Hi. Hope you’re doing well. I’ve got some tech tea to spill. So apparently, Tecno is about to debut the “all new” MediaTek Helio G200 on their upcoming Tecno Spark 40 series. Yay, right?
Well… not really. This right here feels like a Pyrrhic victory — one of those things that looks like a win but really isn’t. Let’s talk.
A Familiar Game: New Name, Old Chip
I remember the old days when Xiaomi had a sort of “first dibs” arrangement with Qualcomm. New Snapdragon chips always seemed to launch with them first. A time when it felt like innovation was alive.
What Tecno is doing now with the MediaTek Helio G200 feels like the ghost of that era — but instead of being exciting, it’s just empty. We knew this SoC was coming. We’ve seen the signs. And yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if a MediaTek Helio G250 pops up before the end of the year either. So what’s new about the G200?
Spot the Difference: Helio G99 vs G100 vs G200
Let’s play a little game. It’s called Spot the Difference. Spoiler: there are barely any.
| Feature | Helio G99 | Helio G100 | Helio G200 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process | 6nm TSMC | 6nm TSMC | 6nm TSMC |
| CPU | 2x A76 (2.2GHz) + 6x A55 (2.0GHz) | 2x A76 (2.2GHz) + 6x A55 (2.0GHz) | 2x A76 (2.2GHz) + 6x A55 (2.0GHz) |
| GPU | Mali G57 MC2 (1GHz) | Mali G57 MC2 (1GHz) | Mali G57 MC2 (1.1GHz) |
| Camera Support | Up to 108MP | Up to 200MP | Up to 200MP |
| Video | 1080p @30fps | 1080p @60fps | 1080p @60fps |
| Comms | 4G (Cat 13) Wi-Fi 5, BT 5.2 | 4G (Cat 13) Wi-Fi 5, BT 5.2 | 4G (Cat 13) Wi-Fi 5, BT 5.2 |
| Memory | UFS 2.2, LPDDR4x | UFS 2.2, LPDDR4x | UFS 2.2, LPDDR4x |
| 5G | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
CPU? Same old.
GPU? Oh! A whopping 100MHz faster on the same Mali G57 MC2. That’s 0.1GHz more GPU power to help you lose in eFootball mobile slightly faster. 😂
Camera ISP? Slight HDR upgrade. Slightly better 1080p@60fps videos. ‘Yawn’.
Connectivity? Still stuck at 4G LTE Cat. 13 with something called “DC SAR.” I googled that. No solid info. It’s vaporware. Every search led me right back to… MediaTek Helio G200 press materials.
This isn’t innovation. It’s recycling with flair. Or rather, lazy rebranding with a price hike.
The Old Trick: Premium 4G in a 5G World
This takes me back to the pre-4G boom days. Remember when OEMs were loading every phone with the MT6580 and Unisoc SC7731e? They’d slap “Quad-Core” and “1.3GHz” on the box like it was gold. Now they don’t even need to lie. MediaTek does the rebranding for them.
The cold truth is that brands don’t want to kill off 4G yet. Why? Because they make more money selling 4G phones at a premium. They load them with big batteries, fast charging, and nice screens — and skip 5G altogether.
Itel already proved 5G phones can be affordable. Their Itel P55 5G is going for around ₦125,000. That’s cheaper than most “premium 4G” phones. So why are companies still pushing 4G like it’s 2020?
The Lie: Why 5G is “Not for You”
Let’s break it down.
- Redmi refuses to sell 5G variants of the A or C series in Africa. Phones like the Redmi A4 5G comes to mind.
- Infinix won’t release the Hot 50 5G here.
- Oppo? Forget it. They’ll never push their affordable 5G models here.
Why?
Because the illusion that “5G phones are expensive” is big money for them. If they succeed this year, they’ll repeat it next year. By then, cheap 5G SoCs like the Dimensity 6020, 6100+, and Unisoc T8100 will be everywhere — and dirt cheap.
But the public won’t care, because they’ve been trained to think 5G is for rich people. OEMs will keep releasing overpriced 4G devices in shiny packaging with buzzwords like “new” and “AI camera.”
They’ll say: “Why bother with 5G? It’s not in Nigeria anyway.” They’ll price the few 5G phones sky-high to scare you. And their bots will flood comment sections to reinforce the lie.
The Real Villain? Planned Ignorance
It’s not just Tecno or MediaTek. Infinix, Redmi, Realme, Oppo — they’re all playing the same game.
Even Unisoc has joined the rebrand party. They renamed their ancient, 28nm, overheating SC9863A into T603, then T7100. They blessed it, baptized it, and sold it again.
And we let them.
We’ve now gone from Helio G99 to G100 and now G200 — all with the same basic performance. I fully expect a Helio G250 next.
Final Thoughts: Don’t Be the Target
Honestly? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at Tecno’s announcement.
But I do know this:
I’m not their target audience anymore. I haven’t been since 2018.
And you shouldn’t be either.
We’re smarter than this. We know what they’re doing. We see the game.
And if no one else will say it out loud? I will. It’s mid-May 2025. Don’t let anyone sell you a 2019 chip at 2025 prices.
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