Garmin Fenix 9 (Pro) expected to use new ARM chip with 50% more RAM and AI accelerator

When announcing the Garmin Fenix 9 and Fenix 9 Pro, Garmin has touted a 30 percent improvement in navigation performance within the Maps app as well as 50 percent more RAM. However, Garmin has not confirmed any details about the built-in chip. While it can only be confirmed beyond a doubt after a teardown which processor powers the new flagship smartwatches, Garmin Rumors was able to identify a chip that matches Garmin’s specifications.

According to this, the Garmin Fenix 9 is said to be equipped with the NXP i.MX RT700, a successor to the i.MX RT595, which was used in the Fenix 8 ($749 on Amazon). Although the i.MX RT700 is still based on a power-efficient ARM Cortex-M33 processor core, it reaches clock speeds of up to 325 MHz, instead of just 200 MHz like the older chip. The SoC features a second Cortex-M33 with lower clock speeds of 250 MHz, as well as a Tensilica HiFi 1 DSP, to power background activities and sensors with lower power consumption.

The chip has 7.5 MB of RAM, 50 percent more than the Fenix 8’s SoC, exactly as advertised by Garmin. NXP also highlights an improved graphics chip, lower power consumption, and an eIQ Neutron AI accelerator with clock speeds of up to 325 MHz, enabling the chip to run machine learning and AI apps much more efficiently than the i.MX RT595, which could give Garmin some leeway for new AI features in the future. The higher performance is apparently not strictly necessary for most of the Fenix 9 Pro’s new software features, as many of these features are expected to be rolled out via software updates to older models, such as the Fenix 8.