On August 13, during the esteemed SIGGRAPH conference, Arm hosted a media briefing to unveil its groundbreaking Arm Neural Technology and introduce a dedicated neural accelerator integrated into its upcoming Arm GPU, scheduled for release in 2026. Devices harnessing this cutting-edge technology are anticipated to hit the market by the end of 2026. Leitech was privileged to attend the briefing, bringing you the latest updates.

The introduction of Arm Neural Technology signifies that mobile devices will now be capable of achieving desktop-caliber AI graphics performance. Essentially, by deeply embedding a neural accelerator within the Arm GPU, it equips each shader with a "mini NPU," significantly reducing latency and enhancing energy efficiency for AI and graphics pipeline interactions.

With this innovation, the GPU only needs to render approximately 25% of the pixels and reconstruct the full-resolution image through AI, thereby slashing the GPU workload by up to 50% and achieving a dual boost in performance and energy efficiency. Furthermore, Arm has opted to fully open its model architecture, weights, and tools to developers, empowering them to further optimize AI functions within games and resolve compatibility issues with the assistance of Arm's AI tools.

Source: Arm

Moreover, Arm Neural Technology provides an upgrade path for Arm ASR through API compatibility, known as Arm Neural Super Sampling (Arm NSS). By transitioning traditional shader algorithms to AI neural inference, this approach enables mobile devices to achieve near-Nvidia DLSS2 image quality with superior efficiency.

In Arm's "Magic Castle" demonstration, Arm NSS demonstrated the ability to optimize and upgrade 540p to 1080p within 4 milliseconds, producing an image quality virtually indistinguishable from native rendering. The performance freed up from resolution rendering can be allocated to enhancing special effects rendering, increasing frame rates, or further reducing average power consumption as needed, thereby extending mobile devices' gaming endurance.

Source: Arm

In recent years, the application of AI in mobile games has surged, with super-resolution, super-frame rates, and edge AI computing demanding robust AI computing power. To mitigate the GPU's computational limitations, manufacturers like iQOO have integrated separate gaming chips into their gaming phones, sharing the GPU's computational burden and enabling parallel super-resolution and super-frame rates.

However, with the proliferation of Arm Neural Technology, the need for dedicated gaming chips may soon become obsolete. The neural accelerator integrated into the GPU effortlessly meets the AI computing demands during GPU operations, marking the official entry of mobile GPUs into the era of native AI support.

Arm has also announced two neural graphics technologies under development: Neural Frame Rate Upscaling (NFRU), which boosts 30FPS to 60FPS by generating intermediate frames without doubling the rendering load; and Neural Super Sampling and Denoising (NSSD), which provides intelligent reconstruction and denoising for ray tracing, enabling high-quality, noise-free images on mobile devices with reduced ray counts.

Source: Arm

In this announcement, Arm also unveiled the world's first fully open neural graphics development kit, enabling developers to commence development well before the hardware's release. Arm has collaborated with game studios such as NetEase Games, Tencent Games, and Sumo Digital to co-develop the kit and accelerate the implementation and adoption of this technology.

Regarding Arm's novel AI technology, NetEase Games expressed high praise, stating, "One of NetEase Games' missions is to deliver console-level visual experiences on every mobile phone. We believe that Arm's new technology is a significant step towards fulfilling our mission." As Steve Steele, Director of Product Management at Arm's Client Line of Business, noted at the conference, AI in various forms has always been integral to the mobile experience, and it plays a pivotal role in mobile gaming experiences.

Source: Arm

AI is reshaping the entire mobile ecosystem and experience, continuing to serve as the core driver of the mobile platform, fueling the evolution of the entire smart ecosystem. With devices equipped with Arm Neural Technology anticipated for a 2026 launch and Arm already fully opening the corresponding development kit to the public, game development studios can now commence development immediately. Leitech is eagerly anticipating the remarkable experience this technology will bring to mobile games next year.