The ARMv9.3 CPU and GPU generation is out. Yes, ARM announced it in the month of September 2025 and instead of three, there are four new CPU cores for us to look at. Understanding these CPU cores is very key if we are to understand the performance of the next generation of flagships and flagship killer processors.
ARM CPU and GPU Generations
Now let’s do a bit of revision. What do ARM CPU and GPU generation mean? Well that’s simple. It refers to the continuous stages development and improvement of ARM’s CPU and GPU designs over the years.
Each generation is usually better than the previous generations. For example, in the ARMv7 generation which is where I started, you had CPU cores like ARM Cortex A7 on the ubiquitous MediaTek MT6580 which was on everything. Yes, that processor was on everything from phones to tablets, and even TVs.
The ARMv8 generation brought substantial improvement to CPU performance and battery consumption. This is the stage where a lot of users still find themselves with CPU cores like Cortex A53, A55, A73, A75, A78 etc.
You may also be interested in:
- What is ARMv9?
- ARM’s new CPU and GPU lineups
- ARM have announced new CPUs and GPUs (Cortex X3, A715, immortalis)
- ARM’s new CPUs and GPUs (Cortex X4, A720, A520, Mali G720)
- ARM Cortex CPU cores in 2025 explained
We’re currently in the ARMv9 generation and we’re all the way up to ARMv9.3 CPU and GPU generation. There are a couple of CPUs and a GPU that we need to look at. These are:
- Cortex C1 Ultra (X9xx)
- Cortex C1 Premium
- Cortex C1 Pro (A7xx)
- Cortex C1 Nano (A5xx)
These are the four latest CPU cores in this generation and we’re going to look at them one by one. You can clearly see that ARM has made an attempt to rebrand these CPU cores and I’m not a fan of this rebranding at all.
ARM C1 Architecture Explained
| Name | Equivalent | Key Focus & Improvement |
|---|---|---|
| C1-Ultra | Flagship (Successor to Cortex-X925) | Peak performance. Up to 25% faster single-thread than X925, with better efficiency. |
| C1-Premium | New sub-flagship tier | Sustained power with smaller die size (up to 35% smaller than Ultra), perfect for “flagship killers”. |
| C1-Pro | Performance (Successor to Cortex-A725) | Mid-range meets sustained gaming power. Up to 16% faster in gaming vs A725. |
| C1-Nano | Efficiency (Successor to Cortex-A520) | Up to 26% more power efficient, designed for background + AI tasks. |
Cortex C1 Ultra
This is the latest flagship CPU from ARM. It replaces the Cortex X925 as ARM’s flagship CPU core for flagship SoCs. The C1 Ultra is 25% faster than the older X925 CPU core whilst consuming less battery. On the other hand it’s also going to be more expensive too.
Cortex C1 Premium
This CPU core is aimed at flagship killers and premium mid-range phones. It offers better performance and battery consumption whilst being cheaper than the C1 Ultra.
It is a new class of CPU core and it is not meant to replace any old models.
Cortex C1 Pro
The Cortex C1 Pro comes in as an upgrade to the older Cortex A725. It is mean as a performance core for flagship phones and it can also be sped up to act as a prime core for mid-range phones. The C1 Pro is primary meant to improve performance and battery consumption on mid-range devices.
Cortex C1 Nano
The C1 Nano is a battery efficiency core that replaces the good old Cortex A520 core. It is meant to increase battery life but not necessarily performance. According to ARM, this core is 26% more battery efficient than the older A520 CPU.
These CPU cores have already found there way onto the latest Dimensity 9500 flagship where they’re used in a typical 1+3+4 DynamIQ setup. You have:
- 1x Cortex C1 Ultra (4.21GHz)
- 3x Cortex C1 Premium (3.5GHz)
- 4x Cortex C1 Pro (2.7GHz)
MediaTek have refused for the last two years to use any battery efficiency CPUs on their flagships because their focus is on raw power.
GPU
There are two companies that compete in the mobile space when we discuss GPUs. These are ARM (Mali GPU) and Imagination Technologies (Power VR). So yeah, in addition to CPU cores, ARM also sells Mali GPUs. Some people have claimed, very erroneously, that MediaTek owns Mali GPUs. This is very false. They belong to ARM.
In this ARMv9.3 CPU and GPU generation, ARM only released one new GPU and that is the ARM Mali G1 Ultra GPU.
| Feature | Key Improvement |
|---|---|
| Ray Tracing Unit (RTUv2) | 2x ray tracing performance over Mali-G925 |
| Gaming Performance | Up to 40% higher FPS, 20% faster graphics overall |
| Power Efficiency | 9% better battery efficiency |
The Mali G1 Ultra ultra is a flagship GPU that replaces the older flagship Mali G925 GPU.
The new Mali G1 Ultra adds a 2nd Gen Ray Tracing Unit (RTUv2), which increase the ray tracing performance compared to the one inside the Immortalis-G925 GPU.
It increases the speed of rendering graphics, 40% higher fps for games, 20% faster performance overall and it is more battery efficient (up to 9%).
This Mali G1 Ultra is also on the the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 as well.
These are the latest ARMv9.3 CPU and GPU generations that are available in 2025. What this means is that we may now start seeing older flagship CPU cores and GPUs on flagship killers and premium mid-range SoCs. The likes of the Cortex X925, X4, X725 and co should start trickling down to more affordable SoCs.
Want more grounded articles like this? Follow Inquisitive Universe—where hype gets checked and specs get real.
- Subscribe to our YouTube channel
- Follow on Facebook
- Follow on WhatsApp
- Join our Telegram community
- Participate on Reddit
- Find us on Quora
