MediaTek may not be the first name that comes to mind when talking about CPU innovation, but that doesn't stop the company from doing its best to try and change the game with interesting designs and new takes on existing tech. Today, it announced a new mobile SoC that is unlike anything I've personally heard of before: a deca-core processor with the company's own design that it calls "Tri-Cluster" technology.

This new chip is called the Helio X20, and it actually seems pretty interesting in design. Like "Tri-Cluster" suggests, it splits the 10 CPU cores into three clusters - one with two 2.5Ghz A72 cores for "extreme performance," one with four A53 cores clocked at 2.0Ghz for medium tasks, and a light-load cluster containing four 1.4GHz A53 cores. While the idea of having separate CPU cores for different task loads isn't anything new, this is the first time I've seen it done this way.

MediaTek also has its own scheduling algorithm called CorePilot that it updated just for the Helio X20, which delegates each task to a specific cluster. It's also responsible for managing power and thermal effects, which in turn keeps the device cooler and the power consumption to a minimum. Battery life is one of those things that MediaTek focuses on pretty heavily, and in my experience, does a pretty good job at.

The Helio X20 should start showing up in consumer devices by the end of the year. For more information, hit the MediaTek source link at the bottom.

PRESS RELEASE

Source: MediaTek