Here’s why the phones of 2017 will be all about VR

While today’s smartphones have the ability to provide adequate virtual reality experience, they often have shortcomings. Dormancy and inactivity may be an issue as the nature of VR is to excise the processor. Mobile VR also doesn’t support much interactivity, meaning you cannot touch or pick things up in the virtual environment, a feature crucial for games.

As a solution, makers need to design smartphones at the next level if they intend to deliver a real presence and a strong VR experience.

That’s where ARM Holdings, which designs the architecture for almost all of the world’s mobile processors, comes in. The company announced a new type of chip, the Cortex-A73, designed with VR at the top of the mind. Additionally, ARM has unveiled a new graphics engine, the Mali-G71.

“When you think about the trends in virtual reality, augmented reality… latency is a huge deal when using a VR headset. You move your head, and the screen's got to move. Any lag in that, and it can be pretty unpleasant. Refresh rate is key, you don't want any flicker at all,” said Simon Segars, CEO of ARM.

Both new designs are made to improve performance, while also saving energy. The Cortex-A73 performs 30% better and more efficient than the previous A72. The new Mali boosts performance by 50% and is 20% more energy efficient. The power increase is crucial as mobile VR won’t matter if your phone’s battery drains too fast to enjoy the experience.

While ARM doesn’t actually build processors, this is the first step toward the creation of the next generation of mobile devices. Chipmakers can take ARM’s design and begin creating designs for next year’s flagship smartphones. ARM confirmed that it is already working with Samsung, MediaTek, and HiSilicon.

ARM’s new designs will simplify the process for handset makers to build VR-ready smartphones. In the near future, we can expect to see phones with turbocharged processors, 4K screens, and very low latency. The mobile industry is predicting that VR will be a huge hit.

Source: Mashable