MediaTek has announced MT8173 , the world’s first tablet SoC based on the latest ARM Cortex A72 CPU. It combines two Cortex-A72 CPUs and two Cortex-A53 CPUs using big.LITTLE architecture offering the best performance and power efficiency. It would offer up to 6 times the performance of MT8125 quad-core chip for tablets that was introduced back in 2013, said the company.
Commenting on the new tablet SoC, Joe Chen, Senior Vice President of MediaTek, said:
MT8173 highlights the significant shift in how mobile devices, such as Android tablets, are used and, with the combination of ARM’s latest technology, we are delivering a platform that answers the growing demand for improved mobile multimedia performance and power usage. By presenting CPU specs that outperform any other device currently on the market, we are bringing PC-like performance to tablet form factor, reinforcing MediaTek’s continued commitment to deliver premium technology to everyone across the globe.
Noel Hurley, General Manager, CPU group, ARM, said:
MediaTek has been a strong adopter of ARM big.LITTLE processing architecture, extending it with CorePilot, to deliver extreme performance, while maintaining power efficiency. Decisively and quickly incorporating the second-generation of our 64-bit technology into a market-ready product, underscores the partnership between ARM and MediaTek.
Highlights of MediaTek MT8173 tablet SoC
- up to 2.4GHz 2 x ARM Cortex-A72 and 2 x ARM Cortex-A53 64-bit CPU
- True Heterogeneous 64-bit Multi-Core big.LITTLE architecture
- Big cores and LITTLE cores can run at full speed at the same time for peak performance requirement
- Imagination PowerVR GX6250 GPU
- Supports OpenGL ES 3.1, OpenCL for future applications, Delivers 350Mtri/s and 2.8 Gpix/s performance
- WQXGA display at 60fps, 120Hz mobile display
- Ultra HD 30fps H.264/HEVC(10-bit)/VP9 hardware video playback
- WQXGA display support with TV-grade picture quality enhancement
- HDMI and Miracast support for multi-screen applications
- 20MP camera ISP with video face beautify and LOMO effects
- Security hardware accelerator
- Supports Widevine Level 1, Miracast with HDCP
- HDCP 2.2 for premium video to 4k TV display
The MediaTek MT8173 is currently in sampling and would be featured in the first commercial tablets in second half of 2015.