MediaTek Inc (聯發科) is to include Opera Software ASA’s data-saving application for Android phones in its new 4G system-on-chip (SoC) solutions as the Taiwanese handset chip designer starts to pay more attention to the mid-end handset market.
The company’s 64-bit long-term evolution (LTE) SoCs, code-named MT6752 and MT6732 chips, will be the first of their kind embedded with Opera Max, the Hsinchu-based company said in a statement.
Earlier this year, MediaTek said it planned to ship its first 64-bit LTE SoC by the end of this year.
Opera Max compresses video, photographs and text across most smartphone apps and browsers by up to 50 percent.
MediaTek is expanding its business beyond China and aims to have a strong presence in the mid-end mobile phone market globally, riding on the rise of the middle classes worldwide.
In June, the company said the population of the global middle class would grow to 4.9 billion in 2030, with 66 percent in the Asia-Pacific region, from 1.8 billion in 2009, and mid-end smart devices would take about 80 percent of the total market in 2030. High-end products would make up only 10 percent of the market by then, the company said.
On Monday, MediaTek announced that it has joined Google Inc’s Android One program to create affordable Android smartphones for emerging markets. The new Google phone, equipped with MediaTek’s MT6582 chip, hit the Indian market on Monday with a price tag of US$105.
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