Low-cost mobile 3D graphics will get much better with latest Imagination Technology's latest designs

Imagination Technologies is unveiling its new series of mobile 3D graphics chip designs today at the 2014 International CES tradeshow in Las Vegas. And it means mobile devices are going to get better at rendering eye-popping 3D visuals.

At the world’s largest tech event, the London-based Imagination is unveiling its new family of PowerVR Series6XE Rogue graphics cores that bring a new level of 3D quality to cost-sensitive mass-market applications. The chips will be the foundation for new mobile devices coming in the next year or so. Imagination is also showing its Series6XT graphics cores that are 50 percent faster than previous versions.

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Imagination designs graphics intellectual property and processors that other companies use in their chips. Imagination’s PowerVR series leads the market in mobile, where performance and power efficiency are both important, and it is a major reason why hundreds of millions of chips ship each year with the company’s technology.

The new family includes the world’s smallest graphics core for OpenGL ES 3.0 and OpenCL platforms. Its market consists of entry-level mobile devices and tablets as well as wearable devices and digital TVs. The cores are for devices with limited memory but need good graphics.

Imagination competes with rivals such as Intel, ARM, and Nvidia.

Imagination has multiple Series6XE cores available for different markets, such as set-top boxes, low-cost 4K UltraHD TVs, and tablets. Smartphone shipments are expected to surpass 1 billion units in 2013, and many of those are for low-cost devices where Imagination is targeting its newest cores.

Martin Ashton, the executive vice president of engineering at Imagination, said, “With the introduction of these new PowerVR Series6XE Rogue cores, Imagination is deepening its focus on cost-sensitive entry-level designs where silicon area, power consumption and bandwidth usage are critical concerns.”

The chips using the graphics cores will be able to run 3D graphics like those shown in Unity’s demo dubbed The Chase.