Arm unveils a mobile ray tracing GPU and high performance CPUs – Android Authority

Kris Carlon / Android Authority

It’s that time of the year when industry colossus Arm reveals its new line of CPUs and GPUs that will power the following year’s smartphones. Last year saw Arm reveal CPUs based on the Armv9 architecture for the first time, along with its rebranded Mali GPU lineup.

So what does the company have in store, this time? And what does this mean for 2023’s smartphones? Well, there’s plenty to look at, so join us as we break things down.

Arm’s second-generation Armv9 CPUs

Arm announced a new generation of Armv9 CPUs, namely the Cortex-X3 and the Cortex-A715. The company also announced a “refreshed” Cortex-A510, but more on that in a bit.

Starting with the most capable CPU core, the Cortex-X3 picks up where the Cortex-X2 left off. It’s a performance-focused core, with Arm claiming a 22% next-gen performance boost compared to the latest flagship Android phones running the Cortex-X2. Arm says to expect a 34% performance boost compared to the latest “mainstream” laptop, albeit running an Intel Core i7 1260p (at 28 watts) rather than a Cortex-X1 or X2. However, the chip designer also notes an 11% IPC boost compared to a Cortex-X2 using the same process.

Interestingly, Arm didn’t dish out specific claims for efficiency gains. However, it shared a graph that shows the Cortex-X3 consuming less power in most cases than the Cortex-X2, although a maxed-out Cortex-X3 still consumed more power (albeit with understandably higher performance too). Check out the graph below.

The second new CPU core announced was the Cortex-A715, picking up where the Cortex-A710 left off. This will play the role as the medium core in triple power domain CPU setups, where a healthy balance of power and efficiency is needed. Importantly, the Cortex-A715 is now 64-bit only, while the previous A710 model retained 32-bit support.

Arm says the Cortex-A715 enjoys a 5% performance boost over the Cortex-A710 at the same power level and using the same manufacturing process. This is a far more modest gain than the Cortex-A710’s touted 10% boost over the Cortex-A78 on the same manufacturing process. Thankfully, the chip designer is also claiming a more impressive 20% efficiency gain, which will translate into a big win for battery life.

Deep-dive:</…….