Arm has detailed its latest AI-powered upscaling tech called the ‘Neural Super Sampling (NSS) for smartphone GPUs. It builds on the foundation laid by the Accuracy Super Resolution (ASR) from earlier this year. NSS has the potential to upscale from 540p resolution to 1080p at just 4nm per frame. This is while delivering near-native quality, says Arm.
Arm’s AI-powered upscaling tech for smartphone GPUs
While ASR runs natively on the GPU, NSS will use AI acceleration with dedicated AI cores. Arm notes that developers can save up to 50% of a smartphone’s GPU workload compared with rendering the full frame using typical methods. This workload can be used to reduce the overall power consumption, spend it on delivering a higher frame rate, or increasing the quality of visuals. The tech offers 2x upscaling, and ARM has a demo for us.
Thanks to NSS, developers can use AI to preserve surface detail, lighting, and motion clarity. This gives them the flexibility to balance visual fidelity with energy efficiency depending on the game’s needs. From 2026, Arm GPUs from the Mali and Immortalis lineups will come with NPU-class accelerators. These will be integrated into the cores and will power NSS. This approach is similar to Nvidia’s DLSS.
Developers to get the Neural Graphics Development Kit
Ahead of the release of GPUs with NPU-class accelerators, Arm is offering developers an open Neural Graphics Development Kit. This includes Vulkan-based PC emulation, profiling tools, ML extensions for Vulkan, Unreal Engine plugin, and open models.
The company’s ASR had a decent integration after its introduction. Games like Fortnite and Infinity Nikki offer the upscaling option. The same trend should repeat with NSS. Tencent, Epic Games, and NetEase are apparently working with it. Arm plans to expand the technology with features like Neural Super Sampling Denoising and Neural Frame Rate Upscaling in 2026.
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