The first details of Nvidia’s next-generation Tegra 4 processor, known as Wayne, have emerged, and if they turn out to be genuine, the mobile chip will provide some serious competition to the likes of Qualcomm and Samsung.

According to the specs listed on a leaked slide posted to the Chinese language forum Chiphell, Nvidia’s latest quadcore chipset will be paired with a whopping 72 GPU cores and its mobile security provisions will receive a significant boost. In addition, the graphic suggests that the chip will be built using 4-PLUS-1 architecture like its Tegra 3 predecessor, and will be compatible with 2560×1600 displays, used on new 4K TVs.

SlashGear seems to believe that the Tegra 4 will come packing four ARM A15 cores to carry the workload, although the slide itself doesn’t specify which core will be used. What it does show however, is that these will work in tandem with a fifth ‘power-saver’ core, which will keep things ticking over when the device is in idle mode, allowing the main CPU to rest and conserve the battery juice somewhat.

In any case, it’s the enhanced graphics that look to be the real selling point of the Tegra 4. Nvidia has added six times the number of GPU cores as we saw in the Tegra 3, which is more than to do justice to the 4K TVs that we’ve seen so far.

Other tidbits from the leak show an array of security features added to the chip, including HDCP, h/w DRM and SecureBoot, plus a high-performing image chip and support for Dual-channel DDR3L memory and USB 3.0.

The “Wayne” codename was revealed by Nvidia way back in 2011, at the time that it was talking up its predecessor Tegra 3 ahead of that chip’s launch. It said that the chip would eventually be followed by chips codenamed “Logan” and “Stark”, the monikers having been stolen from superhero characters.

We can’t be certain that the slide is an authentic one – it wouldn’t be the first time that misleading information has come out of China, but the specs do tally with previous rumors that have surfaced about Tegra 4. In any case, we can expect to find out the truth next month when the chip makes its debut at the CES.