The successor to MediaTek's the octa-core Helio X10 (MT6795) was recently launched by the company, which may become the trend in many upcoming smartphone models to be launched by the end of this year.
The Helio X20 is considered the world's first mobile processor with ten processing cores, also called a "deca-core" chip, Engadget reported. The release, again, gave the company a step further in the race against its rival Qualcomm.
MediaTek said the birth of the new processor was due to the increasing number of tasks that smartphones perform nowadays.
They designed the Helio X20 with a Tri-Cluster CPU architecture. One cluster has two ARM Cortex-A72 cores running at 2.5GHz. Meanwhile, the other two clusters have four ARM Cortex-A53 cores each - one runs at 2.0GHz and the other runs at 1.4GHz.
With dual cluster architecture, the high-power cluster runs heavy tasks, such as gaming, and photo and video imaging. On the other hand, light applications, like listening to audio or web browsing, is processed by the low-power cluster.
What happens is that shifting from a heavy task to a lighter one, the shift between the high-power cluster to the low-power cluster is seen inefficient in terms of computer processing and power usage.
The addition of a third, medium-powered cluster in the Helio X20 aims to address that issue. MediaTek General Manager of International Corporate Sales Finbarr Moynihan told Engadget that the third cluster can be compared to an additional gear in a car.
According to Moynihan, while it's possible that all ten core run at the same time, it may not happen all the time since the processor will automatically choose the right cluster for a particular app.
With the three clusters, the Helio X20 also promises better power management which translates to extended battery life for mobile devices.
Additional features of the Helio X20 include dual main cameras processors with built-in 3D depth engine, and the low power sensor processor - ARM Cortex-M4 - for MP3 playback and
Mohit Bhushan, MediaTek's head of U.S. marketing, told Recode that the company is moving forward from being a low-cost provider of mobile processors with the release of the Helio X20.
It can be recalled that MediaTek was the first to launch the octa-core mobile processor in 2013, ahead of Qualcomm, and it became the trend for many high-end smartphones this year. After its success, Qualcomm also came up with its own octa-core processor for mobile devices.
