NVidia announces Tegra 4 processor

With CES 2013 just about to begin in Las Vegas, NVidia have kicked things off with the announcement of their new Tegra 4 SoC for mobile devices. The new processor will feature 72 GeForce GPU cores with 4K video support, which is around 6 times the visual processing power for the current generation Tegra 3 processor. It will also feature a quad-core ARM Cortex A15 processor and a second generation battery saver core.

The Tegra 4 will use the 28 nm manufacturing process compared to the 40 nm process using on Tegra 3. It will also support PRISM 2 technology to reduce the power used by the backlight. This will result in 45% improvement in power management and less heat emission compared to Tegra 3.

NVidia also compared the speed differences between Tegra 4 and current generation devices, demonstrating that a Tegra 4 device has a 27 second load time compared to the 50 second load time taken by the Google Nexus 10. The Tegra 4 chip also support a new NVIDIA Computational Photography Architecture which helps capture better photos by integrating different functions. This allows 10 times lesser image capture time along with faster HDR images and video along with HDR panorama, strobe motion, 3D recontruction and subject tracking.

Device manufacturers will have the option of including the NVIDIA i500 Soft Modem to the Tegra 4 which is a programmable LTE baseband chip. It is said to support up to 1.4 trillion operations per second and is 40% smaller than traditional baseband chips.

Currently there is now news if any devices featuring the new Tegra 4 processor will be featured at the CES 2013, but do stay tuned for updates over the course of the conference.

Press Release

NVIDIA Introduces World's Fastest Mobile Processor

Sunday, January 6, 2013

CES -- NVIDIA today introduced NVIDIA® Tegra® 4, the world's fastest mobile processor, with record-setting performance and battery life to flawlessly power smartphones and tablets, gaming devices, auto infotainment and navigation systems, and PCs.

Tegra 4 offers exceptional graphics processing, with lightning-fast web browsing, stunning visuals and new camera capabilities through computational photography.

Previously codenamed "Wayne," Tegra 4 features 72 custom NVIDIA GeForce™ GPU cores -- or six times the GPU horsepower of Tegra 3 -- which deliver more realistic gaming experiences and higher resolution displays. It includes the first quad-core application of ARM's most advanced CPU core, the Cortex-A15, which delivers 2.6x faster web browsing and breakthrough performance for apps.

Tegra 4 also enables worldwide 4G LTE voice and data support through an optional chipset, the fifth-generation NVIDIA Icera® i500 processor. More efficient and 40 percent the size of conventional modems, i500 delivers four times the processing capability of its predecessor.

"Tegra 4 provides enormous processing power and efficiency to power smartphones and tablets, gaming devices, auto systems and PCs," said Phil Carmack, senior vice president of the Tegra business at NVIDIA. "Its new capabilities, particularly in the area of computational photography, will help improve a whole range of existing products and lead to the creation of exciting new ones."

Computational Photography Capability
Among the Tegra 4 processor's breakthroughs is its Computational Photography Architecture, which automatically delivers high dynamic range (HDR) photos and video by fusing together the processing power of the GPU, CPU and the camera's image-signal processor.

Its HDR capability captures images, including those taken with a flash, the way they are seen by the human eye -- with detail in both bright and dark areas.

Unprecedented Power Efficiency
Designed for maximum energy efficiency, Tegra 4 includes a second-generation battery saver core for low power during standard use, and PRISM 2 Display technology to reduce backlight power while delivering superior visuals.

Tegra 4 consumes up to 45 percent less power than its predecessor, Tegra 3, in common use cases. And it enables up to 14 hours of HD video playback on phones.

Tegra 4 Key Features

• GeForce GPU with 72 custom cores
• Quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU, plus a 2^nd Generation Battery Saver Core
• Computational Photography Architecture
• LTE capability with optional Icera i500 chipset
• 4K ultra-high-def video support

source - NVidia | Engadget