MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday unveiled a 10-core chip, the Helio X20, for smartphones and tablets as the company aims to expand its presence in China’s high-end chip market.
In the past two years, MediaTek has spearheaded rivals, including US handset chipmaker Qualcomm Inc, in rolling out quad-core and octa-core processors to address demand for better-performing and lower power consumption chips for mobile devices.
The expansion to the high-end chip segment also aims to cater to customers’ needs, MediaTek wireless communications group senior vice president Jeffrey Ju (朱尚祖) said.
Taiwan’s HTC Corp (宏達電) has used the Helio X20 in its new flagship HTC One M9 Plus, while China’s Letv.com (樂視網) has also adopted the new processor in its Le 1 phone.
The new processor can reduce power consumption by 30 percent by adding one more cluster to handle mid-level tasks, such as browsing Facebook and YouTube videos, compared with existing two-cluster processors, MediaTek said.
MediaTek expects customers to ship smartphones equipped with the Helio X20 at the end of this year. The chip is made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on 20-nanometer technology and is set to be made on a 16-nanometer process next year.
Products equipped with Helio X20 are expected to carry US$10 to US$20 higher price tags than phones with the previous-generation Helio X10, Ju said.
MediaTek also supplies handset chips to Xiaomi Corp (小米) and Lenovo Group (聯想) in China.
After two years of high-speed growth, China’s smartphone market is decelerating this year in terms of shipments.
However, Ju said Chinese consumers are replacing their old phones with higher-priced and better-specification models. The Chinese market is expected to reach between 400 million and 450 million units this year, he said.
“The handsets’ average selling price is going up, as reflected on our customers’ handset sales. High-end models outsold low-end phones,” Ju said. “There is replacement demand for better-spec phones after entry-level smartphone has helped China’s smartphone penetration rate rose rapidly over the past two years.”
However, the recent weakness of the euro and emerging market currencies have negatively affected consumer purchases of smartphones in Latin America, Indonesia and eastern Europe, causing smartphone shipments in emerging markets to be 10 percent less than the company’s forecast last quarter, Ju said.
However, the company has started to see demand increase as foreign exchange stabilizes, he said.
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