MediaTek Inc. is a Taiwanese semiconductor company that provides chips for wireless communications, High-definition television, handheld mobile devices like smartphones and tablet computers, navigation systems, consumer multimedia products, and Digital subscriber line services as well as optical disc drives.

Modified: March 13th 2022

MediaTek logo
(Credits: Mediatek)

MediaTek has revolutionized the industry somewhat and is responsible for the following innovations:

  1. First, use the ARM big.LITTLE technology (2013)
  2. First to use Octa-core chips (2013)
  3. First to use Decacore chips (2015)
  4. The world’s first “multimode receiver” for wireless charging (2014)
  5. On February 25, 2014, MediaTek announced the industry’s first “five-in-one” wireless chip. The SoC MT6630 supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ANT+, GPS and FM radio.
  6. MediaTek collaborated with Google on the first Ultra HD TV platform for Android TV, resulting in the development of the MT5595 digital television SoC. The product first shipped in LCD TV models made by Sony.
  7. First, use ARMv9.

Brief backstory

Mediatek was a bit of a joke in the industry, especially when they tried to enter the flagship market with the Helio X series in 2014 but it wasn’t successful so they focused more on the lower segments like Entry to budget smartphones with a lot of success.

Some OEMs have used their lower-end chips and touted them as midrange chips which failed terribly and has given them a really bad reputation. Although recently, Mediatek has gone a long way in repairing that bad reputation. They have even moved up to the midrange section and have announced a 5G Dimensity chipset with a view of taking on the Flagship market.

Mediatek places a premium on processing power and clock speed. Their processors are also very cheap which has made them very popular with Smartphone manufacturers. Prominent users of Mediatek chips include Samsung, Transsion, LG, Motorola, Xiaomi, Nokia, etc.

Below, we’ll take a look at the prominent chipsets in each category made by MediaTek.

MediaTek has 6 types of chipset

1. Dimensity series
2. Helio G
3. Helio P
4. Helio X (discontinued for the time being)
5. Helio A
6. MT6****

Entry level

These chipsets can only carry out the basic functions of a smartphone i.e. calls, SMS, and lite version of software e.g. FB, Android Go, etc. These cannot and should not carry heavy apps. MT6580 is one of the popular chips in this section. It’s a 3G chipset made in 2015. It can still be found in the Tecno Spark 3 1GB RAM model as well as several other Transsion devices, especially the popular Tecno L8/L9 series.

The Helio A22 is also another chip found in this range. The Redmi 6A also uses this chip. There’s also MT6732 (Sony Xperia E4) and MT6735 (LG X power) here. Others are MT6737 and 6737T (Tecno Pouvoir 2, Moto E4), and MT6739 (Pouvoir 3, Alcatel Y5, Huawei Y5 prime). There’s also MT6750T, Helio P10, Helio P18 and Helio A20.

Budget level

These chips can run most apps available today but do not expect too much from them. Apps may take longer periods to load and may crash a lot as well. Games should be played at low settings. The most popular chips here are Helio P22 of Infinix fame (S4 and S5). Redmi 6 also uses Helio P22. Helio P35 is also another important chipset in this range (Tecno Camon 15, Infinix S5, Vivo Y17). Others include Helio G25 (Redmi 9A), Helio P20, Helio P25, Helio X23, Helio X20, Helio P30, Helio G35 etc.

Read: Snapdragon 732G vs MediaTek Helio G95

The Midrange

These chips are very capable. They can play most games at medium settings and loading times for apps are very good. The most popular here is the Helio P60. The Helio P70 is the same as the P60 but with a faster clock speed. The P60/70 phones are Nokia X5, Oppo R15, Oppo A3, Realme 1, Realme 3. The Helio P90 can be found in the Oppo Reno 3. There is also the Helio P95 as well.

The standard SoCs in the range are the Helio G70 (Realme C3, Infinix Note 7), Helio G80 (Redmi 9), Helio G85 (Redmi Note 9), and the Helio G90T (Realme 6 and Redmi Note 8 Pro).

The newer ones are Helio G88, G95, G96, Dimensity 700, 720, 800, 800U, 810 and 820. These new chips are very capable, snappy, and powerful.

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Redmi 9 (credits: GSMARENA)

Flagship killers

These chips are designed to produce flagship-level performance on the cheap. The chips here include the Dimensity 900, 920, 1000L and 1000.

Read: Mediatek Dimensity 9000: A full analysis

Flagship

These chips are the best the industry has to offer. The Helio X series was made to challenge here but it failed to compete with Snapdragon and Apple bionic and was subsequently discontinued.

The Dimensity 1000+ 5G, 1100, and 1200 chips did compete right at the top of the flagship table rubbing shoulders with the A13, SD865, and Exynos 990.

In 2021, MediaTek shattered its glass ceiling by beating Qualcomm for the first time. Their Dimensity 9000 and 8100 chips are some of the best performers in the Android space

This brings us to the end of MediaTek, I hope you understand it. Are you using a device from any of the MediaTek lineups? Which processor lineup are you looking forward to the most? Let’s talk in the comment section, thank you.

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