NVidia unveils Tegra 4 mobile processor with 72 graphics cores

Mobile processor and graphics chip design firm NVidia has unveiled its next generation mobile processor at the 2013 CES International show in Las Vegas, with the company claiming it has developed the world’s fastest mobile processor.

The Tegra 4 is a quad-core mobile processor based on ARM’s advanced Cortex A15 CPU core design, which the company claims delivers 2.6 times more speed when browsing the web than its predecessor, the Tegra 3, while consuming 45% less power in common use cases.

The chip also boasts 72 custom NVidia GeForce graphics cores, with the company claiming the new chip can deliver six times the graphics horsepower of its predecessor, the Tegra 3.

The processor, primarily designed for smartphones and tablets, is designed to be used alongside a “sister” chipset called the Icera i500, which adds 4G LTE data and voice capabilities to new devices based on the chipset.

The news comes amidst intensifying competition between ARM-based processor design firms, including NVidia, Qualcomm and Texas Instruments, against traditional desktop PC processor maker Intel, which is keen to grab a slice of the growing smartphone and tablet processor market.