How MediaTek is always at the cutting-edge of future-ready technologies

A lot has changed in the technology world these past few years. Smartphones have become ubiquitous thanks to good affordable phones becoming a reality, wearables have gone from luxury gadgets to mainstream products, and smart speakers powered by digital assistants have entered more homes than ever before. And this means that cutting-edge technologies are accessible easily to the common folk. At the centre of all this has been MediaTek’s drive to develop and rapidly circulate groundbreaking technologies in the market. The company has worked relentlessly to create technologies that allow other companies to create smart devices that make people’s lives better. In this article, we take a brief look at how MediaTek has always remained at the cutting-edge of future-ready technologies.

Carrying the innovation baton for smartphones

MediaTek has worked tirelessly to improve underlying technologies to deliver outstanding consumer experiences. While MediaTek has done uncountable things to improve smartphones in the past few years, the star of the show has to be its MediaTek Dimensity line of chipsets. The MediaTek Dimensity chipsets not only brought powerful performance and a vast feature set, but they have also fast-tracked the 5G era.

Its recent announcement of the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chipset is a shining example of the company redefining what a flagship smartphone chipset means. The foundation for this powerful SoC was laid by the MediaTek Dimensity 1200. It tore through benchmarks and powered most of the flagship smartphones launched in the past year. Now the lead is all set to widen with the launch of the MediaTek Dimensity 9000, which will power premium flagship smartphones from major OEMs in 2022. Thanks to the success of the MediaTek Dimensity chipsets, the company has captured 40 percent of the market share of the global smartphone SoC according to Counterpoint Research.

Based on TSMC’s 4nm production process and the latest ARMv9 architecture, the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 comes with new Cortex-X2, Cortex-A710, and Cortex-A510 cores, along with the new Mali-G710 GPU. It has a top clock speed of a whopping 3.05GHz, which will not only crush benchmarks but also fly through tasks and games.

The MediaTek Dimensity 9000 can support colossal 320MP camera sensors and offers phone makers an 18-bit HDR-ISP design to exploit for photography. It’s also the first in the industry to support LPDDR5X memory and the first to support raytracing SDK using Vulkan for Android. The MediaTek Dimensity 9000 is ready to dominate the market in the coming year. The ball is now in the court of smartphone OEMs to deliver future-ready devices that take full advantage of its capabilities.

Last year, its MediaTek Dimensity Open Resource Architecture program saw the company working with players like OnePlus and vivo to provide customised versions of the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset to deliver unique experiences. The platform gives smartphone brands closer-to-metal access to customise features for cameras, displays, graphics, artificial intelligence (AI) processing units (APUs), sensors, and connectivity sub-systems. With this deep level of access, both OnePlus and vivo were able to customise the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset to meet their requirements. The result was two completely different smartphones powered by the same chipset. We cannot wait to see what these companies will do with the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chipset.

Improving the future of laptops and tablets

Another exciting product to come from the company’s stables recently is the MediaTek Kompanio 1300T, a platform dedicated to tablets, portable notebooks, and other such devices. And given its features, the chipset is set to capture a big chunk of market share in the near future. Several new products, including Chromebooks and laptops, are all set to launch with this chip inside. They are all set to be high-performance products with a host of distinctive features and great battery life.

That’s because the MediaTek Kompanio 1300T is a 6nm chip with an octa-core CPU bearing high-performance Cortex-A78 cores and power-efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores along with a nine-core Arm Mali-G77 MC9 GPU. It supports LPDDR5 memory, up to 2.5K resolution displays with 120Hz refresh rates, and Wi-Fi 6. Plus, an integrated 5G modem sits on it as well. It, together with the more affordable MediaTek Kompanio 900T chipset, are going to change the game for Chromebooks and tablets. More than anything, this means great news for the tablet and laptop space.

And it also signifies a big leap into this territory by MediaTek. The face of this segment is all set to change next year thanks to the launch of this SoC, even as OEMs find a new way to create products for mainstream markets with the help of this powerful and battery efficient platform. And that’s one more way MediaTek is impacting the technology space with its future-ready products.

Paving the way for next-gen connectivity standards

MediaTek’s focus on its Filogic platform is another piece of evidence of its heavy investment in cutting edge technologies. Chips like the MediaTek Filogic 830 and MediaTek Filogic 630 are ensuring that the market is being infused with high-performance Wi-Fi 6/6E products that are certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance. Moreover, as part of a recent partnership with AMD, MediaTek has even contributed to scripting the future of laptop and desktop connectivity. AMD’s upcoming RZ600 Series Wi-Fi 6E Modules will include MediaTek’s brand new Filogic 330P chipset. Not only it means fast Wi-Fi speeds with low latency, but it will also result in less interference from other signals.

The MediaTek Filogic 330P brings support for 2×2 Wi-Fi 6 (2.4/5GHz) and 6E (6GHz band up to 7.125GHz). This results in high throughput and ultra-fast speeds of up to a whopping 2.4Gbps. Plus, this chip integrates MediaTek’s power amplifier (PA) and low noise amplifier (LNA) technology to optimize power consumption. With the help of its Filogic platform, MediaTek has showcased that it’s as committed to infusing the market with advanced Wi-Fi technologies as it is to 5G.

Making our homes better by enhancing our entertainment devices like smart TVs

MediaTek’s recent inroads into the TV space has also been remarkable to witness. There are more than 2 billion MediaTek-powered TVs around the world, as the company has claimed 60 percent of the market share. And as we surpass 4K TV sets and stand at the edge of the 8K TV revolution, the company has a bleeding-edge product ready for that leap as well. The MediaTek Pentonic 2000 is a chip meant for 120Hz 8K resolution TVs. It is the world’s first 7nm 8K smart TV chip. It comes with a multi-core APU that intelligently upscales content to the display’s native resolution while also performing real-time image quality enhancements.

It supports Wi-Fi 6E, and even 5G, should OEMs choose to offer that feature. Another industry-first is its support for Versatile Video Coding (VVC) for H.266 content. It is a new codec with improved compression efficiency for streaming and broadcasting media. The MediaTek Pentonic 2000’s support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos signifies a consumer-focused approach from the company. With this kind of pitch to 8K TV manufacturers, MediaTek has made it clear that it’s ready to capture an even larger chunk of the market in the future.

With all this in place, MediaTek also wants the general public to be aware of its technologies more in detail. That’s perhaps the reason behind its recent MediaTek Technology Diaries series, which explains next-generation technologies in simple terms for the common man to understand. This is being actively pursued by the company through informal discussions with industry stakeholders, OEMs, the media, and key opinion leaders. Then there’s also the use of mobile van roadshows being conducted all across India, showcasing live product demos and educating the crowds about the possibilities of the brand’s products.

MediaTek certainly has a lot to offer to the technologies that will shape our future. And its recent focus on developing cutting-edge silicons for use in modern gadgets is proof of the same. As we stand at the end of 2021 and look forward to 2022, we can see that MediaTek has primed itself to be at the forefront of new and novel technologies that will have a significant impact on our lives.