Handset chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Monday said its new flagship Helio X30 has entered mass production and it expects the first batch of smartphones equipped with the advanced processor to enter the market next quarter.
The Helio X30 is one of the world’s first processors made using a 10-nanometer process, the most advanced technology currently available, MediaTek said in a statement at the chip’s launch on the first day of the annual GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.
The processor, produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), has 35 percent better performance and consumes about 50 percent less power than the previous-generation Helio X20, MediaTek said.
“Catering to consumers’ growing demand for smartphones that can multitask, Mediatek’s smartphone platforms provide optimal computing capabilities and resources in accordance with different tasks,” MediaTek co-chief operating officer Jeffrey Ju (朱尚祖) said in the statement.
MediaTek primarily supplies handset chips to Chinese vendors, including fast-rising brands Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀移動) and Vivo Communication Technology Co Ltd (維沃移動通信).
US research and advisory firm Gartner Inc last year ranked Oppo as the world’s No. 4 handset maker, with a 5.7 percent share of the market, up from 2.8 percent in 2015.
Samsung Electronics Co’s Exynos 9, Qualcomm Inc’s Snapdragon 835 and Apple Inc’s A11 processors are also to be manufactured using 10-nanometer process technology by Samsung and TSMC.
Qualcomm and Samsung earlier this year said their 10-nanometer chips had entered mass production.
Sony Mobile Communication AB said that its latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia XZ Premium, is to be equipped with the Snapdragon 835 processor.
Hsinchu-based MediaTek said it provides chips for more than 35 percent of the world’s “smart” devices and enables more than 1.5 billion connected devices worldwide each year.
In a separate statement, MediaTek said it has formed a partnership with Nokia Corp to design a next-generation mobile telecommunications system.
The partnership is to combine MediaTek’s broad client base for connected devices with Nokia’s network expertise to bring to market a 5G-ready ecosystem for network operators and end users.
The joint effort aims to develop a standards-compliant platform for 5G telecommunications technology beginning next year, the statement said.
The ultimate goal is to roll out a 5G-ready network from Nokia combined with a 5G system-on-chip from MediaTek to bring new devices to market faster, it said.
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