Project Ara will offer a few choices in processor selection, and now Google has announced that it is working with Marvell and NVIDIA to bring their application processors as options for the modular smartphone. Both the NVIDIA Tegra K1, the same chip that's found inside the Nexus 9 tablet, and the Marvell PXA1928 will be joining Rockchip as options for Ara's processing power.
For the AP modules, we have been working with our friends at Marvell and NVIDIA to create two separate reference designs and form factor module prototypes around their PXA1928 and Tegra K1 processors, respectively, using a Toshiba UniPro bridge ASIC to connect to the on-device network. You can anticipate seeing these as part of the reference designs in our upcoming MDK v0.20 release. (The Rockchip AP with native UniPro that we blogged about previously is coming along nicely and will be ready in time for our Spiral 3 prototype in the Spring.)
The company is also working with Toshiba to work on the Spiral 3 prototype:
Their second generation of UniPro switch and bridge ASICs with a contactless M-PHY data transfer capability (using inductive AC-coupling). These will be the basis of our Spiral 3 prototype and corresponding MDK release.
Source: Google
