Summary: Arm has introduced CSS for Mobile 2 with new C2 CPUs and the Mali G2-Ultra NX. A standalone NPU is not among the platform blocks listed by Arm; AI acceleration is instead distributed across CPU-side SME2 and neural accelerators inside the GPU. Calling the design “without an NPU” is technically fair, but easy to misread.
The new C2 cluster combines C2-Ultra and C2-Pro cores with two SME2 units. Arm claims up to 1.7x higher AI performance than C1-Ultra, 15% higher single-thread performance and up to 38% lower power at the same performance. The company also says the doubled SME2 capability can accelerate current small language models by up to 70%.
At the same time, Mali G2-Ultra NX introduces dedicated Neural Accelerators directly inside the shader cores. They share memory, cache and control structures with the graphics pipeline. Arm claims up to four times higher performance per watt for neural graphics and up to 14% more performance in existing game content than the previous generation.
Golem's NPU headline needs context
Golem describes the platform as another Arm generation “without an NPU”. The core statement survives a check against Arm's own platform description: Arm lists the C2 CPU, SME2, Mali GPU and system IP, but no separate NPU block. That does not mean CSS for Mobile 2 lacks specialised AI hardware.
The GPU makes the distinction clear. Mali G2-Ultra NX contains dedicated Neural Accelerators, while SME2 accelerates matrix and AI operations on the CPU side. Arm is distributing specialised AI functions across existing compute blocks instead of requiring an additional NPU in its reference platform.
Pandorex Analysis
This changes the useful question from “How many NPU TOPS does the phone have?” to “Which part of the system executes each AI workload most efficiently?”. Speech, retrieval and agent orchestration can run through CPU and SME2, while neural graphics stays inside the GPU. That may reduce data movement, but it also makes simple TOPS comparisons between SoCs even less meaningful.
There is one important limitation: CSS for Mobile 2 remains configurable. Arm allows partners to combine the platform with custom or third-party IP. A smartphone SoC based on it can therefore still include a separate NPU. Arm's performance figures are also vendor claims rather than independent device benchmarks.