MediaTek announced its latest chip, and this one finally supports the mmWave 5G bands. The new SoC combines sub-6 GHz and mmWave to provide seamless connectivity and switching between the two standards. The new chip is made on TSMC's 6nm process, providing higher performance and better power efficiency.

The new MediaTek Dimensity 1050 is the first chip from the company to support both mmWave and sub-6 GHz. The new SoC is aimed at the mid-range market, and it uses two Cortex-A78 cores at 2.50 GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz, and a Mali G610 MC3 GPU.

"The Dimensity 1050, and its combination of sub-6GHz and mmWave technologies, will deliver end-to-end 5G experiences, uninterrupted connectivity and superior power efficiency to meet everyday user demands," said CH Chen, Deputy General Manager of Wireless Communications Business Unit at MediaTek. "With faster, more reliable connections, and advanced camera technology this chip delivers powerful features to help device makes to differentiate their smartphone product lines."

Availability

MediaTek announced the Dimensity 1050 chip alongside the new Dimensity 930 SoCs. The Dimensity 930 will be available from the second quarter of 2022, while the Dimensity 1050 and the Helio G99 (improved version of the Helio G96) will be available from the third quarter of 2022. New devices with the more powerful and efficient chips are expected to be revealed throughout the rest of the year.

Specifications

Source: MediaTek

Connectivity

Source: MediaTek

The new MediaTek Dimensity 1050 SoC supports sub-6 GHz and mmWave 5G technology standards. The new technology allows devices to be up to 53% faster than other technologies that use 4G LTE and mmWave. The new standard provides for up to 4.6 Gbps peak speeds. The new chip will allow more mid-range devices to connect more seamlessly and provide faster downloading and uploading rates where supported.

Display

The new mid-ranger chip supports FHD+ displays at 144Hz refresh rates. It supports 10-bit color and HDR, and there’s also support for the usual HDR10+ Adaptive, CUVA HDR-vivid, HLG, and Dolby Vision standards. MediaTek also promises faster and smoother scrolling thanks to the MediaTek Intelligent Display Sync technology that improves the power efficiency of fast displays by dynamically adjusting the refresh rate to only enable fast speeds when it’s being actively used.

Camera

Source: MediaTek

The chip now allows a single 108 MP sensor, or a 20 MP + 20 MP combination for a more powerful camera array. The maximum output of video capture is 3,840 x 2,160, and it also uses the Dual HDR Video Capture Engine to record two cameras simultaneously, giving users unique streaming and videography opportunities. AI is also used to reduce noise and enhance low-light capability in challenging environments.

AI (Artificial Intelligence)

The new powerful Dimensity 1050 chip improves noise reduction and provides enhanced low-light photos. The chip uses the MediaTek APU 550, which upgrades the efficiency and the functionality of computer vision operations compared to previous APU designs. The company doesn’t go into detail, but it mentions that it has made several improvements to the multi-tasking scheduler to improve low latency and power efficiency in all AI tasks. The camera and the gaming engine both heavily use the new AI engine to improve performance.

Gaming

The SoC also comes with Wi-Fi 6E and several optimizations alongside MediaTek’s HyperEngine 5.0 gaming technology. It supports new lower-latency connections with the new tri-band 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz. The new connectivity features allow smartphones to be more efficient, allowing gamers to play for longer.

Thanks to the more powerful and efficient CPU and GPUs, smartphones equipped with the Dimensity 1050 will be able to provide a better gaming experience. Mobile games will have higher FPS rates and a smoother performance across the board, and the UFS 3.1 storage and LPDDR5 memory will provide fast data streams and loading times alongside the connectivity improvements.

The new HyperEngine 5.0 gaming technology will allow the CPU and GPU to be used more conservatively. There is also an AI-based Variable Rate Shading (AI-VRS), MediaTek Intelligent Display Sync, and other connectivity optimizations to ensure lower-latency connections to game servers.