MediaTek has just announced its first 6nm chipsets for smartphones – the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100. The former is a flagship chipset while the latter is a slightly less-powerful offering targeted at affordable premium 5G smartphones. In other words, the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 are MediaTek’s equivalent to Samsung’s Exynos 2100 and Exynos 1080 or Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon 870 platforms respectively.
MediaTek Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 specifications
Both the new MediaTek chipsets are based on a 6nm TSMC process. They both come with an integrated 5G modem with support for sub-6GHz 5G carrier aggregation (2cc) and 5G SA (standalone) and NSA (non-standalone) modes. The chipsets also support Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), Dual SIM Dual Standby on 5G, and VoNR (Voice over 5G New Radio). MediaTek claims a peak download speed of 4.7Gbps over 5G networks.
The MediaTek Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 also share some more connectivity features. They both support Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, FM Radio, and GPS, BeiDou, Glonass, Galileo, QZSS, and NavIC navigation systems. MediaTek’s unique sensor fusion technology further provides extended, accurate dead reckoning location performance.
Both, the Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100, are octa-core chipsets. However, the former features a triple cluster arrangement while the latter has a dual-cluster arrangement. The Dimensity 1200 has its prime Cortex-A78 CPU core running at a maximum frequency of 3.0GHz, three more Cortex-A78 cores running at 2.6GHz, and the four power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores running at 2.0GHz.
The Dimensity 1100, on the other hand, has all four Cortex-A78 CPU cores topped at 2.6GHz. The four power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores still operate at 2.0GHz though. Both chipsets get the Mali-G77 MC9 GPU for handling the graphics duties. Additionally, both the chipsets support up to 16GB LPDDR4x RAM at a maximum memory frequency of 4266Mbps. They also support UFS 3.1 storage.
MediaTek also promises a 10-percent performance boost from its APU 3.0 hexa-core AI engine on the Dimensity 1200. The Taiwanese semiconductor giant says it is the world’s first 5G SoC with Bluetooth 5.2 + LC3 encoding.
Dimensity 1200 supports up to 200MP cameras
Along with CPU speed, the Dimensity 1200 also has a couple more tricks up its sleeves. It beats the Dimensity 1100 heavily in terms of image sensor support. The latest flagship chipset from MediaTek supports up to 200-megapixel cameras (single), or up to 32-megapixel + 16-megapixel dual image sensors. It boasts 4K HDR video capturing capabilities with Video NR (noise reduction), Video Bokeh, Video EIS (electronic image stabilization), and several other pro-grade videography features.
The Dimensity 1100 also gets the same set of videography features. However, it only supports up to 108-megapixel single or up to 32-megapixel + 16-megapixel dual image sensors. The two chipsets also offer the same set of video encoding and playback abilities (HDR10+).
Another area where Dimensity 1200 tops Dimensity 1100 is the display driver. The former can handle display refresh rates of up to 168Hz at Full HD+ resolution. That’s the fastest refresh rate supported by any mobile processor announced to date. The Dimenaity 1100 only supports display refresh rates of up to 144Hz at Full HD+ resolution. Both the chipsets support 90Hz displays at QHD+ resolution, though.
The MediaTek Dimensity 1200 and Dimensity 1100 will debut inside phones by the end of March this year. Xiaomi, Vivo, Realme, and Oppo are some of the OEMs showing interest in the new MediaTek chipsets. We might see more names pop up in the coming weeks.
