Today MediaTek announced two new high-end SoCs in the form of the new Dimensity 1100 and Dimensity 1200. The two new projects are a continuation of last year’s Dimensity 1000 SoC, which marked the company’s return to the top of the line in 2020, with a design Relatively solid SoC.
The two new chipsets update the Dimensity 1000 in terms of CPU configuration and camera capacity, in addition to coming in a new 6nm process node. The new chips, however, do not update all aspects of their designs, as things like the GPU configuration and modem features appear to be identical to those of the Dimensity 1000.
| MediaTek SoCs | |||
| SoC | Dimension 1000 (+) | Dimension 1100 | Dimensity 1200 |
| CPU | 4x Cortex A77 @ 2.6 GHz 4x Cortex A55 @ 2.0 GHz |
4x Cortex A78 @ 2.6 GHz 4x Cortex A55 @ 2.0 GHz |
1x Cortex A78 @ 3.0 GHz 3x Cortex A78 @ 2.6 GHz 4x Cortex A55 @ 2.0 GHz |
| GPU | Mali-G77MP9 @? MHz | Mali-G77MP9 @? MHz | Mali-G77MP9 @? MHz |
| APU / NPU / AI Proc. / Neural IP | “3rd generation APU” 2 “big” + 3 “small” + 1 “tiny” 4.5 TOPs total perf |
“3rd generation APU” 2 “big” + 3 “small” + 1 “tiny” |
“3rd generation APU” 2 “big” + 3 “small” + 1 “tiny” + 12.5% perf |
| Memory | 4x 16b LPDDR4x | 4x 16b LPDDR4x | 4x 16b LPDDR4x |
| ISP / Camera | 80 MP or 32 MP + 16 MP |
108 MP or 32 MP + 16 MP |
200 MP or 32 MP + 16 MP |
| Code/ Decode |
2160p60 H.264 and HEVC & AV1 (Decode) |
2160p60 H.264 and HEVC & AV1 (Decode) |
2160p60 H.264 and HEVC & AV1 (Decode) |
| Integrated Modem | 5G Sub-6
DL = 4600Mbps 200 MHz 2CA, 256-QAM, UL = 2500Mbps 200 MHz 2CA, 256-QAM, LTE Category 19 DL |
5G Sub-6
DL = 4700Mbps 200 MHz 2CA, 256-QAM, UL = 2500Mbps 200 MHz 2CA, 256-QAM, LTE Category 19 DL |
|
| Connectivity | WiFi 6 (802.11ax) + Bluetooth 5.1 + Dual band GNSS |
WiFi 6 (802.11ax) + Bluetooth 5.2 + Dual band GNSS |
|
| Mfc. Process | 7nm (N7) | 6nm (N6) | |
Starting where we see the biggest changes, the two new SoCs are the ones that most differ from their predecessor on the CPU side. Dimensity 1100 is quite simple, as it replaces Cortex-A77 cores with newer Cortex-A78 cores. The configuration still remains in 4 cores running at 2.6 GHz (as the highest Dimensity 1000+ bin), with four Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0 GHz as the small cores.
The Dimensity 1200 changes the configuration to 1 + 3 + 4, with a Cortex-A78 performance core clocked at 3.0 GHz, and MediaTek claiming to have twice the L2 cache compared to the other cores. This means that it has a 512 KB configuration, while the other 3 cores have a 256 KB L2. The configuration of 1 + 3 large cores is also accompanied by 4 Cortex-A55 cores at 2GHz.
The GPU side of things is a little strange, since strangely it has exactly the same configuration as the Dimensity 1000, and again we see a Mali-G77MP9 configuration on both new chipsets. This is very strange, given the fact that other competing chipsets are rolling out new Mali-G78 designs.
The DRAM capacity remains at 2133 MHz LPDDR4X – the lack of LPDDR5 is not very surprising here, as the performance gains are not very large and these chipset designs should be used in more economical devices.
The capabilities of NPU and AI are not exactly clear on the Dimensity 1100 and appear to be identical to that of the Dimensity 1000 – the Dimensity 1200 announces a 12.5% performance increase that could be just a slight clock frequency upgrade compared to its predecessor.
Regarding the capabilities of the camera, the new chips do not change their multi-camera settings, still being at 32 + 16MP, however, both increase the announced capacity of a single camera by up to 108MP and 200MP respectively for the Dimensity 1100 and Dimensity 1200.
On the 5G modem side, we are not seeing any apparent changes in specifications supported by the new design, yet it is still an implementation just below 6 GHz.
The new chip is manufactured on a new 6 nm process node at TSMC – a reduction compatible with the design rule compared to the 7 nm node that was used on the Dimensity 1000.
Both Dimensity 1100 are Dimensity 1200 are quite strange SoC designs in the sense that they are quite small updates compared to their predecessor – in fact, looking at them, one would think they are just minor updates to their predecessor’s basic redesign. It is also very strange to see the very small resource disparity between the 1100 and the 1200, although these must have different chip and ribbon designs due to CPU differences. The fact that MediaTek did not update the NPU / APU or GPUs in any substantial way also indicates that these would be rather small design updates for the previous generation. This is not really negative in itself, but it does raise the question of what MediaTek’s market plan is for the new SoCs.
MediaTek cites vendors like Xiaomi, Vivo, OPPO and realme as expressing support for the new SoCs, with devices using both SoCs being expected to be available at the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second this year.