphasis on maintaining energy efficiency.
The ARM Mali Video Roadmap also adheres to these values, offering a high-performance, low-bandwidth unit that scales to deliver secure video to a wide range of smartphones, tablets and SmartTVs. This has been recently joined by the ARM Mali Display Roadmap, a highly functional processor which is able to significantly lower SoC bandwidth consumption whilst offering content security from download to display.
When the graphics, video and display processors are implemented altogether in an SoC, ARM architectural benefits such as AFBC and Transaction Elimination come into their own and offer exceptional bandwidth savings. Software integration effort can also be reduced as each processor’s Android driver will work efficiently with any other ARM driver straight out of the box. This optimized Android multimedia stack addresses universally resource-consuming challenges such as integrating and optimizing processors from different suppliers or supporting regular Android updates. By taking advantage of ARM’s pre-optimized software stack, partners have more time to differentiate their solutions and bring their product to market sooner.
Mali Quick Facts
- Number 1 Android GPU IP supplier
- In over 70% of DTVs
- In over 50% of Android tablets
- In over 20% of Android smartphones
- Over 400 million units shipped in 2013
