MediaTek’s making a super-powered 5G chip for ‘high-end’ phones – report
MediaTek’s working on a nifty new 5G chip to take on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, according to a fresh report.
Android Police reported that MediaTek vice president of corporate sales Finbarr Moynihan confirmed the mysterious chip’s existence during an interview earlier in March.
Details of the chip’s architecture were limited, but according to the report it will be based on a 7nm manufacturing process and be positioned “towards the higher end of the market”.
Related: What is 5G?
MediaTek hasn’t formally announced chip and at the time of publishing it hadn’t responded to Trusted Reviews’ request for comment on the report. But the move would make sense. The company made a big song and dance about partnering with other tech firms to help push 5G development and adoption at Mobile World Congress in February.
MediaTek’s also already unveiled a M70 5G modem, so it would be weird for it not to be working on a chip using it.
Whatever happens the company will have some stiff competition if it wants to break into the top-end, flagship end of the market.
Related: 5G Phones
Nearly every top end 5G phone we’ve seen this year is confirmed to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Snapdragon X50 modem, which appears on its flagship Snapdragon 855 chip. These include the mysterious OnePlus 5G demo unit we saw at MWC, Samsung’s Galaxy S10 5G and LG’s LG V50.
MediaTek’s traditionally struggled to get its chips into the top end of the market. It’s more common to see them on affordable phones, such as the Nuu Mobile G3.
5G is a next generation networking technology that’s set to launch in select cities, including London, towards the end of the year. It’ll sit along the existing 4G tech and aim to offer users 1Gbit/s data speeds. This’ll let you do things like download entire TV series in minutes.
Excited about MediaTek’s 5G plans? Let us know on Twitter @TrustedReviews
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.