Freescale unveils broadest series of products based on Cortex-A9 technology
1 min read
Freescale Semiconductor has announced a series of quad, dual and single core applications processors targeting the smart mobile, automotive infotainment and embedded device markets.
The i.MX 6 series, integrates one, two or four ARM Cortex-A9 cores running at up to 1.2 GHz each, and delivers up to five times the performance of Freescale's current generation of applications processors. This is the first series of quadcore applications processors to utilise ARM Cortex-A9 cores.
Potential applications include mobile devices featuring 3d video playback, desktop quality gaming, augmented reality applications and content creation capabilities. According to Freescale, the series provides 'significant' battery life advantages over many of today's mobile devices.
"Our i.MX 6 series offers consumers the novel and uncompromised online experiences they demand from next-generation connected consumer electronic products," said Bernd Lienhard, vice president and general manager of Freescale's Multimedia Applications Division. "Low power, cost efficiency, enormous processing headroom and unmatched compatibility are at the heart of the i.MX 6 series."
According to Freescale, the series features 'industry leading' power consumption for applications such as hd 1080p video playback, up to 24 hours of hd video playback and 30 plus days of device standby time.
The series is one of the first applications processors to offer hardware support for the VP8 codec, while the compression technology provides users with fully accelerated WebM support.
"With the i.MX 6 series, Freescale offers the broadest and highest performance family of products based on Cortex-A9 technology of any vendor in the mobile processor segment," said Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at In-Stat. "The i.MX 6 family provides OEMs with a power efficient, scalable, and software compatible solution that meets the demands of a wide range of consumer and embedded applications."
The product series is comprised of the single core i.MX 6Solo, dual core i.MX 6Dual and quad core i.MX 6Quad processors. Freescale plans to begin sampling i.MX 6 series devices later this year.
