Just after revealing its True Octa-Core System-on-Chip (SoC), MediaTek announced a new chip with some rather interesting new features. The quad-core MT8135 is designed to be used on tablets that require processor-intensive operations such as heavy web browsing, hardcore gaming, and video viewing, without sacrificing power efficiency.
The heart of the MT8135 is composed of two high-performance ARM Cortex A15 and two ultra-efficient ARM Cortex A7 processors, utilizing ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture. If this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because it is basically the same setup as Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa, but with half the cores. One major difference between the two implementations, however, is in the area of heterogeneous multi-processing.
Heterogeneous multi-processing would allow different kinds of CPUs, in this case, the A15 and A7, to be used together. In Samsung’s implementation, this is unsupported. Only one set of cores can be active at one time, either the A15 or the A7, but not both. As such, MediaTek’s MT8135 is the first implementation of the ARM big.LITTLE architecture to offer simultaneous heterogeneous multi-processing.
The MT8135 is also not skimping on other components. It includes a four-in-one connectivity combo of Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, and FM, as well as support for Miracast for easy multimedia sharing across devices. Lastly, the SoC also houses a PowerVR Series 6 GPU to address the requirements of high-end gaming and smooth user interfaces.
VIA: PR Newswire
I’ve been hoping for a challenger to Qualcomm to arise. Samsung’s chips are nice and all but they haven’t been to the US for awhile. Mediatek has the resources to make some high end CPU’s if they wanted.