ARM announces v9.2 X925, A720 and A520 cores to power next-gen flagships
ARM's next-generation CPU cores are here and they are refinement of the Armv9.2 with a big focus on AI, as you'd expect.
Aside from the upgrades to the respective big and little cores, much of the new cluster's performance boost comes from optimizations to the new 3nm architecture for both TSMC's FinFET and Samsung's GAA processes.
The Cortex-X925 core is the successor to the Cortex-X4 and ushers in a change in nomenclature to keep in sync with the rest of ARM's current lineup.
The new core promises a 15% higher IPC performance. The move to a 3nm process and the higher 3.6GHz clock brings another 36%.
AI performance is 46% faster compared to the Cortex-X4, something you'll feel on your 2025 flagship phone.
The Cortex-A720 is the power-efficient load-lugger of the trio. It's 25% more efficient than the A720, while the move to a 3nm process, as well as a bigger L2 cache, should promise higher performance at a lower power draw.
The Cortex-A520 is essentially the same as the A510, but also moves to the 3nm process, which should help reduce power consumption even further.
Expect the Armv9.2 to underpin flagship chipsets from Samsung, MediaTek, and Qualcomm destined for the 2025 line of smartphones.