Earlier this week we reported that the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC is expected to launch in the first half of 2022 and will be featured in upcoming Redmi and OPPO devices. Now, a new report has emerged giving a more precise time frame for the SoC launch as well as the first device that is expected to come with the Dimensity 9000 chip.

According to a report by ITHome, MediaTek will be launching their Dimensity 9000 flagship SoC sometime in the month of February-March. OPPO’s upcoming flagship is expected to be the first device to house the new SoC. 

Previous leaks have revealed that OPPO is working on its next flagship dubbed the Find X4 Pro; however, the upcoming flagship might be named the OPPO Find X5 Pro due to number 4 being considered an unlucky number in China

OPPO Find X5 Pro Specifications (rumored)

So far, the rumored specs of the upcoming OPPO Find X5 Pro reveal that the phone will come with a 6.7-inch AMOLED LTPO 2.0 display that offers a Quad HD+ resolution of 1440 x 3216 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate.

The rear camera setup of the device is fitted with a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 primary camera with OIS support. It is coupled with a 50-megapixel ultrawide lens and a 13-megapixel tertiary camera. For selfies, the display punch-hole of the X5 Pro will house a 32-megapixel Sony IMX709 camera.

It will be packed with a 5,000mAh battery that supports 80W fast charging and 50W wireless charging. The device is likely to run on the latest Android 12 with ColorOS 12 on top. For security, it will feature Goodix G7 in-screen fingerprint scanner.

Earlier reports state that the  Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC will be powering the device along with OPPO’s MariSilicon X chip. However, if the latest leaks are to be believed, the OPPO X5 Pro might ditch the SD 8 Gen 1 in favor of the upcoming Dimensity 9000 chipset.

The MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC adopts the combination of TSMC’s 4nm process + Armv9 architecture and has a high-performance Cortex-X2 super core. The SoC also consists of three Arm Cortex-A710 cores clocked at 2.85GHz and four Arm Cortex-A510 energy-efficient cores. Additionally, the Dimensity 9000 supports LPDDR5X memory.

RELATED:

• MediaTek Dimensity 9000 Phones to launch in H1 2022, new Dimensity 8000 rumors surface
• ColorOS 12 stable update live for OPPO F19 Pro+ 5G, Reno6 Z 5G, A73 5G
• MediaTek shows off Dimensity 9000 benchmarks, beats Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in some tests
• Do MediaTek phones take worse photos than Snapdragon phones? Here’s what one exec has to say
• OPPO Find X5 Pro specifications tipped, reveals QHD+ 120Hz AMOLED display, SD8G1, 50MP triple cameras

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When choosing a high-end camera flagship in the Android market as of 2021, your options are normally the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, Vivo X70 Pro Plus, Oppo Find X3 Pro or the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra. Besides their outstanding camera performance, another similarity they have is that all the camera phones mentioned above are using Qualcomm Snapdragon flagship chipsets, namely the flagship Snapdragon 888.

But Qualcomm is not the only manufacturer supplying flagship chipsets, MediaTek also has a series of flagship chipsets under its belt, namely the MediaTek Dimensity 1100, Dimensity 1200, and the recently announced Dimensity 9000 coming to smartphones next year. Since that is the case, then why do suppliers prefer to put Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets compared to the MediaTek counterpart?

In a press meeting today, Vivo Senior Product Manager, Mr. Han Boxiao, mentioned that from his experience in the industry, smartphones equipped with MediaTek chipsets actually do not take worse photos than smartphones equipped with Snapdragon chipsets. He mentions that the days of MediaTek being a worse performer than Qualcomm in terms of ISP processing and camera lens support have long been over, ever since the release of the MediaTek Helio P70 in 2018.

For reference, Vivo used the MediaTek Helio P70 in the standard model of the Vivo S1, the debut smartphone for Vivo’s new S series which would then be known as Vivo’s upper mid-range smartphone lineup with a focus on design and camera. 

Mr Han Boxiao also mentions that the reason why the myth that MediaTek smartphones don’t perform as well as compared to the Snapdragon counterparts in the camera department, is the lack of research and development from phone manufacturers themselves on their MediaTek smartphones. He notes that he found many MediaTek phones not being equipped even with the most important and fundamental factor of great smartphone photography — smartphone lenses equipped with OIS. The OIS not only enables better video stabilization, but it also provides better low-light photos, as better stabilisation helps to capture more colours in the scene within a shorter exposure time.

From the statements said by Mr. Han Boxiao, it can be deduced that if smartphone manufacturers are willing to pour in better camera hardware, as well as better research and development for its MediaTek smartphones, MediaTek phones may even outshine flagships equipped with Snapdragon chipsets.

This comes right after Vivo was confirmed to be one of the first phone manufacturers to use the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 in its next flagship smartphone. To refresh your memory, the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 is equipped with a fifth-generation six-core APU for AI processing. The 18-bit ISP can shoot 4K HDR videos with three cameras simultaneously. Devices powered with the Dimensity 9000 can support a massive 320-megapixel camera.

RELATED:

• MediaTek shows off Dimensity 9000 benchmarks, beats Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in some tests
• MediaTek Dimensity 9000 will cost nearly twice as much as its predecessor
• MediaTek Dimensity 9000 flagship chipset built using TSMC’s 4nm process goes official

(Via)

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The MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chip will cost nearly twice its predecessor – the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 – and devices equipped with it will hence likely be pricier than usual. However, it will still be cheaper than Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen1 processor, expected to be announced this week during Tech Summit.

The info comes from industry insider Digital Chat Station who has also revealed that the Dimensity 9000 will begin shipping from Q1 2022. It will be joined by the Dimensity 7000 upper-mid-range chip not long after, which is expected to put an end to the dominance of the Snapdragon 870 chip in the market.

The Dimensity 9000 chip will be MediaTek’s new flagship when it goes live and will be superseding the Dimensity 1200 from this year. It will be built on the 4nm fabrication process, which should improve performance while also being more power-efficient. The new sub-6GHz 5G chipset is the first in the smartphone world to use a Cortex-X2 core clocked at up to 3.05Ghz and is the world’s-first smartphone chip to include Bluetooth 5.3.

There’s a 1+3+4 setup for the cores, with a single Cortex-X2 “ultra core” joined by a cluster of 3X Cortex-A710 “super cores” clocked at up to 2.85Ghz. The two are complemented by a cluster of 4 efficiency Cortex A510 cores clocked at 1.8Ghz. The chipset supports LPDDR5x RAM speeds of up to 7500Mbps and has 14MB of cache.

The Dimensity 9000 is expected to arrive on the market in February and the upcoming Redmi K50 series may be one of the first to feature it.

RELATED:

• MediaTek Dimensity 9000-powered smartphone to reportedly launch in February 2022
• MediaTek chips had faced a vulnerability that allowed apps to eavesdrop on users
• Vivo V23e 5G powered by MediaTek Dimensity 810 SoC goes official in Thailand
• Redmi K50 series to come with four different processors from both Qualcomm and MediaTek
• MediaTek unveils Pentonic 2000 chip for next-level 8K 120Hz TV viewing experience

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MediaTek just announced new Filogic 130 and Filogic 130A system-on-chips (SoCs) for IoT devices, which integrate microprocessor (MCU), AI engine, Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 subsystems, and a power management unit (PMU) into a single chip.

The Filogic 130A also integrates an audio digital signal processor to allow device manufacturers to easily add voice assistants and other services into their products.

Both processors integrate an ARM Cortex-M33 microcontroller, supported by embedded RAM and external flash and an integrated front-end module (iFEM). The Filogic 130A also gets an integrated HiFi4 DSP on top for more accurate far-field voice processing, trigger word support, and always-on microphone capability.

Advanced Wi-Fi and Bluetooth coexistence is supported by both chips to ensure that connectivity remains reliable even when Wi-Fi is used with multiple Bluetooth devices. All the current Wi-Fi standards are supported namely Wi-Fi 6 and dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz, along with advanced Wi-Fi features such as target wake time (TWT), MU-MIMO, MU-OFDMA, quality of service (QoS), and WPA3 Wi-Fi security.

Alan Hsu, MediaTek Corporate Vice President & General Manager, believes that advanced connectivity technologies like Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 will become a must-have for smart home devices, thanks to the ever-increasing rise in the need for AI processing power and energy efficiency. MediaTek’s Filogic 130 and Filogic 130A chips, he believes, meet these requirements perfectly.

After all, the MediaTek Filogic 130 and Filogic 130A chips are designed to maximize power efficiency in the smallest and lowest-power form factor. Security has also been prioritized with support for a variety of interfaces including general-purpose IOs such as SPI, I2C, I2S, IR input, UART, AUXADC, PWM.

RELATED:

• MediaTek Dimensity 9000 flagship chipset built using TSMC’s 4nm process goes official
• Noted tipster reveals MediaTek’s Dimensity 2000 will bear a different moniker
• Redmi K50 series will likely feature the MediaTek flagship Dimensity 2000 processor
• Reliance Jio & MediaTek launch the Gaming Masters 2.0 e-sports tournament in India
• Xiaomi executive explains why MediaTek phones get updated slower than Qualcomm

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OPPO has already announced that the extremely popular Find X series will get a new model on March 6. The OPPO Find X2 will be the next model, taking over the reign from the Find X that was first released in 2018. Ahead of the launch event, several renders of the Find X2 have appeared online, giving us an idea of what the design looks like.

The renders suggest the Find X2 will come in two colour options – black and blue but there may be more. The phone utilises a curved edge design as well as what looks like a hole-punch selfie camera design. This effectively means that we won’t be seeing the sliding design that was used on the Find X. OPPO had also disclosed that we won’t be seeing an in-display selfie camera on the Find X2.

On the rear, the Find X2 packs a triple rear camera setup arranged vertically at the top left corner of the panel. The camera module also houses an LED flash at the bottom. OPPO’s logo is also stamped at the bottom, lying in the same plane as the camera.

Apart from the Find X2, the company is expected to take the wraps off the Find X2 Pro. The Find X2 Pro may likely present with the same design but may have a bigger display. There are rumours that the Find X2 Pro will have at least two versions – Satin black ceramic version and Tea orange leather version. The back design is not much different from the standard version. The Tea orange leather version is slightly different at the logo with the OPPO protruding.

In terms of specification, previous official reports have already confirmed that the screen refresh rate is as high as 120Hz. It is also expected to pack a 3K resolution of 3168×1440 pixels and the sampling rate can get up to 240Hz. In addition, as OPPO’s annual flagship, the device is expected to present with the latest Snapdragon 865 chipset as well as a 65W Super VOOC charging support.

UP NEXT: Richard Yu: Huawei P40 series will launch on March 26 in Paris

(via)

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This afternoon, MediaTek will host a 5G solution release and global partner conference in Shenzhen to officially unveil their commercial-grade 5G chip solution. Taiwanese news outlet “Business Times” revealed that while MediaTek’s 5G chips are fully primed to go on sale, prices have risen by 20%. Despite this, it seems companies are still willing to pay the extra premium for these chipsets.

The Industrial and Commercial Times believes that the reason for this compliance is that other companies simply aren’t pumping out enough 5G chips for the market. Qualcomm’s reliance on Samsung’s 7nm process for chipsets means that the yield rate isn’t going to be that high, and that’s a problem when companies are pushing for 5G as soon as possible.

EDITOR’S PICK: MediaTek announces partnership with Intel to bring 5G to laptops

We can expect to see MediaTek officially announce their 5G chip platform name and performance details this afternoon, as well as invite the first wave of companies utilizing their chipsets, like OPPO and Vivo. MediaTek CEO Cai Lixing is also expected to provide a planned outlook on the 5G market and company layout in 2020.

According to the market, the yield of Qualcomm Snapdragon 7250 chipsets built on Samsung’s 7nm process is less than 30%. On top of that, Samsung also sells 5G chips to other companies, like Vivo. The 5G chipset market is heating up, and MediaTek seems all set to be a big player this time around. We’re looking forward to how things will turn out.

UP NEXT: China has the ability to make the Best 5G in the World: Huawei Chairman

(Source)

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Taiwanese fabless chipmaker MediaTek has been missing on the flagship chip segment for a long while due to the dominance of Qualcomm in that segment. The company instead shifted its focus to the midrange and budget chip segment and it has been a successful move so far. The company is looking to relaunch its product in the flagship segment with the emerging 5G connectivity.

Already, the company is reportedly set to start shipping its 5G chipset by Q4 2019. The Helio M70 which is MediaTek’s first 5G chipset modem was first announced last year.

EDITOR’S PICK: First Samples from the 108MP Mi Mix Alpha is here & we are not impressed!

While shifting attention to the flagship segment, the Taiwanese chipmaker isn’t losing sight of its stronghold- the midrange segment. A report from China claims the company is planning to launch another 7nm chipset that would be used on its midrange 5G chipsets. Of course, this will bring more affordable pricing. The report carried by Chinese blog MyDrivers hinted that the architecture should be the same as the MT6885, the same chipset that has an Helio M70 modem. However, the chip said to go by the codename “MT6873” will come with a smaller size and will be more affordable. The company is expected to commence mass production in Q2 2020, which means it could find its way into smartphones by Q3 or Q4 2020. The company expects to ship about 100 million sold chips in 2020 with the upcoming MT6885 and MT6873 5G SoCs expected to account for half of its shipments next year.

Further, the Taiwanese fabless semiconductor giant is expected to switch to TSMC’s 6nm EUV process after it is done with the two chipsets. The 6nm SoC will be the first EUV product for the Taiwanese company. There are four designs in total, all of them with an upgrade of the CPU and the GPU.

UP NEXT: Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 735 details leaked

(via)

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While there are folks that won’t pick up a phone powered by a MediaTek processor, they probably own a device powered by a chipset made by the Taiwanese company in their home. MediaTek not only makes processors for phones but also make processors for products like Blu-Ray players, smart TVs, routers, and smart speakers including those from the Amazon Echo line. Today, the semiconductor company unveiled a new processor – the MT5670 – for smart TVs.

The announcement comes just a day before it appears in its first product – the OnePlus TV. Yes, the OnePlus TV which will be unveiled in India tomorrow will be powered by the new MT5670 chipset. Leaked specs of the TV as well as a Google Play Developer console page revealed that the TV will be powered by the processor.

The new chipset, which was unveiled in New York, has four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz and an ARM Mali-G51 GPU. MediaTek says the new processor will “deliver true studio-quality video”, and automatically adjust sharpness and quality using facial and scene recognition with its AI picture quality (AI PQ) technology. It also supports MiraVision technology and MDDi de-interlace solution for smooth picture quality. Below is a full list of features of the new processor:

• Android TV 9 support
• Worldwide multi-standard analog TV demodulator
• ATSC/DVB-T/DVB-C/ISDB-T demodulators
• UHD@60Hz direct drive
• 3D graphic support OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0/3.1/3.2
• A transport de-multiplexer
• A multi-standard video decoder (including VP9)
• Rich format audio codec
• H.264 encoder
• HDMI 2.0 receiver with 3D support

MediaTek adds that the MT5670 will be available globally in smart TVs launching this month. So there is a possibility we may see it in another product other than the OnePlus TV later this month.

The MediaTek MT5670 is less powerful than Amlogic’s new T972 processor which powers Xiaomi’s new Mi Full Screen TV Pro. The 12nm Amlogic processor has the more powerful and efficient Cortex-A55 cores (quad) clocked at 1.9GHz as against, the MT5670’s Cortex-A53 cores. However, the Amlogic chipset has the entry-level Mali-G31 GPU while the MediaTek chipset has the mid-range Mali-G51 GPU.

UP NEXT: Xiaomi unveils 70” Mi TV 4A with XiaoAI built-in

(Source)

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Shortly after the launch of the Helio G90 series today, the CEO of Xiaomi India, Manu Kumar Jain revealed that the company will launch a phone powered by the Helio G90T.

An attached image to the tweet says the phone is “Coming soon!” but there is no info with respect to the exact date.

There are speculations it may be one of the 8th generation Redmi phones expected to launch later this year but there is no evidence to back up that claim.

Personally, I think it will be nice if the successor to the Mi Play (if there is one planned) is powered by the new Helio G90T. Xiaomi can then switch the Play series to a line of affordable gaming phones.

Super excited: all-new @MediaTek #Helio #G90 & #G90T were
launched today!

These are amazing #gaming chipsets – Cortex A76 CPU, Mali G76 GPU & Antutu > 220K.

We'll launch a phone with the incredible, high performance G90T. Get ready for ultimate gaming!#Xiaomi #Mediatek pic.twitter.com/z9WUDNw0lG

— #MiFan Manu Kumar Jain (@manukumarjain) July 30, 2019

The Helio G90T is the more powerful version of the two processors in MediaTek’s new Helio G series. It has 8 processors – 2 x Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.05GHz and 6 x Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2GHz.

The Helio G90T has an ARM Mali-G76 3EEMC4 processor clocked at 800MHz. It supports up to 10GB of RAM and UFS 2.1 and eMMC 5.1 storage. There is an integrated Cat-12 LTE WorldMode modem and Bluetooth 5.0 too. The processor also boasts additional features like HyperGaming Technology, Dual Wakeup word for AI assistants, support for displays with a 90Hz refresh rate, and AI features for the camera.

(Source)

UP NEXT: Black Shark 2 Pro launches with a Snapdragon 855+ processor and a slight redesign

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Earlier this month we heard about MediaTek possibly launching a new SoC for gaming phones called the Helio G90 to combat the recent announcement of the Snapdragon 855+. It’s an interesting prospect since the Snapdragon 855+ is a strictly high-end chip, so the budget gaming market is not only wide open, but also ripe for the taking.

Well, apparently MediaTek had the exact same idea, and are acting pretty quickly. The company is set to release their brand new line of Helio G-series SoCs on July 30. The manufacturer plans to introduce the G90 SoC at an event in Shanghai, and then follow-up from there with more models in the future. It’s a pretty smart move, though we question how well a budget oriented gaming smartphone would work.

On top of that, we’re also not entirely sure what the Helio G90 will actually be like when it launches when it comes to specs. We’ve got a leaked poster for the SoC but it doesn’t reveal much other than the fact that it is targeted at mobile gaming. Going off the name, it wouldn’t be stretch to say that it’ll be based on the Helio P90, but that’s just a simple assumption.

Perhaps more interesting will be seeing how the company deals with making gaming SoCs to begin with. MediaTek SoCs have never been well known for their gaming performance, and their GPUs are often weaker than the competition, though not by too much. Whether they’ll step up and give us something great or just settle for a more conventional package remains to be seen. We’re hoping it leans more towards the former.

UP NEXT: MediaTek to announce Helio G90 chipset designed for mobile gaming

(Source)

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Chinese benchmarking outfit Master Lu has now released the list of best mobile chipsets in terms of AI performance for the first half of 2019. The list of combined processors for Q1 2019 was topped by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, followed by the Snapdragon Apple A12 and the Kirin 980 chipset from Huawei.

As is expected, we’ve got the Snapdragon 855 in the lead, followed by Apple’s excellent A12 chip. Then, we’ve got the MediaTek Helio P90. Yes, you heard that right, MediaTek has managed to get the Helio P90 up there, and it’s apparently a pretty great performer when it comes to AI performance.

According to Master Lu, while the Helio P90 isn’t exactly the most powerful chip around, the AI performance on it is above most other competitors. With this, it has managed to officially knock Huawei‘s Hisilicon Kirin 980 off the third spot in AI ranking. This is a pretty big achievement for MediaTek, beating the king of AI itself.

The rest of the list is pretty much just Snapdragon chips. You can see the top 10 above, and it’s pretty much exactly as you’d expect it to go. The only big surprise is the Helio P90, but it’s definitely one of the biggest surprises that could’ve happened. We can expect to see other benchmarks from the outfit soon.

UP NEXT: Xiaomi CC9 smartphone review: a new choice for youth

(Source)

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Taiwanese fabless chipmaker MediaTek has announced a new chipset dubbed Helio P65. The new chipset is very similar to the Helio P70 but isn’t a very big upgrade over either the P70 or the older Helio P60. However, the chipset comes with faster CPU cores as well as an improved Neural processing unit (NPU).

In terms of its architecture, the MediaTek Helio P65 Systems-on-Chip (SoC) has a CPU with two ARM Cortex-A75 cores and six Cortex-A55 cores in an octa-core arrangement.

In comparison, the Helio P60 and P70 both feature four Cortex-A73 and four Cortex-A53. Details released by ARM shows that the Cortex-A75 is about 22% faster than the A73. On the other hand, Cortex-A55 is also about 18% faster than the A53. Thus, the new chipset is expected to output a higher single-threaded performance than its predecessors. We don’t expect the same improvement on the multi-core performance where it may likely perform less than Helio P60/P70 due to the difference in the proportion of bug and small cores.

The new Helio P65 doesn’t have the dressing of an upper mid-range chipset but at best one for low-end mid-range or budget models as can be seen other features. The SoC uses the Mali-G52 GPU instead of the more powerful Mali-G72 found on the P70. The chipset also comes with support for 1GB LPDDR4X RAM and can only connect with eMMc 5.1 storage and not the faster UFS 2.1 flash storage.

In addition, the Helio P65 supports up to a 48MP single camera sensor and a maximum of 16MP+16MP dual camera setup. You can also get bokeh shots with a single or dual camera and it also comes with Multi-Frame Noise Reduction. MediaTek also says the P65 is twice as fast as the previous mainstream Helio chipset in NPU. The chipset is also said to be 30% faster than what’s in the “direct competitor” chipset.

EDITOR’S PICK: Samsung demands Apple pay penalty for poor OLED orders

For video encoding, the chipset supports H.265 format and has Electronic Image Stabilization and Rolling Shutter compensation (RSC). The chipset only supports recording up to 1080p/60 videos as there is no support for 4K video recording. There is also a more secure  ISP promises fast camera-based face unlock.

MediaTek didn’t reveal any detail on the new chipset’s manufacturing process. However, we can take a cue from the Helio P60, P70 and P90 to guess that the chipset is built on TSMC’s 12nm FinFET nod.

UP NEXT: Nubia joins China Mobile’s 5G industry alliance, announces Nubia X 5G edition

(source)

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Details of the Helio P80 chipset includes that the it will be built on the same process as TSMC’s 12nm process but the architecture will be upgraded and the AI performance will be greatly improved. There are speculations that the AI performance is even stronger than Huawei ‘s Kirin 980 processor despite being a midrange chip. This was further buttressed by the AI benchmark results which placed Helio P80 and Snapdragon 8150 above the Kirin 980. In addition, the Helio P80 processor is tipped to be used on OPPO’s R19 billed to launch next year.

Read Also: OPPO to launch Helio P80, P90 and Snapdragon 855 phones, reveals leakster

A report by Taiwan Business Times hinted that MediaTek’s Helio P60 was successfully used on the OPPO R15 in the first half of last year but the R17 series, released in the second half, abandoned MediaTek’s chipset. This has forced MediaTek to strengthen the processor performance in order to get sufficient orders for OPPO R19 in the first half of next year. Sources from the Taiwanese supply chain disclosed that the Helio P80 will be MediaTek’s main product for the first half of 2019 and will use ARM’s Octa-core architecture just like the P60/P70. The CPU/GPU architecture may be upgraded since only an improved AI capability won’t be enough to curry enough patronage especially when Qualcomm and Huawei processors are built on the faster 10nm process.

(source)

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The famous battery maker Energizer has unveiled a new smartphone focused on toughness and durability: its name is Hardcase H500S. It is an affordable device but also a solid rugged phone. It features a slim but resistant body with IP68 certification, so it is dust-resistant as well as waterproof (up to 1.2m deep for 30 minutes at max).

Further, the device is able to survive drops from a height of one meter and it has a display protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 3. Even though it is a rugged handset, Energizer Hardcase H500S has a thickness of just 10 mm. Its display is a classic 5-inch panel with an HD resolution: a panel with a very low consumption which helps its 3000 mAh lithium unit to reach a very long battery life. It can provide up to 22 hours of talk time.

RELATED: The Energizer Power Max P20 gets officially released!

On the hardware side, there is a quad-core MediaTek MT6737 processor running at a max frequency of 1.3 GHz. The SoC is paired with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. There is a single 13 MP camera on the rear side, a 5 MP selfie camera and Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box. Energizer Hardcase H500S also includes a hybrid dual SIM slot.

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Mediatek might have given up on their high-end X series lineup, but the company is slowly but steadily expanding its mid-range Helio series. After seeing good response for its upper mid-range Helio P60 processor, the company has added a new chipset to the lineup, the Helio P22. Alongside the Helio P23 and the P30, the new processor will power mid-range smartphones.

The Helio P22 comes with eight Cortex A53 cores clocked at 2.0GHz. MTK boasts that it is one of the first chipmakers to bring 12nm processors to the budget segment. The chip features Mediatek’s Neuropilot tech which comes with support for TensorFlow, TF Lite, Caffe, and Caffe2. It can select the best available AI resource for developer efficiency.

RELATED: Taiwan Govt Permits MediaTek to Supply Components to ZTE

Mediatek has made sure that the new chipset also comes with trending 2018 features. So there’s support for dual 13+8MP (up to 30fps) cameras and for up to 20:9 (720×1600 pixel) tall displays. The chip offers hardware as well as software based depth sensing. In fact, the P22 has a capable yet efficient hardware depth engine which brings real time bokeh previews to budget smartphones.

Other features include Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi ac, 4G support on both the SIMs, and 4-satellite GNSS.

Mass production of the chip is already underway and smartphones featuring Helio P22 will hit the markets by the end of Q2 2018.

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Just a few hours after the Meizu 15 Plus was seen on AnTuTu and confirmed to be powered by an Exynos 8895 processor, the Meizu 15 has also appeared on Geekbench and now we know the processor powering it.

The Meizu 15 was benchmarked yesterday. It is running Android 7.1.1 and has 4GB of RAM. The exact processor is not mentioned but it is from Qualcomm, has eight cores, and is clocked at 1.84GHz. It scored 1616 points in the single-core test and 5938 points in the multi-core test.

So how do we know which chipset it is? Since there have been unconfirmed rumors it is powered by a Snapdragon 660 processor, we decided to compare it to other devices powered by the same processor like the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 and Nokia 7 Plus.

All three devices have similar scores, identical identifiers, and have their processors clocked at 1.84GHz. This can only mean the Meizu 15 is also powered by the Snapdragon 660.

READ MORE: Meizu M3S, M3 Note, And Others Get A New Flyme Update

Other than the phone’s version of Android, the rest of the Meizu’s specs are impressive. It has a 5.46” AMOLED display, up to 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. There are dual rear cameras (12+20) and another 20MP camera for selfies and under the hood is a 2,940mAh battery.

(Source, Via)

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Taiwanese fabless chipmaker MediaTek has released its unaudited financial report for the first quarter of 2018 showing the company’s sales revenue for January, February and March. The chipmaker continues to struggle to regain its profitability as a result of a decline in sales especially since losing out completely in the flagship chip segment to rival chipmaker – Qualcomm.

The financial statement shows that the company recorded a cumulative income of NTD 49,654 million (~$1.7 million USD) for the three months. This is 11.46% lower than the NTD56,083 million which the company posted in Q1 2017. However, the company can take out some positives from the improved sales Month on Month recorded in March, compared to January and February 2018. In January 2018, the company recorded a total of NTD 16,835 million in revenue which is an 8.07% drop Year on Year. Revenue recorded in February declined drastically to NTD 12,708 million representing a 25.03% slump YoY. However, the company’s fortunes rebounded in March with a revenue of NTD 20,110 million which is still 3.40% lower than the company’s March 2017 revenue. But the revenue in March represented a 58.24% Month on Month (MoM) increase in sales over February 2018.

Read Also: Report: Helio P60 Chipset Will Steer MediaTek’s Q2 2018 Sales

MediaTek’s revenue is expected to continue improving this month, especially since its latest Helio P60 midrange chip is getting featured on more and more smartphones. Analysts believe the Helio P60 and perhaps the P70 will play key roles in boosting the company’s revenue in the second quarter.

(source)

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The Nokia 8 Sirocco was launched back in February at MWC 2018.  It is the most expensive and most powerful phone on the Android One program.

The flagship phone is an upgraded version of the Nokia 8 with all the features users complained were missing now included and more. So, it is no surprise that the Nokia 8 Sirocco has a higher launch price than the Nokia 8 (€749 against €599).

That price doesn’t seem to deter those who want it as it seems to be flying off shelves very fast. It already went on sale in China on JD.com last month but it appears it went out of stock. The online mall again listed it today for sale but is now sold out.

It is a bit surprising as this is something we only associate with brands like Xiaomi. Nevertheless, we can’t tell if this is a case of available stock being smaller than normal or the phone itself is really selling fast.

The Nokia 8 Sirocco is priced at ¥4699 (~$747). It has a 5.5” 2K pOLED curved display with Gorilla Glass 5. It is powered by the Snapdragon 835 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There are dual ZEISS lens on the rear in a 12MP + 13MP configuration and a 5MP front-facing camera.

The phone has a 3260mAh battery, supports QC 3.0 and wireless charging, and has an IP67 rating. There is Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and a USB-C port.

READ MORE: These Nokia X Concept Images Look Futuristic But You Never Can Tell

JD.com has not yet announced when it will be available for sale again. However, you can sign up on the page for a notification when it is available.

(Source)

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Mediatek announced the Helio P60 premium mid-range platform at MWC 2018. Now, the chipmaker has officially launched the processor in China at an official event in the Beijing 798 Art Zone. The company showcased the key features of its new chipset at the event including its AI capabilities.

One of the interesting aspects of the new Helio P60 is that it’s using a 12nm manufacturing node from TSMC. This is the first smartphone chipset on this node and features better efficiency than the 14nm process used by major mid-range chipsets including the Snapdragon 660. MTK has reportedly said that it will continue using 12nm node for all its premium chipsets until it makes the jump to 7nm in 2019.

The GM of Mediatek’s Wireless Communication Division went on to explain that the new chipset is all about efficiency. As compared to the previous generation Helio P30, the P60 reduces power consumption during heavy usage by up to 25%. Overall, the new chip boasts of a solid 12% dip in power consumption. This is important since the P60 is going to be one of the high-end offerings from the company this year, which means it’ll end up in upper mid-range devices who quite often have to deal with high performance games and apps.

The SoC is made up of four high-performance Cortex A73 cores and four power efficient Cortex A53 cores, both clocked up to 2GHz. It features a triple-core ISP and a dual-core APU (short for AI Processing Unit) making sure that it can handle modern features requiring AI, AR, and VR with ease. Some of the key highlights of the chip include its advanced facial recognition capabilities and its support for both single and dual camera bokeh.

RELATED: MediaTek Helio P60 Gets Benchmarked, Scores As High As Snapdragon 660

After a failed strategy last year, Mediatek is hoping to bounce back this year with the Helio P60. The OPPO R15 is expected to feature this new chipset and multiple smartphone companies, including Meizu and Xiaomi are said to have plans to use P60 in their premium mid-rangers this year.

With the Helio P60 expected to perform quite similar to the powerful SD660, would you buy a smartphone powered by this new chip?

(Source)

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CES 2018 may not have been as great as we expected, but MWC 2018 definitely didn’t disappoint. Despite the fact that majority of the manufacturers (Huawei, LG, HTC, Xiaomi) decided to skip this event to unveil their big guns, the event currently going on in Barcelona still managed to keep us all interested with launches like the Vivo Apex and the Matebook X Pro.

So, let’s take a look at the top launches from MWC 2018.

DAY ZERO:

Sunday was an exceptionally busy day for tech enthusiasts given that three major manufacturers had lined up announcements one after the other. And yes, there was the LG announcement too, launching the LG V30S ThinQ model, but to be honest, that wasn’t the highlight of the day.

The following were the top products announced on Sunday.

HUAWEI MATEBOOK X PRO

Huawei kicked off MWC 2018 with its amazing Matebook X Pro. There’s no doubt that the new laptop is inspired by the bezel-less design of the Dell XPS 13 but the company has taken things to another level. The company has integrated the web camera as a pop up component on the keyboard, ensuring you are away from prying eyes when the camera is not in use. Not only that, the Matebook X Pro features a 3:2 aspect ratio that enables more pixels on the screen with a resolution of 3000 x 2000. Coming from a company that entered the laptop market just a couple of years ago, the Matebook X Pro is definitely a product worthy of your attention.

Read more about the Matebook X Pro and its features from here.

NOKIA 8 Sirocco, Nokia 7 PLUS, & NOKIA 8110

Nokia managed to impress us with its strategy last year, slowing gaining ground in the ever competitive smartphone market. The company used the event on Sunday to unveil a number of new smartphones for the global market. First of all, the Nokia 6 2018 model is finally coming to markets outside of China. It’s a great phone (our hands on here!) in the budget segment.

New announcements of the day included the Nokia 8 Sirocco edition with upgraded features and specs. Basically, the Sirocco is what the Nokia 8 should have been and with Snapdragon 835 inside, the phone could have been a great option back in 2017. But it might be a little too late to the party in 2018, especially with its costly price tag.

The Nokia 7 Plus is actually the most interesting smartphone of the lot. The phone features the powerful Snapdragon 660 chipset with dual cameras and 2X optical zoom. It’s being marketed as a premium mid-ranger and also adopts the current trend of 18:9 aspect ratio for its display, which is something that the Nokia 6 2018 model skipped. For less than $400, the phone offers pretty amazing value. Read more about the model here! Note that there’s a Nokia 7 Plus China edition too, which is cheaper by the way.

The new Nokia 8110 Slider refreshes the iconic banana phone. With a banana yellow shade, the company is definitely trying to bring back the trend to current market. However, apart from the looks, the phone has nothing extraordinary. So, we wonder who will end up buying this one, despite its iconic design. More about the phone here.

Samsung Galaxy S9 & S9+

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ unveil were the two most powerful launches on Sunday. The South Korean giant has retained what was good about the S8 and made some minor yet necessary upgrades in the new S9 & S9+ models. Powered by SD845 (in US and China) and Exynos 9810 in other markets, the phone is the most powerful flagship from Samsung till date. The camera gets a super slo-mo bump at 960 fps at 720p among other upgrades. The S9 keeps a single camera module, while the S9+ gets the expected dual camera upgrade.

Read all about the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus from here.

DAY ONE:

The first official day of the MWC 2018 saw Sony & Vivo grab all the attention.

Vivo Apex

Vivo surprised us all by revealing the Vivo Apex Concept smartphone on Monday. It is definitely one of the most interesting smartphone concepts that we have seen lately. The phone features a nearly 98% screen to body ratio, which is insane for a smartphone. The company reportedly made this possible by integrating the microchips directly into the flexible circuit board. Further, the phone features a unique pop up periscope front camera, which enabled the company to limit the front bezel to a bare minimum. Further, there are other high-end tech for its speakers and ear piece.

You can read all about the Vivo Apex Concept from here.

Sony Xperia XZ2 & XZ2 Compact

Sony’s smartphone department wasn’t doing so well in the past few years. Some of its phones have been promising, but as an overall package, the Japanese giant often failed to impress. However, with the XZ2 series, the company is hoping to change some things. First of all, it has ditched the omnibalance design and now, the new models feature an 18:9 aspect ratio display along with a revamped ‘ambient flow’ design. The XZ2 flagship features wireless charging as well.

Overall, if priced correctly the Sony Xperia XZ2 series could be a game changer for the company. You can read all about these two models from here.

Helio P60

Mediatek has given up on its flagship X series chipsets but that doesn’t mean that the company is out of the smartphone market. MTK unveiled the brand new Helio P60 chipset on Monday at MWC 2018, featuring promising specs that can take on the SD660 chip. The company plans to compete in the premium mid-range segment with its new chipset and comes with the new NeuroPilot AI processing tech along with Mali-G73 MP3 GPU to ensure it can handle the premium features of a flagship grade smartphone.

More about the chipset and its specs here.

DAY TWO:

The second day at MWC 2018 saw Nubia and ASUS revealing its top phones for the year.

NUBIA’s First Gaming Phone

Smartphone manufacturers seem to be interested in the concept of gaming phones and Nubia is the first Chinese smartphone company to reveal details about its new Gaming phone. Inspired by a super car design, Nubia’s gaming flagship concept features several cuts and creases at the back with the camera module arranged vertically. The design retains its symmetry and Nubia seems to have done a fine job in making this smartphone design.

The phone is confirmed to launch in China sometime in the coming months, so it’s not just another concept that may never see the light of the day. You can read more about the company’s gaming concept here.

ASUS Zenfone 5Z and Zenfone 5

ASUS unveiled its big guns yesterday, announcing the Zenfone 5 and the Zenfone 5Z models. The Zenfone 5Z is the pick of the lot featuring SD845, 6GB RAM, a 6.2-inch FHD+ display with 90% screen to body ratio — in under $500! But the Zenfone 5 is also a great smartphone, differing from the 5Z model in the processor department (SD636) and memory (4GB RAM).

ASUS isn’t ashamed to accept that the two phones are iPhone X inspired, but it does add that their notch is smaller.

Read all about the two ASUS Zenfone 5 models from here. You can also check out the ASUS Zenfone 5 Lite and the ASUS Zenfone M1 Max models.

This sums up all the major announcements at MWC 2018 so far!

Stay tuned to our MWC 2018 coverage from here.

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MediaTek has unveiled its latest System-on-Chip at the on-going MWC 2018 in Barcelona. The new chipset called the Helio P60 brings tons of upgrades over last year’s Helio P-series.

The Helio P60 is built on TSMC’s 12nm FinFET process which offers 15% reduction in power consumption over 14nm chips. The octa-core chip clocked at 2.0GHz uses the big.LITTLE architecture. That is 4 x Cortex A53 cores and 4 x Cortex-A73 cores.

It also boasts a new Mali-G72 MP3 GPU clocked at 800MHz which Mediatek claims offers a 70% boost in game performance over previous generation P-series.

Like other chip manufacturers, MediaTek has also included a dedicated processing unit for AI tasks. NeuroPilot is the dedicated AI processing unit that handles AI-related tasks on the device. It is two times more power efficient than using a GPU and has a processing performance of 280GMAC/s.

NeuroPilot will handle tasks like deep-learning facial detection, object and scene identification, real-time beautification and AR/MR acceleration.

The Helio P60 also comes with improved photography performance. It comes with three ISPs that have been power-optimized and save up to 500mW of power or 18% reduction in power consumption over previous generation. It supports 20MP + 16MP or up to a single 32MP sensor.

The new chip is said to be able to auto-detect, display, and record HDR images in real-time, allowing users see what a picture would look like even before taking the shot.

READ MORE: MediaTek Helio P70 Fueled World’s First Smartphone, the Ulefone T2 Pro, Launching at MWC 2018

The chip still supports dual VoLTE, ViLTE, and VoWi-Fi. It offers Cat. 7 download speeds and Cat. 13 upload speeds. There is still no Bluetooth 5.0, so 4.2 (Low Energy) is what we get.

There is no info as to when the chip will be available commercially or the partners that have signed up to use them in their devices.

For more MWC 2018 news, click here.

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MediaTek has done a good job keeping the Helio P60 a secret for this long. Today the chip was spotted on Geekbench in a test device that hints that it will be unveiled at MWC 2018.

The test device is benchmarked as the MTK P60 MWC Demo, has 4GB of RAM, and runs Android 8.1 Oreo.

MediaTek’s new Helio P60 chip is at the heart of the device. The octa-core chip is clocked at 1.99GHz and records some really impressive scores.

For the single-core test, the Helio P60 scored 1524 points, and for the multi-core test, it scored 5871 points. These scores are similar to those of the Snapdragon 660 which powers phones like the Vivo X20 and the Xiaomi Mi Note 3.

READ MORE: MediaTek Helio P70 Fueled World’s First Smartphone, the Ulefone T2 Pro, Launching at MWC 2018

MediaTek seems to have come up with a powerful chipset but there are still a lot we do not know about it yet, key being the GPU. Nevertheless, we are pretty impressed with what we have seen so far.

(Source, Via)

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Taiwanese chip-maker, MediaTek has announced the Sensio MT6381 module for smartphones. The biosensor module, according to MediaTek, “is a personal health companion in your pocket”.

The MediaTek Sensio module has one job or rather six when installed in a phone:

1. Measure heart rate
2. Measure heart rate variability
3. Measure blood pressure
4. Measure peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2)
5. Record electrocardiography (ECG)
6. Record Photoplethysmography (PPG)

To read these health vitals, the module uses a combination of LEDs and a light sensitive sensor to measure the absorption of red and infrared light by the fingertips. Using MediaTek’s in-house algorithm, the module will be able to read and process the measurements.

For recording ECG and PPG, the user will be required to place fingertips from each hand on the electrodes installed on the sides of the phone. This is to create a closed loop between the heart and the module to measure the ECG and PPG. The readings of both vitals will be showed in graphical form on the device.

The MediaTek Sensio will be able to take all these readings within a span of 60 seconds. With the Mediatek Sensio on board, users will be able to check their health data using proprietary health apps installed by manufacturers or via third-party apps.

READ MORE: MediaTek Announces AI-Driven Chipsets For Media And Smart Home Devices

While phones with sensors that record vitals are not new (Samsung Galaxy S series), MediaTek’s new biosensor will bring that feature and many more to a lot more devices.

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Chinese benchmarking tool, Master Lu has released its benchmarking results for 2017. We already covered for the top 10 smartphones for 2017 here. This article is for the top Android chipsets in terms of performance.

According to the results, Huawei’s Kirin 970 is the top chipset for 2017. It scored 75,507 points in the GPU test, a slight increase over the Adreno 540 in the Snapdragon 835. For CPU, the Kirin records 48,707 points and this time beats the SD835 by almost 2000 points.

Third on the list is Samsung’s Exynos 8895 that powers the Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note8. Scoring 46,264 and 75,068 points in the CPU and GPU tests respectively, the Exynos 8895 is just a tiny bit behind Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth positions are occupied by the Kirin 960, Snapdragon 821, and Snapdragon 820 respectively. All three chips powered the flagships of 2016.

MediaTek’s Helio X30 clinches the 7th spot. It beats the Exynos 8890 by no small margin in the CPU score but slightly scores less in the GPU test. The Snapdragon 660 is another mid-range chip that has performed well. It also beats the Exynos 8890 in the CPU test but scores less in terms of GPU performance. Its total score put it above the Kirin 955 and 950.

READ MORE: Nokia 8 Disappoints in DxOMark Benchmarks, Scores Lower Than Gionee S10L, Lava Z25

Other chips worthy of mention on the list are Mediatek’s Helio X25 and Helio X20 which come right after the Exynos 7420 but are much more ahead of the fairly new Snapdragon 630.

(Source)

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Both the Helio P40 and Helio P70 will be 12nm chips built by TSMC and are reported to arrive in Q2 2018. Below are their full configuration details:

Helio P40

We first heard of the Helio P40 some few months ago. However, this new leak brings new details.

The processor will be an octa-core chip with 4x A73 cores clcoked at 2.0GHz and 4x A53 cores clocked at 2.0GHz. Its GPU is a Mali-G72 MP3 clocked at 700MHz and it will come with three ISPs with support for up to 32MP.

The Helio P40 will support up to 8GB LPDDR4x (1866MHz) RAM and eMMC 5.1 and UFS 2.1 storage. The Helio P40 will also have AI capabilities with support for TensorFlow and Cat.7 LTE.

Helio P70

The Helio P70 will also be an octa-core chip  with the same A73 and A53 cores but will have the former clocked at 2.5GHz. It will come with a more powerful Mali G72 MP4 GPU clocked at 800MHzbut have the same AI capabilities as the P40.

The P70 will support up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and will have Cat.12 LTE.

READ MORE: Next Gen. MediaTek Helio P-Series Processors Will Focus On AI & Facial Recognition

It is reported that the chips will power Xiaomi’s full-screen Redmi phones next year as well as phones from Gionee, OPPO, and Vivo. Meizu on the other hand seems to be moving to Qualcomm for most of its phones next year but we won’t rule out one or two phones featuring any of the two chips.

(Source)

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The MT2621 is a dual mode processor that supports NarrowBand IoT R14 radio technology as well as GSM/GPRS connectivity. This means that a single SIM and antenna covers both networks.

The MT2621 is a single-core ARM7 processor clocked at 260MHz with 160KB + 4MB of embedded storage. MediaTek says applications can be built using an easily customizable Linux-based OS.

There is also support for LCM, camera, and audio AMP interfaces for devices with sight and sound, in addition to Bluetooth 4.2 for connectivity to other devices.

READ MORE: MediaTek’s COO Zhu Shangzu Joins Xiaomi As Investment Partner

MediaTek seems to be stepping up its game in the IoT and AI race. Its chipsets are used in the Amazon Echo series and Alibaba’s AliGenie X1 smart speaker and will likely appear in more devices next year.

(Source, via)

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Lowering the price isn’t easy for MediaTek. Samsung makes the Snapdragon 450 for Qualcomm and report says it has offered Qualcomm a wafer price of $2500. MediaTek on the other hand is charged over $3500 per wafer by TSMC.

Sources say the Helio P23 was previously priced at about $15. To secure orders from its-China based clients, the price was brought down to between $11 and $12. Now that the Snapdragon 450 is selling for $10.50, MediaTek, may have to lower prices further to keep its clients.

The Helio P23 is scheduled for a Q4 launch and it already has orders from OPPO, Vivo, Gionee and Meizu. MediaTek targets 5 to 6 million shipments per month for the chip.

READ MORE: Meizu Likely To Abandon Samsung in Favor Of Mediatek & Qualcomm Chips: Analyst

The Helio P23 is an octa-core cortex-A53 processor with a PowerVR 7XTP GPU. It will have support for dual cameras and LPPDR4X RAM and should start appearing in devices before the end of the year.

(Source)

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The first half of the year was a rough one for Taiwanese fabless chip manufacturer, MediaTek who saw its shipment for the quarter fall to only 100 million with only a slight rebound in the second quarter at 110-120 million shipments. While 100 million initially seems like a large number, for comparison, the company shipped over 480 million chipsets in 2016, a number the company will have a hard time to top or even match this year.

The drop in the company’s shipments is due to the recent dominance of US chipmaker Qualcomm in the mid-range/low-end market in China where MediaTek had held sway for long. Major Chinese OEMs such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, who have all shifted a portion of their orders from MediaTek to Qualcomm. A large chunk of the mid/low-end market is controlled by OPPO and Vivo who had always used MTK chips but the latest OPPO R11 featured a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chip. But Industry analyst Pan Jiutang has revealed that OPPO and Vivo will likely return to using MediaTek chips in the second half of the year.

Read More: Mid-Range Chip Battle: MediaTek Helio P30, 12nm Octa-core Chip also Coming Soon

The analyst disclosed that MediaTek’s launch of new mid-range chips like the Helio P25 and the upcoming Helio P30 is the reason for the return to the Taiwanese chipmaker by two of China’s top-selling brands. Don’t forget MediaTek’s 10nm Helio X30 flagship chip was featured on the Meizu Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus and the benchmark shows it squares up with the likes of SD 835, Kirin 960 and others. It remains to be seen if the shift back to MTK chips would affect the company’s total shipments very much, considering that majority of orders for chips are made in the first half of the year. It is good news, though that MediaTek will be making a rebound, bringing healthy competition to the mobile chip market which would no doubt result in more innovative products.

(source)

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As the days roll towards the launch of the first Helio X30 smartphone, the Meizu Pro7, Mediatek has taken to advertising the key features of its most powerful processor.

A post made via the chip maker’s official Weibo account highlights one major feature of the 10nm SoC which is gaming. According to Mediatek, the Helio X30 supports LPDDR4X RAM.

LPDDR4X allows the use of memories with higher clockspeeds but with better power efficiency. The new memory standard has a 40% voltage reduction (1.1V to 0.6V) allowing data to be sent and received at improved speeds but without draining much power.

The Helio X30 also supports UFS 2.0 and UFS 2.1. Phones with any of these storage types have faster read and write speeds compared to eMMC.

The Helio X30 is a 10nm deca-core chip clocked at 2.5GHz. It supports dual cameras, a feature present in the upcoming Meizu Pro7 and has a PowerVR 7XTP-MT4 as its GPU.

READ MORE: MediaTek And GlobalFoundries Matchup: New Entry-Level 22nm FD-SOI CPU For Low End Phones

Meizu’s official Weibo account quoted the original post with a statement that loosely translates to focus on “game players”. So if you enjoy mobile gaming, you may want to take a look at the Pro7 when it launches.

(Source)

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Last year, MediaTek announced the Helio X30 as its first 10nm chip. Almost seven months later and we are yet to see a phone powered by the chip.

The Helio X30 is supposed to replace the Helio X20, offering up to 35% increase in performance and a 50% decrease in power consumption. It will also have a better GPU performance as it has ditched the Mali GPU for a PowerVr 7XTP-MT4.

When it was first announced, there were a number of manufacturers said to have signed up for the chip. OPPO, Vivo, Meizu, Xiaomi and LeEco are the big names while smaller companies such as Vernee, Ulefone and Doogee were also mentioned. Of the big names, only Meizu is still associated with the processor and it is expected to power its Pro 7 flagship next month. The others have moved to Qualcomm chips or settled for the older Helio chips.

The smaller companies like Ulefone, Vernee and Doogee have it tough as they rely heavily on MediaTek for their chipsets. Vernee for instance announced their flagship phone, the Apollo 2 at MWC 2017 and scheduled it to launch in May. We are half way through June and nothing has been heard about the phone. These manufacturers will have no choice other than to settle for older processors like the Helio X20 or the more recent Helio X27.

READ MORE: MediaTek And GlobalFoundries Matchup: New Entry-Level 22nm FD-SOI CPU For Low End Phones

Meizu has already ironed out its issues with Qualcomm and it has a good relationship with Samsung. If the Helio X30 fails to impress, it can settle for chipsets from either of them. The Plus variant of the Pro 7 is already even rumored to be powered by the Exynos 8890.

Tec Analyst, Kevin Wang shares his opinion on the matter. A rough translation of his post on Weibo says manufacturers have abandoned the X30 and Meizu which is still hanging on is increasing its use of Samsung and Qualcomm’s mobile platforms. He even goes on to ask if there will be a X series next year. That question is one we can’t answer.

(Source)

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Reports have surfaced that MediaTek and manufacturing foundry, GlobalFoundries, will be working on the production of a new 22nm CPU with FD-SOI process. Traditionally, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has been the primary foundry partner producing Mediatek’s CPUs, making a new collaboration with GlobalFoundries unprecedented.

Currently, there are three leading 22nm processes: FinFET, CMOS, and FD-SOI. The benefits of the 22nm process include its low production costs and low power consumption whilst providing an alternative with similar performance to TSMC’s 16nm FinFET, according to GlobalFoundries. On the other hand, TSMC claims that its 22nm will be easier to adapt from 28nm whilst a 22nm FD-SOI would require changes in core architecture to avoid infringement on intellectual property cores. Regardless of the claims from both sides, MediaTek’s new relationship with GlobalFoundries offers a competitive alternative to other current 22nm processes such as TSMC’s 22nm planar technology.

RELATED: Mediatek’s Helio P23 Chip Targeted At OPPO, Vivo & Gionee Smartphones: Analyst

In the current smartphone market, 14/16nm (Snapdragon 821/Helio P20) and 28nm (Helio P15) CPUs are found in most flagships, whilst the 10nm will become the new more popular CPU process in the coming year, which has been seen in most recently released smartphones such as the Xiaomi Mi 6.

Although MediaTek has begun expanding to alternate foundries, we will not be expecting the company to be cutting ties with TSMC anytime soon, with its 10nm Helio X30 and 16nm Helio P25 expected in devices this year.

The 22nm process is expected to provide a new set of mid to entry level devices, however, a date has not been confirmed.

What are your thoughts on MediaTek’s new partnership with GlobalFoundries?

(Source 1, 2)

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In its bid to grab a share of the market from Qualcomm, MediaTek is said to be working on a number of processors which are mostly mid-range chips. MediaTek gets most of its patronage from OEM in the budget and mid-range category as the company is nearly absent in the flagship category. Earlier on, the company was revealed to be working on an Helio P23 chip. The company is now said to also be working on an Helio P30 chip which would soon hit the market.

Media reports from Taiwan, MediaTek’s base, hints that the chip maker is planning to quickly push a god number of its chip into the market in order to continue to enjoy a good patronage and curtail the rise of the mid-range Snapdragon 630 and 660 chip announced by Qualcomm recently. The reports also quoted MediaTek’s chairman Xie Qingjiang as stating recently that the company would soon launch the P30 chip. The Helio P30 is said to be built on the 12nm TSMC manufacturing process. It is an octa-core processor composed of four Cortex-A72 cores clocked at 2GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.5GHz. The processor is expected to support LPDDR4 memory standard and UFS 2.0 flash memory and up to 25MP camera sensor.

Read More: Mediatek’s Helio P23 Chip Targeted At OPPO, Vivo & Gionee Smartphones – Analyst

Furthermore, the MediaTek Helio P30 will come with support for Cat. 10 LTE band with a downlink rate of up to 600Mbps. There are rumors that the first OEM that would feature the Helio P30 is Meizu. This rumor is further buttressed by the supposed Meizu product schedule that leaked earlier this year. The schedule lists Meizu as launching the MX7 in September this year with an Helio P30 chip. The P30 is also said to have a unit price lower than that of the SD 630/ 660.

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More details have now emerged from analyst Sun Changxu via a Weibo post, alleging that MediaTek is looking up to OPPO, Vivo and Gionee for the patronage of the yet to be announced chip. Notice how she used the photos of the three companies logo to drive home her point on the post? Recall that both OPPO, Vivo and Gionee were all tipped to be working on models which would feature the SD 660 SoC. The analyst also disclosed that the Helio P23 would likely be featured in phones whose prices range from 1000 Yuan to 3000 Yuan (between $150 – $450) which is the range the three company’s top -selling models fall into. Also, MediaTek would be looking to sell the chip in India and other east Asian markets.

Read Also: MediaTek Showcases Helio X30 Powerful Packed Features

On the rumoured specs, the Helio P23 is said to be built on a 16nm architecture but incorporates the main features of the Helio X30 such as the PowerVR 7XTP GPU. It will support Cat. 7 LTE, LPPDR4X RAM, up to 2K displays, and dual cameras. The Helio P23’s ability to integrate Cat. 7 LTE is a huge boost for the chip which is also said to make use of eight core-A53 cores and will be easier and cheaper to make.

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In his Weibo Post, Pan Jiutang says the Helio P23 is similar to the Helio X30. The latter which has been announced since last year  is Mediatek’s 10nm chip but has failed to surface in phones more than 4 months after its announcement due to production issues.

The Helio P23 is built on a 16nm architecture but incorporates the main features of the Helio X30 such as the PowerVR 7XTP GPU. It will support Cat. 7 LTE, LPPDR4X RAM, up to 2K displays, and dual cameras. The Helio P23 will make use of eight core-A53 cores and will be easier and cheaper to make.

Mediatek is hoping that when the Helio P23 launches it will help it recover some of the mid-range market it has lost to Qualcomm. Last year, Mediatek had suffered a loss in market share due to the inability of its chips to support Cat. 7 LTE.

READ MORE: Mediatek Cuts TSMC Production of 28nm Chips, To Make Way for Smaller and More Efficient Chips

There is no news of the exact date the chip will be officially unveiled but it should probably start showing up in devices by the end of 2017.

(Source)

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However, a recent report on Taiwan’s Economic Daily has revealed that MediaTek has quite a large cache of Helio X20 inventory which is due to the fact that patronage for the chip isn’t enough to clear up the inventory. The MediaTek Helio X20 is the world’s first deca-core processor and is built on a 20nm process. The report also disclosed that the Helio X20 comes with a unit cost of $20 which isn’t too much compared to other high-end chipsets. But overall demand for the X20 is said to have slowed down resulting in the build up.

Read More: Helio X20 Is Reportedly 2x Cheaper Than SD820

The recent release of the mid-range Snapdragon 660 and 630 which are touted to post strong performances, both built on more efficient 14nm process will not in anyway help the plight of MediaTek and the Helo X20. MediaTek may resort to further drop the unit price of the X20 in order to attract manufacturers even though the problem seems to sterm from the public perception that Qualcomm chips are better. This notion isn’t entirely correct but MediaTek has a lot of PR to do in order to change that perception.

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This year, news on flagship mobile processors have almost been entirely centred on Qualcomm and the Snapdragon 835 chipset which has even found its way into smartphones. We almost forgot MediaTek has an Helio X30 which have been purportedly announced but is yet to find its way into any smartphone.

MediaTek isn’t going to let Qualcomm grab all th media attention when it is searching for worthy OEMs from its Helio X30 chip. To this end, the company is promoting the Helio X30 features in a video presentation posted on its Weibo account. From what we can gather, the Helio X30 is the world’s first and currently the only mobile chip with a deca-core processor built on the 10nm manufacturing process which means its fire power may likely be superior.

The video reveals the Helio X30 comes with up to 35% increase in performance over the Helio X20. The new chipset also drops power consumption by 50%, that means it runs in a low power state ensuring you get twice the duration of usage which the X20 offered. In addition, the Helio X30 also comes with a new CorePilot verification system, baseband support and lots more.

Read More: MediaTek Helio X30 with Deca-core SoC, PowerVR Graphics Announced to Rival Snapdragon 835, Exynos 8895

Specs wise, the Helio X30 use two 2.5GHz Cortex-A73 cores and four 2.2GHz Cortex-A53 cores and four 1.9GHz Cortex-A35 cores. The highest baseband achievable is Cat. 10. The Helio X30 also comes with the PowerVRXTP-MT4 GPU clocked at 800MHz. The processor supports 4K screen, 8GB RAM, UFS 2.1 flash storage and more. You can watch the video from here.

The post MediaTek Showcases Helio X30 Powerful Packed Features appeared first on Gizmochina.

Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer, Mediatek is reported to have cut its orders for 28nm chips. The chips in this category include the Helio P10 and Helio P15 and are made by TSMC.

The reduction in orders total 20,000 wafers which is about 30% of the their total wafer for the process each quarter and are for the months of June, July, and August.

Some say the reduction is to allow for an increase in the production of other more efficient 16nm chips that can compete with 14nm chips from Qualcomm such as the Snapdragon 626 and Snapdragon 660.

Others also say the reduction is part of a move by Mediatek to be conservative about its business in Q3 2017. The semiconductor manufacturer is set to hold an investors’ meeting on the 28th of April where it will discuss its Q1 performance.

READ MORE: Mediatek Chipset Shipments Fall to Only 100 Million in First Quarter

Mediatek recorded NT$56.08 Billion in revenue in the first quarter of the year. Although the figure represents a 0.3% increase compared to the same period last year, it is an 18.3% reduction from that of the previous quarter.

(Sources: 1, 2)

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AMD says all four companies used visual processing infringing on its concepts for unified graphic shaders and parallel graphics pipelines. If AMD’s allegations turn out to be true, we could see a product ban placed on items manufactured by the affected companies. USITC says that the list of respondents includes LG Electronics USA, LG Electronics Korea, and LG Electronics MobileComm USA; Mediatek Inc. Taiwan, Mediatek USA; and Sigma Designs Inc. CA.

READ MORE: Rumor: Major manufacturers Giving Up on Helio X30, May Spell Doom for Mediatek

An official statement by USITC says “The USITC will make a final determination in the investigation at the earliest practicable time. Within 45 days after institution of the investigation, the USITC will set a target date for completing the investigation. USITC remedial orders in section 337 cases are effective when issued and become final 60 days after issuance unless disapproved for policy reasons by the U.S. Trade Representative within that 60-day period”.

(Source)

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The battle for top chip manufacturer has been going on for years and this year is no different. All the major players have announced their flagship chips and what is left is to see them make it into phones. However, it seems one player might be dropping out of the race and that is Mediatek’s Helio X30 processor.

Latest report says that the major phone manufacturers that have signed up to use the Helio X30 in their phones have started pulling out. One of such companies is LeEco.

The reasons are that the Helio X30 has performance issues and is also grappling with mass production challenges. Mediatek’s Helio X30 processor is built using the 10nm fabrication process just like its competitor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835.

The Snapdragon 835 might be facing supply issues too, forcing many manufacturers to change the launch dates of their flagship but there has been no report of it having performance troubles. The latter is why we understand a phone manufacturer might be abandoning the Helio X30. No matter how well designed or innovative a phone is, the performance of the processor also goes a long way. The Snapdragon 810’s heating issues is still fresh in our memories.

READ MORE: 7nm Mediatek Flagship Chip Detail Revealed: Will Have 12 Cores

LeEco is still the only manufacturer listed to have left, but the source says there are others too. However, there is no mention of Meizu jumping ship.

(Source)

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Recently, a leaked image showing Meizu’s product lineup for the year surfaced online. In that image we saw Meizu has plans to release a Snapdragon 626 device in December. That’s still a long time from now.

New report says we might be getting a Snapdragon phone earlier than that. The info comes from a source in the supply chain who says Meizu plans to start using chips from Qualcomm in Q3 2017. The Chinese manufacturer is aiming for 30% of its shipment for the year to be powered by Qualcomm.

The move is said to be as a result of its rivals, OPPO and Vivo reducing the number of Mediatek chips in their device since Q4 2016. Only 50% of OPPO’s 99.3 million shipments in 2016 were powered by Mediatek and only 20% of Vivo’s 77 million shipments contained Mediatek chips. Though these figures contributed about 30% to Mediatek’s revenue growth for last year, the chip manufacturer saw its gross margin drop by 35.6%. The drop is attributed to a keen price competition from Qualcomm in the low and mid-range category.

Meizu CEO, Li Nan had earlier revealed that one of its phones will sport dual-cameras and a dual-curved display and may have a Qualcomm chip. This phone will most likely be a flagship and the chip might be one of the Snapdragon 800 series. Asides that, there is still the one with a snapdragon 600 series chip.

READ MORE: New Meizu Pone with Model Number M741Y Receives Radio Transmission Approval

Meizu hopes to cover the mid-range and high-end category with these two new phones. One thing to note is that they may be more expensive. Meizu has previously lamented about the cost of Snapdragon chips. Add that to the increase in cost of materials and the final price of the phone is expected to go up.

(Sources: 1,)

The post Meizu’s Qualcomm-Powered Smartphone Scheduled for Q3 2017, More Snapdragon Phones on The Way appeared first on Gizmochina.