Nvidia Tegra 3 Almost Done, Tegra 4 On the Way

When it comes to ARM-based System-on-Chips, we really like what Nvidia's doing with Tegra. But for one reason or another, aside from the Zune HD, the Tegra chipset hasn't been adopted as widely as Nvidia hoped.

Even though Tegra 2 is right now one of the more impressive ARM-based packages, it hasn't found any homes. That will change when LG launches its Optimus phones later this year, but are Tegra 2's days coming to an end?

That could be the case, as Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang said today that it is putting the finishing touches on Tegra 3 and that the work has already begun on the next-generation after that for Tegra 4. In fact, Nvidia said to expect a new Tegra every year.

While we like what Nvidia promises with each of its Tegra SoCs, we're still waiting on the real world products for Tegra 2.

(Source: Engadget.)

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • Warsaw
    That seems rather fast they are putting these SoCs out.
    Reply
  • tipoo
    Tegra 2 hasn't even made it into many products yet, why steal its thunder with this announcement?
    Reply
  • dotaloc
    Tegra has always looked neat, and benchmarked well...but it has to find a market...or be implemented in a market, rather.

    Hopefully T3 will be adopted by more devices.
    Reply
  • dallaswits
    Wonder what the future holds for nvidia.
    As much as i love the company, things seem to be going badly for them.
    Reply
  • mavroxur
    And yet none of the Tegra line has experienced much market exposure. You can release Tegra 4,5,6,7,8,9, and 10, but if hardly any of them make it into a few devices here and there, whats the point?
    Reply
  • Is the Tegra 3 a new SoC... or is it a rebranded Tegra 2? I heard a rumor that Nvidia likes to do the rebranding thing.

    You decide!
    Reply
  • personally, I'm waiting for Notion Ink's Adam (Tegra 2 inside). According to what i saw it's supposed to rock
    Reply
  • False_Dmitry_II
    Maybe the next zune will use one of these new ones?
    Reply
  • IM0001
    I am wondering what the problem with Tegra adoption is. The ZuneHD performed great with the Tegra 1. Tegra 2 had places it was going to be and at the last minute looked to be kicked out by an Intel replacement. So why is it so hard for Tegra to break in and find a home? Is it licensing? propitiatory tech? What? I also would like to see and ATI(AMD) chip similar to the Tegra but until they start getting adopted, I can see AMD hold off on that move.
    Reply
  • sdedalus83
    New ARM SoCs take a long time to go from a finalized design to volume production. OMAP4 was complete more than a year ago and it won't find its way into any products until late this year. If they're just finishing Tegra 3 right now, Tegra 2 should have 12 to 18 months before getting shifted to lower end products.
    Reply