NVIDIA Tegra 4 may top 2GHz on next-gen ARM Cortex-A15
updated 02:15 pm EDT, Sat April 7, 2012
NVIDIA Tegra 4 may be huge speed increase
More details of NVIDIA's Tegra 4 have emerged that could point to as much of a leap in speed as with the last generation. Possible leaks from VR-Zone have shown the line keeping the "4-plus-1" quad-core design but jumping to the much newer ARM Cortex-A15 architecture inside, which should give it a leap in speed at the same clock speed. The clock speeds themselves should climb from 1.5GHz to 2GHz to give it brute force improvements.
The line should get more visibly complex at the same time. An initial launch version in early 2013 would start at 1.8GHz and focus on 10-inch tablets, with 2GHz coming in the summer. The summer would also introduce more budget-conscious versions clocking down to 1.2GHz.
A third chip intended primarily for seven-inch tablets would show NVIDIA keeping the Tegra 3 around as a budget option. The SP3X would be intended for seven-inch tablets and would stay on the ARM Cortex-A9, but carry clock speeds that range anywhere from 1.2GHz to 2GHz. It would also be ready for 100Mbps LTE-based 4G and 42Mbps HSPA+ 3G from the very start, possibly representing the first Tegra with cellular data built-in instead of sitting on an outside chip.
Tegra 4 hardware, however it works, will likely focus on Android 5.0, the expected version number for Jelly Bean, as well as on Windows 8. [via Engadget]
