Flashback: MediaTek's Helio X20 chip with 10-core CPU was ahead of their time

13 August 2023
The company identified a flaw in the typical big.LITTLE setup and proposed a solution with three clusters - and it was right.

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Anton., 13 Aug 2023What planet do you live on???What is wrong exactly? In the smartphone CPU market, MediaTek is the leader with about 35%, Snapdragon comes second with ~25-30%, Apple in third and so on. You can check for yourself on Counterpoint or any other research site.

    It was ahead of its time...... in benchmarks.

    I remember the X20 was what powered the MTK version of the Redmi Note 4, far much better than the SD625 version. Too bad the MTK version was devoid of any ROM development while the SD version thrived, otherwise I would've bought it.

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      • Anonymous
      • 0wX
      • 14 Aug 2023

      The Helio X30 was used only on two phones

      Nope, there was one more - Meitu V7.

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        • senja
        • d@B
        • 14 Aug 2023

        You said nothing in that wall of text... Except, you proved that was good idea, and ahead of its time. They just had worse tegnology, and I'm surprised that it didn't mentioned in article that they used older process. That was main reason for slower peeformance. But probably not their fault. Many big companies take all of production of better technology. They probably used what they have. But it's ok. It was for cheaper phones. It's not suposed to beat expensive flagships...

          AnonD-1073493, 13 Aug 2023dunno why but i like these "flashback" posts. the... moreAgreed

            Nowadays, we got counterfeit phones posing as real phones with a deca-core processor that wasn't even the Helio X20

              Hemedans, 13 Aug 2023Same people (you included) recomend weaker cpu like G99, G9... moreI don't give a F*ok if the phone doesn't have 4k, my current phone doesn't have 4k either.. The recently Nord CE 3 Lite retails for $300 which I don't like.

                Anonymous, 13 Aug 2023Iphone 14 pro max alone sell more than all these combined. I don't know where you got that from and since when did the 14 Pro Max use Snapdragon?

                  Anonymous, 13 Aug 2023690 has 4K recording. Funny is the fact some even prefer 7... morePlease no one buys that $500 Sony here and no one cares either.. stock android lacks cool animations, lacks some features and that phone doesn't have HHR.

                  D1080 is the real battery champion, it supports wifi 6, 4k and far more powerful than 695..

                  Galaxy A34 (134h)
                  Realme 10 Pro+ (149h)

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                  • R
                  • Ravikumar
                  • 7j{
                  • 14 Aug 2023

                  Kirin is Out of the Game, because of Chinese Product Ban, orelese sure itz Snapdragon's Ultimate Rival.

                    I was an owner of the infamous Redmi Note 4 (Chinese version) which used the Helio X20, and I remembered that I was playing PUBG mobile at the time every day and the phone would become so hot it was uncomfortable to touch and of course the FPS were dropping so low that the game was unplayable. I’m pretty sure though that it wasn’t the processor that couldn’t handle the game, it was the bad optimisation that popular games had with Mediatek processors. I finally got the Mi A1 that had the SD 625 and played the game fine without problems.Which in turn was in use until quite recently actually, one of the best phones I used so far, only bested by my Pixel 5.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • 0p}
                      • 14 Aug 2023

                      Anonymous, 14 Aug 2023Now that we have Cortex-X, Mediatek can easily resurrect th... moreToo late.

                      D9300 is quad X4 + quad 715.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • gqb
                      • 14 Aug 2023

                      Now that we have Cortex-X, Mediatek can easily resurrect this chipset with 2x X1/X2, 4x A710, and 4x A510.

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                        • Messier83
                        • sSI
                        • 13 Aug 2023

                        Mediatek learn their past mistakes,this X series have only max Gpu cores of 4(mp4 or mc4) this why Mediatek X series failed to compete with Exynos and Kirin that uses 11-even 25 Gpu cores on their times...

                        However Since HelioG90 series Meditatek gained confidence again to re-enter the High End market with its Dimensity1200 and Mediatek was Honest about Dimensity1200 was to go head on with last Gen Snapdragon865 not the current year Snapdragon888.. Dimensity1200 is the first Mediatek Processor that utilizes 9-core Gpu which is unusually too many than old tradition 4-core Gpu layout..the Success of Dimensity1200 paved the Way to Dimensity9000 which Humiliated Snapdragon8gen1 and Exynos2200 in Sustained performance tests and Almost near at the reach of 8gen1 benchmark although SD8gen1 heating fiasco thanks to Samsung nodes kept SD8gen1 weak..

                        Exynos meanwhile never changed their habits about Sustained performance and efficiency,the Dimensity9000 success made Samsung ditch their Exynos2300 to all of their Galaxy S23 series they Exynos2300 will not be capable enough to beat Dimensity9300..

                        Meditatek from a budget mobile segment failied to Flagship segment now at exceeded Exynos ranking and Almost catching up with Snapdragon...
                        humble beginnings is a slow process to success

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                          • Stoon
                          • NhC
                          • 13 Aug 2023

                          Hemedans, 13 Aug 2023Same people (you included) recomend weaker cpu like G99, G9... moreMan, SD625 from my RN4 mido can still record 4K (LineageOS + GCam) ... It was the most power efficient SoC ever made by TSMC and used around 3 years on many phones.

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                            • AnonD-1073493
                            • 3c3
                            • 13 Aug 2023

                            dunno why but i like these "flashback" posts. they're all interesting to read 😋

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                            • Anonymous
                            • 0p}
                            • 13 Aug 2023

                            Paps Duke, 13 Aug 2023I vividly recollect Andrei Frumusanu of anandtech ,when he ... more808 was hexacore. Bad chip.
                            Same issues of 810.

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                            I vividly recollect Andrei Frumusanu of anandtech ,when he reviewing the Galaxy note 3 neo saying left to him hexa core designs were the good design that struck between performance and efficiency.

                              Hemedans, 13 Aug 2023Same people (you included) recomend weaker cpu like G99, G9... moreYeah, honestly the lack of 4k video support is the only dirt spot in an otherwise decent chipset. 4 Gen 2 had potential to turn things around but suffers from the same issue, and the GPU is actually weaker than the ones inside the 695/4G1.

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                              Well when comes to flashback or look back to history here is a Kilocore by IBM now more than 20 years old architecture but it running 1000 separate cores which was interesting at that time.
                              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilocore