MediaTek today announced two new SoCs in its deca-core flagship application processor portfolio – The Helio X23 and Helio X27 – that shall be replacing incumbent Helio X20 and X25 for Smartphones coming up in 2017.
On the face of it, MediaTek hasn’t changed much. The core configuration remains same, but yes, all cores are ticking a bit faster. Both SoCs are based on TSMC 20NM. The configuration includes two high-performance Cortex-A72 cores, and two clusters of 4 x Cortex-A53 cores clocked at different frequencies to cater to the different magnitude of workload in a more power efficient manner. Also, MediaTek will be sticking to the same MaliT880 GPU next year as well. Other blocks like Modem and ISP also remain unchanged.
How much of a difference will the bumped up frequency and other back-end upgrades make? MediaTek explains as follows:
“MediaTek Helio X27 offers a speed upgrade over the currently highest-end X25, operating at 2.6GHz for the ARM Cortex-A72 cores and 875MHz for the ARM Mali GPU. Both products deliver more than a 20% overall processing improvement and significant increases in Web browsing and application launching speeds based on MediaTek-engineered advancements in the CPU/GPU heterogeneous computing scheduling algorithm.”
The new MediaTek mid-range chips also include MiraVision EnergySmart Screen power-saving technology, which is supposed to modify the smart display parameters based on the on-screen content and ambient lighting, thus leading to up to 25% reduction in display power consumption.
It is clear that the Chinese Chipset maker is prioritizing energy efficiency, and that’s also the right way ahead (2015 debacle still remains fresh). It’s still too soon to comment on the efficacy of MediaTek’s approach or on how powerful these new chips will prove to be in practice, but, MediaTek will surely be shipping truckloads of these, thanks to its thriving partnerships with key Chinese Smartphone makers like Huawei, Meizu and Oppo.
