Mobile Processors Reach 10 Cores

MediaTek announces an industry first with the Helio X20, a system-on-a-chip (SoC) for smartphone and tablet use packing 10 cores on a single die, all connected with the so-called MediaTek Coherent System Interconnect (MCSI).

Helio X20The 10 cores are arranged in 3 clusters-- two Cortex-A725 cores clocked at 2.5GHz, four Cortex-A53s clocked at 2GHz and four Cortex-A53s clocked at 1.4GHz. The arrangement is compared to a car with 3 gears allowing for fuel efficiency across different terrains, since the low-power cores can handle non-demanding tasks while the 2.5GHz cluster takes care of bigger jobs.

The company also says the grouping allows for power savings of up to 30% off a standard ARM "big.little" implementation.

Also included in the Helio X20 is an integrated Cortex-M4 hub (handles low-power sensors and MP3 playback), dual 12-bit camera processors, improved graphics performance and Carrier Aggregation for Cat 6 LTE.

Will MediaTek's latest manage to effectively juggle all 10 cores? We will know by Q1 2016, when the first devices carrying the SoC start hitting the market.

Go MediaTek Helio X20