MediaTek to bring premier smartphone features to $150 - $200 handsets 本文来自MTK手机网http://www.mtksj.com

Junko Yoshida

PARIS – Gunning for a growing market in mid- and entry-level smartphones, MediaTek Inc. (Hsinchu, Taiwan) is rolling out today a new dual-core mobile phone platform, dubbed MT6577, offering advanced multimedia features similar to those available on high-end smartphones such as Apple’s iPhones 4S.

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The new platform, which combines a dual 1GHz Cortex-A9 application processor from ARM with MediaTek’s proven 3G/HSPA modem, features a PowerVR Series5 SGX graphics processing unit from Imagination Technologies, and runs the latest Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich” operating system. 本文来自MTK手机网http://www.mtksj.com

For MediaTek, the MT6577’s mission is clear: Piling together the multimedia features available on today’s $600 smartphone to mid- to entry-level $150 - $200 smartphones , and thus changing global smartphone market dynamics in 2012 and 2013.

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The MT6577, fabricated by using a 40nm process technology at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., is already in active design-in activities with lead customers, according to Finbarr Moynihan, director of business development, North America and Western Europe. “First models using the MT6577 will emerge in the third quarter of this year.”

Will Strauss, president of Forward Concepts, said, “Clearly, with dual Cortex-A9s and HSPA modem on the same die, its biggest competitor is Qualcomm.”

MediaTek already commands the number one position on the global mobile phone chip market, “in terms of volume [but not in revenue],” said Moynihan. 本文来自MTK手机网http://www.mtksj.com

Forecasting a whopping 45 percent compound annual growth rate for mid- to entry-level smart phones over the next five years, Moynihan described the trend as the “democratization of smartphones.”

Global smarpthone sales by wholesale price tier (millions of units)

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Red: Premium smartphones (>$300); Pink: High-end smartphones (>$191-$299); Light yellow: Mid-level smartphones ($100-$190); Green: Entry-level smartphones ($36-$99)

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He added, “China is becoming the largest smartphone market now.” Chinese consumers aren’t looking for mobile phones with less features, Moynihan explained. “They prefer feature-rich phones,” designed to run apps, rich multimedia, games and mobile Internet. With the new MT6577, MediaTek plans to ride China’s smartphone wave in a big way. MediaTek’s new mobile phone platform should be popular among operators in developed markets like Europe, added Moynihan, because many operators, poised to drive the data-centric mobile devices in their networks, are suffering from the rising cost of subsidies for smartphones. The MT6577 should help increase the volume deployment of mid- to entry-level smartphones, he explained.

MediaTek plans to take advantage of the company’s existing, popular HSPA smartphone platforms – such as the MT6573 and MT6575. By making the new MT6577 a pin-to-pin compatible with the current single-core devices, handset vendors can simply drop in the new dual-core device on the same footprint in a system. 本文来自MTK手机网http://www.mtksj.com

MediaTek’s new dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 CPU is designed to enable a host of high-performance multimedia subsystems. They include: 8-Megapixel camera; stereo 3-D camera; up to 1080p 30 frames per second/15 frames per second video playback and record capability; 1280 x 720 advanced display capabilities. 本文来自MTK手机网http://www.mtksj.com

For example, if a handset vendor wants to create a smartphone with a stereo 3-D camera, the new MT6577 platform can offer the ability to support dual CMOS camera sensors “with almost no additional cost,” said Moynihan, as the MT6577 requires neither a bridge chip nor a support chip to enable that.

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Comparisons on feature sets: MT6577 vs. iPhone 4S

The MT6577 enables an HD720 display, equivalent to the 720p resolution display featured in Samsung’s Galaxy S3 smartphone. The current iPhone, in contrast, features a 640 x 960 display. Moynihan said, “Although it is not our main focus, the MT6577 could be also designed into a good, entry-level 7-inch tablet with reasonably good display quality.” He added that the MT6577 comes with video post processing capabilities, enhancing picture quality both on smartphone and smart TV substantially – in terms of color depth and richness.

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The stuffing of this many advanced multimedia features packed into the MT6577 – which combines baseband and apps processor – poses issues for Texas Instruments’ OMAP-based standalone app processor in the future mobile market. Forward Concepts’ Strauss noted, “Forward Concepts has long forecast the combo baseband and application chip will be the plurality in the cell phone market... as opposed to separate basebands and application processors.” He added, “That doesn't mean that OMAP is out of the business, but TI has to be addressing a diminishing market opportunity, unless they get back into the baseband business.”

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MediaTek last Friday announced a tender offer to acquire shares of MStar Semiconductor, also based in Taiwan. Through this tender offer, MediaTek plans to acquire MStar shares for 0.794 MediaTek shares and NT$1 in cash per MStar share. Upon completion of the tender offer and subject to approval from relevant authorities, MediaTek also said it plans to conduct a follow-on merger with MStar and expects to complete the merger process in early 2013. The subsequent merger requires consent from the board of directors and shareholders of both companies, MediaTek added.

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Forward Concepts’ Strauss, asked about the merger, said, “MStar was eating into MediaTek's traditional 2G whitebox market in China, so the ‘merger’ was necessary to protect that market share.” 本文来自MTK手机网http://www.mtksj.com