Technologies

The Top Android Phones of 2026 Could Get Better AI With Arm’s New CPUs

The next generation of Arm’s CPUs, used in phones from Samsung and others, feature higher AI performance than last year’s.

On the same day Apple revealed its new iPhone 17 lineup, chip designer Arm is introducing its next generation of processors bundled into its new Arm Lumex platform. These processors will likely make their way into premium Android phones coming in 2026 — and improve their AI capabilities without draining device batteries faster, Arm says.

«It’s pretty amazing how there’s been kind of this insatiable amount of performance being asked for [by our customers], and a lot of it’s around AI, as well as some graphics workloads,» said Chris Bergey, senior vice president and general manager of Arm’s client line of business.

Arm’s processors have traditionally been the centerpieces of holistic systems-on-a-chip, which power smartphones. For instance, Arm’s previous top-end central processing unit, the Cortex X925, released last year, is featured in Samsung’s Exynos 2500 chipset, which powered the Galaxy Z Flip 7 and MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 chipset, found in the Oppo Find X8 Pro.

It’s likely that Arm’s new chips, either on their own or bundled into the company’s Arm Lumex platform, will power premium Android phones and other devices next year. But it faces more competition as Qualcomm (which used Arm CPUs in older chips like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) has shifted to its internally designed Oryon CPUs in its latest silicon — which was the subject of its own tech licensing clash over the last few years between the two chip companies.

Arm’s new CPU range has shifted with a new naming paradigm. The successors to the X925 are two different chips: the highest-end C1-Ultra, which boasts 25% greater performance over its predecessor, and the next-most-powerful C1-Premium (no performance improvement given). The successor to the A725 chip is the C1-Pro, which has 12% greater efficiency.

These CPUs also benefit from an evolution of their chip architecture called Scalable Matrix Extension version 2, which enables better AI performance.

The new Arm Lumex platform combines these chips with the new Mali G1-Ultra GPU (which Arm says has 20% better performance and twice the ray tracing as its predecessor) for a system that can be plugged into larger chipsets. The end result: up to 5x improvement in AI performance, 4.7x lower latency for speech-based workloads (think live translation) and 2.8x faster audio generation, Arm says.

The goal is faster performance without increasing the battery drain when running AI tasks that tax processing power. For example, a yoga tutor demo app running Arm’s new chips saw a 2.4x boost in text-to-speech to give faster feedback to users, the company said in a press release.

As a supplier of chips and technology, it’s ultimately up to the phonemakers using Arm’s silicon to decide how much (or little) of the advancements they integrate into their devices. But as demand for generative AI like ChatGPT increases, so too does the drive to get that functionality working on phones as efficiently as possible, rather than relying on slower responses going to and from the cloud. So what will consumers see with devices running C1-Ultra chips and Arm’s new technology?

«I think what they’re gonna see is the ability to run amazing on-device AI and to do so with significant power savings, significant performance increases, and also third-party support,» Bergey said. «Not just first-party devices, but also third-party devices.»

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for March 15, #1730

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for March 15, No. 1,730.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle is a fairly common word, but the beginning letter is one I rarely guess. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.

Today’s Wordle hints

Before we show you today’s Wordle answer, we’ll give you some hints. If you don’t want a spoiler, look away now.

Wordle hint No. 1: Repeats

Today’s Wordle answer has no repeated letters.

Wordle hint No. 2: Vowels

Today’s Wordle answer has two vowels.

Wordle hint No. 3: First letter

Today’s Wordle answer begins with G.

Wordle hint No. 4: Last letter

Today’s Wordle answer ends with E.

Wordle hint No. 5: Meaning

Today’s Wordle answer can refer to a mark that a student receives in a class.

TODAY’S WORDLE ANSWER

Today’s Wordle answer is GRADE.

Yesterday’s Wordle answer

Yesterday’s Wordle answer, March 14, No. 1729, was ANKLE.

Recent Wordle answers

March 10, No. 1725: SHOAL

March 11, No. 1726: TEDDY

March 12, No. 1727: SMELL

March 13, No. 1728: EATEN

What’s the best Wordle starting word?

Don’t be afraid to use our tip sheet ranking all the letters in the alphabet by frequency of uses. In short, you want starter words that lean heavy on E, A and R, and don’t contain Z, J and Q.

Some solid starter words to try:

ADIEU

TRAIN

STARE

NOISE

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for March 15, #538

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for March 15, No. 538.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today is Selection Sunday, and the Connections: Sports Edition puzzle is all about the NCAA basketball tournament. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Oops!

Green group hint: Not the second word.

Blue group hint: They direct the team.

Purple group hint: They made it to the Big Dance.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Basketball fouls.

Green group: First words in NCAA tournament rounds.

Blue group: Women’s college basketball coaches.

Purple group: Teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is basketball fouls. The four answers are block, charge, hold and reach-in.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is first words in NCAA tournament rounds. The four answers are elite, final, second and sweet.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is women’s college basketball coaches. The four answers are Auriemma, Close, Ivey and Staley.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams qualified for the 2026 Men’s NCAA tournament. The four answers are Gonzaga, High Point, Queens and Troy.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Sunday, March 15

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for March 15.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Today’s wasn’t terribly tough, but read on for all the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.