Modern smartphone chipsets have reached incredible clock speeds, with CPUs of the iPhone 14 Pro series (Apple A16) reaching up to 3.46GHz and Android rivals not far behind at 3.36GHz with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 chipset. However, increasing clock speed comes with major issues such as higher power draw and overheating.
To tackle this problem, MediaTek introduced the world’s first deca-core mobile CPU in 2015, the Helio X20. This chipset featured two big Cortex-A72 cores running at up to 2.5GHz, four Cortex-A53 cores at 2.0GHz, and another four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.4GHz. The idea behind this design was to optimize power efficiency and performance by utilizing different clusters of cores for different tasks.
By having three clusters of cores, MediaTek was able to achieve a more efficient balance between power draw and performance. The small cores were optimized for low power usage, the big cores for speed, and the mid cores bridged the gap between them. According to MediaTek’s estimates, the Helio X20 was 30% more power efficient than chipsets with only two clusters.
The Helio X20 also featured the integration of the “world’s first integrated Cortex-M4,” which allowed for offloading tasks such as MP3 playback or audio compression for voice calls to a low-power core. This optimized power usage and efficiency for specific tasks.
In terms of performance, the Helio X20 faced tough competition from other chipsets such as Apple’s A9 chip and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820. While it excelled in multi-core tests, it fell behind in single-core tests due to the limited clock speed of its Cortex-A72 cores.
The chipset made its debut in the Zopo Speed 8 smartphone, offering decent performance and value for money. However, it faced tough competition from other smartphones with more powerful cores.
Mediatek later released an improved version of the Helio X20, called the Helio X25, with higher clock speeds for the Cortex-A72 cores. This refined version achieved better performance, closer to what was expected from a 10-core design.
Overall, the Helio X20 and Helio X25 chipsets showcased MediaTek’s innovative approach to balancing power efficiency and performance through the use of multiple core clusters.
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