Nvidia is best known for its powerful PC graphics cards, but did you know that once upon a time you could buy Nvidia phones too?
Did you know that one day you will be able to buy smartphones based on Nvidia?
Nowadays, it is almost impossible to use Nvidia technology on PC (due to the global chip shortage in 2022), but did you know that you could still buy Nvidia phones not so long ago? Many smartphones and other small devices were once powered by low-power Nvidia chipsets. We are of course talking about Nvidia’s Tegra series of processors, which once opposed the systems on a chip (SoC) of Qualcomm, Samsung and other companies.
Yes, many of the chipsets that now power Nintendo Switch consoles and Nvidia Shield media players date back to the earliest smartphones of their ancestors. In fact, the first product to use the Nvidia Tegra chipset is Microsoft Zune HD 2009. Microsoft Kin is the first mobile phone to use this chipset. They were not the most popular products, but since then the company has been more successful.
Android is supported by the Nvidia Nextgen Tegra 2 chipset, backed by the more powerful dual-core Arm CortexA9 processor and the extremely low power GeForce GPU. Tegra 2 maintained the crown of Android performance for several months, especially compared to the traditional single-core processors in the market, but when the Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 dual-core processors appeared at the end of the market, that advantage was a short-lived Samsung. . drive. Exynos 4 pairs.
The chipset has been successful in the 2010 Motorola Droid X2 and LG Optimus 2X phones equipped with Android, although neither have been sold as hot rolls. Tegra 2 is also suitable for many other smartphones, tablets and even some laptops from different manufacturers. The most memorable version of Tegra 2 is the Samsung Galaxy R 2011. The Galaxy R is a derivative of the Galaxy S2 with a “Tegra Zone” app that allows users to download games optimized for the device. The idea continues. As long as you’re in 2011, this chip is way above the middle class, and it’s not as powerful as the flagship Galaxy S2.
In 2011, Nvidia released Tegra 3. This next-generation chipset features a quad-core CortexA9 processor with NEON extensions and 5 additional processors. It is a multimedia device more powerful than its predecessor. Tegra 3 has been used in some memorable Android smartphones. The list includes HTC One X, HTC One X +, and LG Optimus 4X. One X and X + received particularly high marks and played a key role in HTC’s rise to be one of the big players in smartphone gaming, and they’ve been equally impressive ever since.
Nvidia’s Tegra 3 may also have a higher clock rate, so it is suitable for tablets and cellphones. Tegra 3 is available for Nexus 7 (2012), Asus Transformer Pad, Sony Xperia Tablet S and models. original. Microsoft interface. It’s also the driving force behind Ouya’s failed Android game console. Beyond smartphones, although Nvidia’s Tegra was used in some Android smartphones in the early 2010s, it didn’t last long. With the advent of central processing units, smartphone chipsets became more and more complex, and in the years that followed, the role of GPUs diminished compared to advanced network and coprocessor functions.
Instead, Nvidia turned its chipset ambitions towards tablets, multimedia, and ultimately handheld game consoles. 201 Tegra 4 of 3 ushered in this change, and its power-hungry 72-core GPU configuration makes it 7 times more powerful than Tegra 3. Combined with a 1.9 GHz quad-core CortexA15 processor, a power-saving auxiliary core, LPDDR3 memory, and several hardware video decoding units, Tegra 4 continues to perform well on Android tablets. The Mojo and Xiaomi Mi 3 smartphones (a slimmed down version of the Tegra 4i with a CortexA9 quad-core GPU and 60 cores) power the LG G2 Mini, a privacy-friendly Silent Circle Blackphone, and a pair of Tegra. To the 4 smartphones of the company. Vico.
In 2014, Nvidia released Tegra K1 with powerful 192-core Kepler graphics and the option to install a quad-core CortexA15 processor or the charming Denver dual-core processor. The traditional arm core model is more popular. This version is suitable for a small number of tablets, and even a few Chromebooks from Acer and HP. Although it has appeared on many Nvidia phones and other devices over the past decade, Tegra’s great commercial success has made Arrived. It lasted until 2017, until the release of the Nintendo Switch. Tegra X1 2015 and higher are installed on the handheld console.