LG’s premium OLED TVs gain an upgraded version of its Alpha 9 central processing unit each year, but in 2024, rather than an incremental upgrade, it has announced an all-new chip called the Alpha 10, which brings some major new functionality.
The Alpha 9 Gen 1 chip first launched in LG’s 2018 OLED TVs, offering artificial intelligence capabilities for the first time in order to enhance image and sound quality. Since then, each new release, such as the most recent Alpha 9 Gen 6 that appeared in this year’s models, have always been based on the same neural processing unit, with the updates pertaining to simple refinements that improve its video and audio processing capabilities.
However, this will change with the Alpha 10 Gen 1 chip that is reportedly set to end up in LG’s higher-end 2024 OLED TVs, FlatPanels HD reported. LG’s System Integrated Circuit division, which develops the Alpha chips, says the Alpha 10 will sport an all new second-generation NPU.
The advantage of the new NPU is that it will offer a ten-fold boost in processing power, enabling it to perform more powerful calculations than earlier models, without relying on relaying data to a remote server. The Alpha 10 chip is said to have been manufactured on a more advanced process node, meaning it has been made with finer engraving, allowing many thousands more transistors to be incorporated into it.
It will offer more powerful processing capabilities, higher energy efficiency and stronger security, LG said. In terms of audio and video quality, we can expect to see big improvements especially in terms of the sharpness of pictures, the suppression of video noise and the management of foreground and backgrounds for relief effect. LG also promised better quality sound immersion, and said the new chip will perform all functions relating to the TV’s user interface, connected functionality and interactive services, such as camera attachments.
While LG designed the Alpha 10 chip with its TVs in mind, it will also be versatile, enabling it to be used with other home appliances. This fits with LG’s reported plans to expand its webOS operating system to additional types of device, such as washing machines and refrigerators.
We can expect to learn more about LG’s Alpha 10 chip in January, which is when the company traditionally announces its new TVs.
