ARM, for quite some time, was looking for something that could bridge the gap between its A15 and A9 processors. Finally, the chipmaker has come up with the exact product it was looking for to address the mid-range smartphone and tablet market.

At the ongoing Computex trade fair in Taipei, ARM announced the new A12 processor that will be faster than its earlier A9 processor but power efficient at the same time. The new A12 processor will use almost the same amount of energy A9 processors use.

With the launch of the A12 processor, the British chipmaker is expecting to target 580 million mid-range smartphones and tablets a year by 2015.

"Mobile users expect a range of devices at different price points and for a mid-range mobile experience to include some high end mobile features. With a billion smartphones predicted to ship in 2013 and tablets projected to out-ship notebook PCs, device-makers can now provide quality, high-performance mobile products with the features that matter the most, at a range of price points," said Ian Drew, chief marketing officer and executive vice president, ARM.

The processor is also going to take ARM's big.LITTLE process to a new level because of the less power consumption, more power and smaller die size. According to the company, the A12 processor is about 40 percent faster than the A9 processor with using the same amount of power.

At present ARM uses its A15 and A7 processors in big.LITTLE projects and the technology is used in very high-end devices like Samsung Galaxy S4. With the launch of A12 processor the company would be able to replace A12 with A15 to be cost efficient and at the same time would be able to deliver more power than the A9 processor with more energy efficiency.

Along with the launch of the A12 processor, ARM also launched a new dual-core GPU, Mali-T622, and a video encode and decoded block called Mali-V500.

The Mali-T622 is also going to cater to the mid-range segment of mobile devices as it supports the same features as ARM's faster GPUs such as quad-core Mali-T624 and octo-core Mali-T628, but on the performance front, the T622 will be lower than these.

However, the Cambridge-based company's new video encoded and decoder block, Mali-V500 may become a revolutionary product and win accolades from movie production companies because of its anti-piracy features.

According to a ZDNet report, the company also consulted the Hollywood Studios while designing the Mali-V500. The block prevents the copying of copyrighted videos while displaying on the screen of a device equipped with it.

"The Mali-V500 is a multicore video solution, scaling from a single core capable of 1080p/60 encode and decode to multiple cores supporting ultra-high definition 4K at a blistering 120 frames per second. Additionally, the Mali-V500 video solution was architected with support for TrustZone security technology enabling efficient, hardware-backed security for movie and TV content from download to display," ARM states.