GPU - An integral part of a smartphone

In the past couple of years, Smartphones and Tablets have covered a journey unbelievable and are improving at the speeds unimaginable. Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), which is often ignored by ordinary buyers of smartphones, is a very important internal part of these gadgets.

GPU - Graphics Processing Unit

As the name suggests, GPU is responsible for processing gaphics - 2D & 3D videos, pictures, HD games and HD videos. Better the GPU, better would be the video watching and gaming experience.

Two phones having same GPU can have different graphic processing speeds and they may have varied performance. Size and resolution of the screen bears an impact on GPU performance. For higher resolution and large size of the screen, more processing of graphics is required, which adds pressure on the GPU.

Like other technologies, GPUs have also been evolving. There are several powerful microchip companies which produce GPUs.

They compete for better Quality - higher frame rate, faster encoding and decoding - and higher Efficiency - better quality with lower battery consumption.

Here are some processors...

Qualcomm's Adreno series 

• Adreno200 used in Samsung Galaxy Ace (S5830), Wildfire S, Galaxy S Duos
• Adreno205 used in Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S, Xperia mini pro (SK17i), LIVE with Walkman, HTC Incredible S, HTC Desire S
• Adreno220 used in Sony Xperia S, HTC Evo 3D, HTC Sensation
• Adreno225 used in HTC One S, Nokia Lumia 920, 1020
• Adreno305 used in Nokia Lumia 720, 520, 620, Xperia M, L, Galaxy Mega 6.3
• Adreno320 used in HTC One, Sony Xperia Z, SP, ZL, Z LTE, HTC One Max, Oppo N1
• Adreno330 used in Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1, Nokia Lumia 2520
   

Adreno200< 205< 220< 225< 305< 320<330

------------------------>performance

for more details about Adreno processors click here

For full updated exhaustive list of smartphones grouped according to their GPUs, click here.

ARM's Mali Series

• Mali 400MP used in Samsung Galaxy note, Galaxy S II (I9100), and Micromax Funbook. About Mali 400MP - The world's first OpenGL ES 2.0 conformant multi-core GPU provides 2D and 3D acceleration with performance scalable up to 1080p resolutions, while maintaining ARM leadership on power and bandwidth efficiency. For more information click here
• Mali T604
• Mali T658

For full updated exhaustive list of smartphones grouped according to their GPUs, click here.

Imagination's PowerVR 

Series 5 (SGX)

• SGX530 used in Nokia N9
• SGX531 used in Micromax A110 Canvas 2
• SGX535 used in iPhone 4
• SGX540 used in Kindle Fire, RIM Playbook
• SGX544 used in Blackberry Q10, Micromax A116 Canvas HD

Series 5XT (SGXMP)

• SGX543MP2(Dual core) used in iPhone 4S, iPad 2
• SGX543MP3(Triple core) used in iPhone 5c
• SGX543MP4(Quad core) used in iPad 3, Sony Playstation Vita
• SGX544MP3 used in Samsung I9500 Galaxy S4
• SGX544MP2 used in Micromax Canvas HD A116

Series 6 GPU 

• PowerVR G6430 (Quad core) used in iPhone 5s, iPad Mini 2, iPad Air

for more information click here

Adreno 220, Mali 400MP and PowerVR SGX543MP2 are similar in terms of tech ability *. 

*As I said earlier, performance of GPU also depends upon screen size and resolution.

For full updated exhaustive list of smartphones grouped according to their GPUs, click here.