Chip maker MediaTek is introducing two new processors at Mobile World Congress this week. One is a 64-bit, octa-core processor aimed at mid-range smartphones. The other is a quad-core chip aimed at tablets… which happens to be the first processor based on ARM’s new Cortex-A72 design.
This processor is is a quad-core chip that combines two high-performance Cortex-A72 CPU cores with two more energy efficient Cortex-A53 CPU cores.
All told, MediaTek says the processor should offer up to 6 times the performance of the MT8125 quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor the company introduced in 2013.
The processor supports ARM’s big.LITTLE technology to pair the Cortex-A72 and Cortex-A53 CPU cores so that tablets can just tap the processor cores they need… but the chip supports using up to all 4 cores at once.
Features of this new processor include support for clock speeds up to 2.4 GHz, PowerVR GX6250 graphics with support for WQXGA displays and OpenGL ES 3.1 and support for devices with 20MP cameras.
MediaTek says this new processor is now available to customers for sampling. We should start to see tablets featuring the chip in the second half of 2015.
MediaTek says this ARM Cortex-A53 octa-core processor is designed to bring high-performance features to mid-range devices.
The chip is clocked at 1.5 GHz, features ARM Mali-T720 graphics, and supports worldwide 4G LTE networks.
The processor supports 1080p displays and it can handle 1080p video in H.264 or H.265 codecs. Other features include support for dual-band WiFI, Bluetooth 4.0, and OpenGL ES 3.0.