Semiconductor Engineers Reflects On 2017; Talks to MediaTek

Propelled by advanced new components, mid-range smartphones are adding affordable power and features at a rate that rapidly gains ground on premium devices. The combined performance from many collaborating functions will boost efficiency and value throughout 2018. Another exciting development is the handling of compute-intensive processes on the phone instead of in the cloud, thanks to new, energy-efficient chipset designs.

Finbarr Moynihan, General Manager, MediaTek, delivers insights on the trends and technologies driving smartphone markets in Reflections On 2017: Manufacturing And Markets, By Brian Bailey at Semiconductor Engineering.

… Even within traditional markets, processors are changing. “Now more than a decade into the modern smartphone era, we’re seeing mid-range devices catching up to flagship premium smartphones in terms of power and features,” says Finbarr Moynihan, General Manager, MediaTek. “OEMs are taking advantage of affordable, versatile components to design powerful smartphones that have the big, new features consumers are looking for, without the premium price tag. In 2018, more BIG cores will be hitting affordably priced, many-core smartphones delivering remarkable performance, huge gains in energy efficiency and unprecedented value.”

One development that everyone missed is the increase in local processing. “While traditional mobile AI applications have performed all or most processing in the cloud, powerful chips are now able to handle compute-intensive processes right on consumers’ devices,” adds Moynihan. “Energy-efficient chipset designs have been critical in making this a reality, enabling local processing without a huge drain on battery life. Local neural net data processing is poised to help revolutionize the smartphone experience as OS-level processes are optimized through machine learning and smartphones predict what consumers want to do, delivering a more refined experience than ever before.”