Allwinner plans to begin mass production of its new quad-core processor for low-cost tablets in July. The company has announced that the Allwinner A33 chip will be available to device makers for as little as $4.99, and Allwinner has also revealed plans for reference tablets which could cost as little as $40 to build (and which would likely sell for a little more.
The Allwinner A33 chip is a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor with ARM Mali-400 MP2 graphics. It’s pin compatible with the chip-makers older A23 dual-core chip, which means that device makers can switch to the new processor without altering their designs.
According to Allwinner’s reference platform, we could expect to see cheap tablets with the following specs sporting the A33 chip:
- 8 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage
- 7 inch, 1024 x 768 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage
- 7 inch, 800 x 480 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage
The spec sheet Allwinner sent me shows estimated prices of $40 to $50 for those tablets, but I’m pretty sure those prices are for system builders, not end users. Still, it’s likely that tablets that cost as little as $40 to make could hit the streets with prices well below $100.
I picked up a new $40 iRulu eXpro X1a with this processor. It runs Android 4.4 and only has 512mb of RAM, but it’s FAST! It boots fast and plays Youtube videos just fine. This tablet blows away my old eMatic quad core tablet from Walmart that cost twice as much.
Sorry but any tablets you buy between now and Q3 or 4 of 2014 are pretty much Firesale material. This is the end of the 32 bit era on tablets and mobiles remember – Q3 or 4 of 2014 should start to see the landscape change to 64 bit and anything worth buying in 2015 and beyond will be 64bit. While I realize these are pin compatible with older stuff, it’s not going to matter that much once 64 bit tablets and phones start hitting the market. So just be aware of that. If you’re fine throwing money away then go to town. Personally I’d wait and get something with some longevity in it.
Allwinner based tablets will hopefully make it more possible to more linux based OS to be developed for tablets.
Nope. Not until Mali or PowerVR release their source which is never lol.
Linux already works really fine with binary Mali closed drivers on previous Allwinnerchips.
Any mention as to whether they can support HDMI out?
Awesome. Great to see technology become so affordable.