Samsung licenses PowerVR SGX MP for future Galaxy devices
updated 03:40 pm EST, Thu November 10, 2011
Samsung hints PowerVR SGX MP in Galaxy Tab, phones
Imagination Technologies gave a clue as to the future of Samsung's Galaxy phones and Galaxy Tab lines after it revealed that Samsung had licensed its PowerVR SGX MP graphics. The deal would see the multi-core video show up in mobile devices and general home devices. Neither side provided a direct clue as to what would arrive or when.
Samsung has used PowerVR graphics before, including in the original Galaxy S. It stopped using them in favor of ARM's own Mali-400 for the Exynos chip inside the Galaxy S II and NVIDIA's Tegra 2 in the Galaxy Tab 10.1.
The SGX MP graphics may be needed to help drive Samsung's upcoming 2560x1600 tablet display. Most current mobile video hardware short of the Tegra 3 wouldn't have the performance to drive such displays, but quad-core graphics like Imagination's PowerVR SGX MP4 should.
The only known other user of quad-core PowerVR video is the PlayStation Vita. Apple uses the dual-core MP2 in the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Feb 2011
Battery life...
Battery life on a Quad-core SGX543MP4 is going to be disappointing. The PSP Vita is rated for 3-5 hours of use but there's no info on the capacity of the Vita's battery. The SGX543MP2 in the iPad2 has gotten 9-13 hours of nonstop video playback with a 25 Whr battery.
Tegra 3-equipped Asus Transformer Prime is rated for 12 full hours of 1080p nonstop video playback with a 22 Whr battery. It has yet to be tested but if that's true, it has the best performance-per-watt of any SOC on the market and a company that is pulling developers together to provide content to show off the hardware's capabilities and allow every Tegra user to easily enjoy their devices.