GoKawiilEdgar Cervantes / Android Authority
There’s no escaping AI technologies these days, and when computer giant NVIDIA attempts to blend this hugely lucrative future with its gaming legacy, controversy soon follows. Its latest DLSS 5 technology is a prime example, not only building on its AI-infused frame generation and upscaling tech, but also generating its own “photoreal” pixels to replace original textures and lighting.
Where the PC and console industries lead, smartphones soon follow. It won’t be long before more and more smartphone games start using AI-assisted features to improve performance and image quality, like frame generation and upscaling. I’m skeptical but intrigued.
Arm is teasing new AI graphics features for upcoming GPUs.
On that note, Arm has just unveiled its new Neural Dawn technological showcase. Developed by Arm and Sumo Digital, Neural Dawn leverages Arm Neural Technology to become the first mobile game to deliver Unreal Engine’s MegaLights, which blends real-time, dynamic lighting with ray-traced shadows for console-like quality. The lighting in the tech demo video looks undeniably impressive.
Peering deeper into the Arm Neural Technology layer, we find familiar DLSS-like ideas trimmed down for mobile. Arm’s Neural Super Sampling (NSS) can deliver 540p to 1080p upscaling at just 4ms per frame, freeing up GPU resources for enhanced lighting and other effects. Neural Super Sampling and Denoising (NSSD) removes noise generated by ray tracing, while Neural Frame Rate Upscaling (NFRU) generates intermediate frames, making a 30fps base rate look closer to 60fps.
Arm Screenshot from Neural Dawn, by Arm and Sumo Digital
The only caveat is that Arm notes this is a showcase for next-generation Mali GPUs that will launch later this year, meaning we’ll likely have to upgrade to a new flagship phone to enjoy the benefits.
But Arm isn’t the only mobile GPU player rolling out AI-enhanced performance features. Qualcomm’s upcoming AI Frame Fusion (AIFF) — an improved version of Snapdragon Game Super Resolution — supports both frame generation and resolution upscaling. What’s quite interesting about Qualcomm’s proposition is that it can run on either the GPU or the NPU, if available, potentially making it more performant.
Apple’s MetalFX Upscaling uses a lighter neural spatial upscaler and a non-AI temporal option, allowing iPhones and iPads to power games like Resident Evil and No Man’s Sky. Likewise, MediaTek’s HyperEngine offers AI-based Variable Rate Shading and ray-tracing. Even the popular PC emulator GameNative integrated Lossless Scaling Frame Generation (LSFG) into its latest builds, which uses Vulkan on a traditional GPU layer rather than requiring “neural” or AI capabilities.
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