Mediatek unveils deca-core (10-core) Helio X20 Processor for Smartphones & Tablets

Another innovation has been unlocked by MediaTek when the company announced its first Deca-Core chipset for smartphones and tablets. This chipset is an addition to the Helios system-on-chip (SoC) series which includes the Helios X10 processor that is housed on the HTC’s first MediaTek Flagship, the One M9+. The X10 was announced at the MWC Barcelona event this year.

The company has confirmed that its latest Helios X20 with ten processing cores would begin to sample to in Q3 while consumers can expect products based on this chipset by the end of this year. It is possible that we may hear an announcement later this year about a flagship launching with Deca-Core chipset. Although, it is highly unlikely that any mobile vendors would launch a device except, the Nexus device, which is rumored to be made by Huawei this year around Q3.

This new series of chipset is the answer from MediaTek to its Snapdragon; it’s a tough competitor in the market right now. While many mobile vendors choose the Snapdragon as their core chipset provider for flagship phones, this year we’ve seen a turn by Samsung by announcing Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge with their in-house Exynos 7420 Octa- core processor, which has been getting a lot of good talks for its 14nm technology.

MediaTek is claiming that its X20 chipset is the world’s first mobile processor to sports tri-cluster CPU architecture as well as featuring ten cores. Talking about what that means, the tri- cluster consists of three processor clusters, and the significance behind that is each cluster would handle the different workloads types, allowing the CPU to be more efficient.

Generally speaking, the efficiency has always been a deal breaker for processors if a chipset can provide the maximum performance for a minimum power usage; it would be a miraculous thing. Since, the highest complaints about a smartphone are how can even by using maximum features of a smartphone, one can ensure the power doesn’t take a toll on its processor by draining the battery quickly.

The new Helio X20 chipset supports displays on smartphone and tablets with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, as well as brings supports for up to 32MP single camera module with 24fps and 25MP with 30fps. Moreover, there is a 3D depth engine integration built right into the hardware, as well as new de-noise/demosaic hardware for better quality photographs.

The chipset promises the highest of the performance with Cortex A72 and clocking up to 2.5 GHz. What more is that power consumption would be 30% less. Whereas the X20 supports video playback of 4K and 2K video with 10-bit color depth and support for both HEVC and VP9 HW decoding. It supports LTE connectivity of category-6, C2K with SRLTE and uses 70% less modem power when compared with X10. Additionally, the embedded ARM Cortex-M4 processor allows it to support always-on apps like MP3 Playback and voice activation using the lowest power.