Do you understand the difference between CPU, GPU, and NPU? These three terms can be considered the foundation of the technology world. Essentially, all three are processing units, and broadly speaking, a CPU handles multitasking in your device, a GPU works on graphics and heavy visuals, and similarly, an NPU accelerates smart processing related to artificial intelligence.

Understanding the true role of these three processing units allows you to identify the real performance of any device and also understand how capable a particular chipset is. Let's understand each of these in detail.

What is a CPU?
CPU stands for Central Processing Unit, which is considered the brain of a computer or smartphone. It is used for all kinds of general tasks such as opening apps, web browsing, file management, and system operations. You can understand the function of a CPU as processing commands and instructing the hardware to perform accordingly.

A CPU has multiple cores, and these cores perform different tasks simultaneously. To understand how fast a CPU is, you can look at its cores. The more and faster cores a CPU has, the faster it runs and the better it can handle multitasking. In simple terms, how fast or slow a device is depends primarily on its CPU.

What is a GPU?
In smartphones and computers, there is another term similar to CPU: GPU, which stands for Graphics Processing Unit. Its job is to handle heavy tasks related to animation and graphics. It makes gaming, video editing, 3D rendering, and high-resolution visuals smoother. Compared to a CPU, a GPU has many times more cores, which can handle multiple graphics tasks simultaneously.

In simple terms, you can consider the GPU as the backbone of the visual performance of a computer or smartphone. GPUs also play a major role in advanced AI tasks such as image processing and machine learning. Overall, the smooth movement you see on the screen is powered by the fast processing capabilities of the GPU.

What is an NPU?
While most people are familiar with terms like CPU and GPU, NPU is a new term for many. NPU, or Neural Processing Unit, is specifically designed to handle smart tasks like AI and machine learning. It makes features like facial recognition, photo enhancement, live translation, object detection, and voice assistants faster and more energy-efficient.

In simpler terms, an NPU can process AI models with very little power. This directly increases the device's battery life. The NPU is the reason why camera quality, night mode, and AI features have improved so much in our smartphones. In short, the NPU makes your device truly smart and performs tasks much faster than a CPU or GPU can.

Disclaimer: This content has been sourced and edited from Navbharat Times. While we have made modifications for clarity and presentation, the original content belongs to its respective authors and website. We do not claim ownership of the content.