ARM Community: Mobile World Congress 2012: ARM Enabling Great Smartphone Innovation - ARM Community

The ARM mobile team has just finished our preparation for Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012 and I thought I would share my very educated predictions on what you are going to see at MWC. So here it goes…

Continued Innovation
One of the great things about the ARM ecosystem is that because System-on-Chips (SoC) do not come from just one supplier, you see rapid innovation in the smartphone market. For example at MWC last year, dual-core smartphones had just started shipping, but by the end of 2011 they represented 25% of the smartphone market.

This rapid rate of innovation means that the leading edge demos that you see on our Partners booths this year, will be in your smartphone at MWC 2013.

Next Generation SoC’s
You are going to see a wide range of ARM Partners demonstrating their latest SoC’s that you will see in smartphones at MWC 2013. These will include SoC’s in 28nm using the latest and greatest ARM core, the Cortex^TM-A15. There will be very compelling demos taking advantage of the Cortex-A15’s significant performance increase. I would recommend to track down these demos as it will give you a very good idea of what you are going to see in your next generation of smartphone.

More Pixels, More Screens, Less Wires
A few years ago leading edge phones had a 480x320 screen, this year 720p has become the high end standard. Last year phones supported 1080p screens, this year you will see demos of ARM Powered SoC’s driving 3+ screens and even 2.5K resolution. Further the HDMI/MHL cable is being replaced by wireless interconnect allowing you to watch one 1080p video on your phone, while streaming another to the TV.

Rise of the Mass Market Smartphones
One major trend that should be very prevalent at MWC 2012 is the rise of great mass-market smartphones. A number of Partners have launched single core Cortex-A9 or Cortex-A5 SoC’s aimed at mass-market smartphones delivering a very impressive user experience. We will have a demo on the ARM booth (Hall 1.1C01) just to show how great the user experience really is.

Quad Core Devices
There are numerous rumors circulating that there will, perhaps be one or two quad-core smartphones that will launch at MWC. This is yet another example of how quickly the ARM ecosystem is advancing and changing the smartphone in your pocket.

20 Megapixels, Multi Cameras, and More to do with your Lense
The image processing capabilities of the latest SoC’s will enable some very impressive demos including; support for 3 or 4 camera sensors, 20Mpixels, rapid still image capture with auto-focus and more. These new features beyond providing great photos will build upon the great features you are already seeing such as HDR and panoramic stitching. Further these new imaging pipelines will enable new features and services, including augmented reality and gesture recognition.

Other Trends
Because the ARM business model enables companies to innovate, very often you see new technologies at MWC that may come as a surprise, so I’m sure I have failed to predict a wide range of new features on your smartphone. However, two trends that I do find interesting are:

• The rise of the pen; the pen is a great user input device as shown by the Samsung Galaxy Note, and I hope this trend continues on smartphones and tablets.
• Waterproof smartphones at CES there was a number of waterproof smartphones including the latest Fujitsu quad-core Cortex-A9 phone. This sounds a perfect device for MWC, a phone with leading edge user experience and can survive drinks being spilt upon it during those long business discussions that extend beyond midnight.

Follow @ARMMobile on Twitter for the latest updates from ARM at MWC 2012.

See videos from ARM at MWC, HERE.

More blogs from MWC 2012:

• MWC 2012: ARM & ARM Partner Innovation All Around
• ARM Mobile Showcase at MWC 2012: Multicore, Security & LTE
• MWC 2012: Cutting Edge Smartphones & Secure Payment Technology
• Samsung Confirms Mali is in the Exynos 5250 Processor
• Wireless Connectivity at Mobile World Congress 2012

James Bruce, Mobile Marketing, ARM, is based in Silicon Valley. James is without doubt a gadget guy who is continuously looking at the latest devices and services on them. Working for ARM allows James to see what technology will be on your mobile device in 3 to 5 years time. This view of the future combined with being based in Silicon Valley and having worked on mobile for the last 9 years allows James to have a unique view of mobile technology. At the moment James is deciding which Cortex-A8 phone he will buy this year, and which dual core Cortex-A9 phone he will buy next year.