Does your phone also hang? Know which of these chips is responsible:

News India Live, Digital Desk: Today’s era (2025) is completely of technology. Whenever we go to the market or online to buy a new smartphone or laptop, a long list of specifications appears. “Octa-core processor,” “Adreno GPU,” and a new name being heard a lot these days “NPU” (Neural Processing Unit),

Often shopkeepers or websites confuse us with heavy words and we buy anything without understanding. But do you really know what these three small chips inside your device actually do? Why do you need a GPU to play a good game and an NPU for ChatGPT or AI?

Let us understand this biggest confusion in tech today with very simple examples.

1. CPU (Central Processing Unit) – Head of the household
First of all let’s talk about CPU. You can call it the “brain” of your phone or computer, or the “manager” of your home.

• Work: When you open WhatsApp, use a calculator, or save a file, all this logic is handled by the CPU.
• In simple language: Just as the head of the house takes all the decisions and assigns work to everyone else, similarly the CPU controls the entire system. If it is weak, the phone will run slowly and apps will open late.

2. GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) – Your Artist and Gamer
Now comes the turn of GPU. Consider him a “painter” or a “graphic designer”.

• Work: All the beautiful colors, videos, and animations that you see on your phone’s screen are thanks to the GPU. Especially when you play PUBG, BGMI or any heavy game, the entire burden is borne not by the CPU but by the GPU.
• In simple language: If the video is playing intermittently or the game is lagging, then understand that the ‘Artist’ (GPU) of your device is getting weak.

3. NPU (Neural Processing Unit) – The New ‘Smart’ Assistant (The Game Changer)
This is the name which is most talked about nowadays (in 2025). Earlier this work was done by CPU, but now a separate chip comes for it.

• Work: NPU’s work is Artificial Intelligence (AI) handling of. When you take a photo and the background is automatically blurred, or you make someone disappear from the photo with the ‘magic eraser’, or you talk to Siri/Google Assistant, all this is handled by the NPU.
• Why was this needed? AI tasks are very complex. If the CPU does this work then the battery will drain very quickly and the phone will get hot. NPU does the same thing in a jiffy with less power. That is why emphasis is being laid on powerful NPU in today’s AI phones.

How do the three work together? Teamwork
Let’s say you’re playing a high-graphics game on your phone:

• CPU Will open the game and run its rules.
• gpu Will show you great visuals and action on screen.
• And if an AI character is talking to you in the game, npu Will handle.