Arm shows off its own ASR upscaler tech optimized for mobile devices, based on AMD's FSR 2

In brief: Arm has introduced a new upscaling technology designed specifically for mobile devices. Arm Accuracy Super Resolution, or Arm ASR for short, is based on AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution 2 (FSR 2) upscaler. It is a temporal upscaler, meaning it combines information from multiple frames to generate output.

Conversely, spatial upscalers work on a frame-by-frame basis and generally have lower requirements. A temporal approach can be more expensive from a computational standpoint but often provides higher quality results from lower resolution source material.

Early test results look promising. A commercially available device powered by an Arm Immortalis-G720 GPU (2,800 x 1,260 display resolution) running the Arm ASR upscaler outperformed all other techniques when rendering a modified version of the popular bistro scene . According to Arm, the relative framerate at 2x upscaling was 53 percent higher compared to the device's native performance.

Arm ASR also delivers significant power savings. On a MediaTek Dimensity 9300 handset, the upscaler (in performance mode) reduced power consumption by roughly 25 percent. That may not sound like a lot but on a mobile device where thermal throttling is a major concern and battery life is finite, savings like these will result in smoother overall experience with greater uptime. Reduced power consumption also means devices run cooler and will be more comfortable in the hand.

Arm's new upscaler has a lot going for it, and not just in terms of performance. Because it is based on FSR2, the API and configuration options should be familiar to developers that have already worked with AMD's solution.

Best yet, Arm is sharing the tech with the community under an MIT open-source license. Interested parties are invited to reach out to become early adopters. We can't wait to see what developers are able to do with it.

Arm is not the first to develop an upscaler for mobile devices. Qualcomm in April 2023 introduced Snapdragon Game Super Resolution (GSR), a single-pass, spatially aware upscaler that supports most GPUs but is optimized for its Adreno chips.

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Arm shows off its own ASR upscaler tech optimized for mobile devices, based on AMD's FSR 2

I wonder what Apple does, as I've stated before handhelds and tablets are going to see a huge increase, Super HDR screens , faster more efficient GPUs. No wonder Apple is allowing emulators, if has no choice. Add in 5G, magnetic attachable keyboards, these devices will replace some laptops, though this tech will also grow the laptop space.
Plus microsoft and Sony , need to incorporate these handholds into their next consoles , for couch coop gaming. The console being the server and main screen
Interesting times

I think closed networks will be at a big disadvantage . You see Sony now opening up. Not sure Apple ever would . except for allowing apps to work on PS6 etc

Interestingly, on the surface, Nvidia's DLSS has the highest adoption rate in games. But if we consider that a lot of "bespoke" upscaling solution from ARM, Qualcomm and Apple are based off FSR 2.0, it just shows that FSR 2.0's adoption/ impact is actually greater than what we think. And what I mentioned does not include the likes of PS5, which I believe should also be using some sort of FSR plus their own checkerboard upscaling.