Allwinner SoC chips are already being used in a plethora of Android devices including tablets and smart phones. But now Allwinner has announced it’s newest chip, the A20 SoC, and you can expect to see it in a lot of new Android devices in the near future. Although most of the devices currently using Allwinner SoC chips are currently Chinese Android smart phones and tablets, this new model is expected to change that.
The Allwinner A20 SoC claims to be the world’s first dual-core ARM Cortex-A7 SoC. This will pair up a Cortex A-7 CPU with a dual-core Mali400MP2 GPU. This potent combination is expected to be able to drive some very impressive visuals. The A20 supports H.264 2160p video playback and full HD resolution video playback at 30 frames per second. Any smart phone or tablet using the A20 will be able to capture 720p resolution video at 60 frames per second. This is certainly a big leap forward for the video capabilities of the modern smart phone. Although a phone or tablet that can record 720p resolution is not news, a bunch of devices being able to capture 60 frames per second will make for some impressive video.
As far as software goes the A20 is designed to support Android 4.2.2 and up, so we can safely assume that any device using this chip will launch with the latest version of JellyBean, if not Key Lime Pie. But the real killer feature of this chipset is it’s battery efficiency combined with significant powerful processing capabilities. The A20 is supposed to offer five times the energy efficiency of it’s predecessor, while offering at least 50% more processing power. These are some impressive claims, and although exactly what devices they will go in will determine how well these capabilities are taken advantage of, it is certainly an exciting prospect.
Even better the A20 will fit into the same pin setup as the A10, meaning that any device currently in production or even the design faze will be able to take advantage of this upgrade right away. Hopefully we will have word on what devices will be taking advantage of this new technology in the near future, and as soon as we have more we will pass it along.