Once, domestic mobile phones were the focus of domestic mobile phone manufacturers' competition. Now, flagship mobile phones of domestic mobile phone brands such as Huawei , Xiaomi , OPPO, VIVO, etc. are loved by more and more consumers. As one of the concerns of a mobile phone, we found that in addition to Huawei’s independent HiSilicon Kirin processor, all domestic flagship phones use Qualcomm processors. What exactly makes MediaTek perform poorly in the high-end mobile phone market?
MediaTek is an IC design company headquartered in Taiwan. Although MediaTek performs worse than its competitor Qualcomm in the high-end mobile phone chip market, MediaTek still outperforms most of its peers in mobile chip solutions. Over the years, MediaTek has cooperated with end-market customers to develop various chips, such as optical memory chips, DVD player chips, TV chips, feature phone chips and smartphone chips, all with high cost performance. In recent years when smart speaker shipments are growing rapidly, MediaTek is also a supplier of many smart speaker voice chip .
At the Helio P90 launch conference held this month, Chen Guanzhou, general manager of MediaTek, said that there are two key points for MediaTek to maintain its competitiveness in the field of mobile processors. One is to embrace new technologies without reservation, and the other is to pursue user experience endlessly. In a subsequent interview with the media, Chen Guanzhou also expressed his hope to gain favor from customers through more competitive products.
DIGITIMES mentioned in a report this week that industry observers believe that providing higher-end solutions for the low-end applications in the field of mid- and low-end applications has become the best weapon for MediaTek to achieve a win-win situation. But industry insiders also believe that it is this long-term conservative approach that prevents MediaTek from obtaining the high-end smartphone chip market.
MediaTek's approach to providing cost-effective solutions to the low-end application market can usually help latecomers increase their market share well. However, when latecomers are at a certain leading position in technology and products, such practices may prevent them from gaining a foothold in the high-end market. Industry observers pointed out that this may explain why MediaTek was forced to temporarily stop launching Helio X-series application processors for high-end smartphones.
Leifeng.com previously reported that MediaTek announced at the MWC ( World Communications Conference ) in February 2017 that the Helio X30 will begin mass production, and the Helio X series will not be updated after that.
MediaTek's suspension of HelioX's update is closely related to its market performance. Although it is positioned for flagship phones, the Helio X series was eventually adopted by mid-range or even low-end phones, which obviously goes against MediaTek's original intention of launching the Helio X series, so HelioX only has three generations of products.
However, the launch of Helio P90 seems to have us seen some changes. At the Helio P90 press conference, Chen Guanzhou specifically mentioned that in the running score test of AI-Benchmark developed by ETH Zurich, the Helio P90 surpassed the second-ranked Kirin 980 (22082) and the third-ranked Snapdragon 855 (21526) with a score of 25645. In addition, Leifeng.com noticed that the P90 launch conference did not take much time in the hardware introduction part, but instead gave a more detailed introduction to the application.
Chen Guanzhou also said in an interview: "We hope that Helio P90 can convert AI technology into an experience that users can perceive. In addition, traditional high-end processors are in the high-end parameters. We position Helio P90 as a new high-end, emphasizing experience, and our product positioning is also improving."
observers commented that MediaTek's R&D is rapidly deploying innovations like artificial intelligence technology, which is expected to help the company get rid of its conservative attitude. Artificial intelligence inference technology is increasingly integrated and applied to terminal devices and cloud services. The seamless combination of software and hardware and upgrades will enable AI innovation and applications not to be limited to any single product, service or market.
In order to apply AI chip technology to 4C (computer, communication, consumer electronics and automotive) products, MediaTek has begun to contact Internet giants including Amazon , Facebook, Microsoft, Tencent and Alibaba for commercial cooperation, as well as discussing the possibility of commercial cooperation with leading consumer product companies Samsung , Apple and Xiaomi. Observers say this may give MediaTek a chance to perform better in the field of high-performance AI chips.
In addition to AI, MediaTek is also actively deploying 5G. Also this month, MediaTek displayed its first 5G multi-mode integrated baseband chip Helio M70 at the Guangzhou China Mobile Global Partner Conference. The product is expected to be shipped in the second half of 2019. Li Zonglin, general manager of MediaTek Wireless Communications Division, said that with the maturity of MediaTek's first 5G baseband chip, Helio M70, it will not only enjoy the extraordinary experience brought by 5G technology from a more mature and complete solution, but will use 5G and AI to further expand the application scope in the future, giving users the best experience in mobile phones or smart life.
Leifeng.com believes that AI and 5G are indeed MediaTek's breakthroughs and gain more opportunities in the high-end market. However, this is not easy. In addition to competing with products in the high-end market, customers and consumers' recognition of MediaTek's high-end brands and products also needs to be changed. Helio X is a good example. Of course, we still look forward to MediaTek bringing us cost-effective flagship products.
article reference DIGITIMES
