Today, Mediatek unveiled the MT6753 SoC, which comes with an eight-core Cortex A53 CPU clocked at 1.5 GHz and a Mali T-720 GPU, which supports OpenGL ES 3.0 and OpenCL 1.2.
The GPU comes with 1080p 30fps h.264 video playback and recording, and it also supports 1080p 30fps h.265 video playback, which can lower power consumption and bandwidth requirements.
The MT6753 supports cameras up to 16MP with features such as "Picture in Picture," VIV (shadow film) and imaging face beautification.
Mediatek has also managed to integrate its own "WorldMode" modem into the SoC, something that has been the domain of Qualcomm so far. This should decrease time to market and cost for the company's OEM customers who want this chip. The modem supports Cat. 4 FDD and TDD LTE with downlink speeds of up to 150 Mbps and uplink speeds of 50 Mbps. The chip comes with support for 2G, 3G and CDMA2000/EVDO Rev. A, as well.
Other wireless connectivity solutions that are supported by the MT6753 include dual-band Wi-Fi, Miracast for wireless video streaming to Miracast-capable TVs, and Bluetooth 4.0. LE.
Mediatek intends to ship the chip inside mid-to-high-end devices starting in the second quarter of this year. Mediatek has been highly successful in China and has seen rapid growth in India and other emerging markets where consumers want low-cost phones with fast chips.
Mediatek doesn't usually directly compete with high-end chips such as the Exynos 7 Octa and Snapdragon 810; instead, it tries to get into all the phones that cost from $50 up to $200-$300. This may change soon, as Mediatek is now looking into penetrating the U.S. market. The company believes that if it can succeed in the tougher North American market, it can succeed anywhere.
Qualcomm currently dominates the U.S. Android devices market (Apple owns almost half of the smartphones being sold in the U.S., but it uses its own chip), so displacing Qualcomm, at least at the high end, will not be easy. However, Mediatek could target the prepay market in the U.S., or devices such as the Moto G that are considered "good enough" performance-wise, even with a low-end Cortex A7 CPU from Qualcomm. Those devices cost only $200 unsubsidized, and it's a type of market that Mediatek should know well.
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