The “worst kept secret” in the world is finally confirmed. NVIDIA has revealed the Tegra 4. Featuring 72 GPU cores and 4G LTE support (finally), the processor is a quad-core processor packed with A15 cores.
NVIDIA’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang is proudly proclaiming that the Tegra 4 is the fastest processor in the world – topping the iPad 4’s Apple A6X. He compared the Tegra 4 to the Nexus 10’s processor, and it showed that the Tegra 4 loaded 25 pages in 27 seconds. The Nexus 10, under the same test and under the same conditions took 50 seconds.
It will still keep the 4-PLUS-1 core system, with the extra core being the battery saving core to maximize energy efficiency. It has been updated for the Tegra 4, and consumes 45 percent less power than the Tegra 3 in common use cases; and allows for up to 14 hours of HD video playback on phones.
Also interesting is that the Tegra 4 will improve HDR photos, using its “computational photography engine”, which will use not only the camera’s sensor, coupled with 72 core GPU and its quad-core processor. Huang claims that it will process the HDR photo in 0.2 seconds – compared to the iPhone 5’s 2 seconds to process.
Huang also claims that the Tegra 4 is the first “always-on” HDR, allowing for HDR video and one-shot HDR. “It just works,” Huang tells the audience.
The 4G connectivity comes through via an optional chipset through its Icera i500 processor – a company that it bought back in 2011. The new chipset is 40 percent the size of conventional 4G LTE modems, but claims to deliver four times the processing capability of its predecessor. And this is because it is a programmable chip – as each part is not a fixed function. NVIDIA claims that it can process up to 1.2 trillion operations per second.
Given that Mobile World Congress is coming up really soon – in February – expect some new smartphones running the new Tegra 4 chip.