MediaTek might not be one of the first names you think of when it comes to smartphone chips, but that could change soon. Right now, its chips are generally used in low-cost devices sold mostly in the Chinese markets. Most of the big device creators use chips from companies like Qualcomm, NVIDIA, ST Ericsson, but MediaTek has announced that Sony is taking a look at MediaTek for some low-cost devices.
Apparently, Sony has requested samples of MediaTek’s MT6589 quad-core SoC. This means that no actual orders have been placed yet. If Sony finds the chips workable, it could use them is smartphones that it will announce next year. Of course, if Sony does not like the chips, then this could be the last we ever hear about this deal.
Presumably, with MediaTek’s track record, a phone released by Sony using these chips would be of the affordable variety. The chips are made using a 28nm manufacturing process and uses Cortex A7 processor cores. They can be clocked to 1.2GHz and supports LPDDR2 RAM. The PowerVR SGX544 GPU should be capable of handling 720 by 1280 resolutions. The chips can also handle up to a 13MP camera and 1080P video recording.
If the deal goes through, MediaTek estimates it will ship about 200 million smartphone chips. That would be a huge increase over last year, when MediaTek shipped 110 million units. Time will tell if Sony decides to go with the chips, and as always, we will keep you posted.
Looking forward to see MediaTek in Sony handsets, better solution in cheap price.