Why it matters

Edge NPUs enable privacy-preserving on-device AI. Understanding shapes mobile app design.

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The architecture

Small, low-power AI accelerators.

Integer arithmetic focus.

Edge NPUsQualcomm HexagonSnapdragon NPUApple Neural EngineiPhone NPUARM Ethos-Ngeneric NPU IPAccess via platform APIs: NNAPI (Android), Core ML (Apple), ONNX Runtime
Edge NPU options.
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How it works end to end

APIs: NNAPI (Android), Core ML (Apple), TFLite, ONNX Runtime.

Quantization: INT8/INT4 typical.

Model conversion: framework → NPU format.

Battery: much better than CPU for AI.