MediaTek announces a 60% more efficient octa-core processor Cortex-A17
MediaTek announces a new octa-core processor to compete with Qualcomm
The Taiwanese chip manufacturer MediaTek has just announced a new type of octa-core processors called Cortex-A17 (MT6595). Two months ago, MediaTek demonstrated world’s first true octa-core chip with eight cores working simultaneously. Now, the company unveils Cortex-A17, a new chip technology with four cores A17 between 2.2 and 2.5 GHz and four A7 cores ticking over at 1.7 GHz. The Cortex-A17 processors are coming with the Rogue PowerVR Series6 graphics.
With Cortex-A17, the new mid-range phones will be much faster. The current A9-based chips are designed for mid-tiers, but the new octa-core A17 processors will make all mid-rangers flies as the company promises a 60% performance improvement over the largely used A9s. In addition, MT6595 will be included in a variety of high-end models, which will compete against the Snapdragon’s 800 and 805 processors, largely used in many premium devices.
MT6595 comes with several interesting features. Firstly, it uses the big.LITTLE architecture and heterogeneous multiprocessing allowing all eight cores to work during resource-consuming tasks. For basic activities, the processor uses one or two cores which in turn save a lot of energy. MediaTek promises the new chipset will be faster and more efficient than any other old octa-core model including Exynos.
Secondly, MT6595 comes with an LTE built-in H.265 Ultra HD Codec support, allowing users to watch 4K2K videos. As it’s up to the individual manufacturers if all features will be added, the costs for implementing the new chip technology into the future smartphones will vary. According to MediaTek, the chips will begin shipping to phone manufacturers before July 2014, while the first products will hit the market in the second half of the year.
[Source: Engadget]
