Both can do gaming and video playback, but only the higher-end parts do "computational graphics," Smythe said. That includes tasks like matching points on two images to do facial recognition, or stitching photographs together into a panorama.

ARM supplies the CPU designs used in most tablets and smartphones but it's a relative newcomer to graphics. ARM entered the GPU market in 2006 when it bought Norwegian chip maker Falanx. It's since built the team in Norway from 20 to about 80 people, Smythe said.

The GPUs in Apple's iOS devices are based on a design by ARM's U.K. rival Imagination Technologies. ARM does better in Android-based devices, supplying GPUs for about 20 percent of the smartphones and more than half of Android tablets, Smythe said.

ARM expects its licensees to sell about 100 million Mali GPUs this year, up from 48 million in 2011. "We've not quite caught up to our CPU colleagues who are shipping several billion units per year, but we're making progress," he said.

The best-known smartphone with an ARM GPU is the Samsung Galaxy SII, which uses the Mali-400. The Galaxy SIII, expected later this year, will use the higher-end T604. The Mali-T658, in November, should start appearing in phones and tablets in the first half of next year.