Bringing Arm TCS23 to Life on Next-gen Flagship Smartphones with MediaTek and vivo

By Chris Bergey, SVP and GM of the Client Business, Arm

November 16, 2023 -- Back in May 2023, we announced Total Compute Solutions 2023 (TCS23) as the platform for mobile computing. With the smartphone continuing to dominate as the most used device for streaming and mobile game revenues accounting for almost half of the global gaming market, it’s clear that the demand for ultimate performance to meet these compute-intensive experiences shows no sign of slowing down. From performance leadership in next-gen artificial intelligence (AI) to delivering the very best visual experiences, TCS23 is our best ever premium solution for the next-generation of flagship smartphone devices that sit at the center of our digital lifestyle.

TCS23 is now coming to life thanks to unprecedented ecosystem collaborations that make it easier for SoC designers and OEMs to bring their product designs to market faster, and with increasing flexibility that allows for true hardware and software differentiation.

Two of these partners, MediaTek and vivo, recently announced their latest mobile products. MediaTek’s Dimensity 9300 system-on-chip (SoC) is the first full implementation of TCS23 on TSMC’s third generation 4nm process, with vivo adopting this chipset as part of its new X100 flagship smartphone. Our ongoing collaboration with partners like vivo and MediaTek is raising the bar across our industry-leading mobile ecosystem and delivering cutting-edge experiences for the next-generation of smartphones.

The innovation happening today in the Android ecosystem is incredible. From foldable displays to the rapid emergence of on-device generative AI and LLMs, the options for consumers are continuing to impress.

Accelerating compute, AI and graphics

The need to accelerate compute, AI and graphics emerged as core priorities for MediaTek during its Dimensity 9300 launch. The adoption of TCS23 in the flagship SoC is considered the best way to achieve these goals, with a range of Arm-based performance improvements feeding into the Dimensity 9300.

Next-gen mobile AI

Put simply, AI runs on Arm. 2.5 billion Arm-based consumer devices with AI capabilities are in use today, and counting. At the forefront of 5G generative AI, the Dimensity 9300 mobile chipset, provides a range of intelligence and performance benefits enabled by the first ever Armv9 CPU cluster of big cores only, including four Arm Cortex-X4 CPU cores and four Cortex-A720 CPU cores. Combining this Arm-based all big core design with MediaTek’s next generation APU AI processor, will provide the foundations for improved generative AI performance and enable developers to provide users with innovative and new AI experiences.

Pushing for the best mobile performance and efficiency

The unprecedented big octa-core Arm Cortex CPU design in Dimensity 9300 is delivering a 15 percent performance uplift at the same power, 33 percent less power consumption at the same performance level and 40 percent higher peak performance compared to the previous generation Dimensity 9200. Not only does this highlight the power of the high-performance, efficient compute Arm is known for, but for end-users it translates into faster web browsing, quicker app loading and more immersive, faster and cooler AAA mobile gaming experiences.

These performance improvements were made possible by vivo’s early access to the silicon where it tested and then provided feedback to Arm and MediaTek’s world-leading engineering teams to drive continuous SoC innovation.

Supercharging visuals

The adoption of Arm’s latest flagship GPU, the Immortalis-G720, which is built on Arm’s new 5th Gen GPU architecture, delivers supercharged mobile gaming experiences on the Dimensity 9300. Immortalis-G720 is Arm’s most performant and efficient GPU ever, as we continue to push the boundaries of visual computing and this is feeding into performance improvements throughout the Dimensity 9300.

Compared to the 2022 Dimensity 9200, it offers a 46 percent boost in GPU performance at the same level of power consumption, as well as 46 percent better ray tracing for more immersive visual experiences. Dimensity 9300 also provides a 40 percent reduction in GPU power consumption at the same level of performance as the previous generation chipset, so smartphone users get a big performance upgrade without sacrificing battery life. This supports seamless multi-tasking on the device, like gaming and video streaming at the same time, without draining the battery. Immortalis-G720 in combination with the big-core only octa-core Arm CPU design, and MediaTek’s second-generation hardware ray tracing engine, enables the Dimensity 9300 to deliver PC and console-level illumination effects at 60 frames per second (FPS) for smoother gaming experiences on mobile.

Better software and security

Through our technologies and ongoing collaboration, we are bringing better software and security to the ecosystem. Arm’s advanced Memory Tagging Extension (MTE) is a great example of this in action, with MediaTek implementing this technology on Dimensity 9300 and Google has already enabled MTE in Android 14. This brings better, more secure developer experiences and a quicker time-to-market for more than 15 million Arm developers worldwide, with MTE making it easier to find memory safety bugs which account for 70 percent of all software vulnerabilities. vivo recently announced a memory safety developer program which makes MTE available to its developer community and ultimately delivers better software and user experiences on vivo’s X100 smartphones.

Collaboration to deliver true mobile innovation

Through the deep collaboration with MediaTek and vivo, Arm is delivering true mobile innovation. From high-performance AI to more immersive AAA mobile gaming, this collaboration alongside wider ecosystem support is redefining the smartphone experience and delivering improvements that continue to push the boundaries of performance and efficiency for better, longer device experiences. It has been a real joy this week to have the Dimensity 9300-based vivo X100 flagship smartphone in the palm of my hand and see the awe-inspiring mobile experiences that are made possible on Arm.