MediaTek wants to bring gaming chipsets to very inexpensive phones (update: launched)
Update, January 14, 2020 (4:20 p.m. ET): MediaTek had previously alluded to the upcoming launch of a low-budget gaming chipset called Helio G70. Today, the company officially removed the new silicon.
You can see the full specifications of the new chipset here. You'll likely find the Helio G70 in future gaming-centric smartphones under $ 200,
Original article, January 10, 2020 (8:30 a.m.ET): Gaming brand chipsets have become a thing in the past year, thanks to Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G and MediaTek Helio G90T.
Both of these processors target the mid-range to upper mid-range price ranges, but it seems MediaTek aims even lower with its next gaming chipset.
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We have heard murmurs (official and unofficial) the impending release of the Helio G70 chipset, and the company has now confirmed that a low-end G-series SoC is coming.
Yenchi Lee of MediaTek said Android Authority that it would fall below the G90 series in terms of capabilities but not by much. "Certainly, it's lower than the G90T, it's more for the mass market (sic)," said Lee, adding that we will be hearing about the new gaming chipset "very soon".
The company hasn't released any specs, but I hope it doesn't compromise on performance too much. Nevertheless, a supposed leak points to an octa-core processor design (two Cortex-A75 and six Cortex-A55) and a Mali-G52 MC2 GPU.
On GPU and tri-cluster technology updates
The firm has also been a pioneer in the trend of processors with three or three power domains currently observed on many flagship chipsets, dividing processor cores into large, medium and small cores. We don't see that on the Dimensity 1000 or new Dimensity 800 processors, but MediaTek says it is not giving up on this technology.
"I think we continue to make this technology in three clusters, and you will see it soon in the future," said Lee, without disclosing a launch window.
Qualcomm delivered a pretty cool feature to its Snapdragon 865 and 765 launch last month, announcing that it will offer GPU updates via the Play Store. This means that you don't need to wait for a system update to get the latest graphics drivers and patches for your phone. MediaTek says it is also studying this technology.
"Yes, we are trying to see if we will be able to do it in the future," Lee noted, but could we see it in 2020 then? "We don't have a schedule yet. We need to make sure to work with our partners to provide this."