On May 18, MediaTek held another online press conference after a week to officially release the Dimensity 820 mobile SoC. At the same time, it was announced that the new Redmi 10X will be equipped with this mid-to-high-end mobile chip for the first time.

Many people are looking forward to the mid-range devices equipped with this chip. There is no reason for it. The Dimensity 820 ran a satisfactory enough result on the benchmark software AnTuTu and GeekBench. Although the running score does not represent the experience of the final product, it at least shows that it has this strength in performance.

MediaTek Dimensity 820 officially released

The release of the MediaTek Dimensity 820 chip has caused ripples in the relatively “stable” chip market, providing some new options for smartphone manufacturers, and also giving smartphones in 2020 a new look in terms of chips and performance.

Is it just “father” really become?

1. MediaTek’s accurate shot in the mid-to-high end

The Dimensity 820 is positioned at the mid-to-high end, and its competitors are naturally the Snapdragon 765G, 768G and Kirin 820 and 985. This chip uses a 7nm process technology and adopts a 4-core CPU architecture, including 4 Cortex-A76 cores with a main frequency of 2.6GHz, plus 4 Cortex-A55 cores with a main frequency of 2.0GHz. This is the first time MediaTek has brought the 4-core architecture to mid-to-high-end chips.

If you think the parameters of the CPU are too complicated, you might as well take a look at the running scores of the Redmi 10X test machine equipped with this chip: AnTuTu scores 400,000, GeekBench single-core scores 642, and multi-core scores 2489.

Redmi 10X test machine running points

According to official data, the Dimensity 820 is 7% stronger than the Snapdragon 765G in single-core performance and 37% higher than the Snapdragon 765G in multi-core. This also means that in the field of mid-to-high-end chips, the Dimensity 820 can show good performance in terms of performance, so that the official slogan “the strongest in its class” is directly printed.

MediaTek’s move in this way is mainly due to the gap between mid-to-high-end chips and flagship chips. According to data from CINNO Research, Qualcomm chips accounted for 32.8% of the Chinese market in the first quarter of 2020. Apart from HiSilicon Kirin, which only supplies chips for its own products, Qualcomm Snapdragon is still the mainstay of the mobile chip market.

Qualcomm’s chip market share in China remains high

Therefore, “high-end 865, mid-end 765G” has become a very natural thing. However, there is a very large “gap” between the Snapdragon 765G and the 865, so that many Android mid-range phones want to go up but not high enough.

How big is this “gap”? If you use the running score to illustrate, the Snapdragon 865 GeekBench single-core score is around 900, and the multi-core score is 3200 to 3400; while the Snapdragon 765G single-core score is around 600, and the multi-core score is around 2000. If we use AnTuTu’s “Performance Ladder List”, there are still Snapdragon 855+, Snapdragon 855 and Snapdragon 845 between them.

This “gap” between the mid-to-high end and the flagship leads to a very interesting phenomenon: the old flagship of the previous year has stronger performance than this year’s new mid-range, but the new mid-range is superior to the old flagship in functions and other attributes . Also based on this idea, the iQOO brand once used the old flagship core as the core to create new products, which not only guarantees performance but also stabilizes the price.

It was HiSilicon Kirin who first discovered this “gap” and put it into action. Whether it is the Kirin 820 or the subsequent Kirin 985, the performance is a bit “excessive”. In particular, the Kirin 985 is positioned between the mid-range 820 and the flagship 990 5G, and its performance is on par with the 980, but the same 5G baseband and ISP of the 990 5G are added, so that the overall strength of this chip is closer to the 990 5G (which is also the same as the 990 5G). One of the reasons Huawei named it the 985).

GeekBench scores of various models of SoC (part of the scores are from the Internet)

And MediaTek’s Dimensity 820 is also aimed at this point, coming out with 4 core architectures, Dimensity 1000 + the same 5G baseband (peak speed is trimmed, retaining dual carrier aggregation and 5G+5G dual card dual standby) and A series of MediaTek technology bonuses provide mobile phone manufacturers with new options.

2. There is still a chance to re-understand MediaTek

After the card is punctual, MediaTek needs to face an eternal topic-how to change the inherent views of manufacturers and users on MediaTek chips.

This is a legacy issue that has continued from 4G to the present. On this issue, Sina Digital had an exchange with Dr. Li Yanji, Deputy General Manager of MediaTek Wireless Communication Division. In his opinion, MediaTek itself is constantly improving its technical level and user experience to impress manufacturers and consumers. And the 5G era is a good opportunity.

The Dimensity series also means a new beginning

Therefore, in the naming of 5G products, MediaTek stripped the new products from the Helio brand and re-established the Dimensity series. This is the first step. The next step is to let more consumers experience MediaTek’s products. “After more consumers experience better 5G, MediaTek’s product positioning will continue to be built in the minds of consumers,” said Dr. Li Yanji .

In fact, this is a cycle. The good response of consumers will promote the further use of manufacturers, and the emergence of more terminals will also allow more consumers to experience it. The difficulty lies in how to cut in. Fortunately, from these two conferences, MediaTek has made some progress. From the previous “inconvenient to disclose the products carried in the first launch” to the official announcement of the first launch models on the spot, the Dimensity series products have gone from “bewildering” to “organized”.

The Dimensity 820 was handed over to the Redmi 10X for the first launch, and Lu Weibing, the vice president of Xiaomi Group, the president of China, and the general manager of the Redmi brand, was invited as the honorary product manager of the Dimensity 820.

MediaTek and Redmi collaborate for the first time and it seems to work well

Of course, this is also based on cooperation. Last year, the Redmi Note 8 Pro was equipped with the MediaTek Helio G90T chip, and the global sales of the Note 8 series exceeded 30 million units. Although I don’t know how the Pro model accounts for this, it undoubtedly paved the way for the cooperation between Redmi and MediaTek.

And the flagship chip Dimensity 1000+ is also famous, and it is handed over to iQOO for the first launch. From this point of view, MediaTek has achieved what Li Yanji said “continuously moving forward” in 5G chips, and more users will use MediaTek’s chips.

However, from another perspective, manufacturers have not yet referenced Dimensity chips to the most core products. Redmi and iQOO are both sub-brands; OPPO used the Dimensity 1000 series chip earlier, but put it on the mid-to-high-end products with exquisite knife skills. Until the release of the Dimensity 1000+, consumers did not experience the use of Dimensity. 1000 products.

The terminal of Dimensity 1000 has not yet appeared

Manufacturers can be said to be cautious about the choice of mobile phone chips. On the one hand, I hope to have more options to enrich my new product line and fill the gap between mid-range and flagship phones. On the other hand, I also maintain a wait-and-see attitude towards “new options”. After all, a core rollover may mean a real rollover.

This also shows another problem that MediaTek needs to face from the side – the control of terminal manufacturers as an upstream supply chain. In the course of many exchanges, MediaTek has always emphasized close cooperation with customers (customers refer to terminal manufacturers), and counted “a relatively powerful SoC with a relatively simple peripheral configuration” as the customer’s operating scope, which also directly led to Although the Dimensity series performs well in terms of parameters, it may not have exerted its full strength in the terminal.

Of course, there is also a very important factor. Smartphone chips often require joint optimization by chip manufacturers and mobile phone manufacturers. If Android manufacturers are comfortable with Qualcomm Snapdragon, they need more investment in the face of MediaTek Dimensity.

When facing Qualcomm and MediaTek at the same time, mobile phone manufacturers will obviously have different attitudes.

Now MediaTek is still waiting for a point, or a product that can let it get rid of the past and stand at a higher position.

Write at the end:

In any case, after the release of the Dimensity 820 chip, MediaTek’s products are gradually on the right track. After years of technology accumulation, the Dimensity chip is not just as simple as changing its name, it also covers MediaTek’s ability to judge the market and build products.

If you have to be picky, Dimensity 1000+ and Dimensity 820 still have some imperfections, but on the whole, the flaws are not concealed. Of course, the capabilities of the chip will ultimately be reflected in the terminal products. Although I really want to shout “MTK, yes” now, I think this right should be handed over to the mobile phone users in the end. (Su Airlines)

Link to this article：Ronin Observation: MediaTek Holding Dimensity This Time