GPU Turbo aims to address smartphones' graphic performance challenge: Honor

Co-developed by Huawei and Honor, the GPU Turbo technology is claimed to boost graphic performance by around 60 per cent while reducing the energy consumption by around 30 per cent

Chinese smartphone manufacturer and online sub-brand of Huawei, Honor, on June 7 announced Honor Play – a gaming-centric smartphone with Kirin 970 system-on-chip, in China. The device is the first Honor smartphone to feature the GPU Turbo technology co-developed Huawei and Honor. It is claimed to boost graphic performance by around 60 per cent while reducing the energy consumption by around 30 per cent. The technology will soon be available for other Honor smartphones, including the Honor 10, Honor View10, Honor 9 Lite and Honor 7X.

In an emailed interaction with Business Standard, Honor shared some insights about the GPU Turbo technology and its future applications in the field of technology. Edited excerpts:

What is GPU Turbo and how does it work? 

• GPU Turbo is a hardware-software integrated graphics processing acceleration technology. It reconstructs the traditional graphics processing framework at the lower layer system, improving the user experience.
• GPU Turbo will improve graphics processing efficiency by 60 per cent while reducing the SoC energy consumption by 30 per cent, exceeding the limits of the balance between smartphone performance and energy consumption.
• With greater rendering ability, Honor devices would now be able to achieve outstanding graphics quality with GPU Turbo, even if the mobile game application does not support HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging.
• The demand for graphics processing capability in smartphones has surged. Today’s popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games demand heavily on smartphones’ graphics processing capability. Cutting-edge technologies like AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality) and image rendering that also demand high graphic processing ability. GPUs for mobile platforms have always faced a series of technical constraints like storage, heat dissipation and energy consumption. To address these challenge, Huawei and Honor has designed the GPU Turbo, a key technological breakthrough developed based on the companies’ accumulated experience in the graphic processing field.

Is it a software tweak that modifies GPU binaries or a hardware-software combination? 

GPU Turbo is a hardware-software integrated graphics processing acceleration technology. It reconstructs the traditional graphics processing framework at the lower layer system.

Is this technology limited to Kirin SoC, or can it be configured to work with other chipsets too? 

Currently, GPU Turbo is based on our own SoC (Kirin) to maximise its hardware-software capability. 

What would be the future applications for this technology – in smartphone and otherwise? 

• GPU Turbo will benefit mobile games that demand high graphics processing efficiency, enhancing the speed and optimising users’ gaming experience dramatically. 
• It will become the core capability of Honor smartphones, resulting in an integration between smartphone hardware and EMUI software, as well as a smoother top layer graphics application. 
• In the future, GPU Turbo will be able to support AR and VR, being applied in the sectors including virtual teaching, online shopping and telemedicine to create the best visual experience for users.

Are Huawei phone’s on-board too with this technology?

GPU Turbo is a co-developed by Huawei and Honor and will be applied to both Honor and Huawei phones.