Qualcomm was the first chipmaker to introduce support for updateable GPU drivers with the launch of Snapdragon 865. A few months later, ARM also announced support for the same. That said, Xiaomi became the first OEM to release an app to update GPU drivers on its devices earlier this year. The company was later followed by OPPO and vivo. Now, Samsung has also joined this bandwagon with its new GameDriver app.

Smartphones are the gateway to the internet in many developing nations. They are also the people’s first computer and gaming device. Therefore, with the introduction of more affordable smartphones, the smartphone gaming industry has been growing at a higher rate than ever before.

As a result, a new breed of handsets called gaming smartphones emerged. Even companies began to promote gaming on their devices no matter whether it is a premium or budget device.

With the growth of this industry, chipmakers added support for updateable GPU drivers just like on PC. Therefore, with a  proper app, OEMs can deliver GPU driver updates without relying on system updates. This also allows them to fix issues quickly.

Coming back to Samsung, the South Korean tech giant calls its GPU updater app GameDriver and it is part of the firm’s Galaxy GameDev initiative. There are two variants of this app, one for ARM Mali GPUs (Exynos-powered phones) and another for Qualcomm Adreno GPUs (Snapdragon-powered phones). Both of them are available on Google Play Store as well as Samsung Galaxy Store.

Currently, these apps are only applicable to the Galaxy S20 series and Galaxy Note20 series. Also, they only support the following games – Call of Duty: Mobile, Black Desert, and Fortnite.

Having said that, we can expect the support to extend for more handsets and games in the coming months since Samsung has partnered with more than 50 game studios, publishers, tool developers, game engine companies, and GPU vendors.

UP NEXT: Samsung records highest smartphone shipments in 3 years in Q3 2020

(Via)

The post Samsung releases GameDriver app to update GPU drivers on its phones appeared first on Gizmochina.

iQOO flagship devices have finally received the GPU driver update. According to a report, users in China have downloaded the GPU drivers via the official app store.

A report by ITHome says that iQOO 3 and iQOO 5 now support GPU driver update via the respective App Store. With this, the company follows Xioami, and OPPO who have already delivered the feature to their flagships earlier. That said, the report also quotes iQOO product manager Ge Lan V saying the updates are supported only from Snapdragon 865/865+ and 765/765G. And not 855 from 2018.

This is true, as Qualcomm announced the feature during the launch of Snapdragon 865 flagship SoC. It basically follows Google’s Project Mainline like process where Users can update their GPU drivers via the official App Store. Previously, GPU drivers were patched along with System files that gets routed via carriers.

EDITOR’S PICK: Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra is the first device to support Qualcomm Adreno GPU Control Panel

However, you can now download the GPU drivers separately and update them. This quickly enables games to adapt to the latest driver features thereby improving performance, and stability. As you can see in the screenshot below, the version is currently spotted by Chinese users. And hence, we will have to wait and see if it arrives in the other regions as well.

1 of 2

Simply put, updateable GPU drivers opens a new world where features of OpenGL or Vulkan API can be delivered swiftly to users. Apart from Qualcomm, ARM is another company who also announced GPU drivers support.

After Qualcomm announced the feature, Xiaomi was the first company to bring the feature to Adreno 650 GPU present on its flagships like Mi 10, Mi 10 Pro, Redmi K30 Pro, and more. Following this, OPPO brought it to devices like Find X2 and Find X2 Pro.

UP NEXT: iQOO Neo3 gets 300 yuan discount; 6GB + 128GB model available for 2,398 yuan ($358)

The post iQOO 3/5 users can now download the GPU Driver Update in China : Report appeared first on Gizmochina.

With the launch of Snapdragon 865 and Snapdragon 765/765G SoCs, Qualcomm announced support for updateable GPU drivers via app store. Xiaomi became the first OEM to deliver driver update to Adreno 650 GPU present in its Mi 10, Mi 10 Pro, and Redmi K30 Pro. Now, following the footsteps of Qualcomm, ARM also announces similar support for its Mali GPUs.

GPU driver updates on Android has been hindered for years as it takes months for OEMs to push them via OTA update. To solve this problem, Qualcomm introduced updateable GPU drivers through smartphone manufacturer’s default app store like Google Play Store.

This way users can get access to new features from OpenGL or Vulkan API without waiting for OTA system updates from the manufacturers. Also, graphic performances and bug fixes can be easily maintained with this approach just like on PCs.

Thus, realizing the benefits of this move, ARM has also joined the bandwagon but did not reveal the GPUs that will support it. As XDA Developers points out, it could be initially supported by the newly announced Mali-G78 GPU, which debuted alongside Cortex-A78 CPU architecture.

Additionally, ARM also announced support for Android GPU Inspector for its upcoming GPUs, which is an open-source profiling tool that helps game developers to optimize graphic performance.

UP NEXT: Arm has replaced the CEO of its joint venture in China

(Source)

The post ARM announces support for updateable GPU drivers appeared first on Gizmochina.