Apple to use PowerVR graphics in future multi-touch devices?
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Sep 4, 2008 at 5:13pm
Apple may have have extended a deal with Imagination Technologies “that will see graphics cores from the chipmaker situated in future multi-touch devices for years to come,” according to an AppleInsider report.
Imagination Technologies Group has reported that, following its July 2007 announcement of an initial license agreement with an international electronics systems company, this company has now concluded a new multi-year, multi-use license agreement that gives the company (suspected, but not confirmed, to be Apple) access to Imagination’s current and future PowerVR graphics and video IP cores. As a result of this new agreement, it is expected that Imagination’s IP cores will feature in a number of new SoCs to be used in this company’s future products, the company says.
PowerVR graphics technology is based on a concept called Tile Based Deferred Rendering (TBDR). In contrast to Immediate Mode Rendering (IMR) used by most graphics engines in the PC and games console worlds, TBDR focuses on minimizing the processing required to render an image as early in the processing of a scene as possible, so that only the pixels that actually will be seen by the end user consume processing resources. This approach minimizes memory and power while improving processing throughput, but it is more complex, according to Imagination Technologies Group.
The company creates and licenses embedded graphics, video and display accelerators, multi-threaded processors and multi-standard receiver technologies.
These IP solutions are complemented by dynamic and extensive developer and middleware ecosystems. Target markets include digital radio and audio; mobile phone multimedia; personal media players (PMP); in-car navigation and driver information; personal navigation devices (PND); Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) and Mobile Internet Device (MID); digital TV & set-top box; and mobile TV. The iPhone and most other mobile devices use a version of Imagination’s PowerVR MBX graphics processor core that supports features of OpenGL ES 1.1.
“By gaining exclusive access to new generations of mobile graphics technology from Imagination’s portfolio and pairing them with custom-designed SoCs, Apple can differentiate its products from other smartphones and mobile Internet devices with an edge in performance while offering full support for industry standard OpenGL ES graphics,” notes AppleInsider. “It should also be noted, however, that the door is open for Apple to incorporate future versions of Intel’s Atom line of mobile processors, which also incorporate Imagination’s PowerVR graphics cores.”
“Macsimum News” is a proud supporter of Planet Gumbo, which feeds the hungry. We urge you to help them in their efforts.
Article Information
Comment on this Article Print this Article Email this Article Digg This
Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
