ARM introduces scaling technique to improve frame rates in mobile games and reduce power consumption

Chip designer ARM is joining the race for graphics scalers with Accuracy Super Resolution (ASR), a technology that promises to improve the graphics experience of mobile games while reducing power consumption. The project is open source and offered under an MIT license that imposes very few limitations on reuse.

ARM has based its ASR technology on AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR 2), which uses a combination of temporal super-resolution upscaling, advanced frame generation, and integrated latency reduction technology to improve gaming graphics and frame rates. FSR, DLSS (Nvidia) and XeSS (Intel), all offer upscaling technologies for desktop and laptop graphics cards, while ASR aims to do the same for mobile devices, where it also has an impact on battery life.

Upscaling technology isn’t common in mobile devices, but ARM isn’t the first to come up with one. In 2023, chipmaker Qualcomm announced Snapdragon Game Super Resolution (GSR), a spatial upscaling technique that works on a frame-by-frame basis. ASR’s (and FSR 2’s) temporal scaling is more complex, using multiple frames to generate a higher-quality image. According to the graph produced by ARM above these lines, ASR improves performance by up to 53%, outperforming FSR 2 and GSR in a test with the Immortalis-G720 GPU and 2,800 x 1,260 pixel resolution.

To provide results on the improvements in autonomy in mobile devices, ARM has also tested ASR on a device with MediaTek’s Dimensity 9300 chip. In this case, it has verified that its scaling technique consumes less energy than the native execution of a game at 1080p. In fact, ASR consumption in both quality and balanced modes seems closer to native rendering at 520p thanks to a CPU that contains the use of resources.

Although ARM only talks about ASR for mobile devices, its chips are now entering new territory, such as Windows laptops with Copilot+ that use Snapdragon processors. If the company decides to launch ASR in this arena, it will face competition, since Microsoft already has Automatic Super Resolution (Auto SR) in its arsenal, an AI scaling technology for games that does not require adaptation by the developer and that makes use of the NPU that all Copilot+ certified laptops equip.