MediaTek rolls out its first integrated 5G chipset

By Gina Roos, editor-in-chief

MediaTek has launched its Dimensity  family of 5G system-on-chips (SoCs) for premium and flagship smartphones, starting with Dimensity 1000, the company’s first 5G mobile SoC in its 5G family of chipsets. Described as a step toward a new era of mobility — the fifth dimension — to spur innovation, the single 5G chip solution with an integrated 5G modem delivers power efficiency, and gives extra space to designers for features such as a bigger battery or larger camera sensors.

“We chose the name Dimensity to highlight how our 5G solutions are driving new waves of innovation and experiences, much like the fabled fifth dimension,” said MediaTek president Joe Chen, in a statement. “Our first announced chip, MediaTek Dimensity 1000, gives consumers a significantly faster, more intelligent and all-around incredible mobile experience.”

Here are the specs:

The Dimensity 1000 5G SoC pairs four Arm Cortex-A77 cores operating up to 2.6 GHz with four power-efficient Arm Cortex-A55 cores operating at up to 2.0 GHz to optimize for high performance and power efficiency. MediaTek said it’s the industry’s first to use the Arm Mali-G77 GPU to enable seamless streaming and gaming at 5G speeds.

The Dimensity 1000 supports 5G two carrier aggregation (2CC CA), and claims the industry’s fastest throughput SoC with 4.7 Gbits/s downlink and 2.5 Gbits/s uplink speeds over sub-6 GHz networks. The chipset supports standalone and non-standalone (SA/NSA) sub-6 GHz networks, and includes multi-mode support for every cellular connectivity generation from 2G to 5G.

It also integrates the latest Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1+ standards for the fastest local wireless connectivity, offering more than 1 Gbits/s throughput in both downlink and uplink speeds.

In addition, it comes with a new MediaTek AI Processing Unit — APU 3.0 — with more than double the performance of the previous generation APU at 4.5 TOPS. The APU supports advanced AI-camera enhancements for autofocus, auto exposure, auto white balance, noise reduction, high-dynamic-range (HDR), and facial detection, along with the industry’s first multi-frame video HDR capability, according to the company.

The Dimensity 1000 also claims the industry’s first dual 5G SIM technology, in addition to support for services such as Voice over New Radio (VoNR). MediaTek also touts a superior camera and video experience with the industry’s first five-core image signal processor with MediaTek’s Imagiq+ technology The chipset supports 80 MP cameras sensors at 24 frames per second (fps), and a range of multi-camera options such as 32+16 MP dual cameras.

The chipset also supports Full HD+ displays up to 120 Hz and 2K+ up to 90 Hz. Dimensity 1000 is said to be the first mobile SoC to support Google AV1 format up to 4K resolution at 60 fps, delivering new levels of video streaming.

The Dimensity 1000 is designed for global sub-6 GHz 5G networks that are launching in Asia, North America and Europe. MediaTek expects the first Dimensity-powered devices to reach the market in Q1 of 2020.