Mobile processor architecture design company ARM has released the new mobile processor chip architecture Cortex-A73 and the corresponding graphics image processing engine architecture Mali-G71. Both of them have enhanced their support for mobile virtual reality. The chips designed and manufactured based on the corresponding architecture are expected to be used in the flagship models launched by major smartphone manufacturers in 2017, which means that the mobile virtual reality experience will reach a new level. .
If you've already experienced virtual reality, whether this technology can give you a brainstorm depends entirely on the device you're using: a high-end virtual reality device such as the Oculus Rift or something like the Samsung Gear VR. smart phone.
Although the latest flagship phones can provide virtual reality experiences to consumers, there are still deficiencies. Latency is a key issue that mobile virtual reality needs to solve, because the immersion of virtual reality requires high performance of the processor. In addition, the current virtual reality on the mobile side does not support interaction, which means that users can not get an immersive experience through the virtual reality of the mobile side, especially for virtual reality games. Furthermore, even if the manufacturer has done everything he can to improve the resolution of the display screen of the mobile phone, when the screen is only one inch away from the user's eyes, the user can still see a single pixel.
In short, in order to bring a true virtual reality experience to consumers, smartphone manufacturers need to raise the performance of mobile phones to another level. Now, the mobile processor architecture provided by ARM can help all smartphone manufacturers solve this technical problem.
Mobile processor architecture design company ARM has designed almost all of the world's mainstream mobile processors. Recently, it introduced the Cortex-A73, a new mobile processor chip architecture for virtual reality functions. In addition, ARM has released the corresponding graphics image processing engine architecture Mali-G71. Although ARM regularly updates its chip architecture every year, it is undoubted that this year's support for virtual reality is the architectural design concept of ARM's new mobile chip.
ARM CEO Simon Segars said at a briefing on chip architecture, "Usually, we will consider upcoming use cases. But when you think about the development of technologies such as virtual reality and enhanced display, You will find that system latency is the primary problem that users need to solve when using virtual reality headsets. When you turn your head, the image in front of you changes. Any delay in the system will affect the user experience. Refresh speed is the key. You definitely don't want any flicker in the displayed image."
It is reported that ARM's new two chip designs, its architecture not only improves performance, but also saves energy. According to the data, the Cortex-A73 has a 30% improvement in performance and a 30% improvement in performance compared to the previous Cortex-A72. The performance of the new generation of image processing engine Mali-G71 has increased by 50%, and the efficiency has increased by more than 20%. This will undoubtedly improve the support of mobile chips for virtual reality. In particular, the improvement of efficacy is crucial, because the display of the final mobile virtual reality will not be much different, and power consumption will become the main factor affecting the user experience.
In fact, ARM does not produce chips, so the new mobile chip architecture is only the first step in launching a new generation of smartphones. Chip makers can license ARM's chip architecture design and develop chip products for the flagship smartphones that will be launched next year. ARM said it has already cooperated with chip makers such as Samsung, MediaTek and Hisilicon, but smartphone chip maker Qualcomm has not been mentioned. But ARM also said that there are "other" vendors involved in the cooperation.
Will virtual reality save the smartphone?
ARM's new chip architecture will create conditions for smartphone makers to develop virtual reality-enabled smartphones, such as Google's recently proposed Android virtual reality Daydream. It is believed that in the near future, smartphones will be generally equipped with high-performance processing chips, high-resolution 4K screens and low system latency. But the problem has followed, will consumers buy it for it?
It is true that the virtual reality field has won wide attention from the industry and has received a lot of funds. However, virtual reality technology is still in the early stage of development, and whether it can become mainstream technology remains to be seen. Siggs’s answer is yes, but he also acknowledges that virtual reality still needs further development, especially as its content needs to be raised to a new level.
Siggs said, "Is the relevant virtual reality use case resonating with consumers? I think it will. But not yet. There is not enough virtual reality content. The game will become the main driving force for the rich development of content. In fact, Virtual reality games have created a different immersive experience for users, but the real killer app has not yet appeared."
The mobile device market is also dependent on the development of virtual reality technology. The Andriod and iOS platforms are now maturing, and the smartphone market is near saturation. Even the once overwhelming growth of Apple's iPhone sales in the last quarter has also declined. Smartphone manufacturers urgently need to give consumers a reason to upgrade their mobile phones. The industry generally believes that virtual reality is well deserved.
Siggs is not worried about what ARM is doing. He pointed out that even without the drivers of virtual reality, consumers need smart phones with better performance.
“Smart mobile devices are evolving all the time,†he says. “Mobile devices that consumers need are lighter and have longer battery life. What they need is not the smooth general performance, but the best performance. The best performance is the longer it will last."
Even with the gradual shrinking of the mobile device market, ARM still has a way out. Siggs pointed out that only 45% of ARM chip architecture design is mobile chips. At present, almost every electronic device in the world needs chips. From TV sets to cars to music players, the development of the Internet of Things has made ARM very promising.
"If our architecture is successful in the field of mobile devices, then these technologies can be used for other purposes as well. In fact, the chip architecture used in automotive information systems is identical, and this technology has been successful," said Siggs. â€
But it's important to emphasize that ARM's expectations for virtual reality are no less than Google and Facebook. If virtual reality and augmented reality technology really become a new way to enhance the user experience, then there is no doubt that the demand for chips will surge. And ARM's continuous improvement of chip architecture design will continue for many years. The problem that faced at that time was how engineers kept Moore's Law effective once the transistor size could not continue to shrink. The attention to the virtual reality experience will divert people's attention from this issue.
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