Next-gen iOS GPU licensing begins

Imagination Technologies has announced that six companies are now licensing its next-generation mobile graphics processing unit architecture. Codenamed “Rogue”, the PowerVR Series6 architecture is said by the company to deliver “unrivalled GFLOPS per mm2 and per mW for all APIs,” and “not only a clear technology advantage and exceptional roadmap, driven by one of the largest teams of graphics engineers in the world, but also an extensive ecosystem of third party developers which has created hundreds of thousands of apps optimised for POWERVR enabled devices to date.” Imagination said ST-Ericsson, Texas Instruments, and MediaTek are all Series6 partners, while the other three licensees—a group that likely includes Apple—have yet to be announced. Apple currently employs Imagination’s GPU designs in its iOS devices, most recently in the iPad 2, which uses the PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU, and also owns a 9.5 percent stake in the company. [via Mac Rumors]