Arm's new Mali GPU powers Xiaomi's latest foldable and promises PC-like gaming on phones
Xiaomi's 18 Fold, released in mainland China, uses Arm's Mali G2-Ultra NX GPU, which adds AI-driven graphics features that could dramatically boost mobile game performance.
Xiaomi has launched its 18 Fold smartphone in mainland China, equipping it with a bespoke Xring O3 SoC that houses Arm's newly unveiled Mali G2-Ultra NX graphics unit. This GPU marks the first commercial use of Arm's AI gaming accelerator, a five-year development that brings capabilities akin to Nvidia's DLSS, including neural upscaling, frame-rate interpolation and ray reconstruction. Arm says the combined "neural graphics" suite can raise effective frame rates by up to four times while the chip consumes no more than 2.5 watts, with the GPU portion limited to 1.5 watts.
Initial games will support AI-based supersampling, with full frame-generation slated for early 2027 and denoising arriving shortly after. The company also highlighted the Xiaomi Pad 9 Pro Max tablet, which pairs the same GPU with a larger battery and screen, showcasing 3.2K resolution at 120 fps. Arm's EVP of Edge AI, Chris Bergey, indicated that the technology will extend beyond Chinese phones to other flagship devices, tablets and possibly Chromebooks, bringing advanced graphics to a broader mobile market.
Why it matters
The new GPU could bring console-level visual quality to smartphones without sacrificing battery life.
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