According to the Taiwan Industrial and Commercial Times, MediaTek successfully secured a large order for the OPPO R15 smartphone with the Helio P60 processor in the first half of the year. However, it was abandoned for the R17 series in the second half, forcing MediaTek to enhance the processor’s performance to compete for OPPO’s R19 smartphone orders in the first half of next year.
Sources from the supply chain indicate that MediaTek will target the smartphone market in the first half of next year with the Helio P80 processor, utilizing an ARM octa-core processor architecture. Although the manufacturing process remains at TSMC’s 12nm technology, the chip architecture continues to improve, resulting in a double-digit performance increase compared to the P60 processor.
However, the supply chain cited in the original text did not specify what architecture the P80 processor would upgrade to. The current P60/P70 processors also use an octa-core ARM architecture, with the big core being a 2.1GHz Cortex-A73 and four Cortex-A53 small cores, integrating a Mali-G72 MP3 GPU core with a frequency of 900MHz. This architecture is relatively outdated compared to the Cortex-A76 architecture used by Huawei, Qualcomm, and Samsung, so it is time for MediaTek to upgrade the CPU/GPU architecture for the P80.
Additionally, AI performance has always been emphasized by MediaTek. The P70 processor utilized an APU unit to accelerate AI performance, claiming a 10-30% improvement over the P60. The P80 processor is expected to further enhance AI performance. Taiwanese media reports that the AI performance of the P80 processor may even surpass that of the Kirin 980 processor, closely rivaling Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 8150 processor, boasting flagship-level AI performance.
The evidence for this claim is the AI Benchmark leaderboard. Previously, the Huawei Mate 20 series smartphones dominated the top spot with the Kirin 980. However, with the emergence of the Snapdragon 8150 and MediaTek P80 engineering machines, they have significantly outperformed the Kirin 980 processor, achieving around 20,000 points compared to the Kirin 980’s 12,000 points. Taiwanese media suggests that the P80’s AI performance far exceeds that of the Kirin 980, which is the basis for this assertion.
Although Taiwanese media holds a positive outlook on MediaTek processors, it is still too early to draw conclusions before the specific architecture and performance of the P80 are revealed. The 12nm process and architecture of the P80 still lag significantly behind Qualcomm and Huawei’s flagship processors. Merely having superior AI performance is not enough to sway smartphone manufacturers’ purchasing decisions. Qualcomm has also invested heavily in mid-range processors this year, not only launching the 10nm Snapdragon 670/710 processors but also quickly releasing the upgraded Snapdragon 675 processor, putting considerable pressure on MediaTek.
Selected from reports by TechWeb and other media outlets
Comments Section ▼ Click to expand
Xianchen: The first time MediaTek was saved from a crisis was by Meizu; will OPPO be the second?
Xuan Sir: We cannot abandon MediaTek; Apple and Huawei only use their chips. If we only use Qualcomm, smartphone prices will be dictated by Qualcomm.
Kailun: First, reserve the Snapdragon, then try MediaTek. OPPO is straddling two boats!
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