NVIDIA's Tegra 4i: An integrated 4G LTE mobile processor for smartphones and tablets
Smartphone hardware is poised to receive a boost in performance and extended battery life thanks to the Tegra 4i, a new 4G LTE mobile processor co-designed by NVIDIA and ARM.
The Tegra 4i is the company's first fully integrated 4G LTE processor, but what does this mean to phone manufacturers and consumers? By the numbers, an exponential increase in performance and battery life.
The chip packs in 60 GPU cores, a quad-core 2.3 GHz CPU (based on ARM's R4 Cortex-A9), and NVIDIA's i500 LTE modem.
Crucially, the Tegra 4i is half the size and 2.7 times more power efficient than its closest competitor, Qualcomm's Snapdragon S800, which was revealed just last month at the Consumer Electronics Show.
“NVIDIA is delivering for the first time a single, integrated processor that powers all the major functions of a smartphone,” said Phil Carmack, senior vice president of the Mobile business at NVIDIA. Carmack also promises "exceptionally long battery life."
NVIDIA's Tegra 4i will enable manufacturers to deliver more efficient devices in a smaller frame. While consumers have exhibited a growing fascination with "phablets" (phones with large displays), sleek and thin are two adjectives that will continue to drive smartphone sales. If NVIDIA's efficiency claims ring true, the Tegra 4i could heal a major handicap: most LTE-equipped phones are anything but battery sippers.
Think for a moment about how you use -- or don't use -- your smartphone. Are you always conscious of the remaining battery life? Does that restrict or otherwise alter the way you'd use your device? If the next recharge wasn't a concern, we'd enjoy our portable companions infinitely more. That prospect is appealing to all parties: consumers, app developers, manufacturers.
With that in mind I followed up with Matt Wuebbling, Director of Tegra Product Marketing at NVIDIA, to ask if the company could provide more details or hard data on the power efficiency Tegra 4i brings to the table:
“On the Tegra 4 family of chips, we’re using our 2nd generation battery saver core technology, 4-plus-1, which dedicates a CPU core for low power tasks. It first shipped with Tegra 3 and delivers a great range of very high performance and low power. We learned a lot from the first generation technology and the 2nd generation further improves power efficiency. The Tegra 4 family is lower power than Tegra 3 – both Tegra 4 and Tegra 4i.
On the system level, our 2nd generation of PRISM is introduced for Tegra 4 and is on Tegra 4i. It allows us to reduce backlight, improving battery life, all while keeping the visuals the same. We’re seeing longer and longer battery life even with the increased performance.
We’re always learning how to improve and we’re always optimizing which is very critical. Fewer transistors inherently means lower power and thus better battery life which is another advantage of Tegra 4i.”
Tegra 4i Architecture Comparison | Slide courtesy of NVIDIA
NVIDIA is smart not to deliver any specific benchmarks just yet, but I remain hopeful that this next generation of mobile processors will reduce our reliance on the nearest outlet or USB charger.
NVIDIA will also release its “Phoenix” reference smartphone platform for the Tegra 4i processor with two goals: Demonstrate the chip's unique mobile technologies, and assist manufacturers in getting phones to market faster.
NVIDIA tells me that unlike Project SHIELD, Phoenix won't surface as a retail product for consumers. Rather, it's a blueprint that phone makers can reference when they're designing future "mainstream smartphones with a premium experience."
It sounds like the Tegra 4i will also deliver advancements in smartphone photography. Always-on HDR (high dynamic range) capabilities, tap-to-track features, and HDR-driven panoramic photos are among the highlights.
The Tegra 4i will be demonstrated in some capacity at the 2013 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain next week. While I doubt we'll see any ready-for-retail smartphones at the show, I expect the company to unveil some of the first tablets powered by Tegra 4.
