Earlier this week at Computex, ARM announced a new suite of IP targeted at the 580 million mobile device unit opportunity in 2015. The key thing to note about this announcement is that ARM recognizes the mid-range will require more than just a world-class CPU core, but rather a more comprehensive solution that enables ARM silicon partners to build SoCs that feature leadership graphics and video IP. When you combine ARM’s new Mali-T622 GPU and Mali-V500 video encode/decode solution with the new Cortex-A12 processor, mobile users will get premium features such as virtualization and computational photography in devices at mid-range price points.
ARM’s SoCs partners seek an entire solution of building blocks on which they can differentiate upon, optimized to work together. Diving into one of the new pieces of the solution a bit further, the Mali-V500, is a video solution that can scale from 1080p/60 to 4K resolutions. The Mali-V500 also enables an efficient implementation of secure video path, supporting protection of the decrypted bitstream in a TrustZone hardware backed secure system. To be clear, Mali-V500 is not DRM. Mali-V500 helps make secure systems with DRM far more efficient and user friendly – making the content you paid for easily available across all your personal devices. Equally, Mali-V500 will support devices that don’t want DRM or content that does not have DRM.