Hero 4 Mockup

The chip manufacturer for GoPro cameras have released specs for its new system on chip (SOC). The company building this chip, Ambarella, has been exclusively providing SOCs for GoPro, so it looks like this could be the real deal on what to expect from the GoPro Hero 4.

If not the actual physical board shown in the A9 release, the tech specs should/could be the equivalent to a customized board built specifically for GoPro. In fact, the A9 board in Ambarella’s press release is marketed toward the imaging industry as a whole and would almost certainly not be the final GoPro Hero 4 SOC.

Notably, the SOC delivers 4K video at a full 30p, along with 1080p at 120 fps and 720p at 240 fps. In addition to the powerful video features, it also delivers on multi-exposure HDR and WDR tone mapping.

Actual A9 4K Board from Ambarella

If these specs show up in the GoPro Hero 4 later this year, it likely means GoPro will taken even more of the market share that it created while everyone else plays catch up.

Of course, we would expect these specs to only land in the top end model, like we currently see with the GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition, while cheaper models get a reduced set of features. [Read more…]