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Mobile

MIPS Technologies: Driving the Next Generation of Mobile Devices

MIPS Technologies has long been known for its leadership in markets such as the digital home and networking. In 2010, the company announced its entry into a new market: mobile devices.

MIPS' move into the mobile market is driven on the applications processing side by the advent and growing popularity of the Android™ operating system. Because of the openness of Android, designers are no longer tied to a specific architecture for mobile because of the operating system. They can now choose a processor architecture based on its merits.

A Defining Moment

In November 2011, Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' became available, and the first tablet to deliver this latest version of Android to the market was the Ainol Novo7 Basic, powered by a MIPS-Based™ processor from Ingenic Semiconductor.

This was a defining moment: the first time a new version of Android made it to the market on a MIPS-Based product before other products of that type came to market. The first Android 4.0 tablet in the market was MIPS! This milestone showed two things: first, that Android is a portable operating system which is not tied to any particular processor architecture; and second that MIPS is a credible alternative for the mobile market.

To-date, millions of MIPS-Based mobile devices have shipped. These devices feature highly-competitive specifications that are already attracting a significant user community, especially in emerging markets.

MIPS Mobile

MIPS across the Mobile and Cellular Spectrum

The MIPS architecture is at the core of much of the world’s mobile infrastructure, from basestations to radio network controllers to backhaul equipment. Numerous MIPS licensees are building products to support the need for ultra-high performance in the mobile and network infrastructure. This includes 32-bit processors and many-core 64-bit implementations based on MIPS. The legendary performance of MIPS makes it the architecture of choice for these demanding applications.

As smartphones and tablets have demanded higher levels of performance and lower power consumption to enable worry-free mobile use, designers of this mobile user equipment are now increasingly turning to MIPS licensees for SoCs that are peerless when it comes to delivering what mobile users want: high performance with exceptional power management.

MIPS Mobile

In phones, tablets and other mobile user equipment, MIPS is of course not just about the applications processor. There are numerous processors in each mobile device, handling functions such as baseband processing, multi-touch controllers and connectivity including near field communications (NFC), GPS, Bluetooth and WiFi. Each of these areas can benefit from the performance efficiency of MIPS, and numerous companies have already chosen MIPS to provide solutions for such applications.

MIPS Mobile
MIPS has high performance, low power cores that can differentiate mobile solutions including applications processing, baseband processing, multi-touch controllers and wireless connectivity

Without a doubt, MIPS-Based solutions are proliferating across the mobile spectrum, and designers are turning to our licensees to create high-performance, low-power, cost-effective and tightly integrated silicon platforms that will meet the demands of even the most discerning users.

MIPS Solutions

For mobile devices such as tablets, the MIPS architecture is inherently more performance and power efficient than the competition. Technologies such as multi-threading provide further power and cost advantages.

MIPS' broad portfolio of processor architectures and cores provide an ideal range of solutions for mobile applications. For applications processing, the MIPS32®74K™ core provides high single thread performance, while minimizing power consumption through its small die size. For baseband processing, the multi-threading capability of the MIPS32 34K™ core and the MIPS32 1004K™ Coherent Processing System can lead to unparalleled power efficiency and low latency through zero overhead context switches. For wireless connectivity, the MIPS32 M14K™ core achieves right-sized performance with small die size through its advanced code compression architecture. And for NFC, the MIPS32 M4K™ core provides the smallest die size with the performance needed from a 32-bit processor.

Fast-Growing Mobile Ecosystem for MIPS

To support the need for fast time-to-market, customers will benefit from the rapidly expanding mobile ecosystem around the MIPS architecture, including tools, middleware and operating systems such as Android. MIPS licensees can depend upon this ecosystem to facilitate their success.

Some third party support for MIPS in mobile—including solutions for apps development, design services, advanced graphics, DSP, security, baseband software stacks, development tools and more—comes from companies including Wipro, Borqs, ArcherMind, Interdigital, 4M Wireless, L&T Infotech, Tata Elxsi, MimoOn, Discretix, Ceva, Imagination Technologies, Vivante, Mentor Graphics, Express Logic and numerous other companies.

Please contact MIPS to be connected with a representative who will determine the most appropriate solutions and partners for your specific application and needs.