May 30, 2023 google android cpu

Now Android is getting even better at battery life

ARM has revealed its new chip designs for Android.

the CPUs

This is the first time that the chips are only supplied in 64-bit version, and with that ARM sends a notice to the manufacturers to upgrade (we're looking at you, Oppo, and Xiaomi - for Apple's part, they haven't upgraded to ARMV9, but when it happens is not known.) We are talking about three new designs: Cortex-X4, Cortex-A720, and Cortex-A520.

 

It is the X4 which is the chip core intended for the fastest Android mobiles with a 15 percent increase in performance but as much as 40 percent less energy use. Per ARM, this means a faster start of apps and an interface that responds more quickly to touch.

 

The A720 is the workhorse among the cores (and the successor to the A715) and offers 20 percent better efficiency. The focus is therefore on battery life, although the chip is of course also faster. There is an even more affordable version of this. The idea is that the manufacturers can cut the price or the size of the device.

 

Finally, there is the A520, which is an efficiency core that works in the background with smaller tasks. This is 22 percent more efficient compared to the A510. Performance has been upgraded by eight percent.

 

The GPUs

There are of course also upgraded GPUs to be found, in the form of Immortalis-G720, Mali-G720, and Mali-G620 GPUs. It's the same thing again: better performance with less energy use. The biggest performance improvement is the "deferred vertex shading" part.

 

This now uses 33 percent less bandwidth, which in turn makes it possible to draw more advanced graphics with HDR. On average, there is a 15 percent better performance compared to the predecessor in combination with 15 percent better energy efficiency. The 720 has support for six to nine GPU cores and the 620 has five or fewer.

 

It is not yet known when the first mobiles will receive support for the new designs, as neither has spoken about future plans yet, but expect the Android camp, primarily the top models, to benefit from these before too long.