The Great Equalizer 3 Discussion

[poofyhairguy]

I think we have Apple to thank in part of the explosion in GPU power in this field. The iPad 2 GPU shocked everyone at that time. For that reason, the iPad 2 (and later 3) and the 4S weren't equaled on the Android side for over a year and a half after release.

The Tegra 3 part was on the books before the iPad 2, so you can see where Android makers would have us without the pressure of Apple.

 

[ams23]

I agree, Apple really pushed the envelope when it came to mobile GPU's (but not mobile CPU's) starting with ipad 2. Within about one year, low power mobile handheld devices will finally outperform PS3 and Xbox 360.

 

[Fire&Blood]

I think we have Apple to thank in part of the explosion in GPU power in this field. The iPad 2 GPU shocked everyone at that time. For that reason, the iPad 2 (and later 3) and the 4S weren't equaled on the Android side for over a year and a half after release.

The Tegra 3 part was on the books before the iPad 2, so you can see where Android makers would have us without the pressure of Apple.

Absolutely, without Apple's GPU dominance we would all still be running around with Adreno 2xx's for some time to come. Other than Mali, Android GPU's were poor. And let's not forget this is a market that TI couldn't really compete in anymore.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I agree, Apple really pushed the envelope when it came to mobile GPU's (but not mobile CPU's) starting with ipad 2. Within about one year, low power mobile handheld devices will finally outperform PS3 and Xbox 360.

We ain't even close to hitting the limit yet for GPUs on <2W SoCs.

http://www.gsmarena.com/mystery_lg_device_tops_out_glbenchmark_results-news-5778.php

Adreno 330 on S800 ~50% faster than 320 on S600.

Apple's A7/A7X would probably be at least 2X GPU advantage over A6/A6X. What is even more fascinating is all these are done on the same 28nm node!

 

[Fire&Blood]

Not sure that a single benchmark is enough to base claims on but at the same time a successor is expected to be better than the predecessor unlike it was just marginally so with Adreno 220 to 225.

One thing stood out from that article: It was running at 1794 x 1080, which is soft keys resolution. Could be Nexus 5?

 

[ams23]

Apple's A7/A7X would probably be at least 2X GPU advantage over A6/A6X. What is even more fascinating is all these are done on the same 28nm node!

Technically A6 and A6X are manufactured on a 32nm fabrication process, so A7 and A7X would presumably use a newer and more advanced 28nm fabrication process with higher transistor density. And over time, the performance and power efficiency tends to improve for any given manufacturing process node as the fabrication process matures. So this, combined with improvements to SoC hardware and software, will bring improved perf. and perf./watt over time. That said, at some point, the rate of growth in mobile SoC performance will slow due to die size, power consumption, and fabrication process limitations.

 

[Skurge]

I think we have Apple to thank in part of the explosion in GPU power in this field. The iPad 2 GPU shocked everyone at that time. For that reason, the iPad 2 (and later 3) and the 4S weren't equaled on the Android side for over a year and a half after release.

The Tegra 3 part was on the books before the iPad 2, so you can see where Android makers would have us without the pressure of Apple.

One the smartphone side, I think Samsung kept them honest. Galaxy S was twice as fast as iPhone 4, SGS2 wasn't that far behind the iPhone 4S, although it was benchmark dependent since Mali400 wasn't unified. The SGS3 was pretty disappointing as it was just an overclocked Mali400. SGS4 is shaping up to be faster than than iPad 4 since it's clocked so high.

On the tablet side, though nobody on android had anything decent. Tegra 2/3 couldn't hope to compete with what apple was using.