Nvidia has announced the launch of Tegra 4, its latest mobile processor which company CEO Jen-Hsun Huang called its “worst kept secret”. The Tegra 4 has 72 GPU cores, 4 A15 CPU cores, and supports 4G LTE technology, while the chip is the world’s first quad-core A15, using ARM’s latest technology.
Huang admitted that since Nvidia had been talking to partners ahead of the unveiling, word of the new product had inevitably leaked out early.
Speaking on stage at CES, Huang demonstrated the chip’s capability by pitting it against the Nexus 10 tablet, the highest spec Android tablet on the market. The Tegra 4 took 27 seconds to load 25 unique web pages, beating the Nexus 10, which took 50 seconds. Huang claims the chip is also faster than the iPad 4, as well as the Droid DNA, Kindle and other tablet devices.
The demonstration also showed off a new architecture that allows Tegra 4-powered cameras to open up the potential of HDR imaging with the first “always-on HDR” camera. A Tegra 4-powered tablet showed off the live HDR video and photograph feature by snapping photos on stage.
The device also includes HDR preview, and other features could include strobe motion shots, panoramic HDR and 3D reconstructions. The camera can also track an image while keeping it in focus on the shot, thanks to ‘computation photography’.
On the topic of games — which is clearly unavoidable when talking about Nvidia — the company revealed that its TegraZone game store has been downloaded 6 million times.
Huang also announced that it will begin offering its first 4G LTE modem — the i500 modem part of Tegra 4, which came about from its acquisition of Icera. The software modem can run 1.2 trillion operations a second and is smaller than a standard LTE modem. Huang also explained some of the other benefits of ‘software defined radio’, which could includes over-the-air (OTA) updates to devices.
The chip also supports 4K ultra-high-definition video.
Related: Nvidia jumps into gaming devices with Tegra 4-powered “Project Shield” handheld
Click here for more of our CES 2013 coverage.
Image via AFP/Getty Images — h/t Anandtech for the live feed
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