Arm and Sumo Digital unveil Neural Dawn: Mobile ray tracing and ML-powered graphics for Android
Event
Arm, the UK-based semiconductor and software design company, has revealed Neural Dawn, a new demo developed in collaboration with UK studio Sumo Digital. The project showcases Arm's latest neural graphics technology for mobile devices.
Key Technologies
"NSSD enables ray tracing on mobile by reconstructing images from fewer rays, reducing noise."
Neural Dawn leverages two core technologies from Arm:
- NSSD (Neural Super Sampling and Denoising)
- NFRU (Neural Frame Rate Upscaling)
These systems run on Arm's Mali GPU, which integrates dedicated neural network hardware for real-time machine learning and graphics processing. Critically, Arm states that NSSD is not a generative model.
NFRU generates intermediate frames, allowing the system to upscale 30 fps content to 60 fps.
Achievements
According to Sumo Digital, this technology enabled them to use Unreal Engine MegaLights and ray tracing on mobile—features previously unsupported on such devices. The demo reportedly freed up significant performance budget, allowing for dynamic lighting instead of traditional pre-baked light maps.
Statements
"The technology allowed them to approach mobile development like console/PC development, with high asset density and dynamic lighting."
- Gary Dunn (Co-CEO/COO, Sumo Digital) attributed the power savings to Arm Neural Technologies, noting that this enables longer gaming sessions and the use of advanced graphics features.
- Peter Hodges (Director of Developer Ecosystem Strategy, Arm) described the neural tech as a "short-latency interaction between GPU and ML," and clarified that NSSD is not comparable to Nvidia's DLSS 5.
- Lukas Medek (Art Director, Sumo Digital) stated the tech allowed his team to approach mobile development like console/PC development, achieving high asset density and dynamic lighting.
Release
Neural Dawn will launch exclusively on Android devices with Arm Mali GPUs in 2026.