Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
For a short interval this June, NVIDIA turned essentially the most worthwhile firm on the earth after surpassing Microsoft and Apple by a slim margin. The corporate’s huge valuation bounce comes from the AI growth led by OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and others. Till just lately, NVIDIA was virtually solely identified for making graphics {hardware} that focused players and creatives. Return just some extra years, nonetheless, and NVIDIA was making an attempt to turn out to be a dominant participant within the Android ecosystem.
After all, NVIDIA’s presence within the smartphone trade was short-lived and we haven’t seen the corporate attempt to break into it once more because the mid-2010s. Regardless of these setbacks, nonetheless, NVIDIA exerts larger affect over the fashionable smartphone expertise than maybe many people understand. Right here’s the story of how that transformation occurred and why a historically graphics-oriented firm right this moment holds many clues to the way forward for Android.
The Tegra gamble
Over a decade later, it’s simple to neglect NVIDIA’s makes an attempt to seize the Android market in its early days. The primary-generation Nexus 7 in 2012, for instance, was powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor. The quad-core chip was a powerhouse on the time and propelled the Nexus 7 to widespread reward.
On the time, NVIDIA appeared unstoppable as Tegra more and more appeared like it could drive the following era of Android gadgets. A yr later in 2013, we witnessed the launch of the Tegra 4, which was considerably extra highly effective and designed particularly for cell gadgets. It will additionally go on to energy the NVIDIA Protect, the corporate’s first-ever moveable gaming console.
Nevertheless, regardless of robust efficiency benchmarks, the Tegra line of SoCs failed to realize widespread adoption. Regardless that NVIDIA went the additional mile to port high-profile PC video games like Portal, it didn’t discover sufficient Protect Transportable consumers to justify persevering with the product line. The LG G2 Mini was one of many final smartphones to characteristic an NVIDIA chip — its Tegra 4i was a cut-down model of the Protect’s SoC. And shortly after the Tegra X1 powered the Pixel C in 2015, NVIDIA silently bowed out of the smartphone and pill market.
NVIDIA’s Tegra chips have not graced Android telephones or tablets since 2015.
A few years later, the Tegra model would see a resurgence with the Nintendo Change’s launch in 2017. However regardless that the Change turned a runaway success, the Tegra line didn’t see a renewed curiosity from smartphone manufacturers.
Nevertheless, NVIDIA continued to make use of the identical Tegra X1 chip for its Protect line, which had morphed right into a high-end Android TV field fairly than a flat-out gaming console. With full help for then-emerging show specs like 4K video out, HDMI 2.0, HDR, and VP9 video codec help, it’s simple to see why the Protect turned universally beloved regardless of its premium price ticket.
Quick ahead almost a decade and the Protect stays the one direct hyperlink between NVIDIA and Android, however that doesn’t imply the corporate doesn’t affect the trade anymore. Fairly the alternative, in reality.
NVIDIA’s unstated affect over Android
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
Within the late 2010s, NVIDIA silently however strategically shifted its focus to its core strengths within the PC graphics market. Throughout this time, its dominance within the GPU trade solidified and it benefited from two huge cryptocurrency mining hype cycles. Nevertheless, it was the corporate’s resolution to rebrand its line of GPUs from GTX to RTX that will create ripple results within the smartphone trade.
Whereas NVIDIA was initially criticized for the best way it marketed ray tracing, the characteristic has since turn out to be a staple on fashionable GPUs. Cell SoCs from Apple, Qualcomm, MediaTek, and Samsung all help hardware-accelerated ray tracing. And regardless that we have now but to see many video games benefit from the characteristic on cell, NVIDIA deserves credit score for advancing the know-how.
Quick ahead to the early 2020s and NVIDIA made headlines with its plan to buy Arm for $40 billion. Arm’s CPU structure and cores are present in nearly each cell chip in the marketplace, from Tegra to Snapdragon. Nevertheless, the acquisition was in the end blocked by US regulators. Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped NVIDIA from influencing the patron electronics trade.
NVIDIA’s GPUs practice the vast majority of generative AI fashions that fashionable smartphones depend on.
As corporations like Google and Microsoft race to combine extra AI options into their merchandise than ever earlier than, many of those new capabilities depend on generative AI fashions skilled immediately on NVIDIA’s {hardware}. Enterprise-grade NVIDIA GPUs just like the A100 and H100 are briefly provide for that purpose, with costs topping $40,000 every. However NVIDIA isn’t shifting away from the patron market and even the moveable electronics trade.
NVIDIA is gearing as much as tackle Apple and Qualcomm as soon as once more — simply not within the smartphone trade this time. In accordance with a Reuters report, NVIDIA is planning to launch a Home windows on Arm chip someday subsequent yr — proper after Qualcomm’s exclusivity take care of Microsoft involves an finish.
Likewise, we solely just lately heard the primary credible rumors of a successor to the Nintendo Change, which is anticipated to debut later this yr or early 2025. In accordance with a number of sources, NVIDIA’s Tegra T239 processor would be the chip to energy this upcoming Nintendo console. If historical past repeats itself, we may lastly see the corporate launch a correct successor to the Protect TV backed by this Tegra chip.
The present-gen Protect TV gadgets from 2019 use the Tegra X1+, which is barely a beefed up variant of the unique Tegra X1 chip. It’s maybe for that reason that we haven’t seen a brand new mainline launch of the Android TV field in half a decade. In the meantime, the corporate has been experimenting with RTX Video Tremendous Decision and SDR-to-HDR options on its GPUs to nice impact. Whereas 2019’s Protect Professional already included a succesful AI upscaling device, 5 years of DLSS developments plus RTX Video HDR may make the next-generation Protect a compelling buy.
Upscaling and computerized HDR conversion need to make their method over to Android telephones and tablets too, because it may considerably enhance gaming and content material consumption experiences, though we’ll have to take a look at Qualcomm and MediaTek to step up. And by chance, they’re doing simply that with options like Snapdragon Recreation Tremendous Decision.
So whereas NVIDIA not produces smartphone SoCs because it as soon as tried with the Tegra line, its give attention to AI, video, and graphics continues to affect the Android and broader tech ecosystems. Its latest stint because the world’s most respected firm solely lasted every week, however NVIDIA’s upward trajectory is unquestionable. Solely time will inform how lengthy this unprecedented development will final.