MediaTek today announced a new System-on-Chip (SoC), the MT6572, which offers a dual-core Cortex A7 processor as well as HSPA+ connectivity. This new SoC comes after the company launched the MT6589 late last year that featured a quad-core Cortex A7 processor. MediaTek claims this is the world’s first SoC to feature integrated Wi-Fi, FM, GPS and Bluetooth.

The MT6572 is capable of supporting up to 5-megapixel camera and a qHD display with 720p resolution, which would enable smartphone manufactures to bring better features in the entry-level segment. The MT6589 processor enabled vendors like Micromax, Karbonn, Lava and others to bring smartphones with quad-core processors for less than Rs 15,000. With the new SoC, we can expect smartphones under Rs 10,000 to have better specifications. At the moment, most of them feature a WVGA display and don’t have HSPA+ connectivity for faster data connectivity.

MediaTek expects smartphone vendors to begin retailing smartphones running on this new chipset starting from June this year.

MediaTek today announced its first quad-core System-On-Chip (SoC) solution for affordable smartphones. The MT6589 features a quad-core Cortex A7 CPU subsystem from ARM, PowerVR Series5XT GPU from Imagination Technologies and has a multi-mode modem that does UMTS/HSPA+ and even TDSCDMA. Like all MediaTek offerings, even this supports Dual-SIM capabilities with both radios being active simultaneously. MediaTek is claiming it to be the world’s first SoC with a quad-core processor.

According to the announcement, devices running on MT6589 will be available from the first quarter of 2013. The solution supports up to 13-megapixel cameras, full-HD 1080p displays, stereo 3D cameras as well as 2D to 3D conversion. Rival Qualcomm too announced quad-core chipset solutions for affordable smartphones last week but they do not have an integrated cellular modem. However, performance-wise we can expect Qualcomm’s silicon to offer better results while MediaTek would undercut it on pricing.

Next year is already turning out to be highly competitive when it comes to smartphones and tablets and we can expect devices with quad-core chipsets and at least 720p displays to be priced under Rs 20,000 by the end of 2013.

MediaTek, the maker of ARM system on chip solutions for smartphones has announced a 3D suite of solutions called Cool 3D that will work on its MT6575 single-core and MT6577 dual-core platforms.

The Cool 3D software stack includes support for stereo 3D cameras, real-time 2D to 3D conversion and even 3D UIs. The 3D stack includes of two features – 3D Cool Shot and 3D Cool Show.

The 3D Cool Shot stack includes a 5-megapixel dual lens camera, 1080p video support and 3D in 24 frames per second. The 3D Cool Show feature includes stereo 3D effect with anti-fatigue capabilities, and real-time transformation between 2D/3D modes, allowing for convenient switching between the 2D and 3D displays.

Considering MediaTek is known for bringing down prices of devices in the segments where it operates, it would be interesting to see weather Indian handset brands launch cheap smartphones with 3D capabilities in the coming months.

So far only LG and HTC have launched smartphones with 3D cameras in India but they have been priced upwards of Rs 20,000. Hopefully, with MediaTek coming into the picture we could see smartphones priced under Rs 10,000 with similar features.

MediaTek today announced a global partnership with Twitter that will bring the online social network to low-end feature phones and entry-level smartphones. The partnership will ensure that Twitter is pre-installed in MediaTek’s MRE middleware, which is present in its reference design, enabling handset vendors to have Twitter by default, which will run on minimal memory and hardware requirements.

MediaTek had announced a similar tie-up with Facebook last year and even Gameloft, with the latter ensuring its games run on MediaTek’s chipsets. The chipset vendor has also gained momentum with Android smartphones, enabling homegrown brands like Micromax and Karbonn to launch Android smartphones in the sub-Rs 10,000 price point. Last month, MediaTek announced a dual-core SoC to power sub-Rs 10,000 smartphones. The latest smart-feature phone solution, the MediaTek MT6255, will be the first model to carry Twitter but it will expanded to all MediaTek mobile platforms.

MediaTek has announced its latest MT6575 ARM chipset platform, which the company hopes will power a myriad of sub-$200 Android Ice Cream Sandwich devices. The new chipset will boast of a ARM Cortex A9- single core processor clocked at 1GHz, apart from boasting a GPU and 3G/HSPA radios.

The company says that the new platform will support qHD displays and will have support for 720p video. While there is no new functionality out here considering the latest high-end ARM chips enable support for higher resolution 1280×720 displays and 1080p video, it should be noted the above-mentioned functionality has never been seen in sub-$200 devices.

MediaTek is saying that the first wave of sub $200 devices based on the MT6575 chip should hit the market by Q1 of 2012.

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Cellphone chipset platform provider, MediaTek, today announced a global partnership with Facebook that will bring the world’s largest social network to entry-level feature phones. Facebook will be embedded on MediaTek’s mobile platform solution, which currently powers almost all phones from brands like Micromax, Spice Mobile, Karbonn and others. This is the second such high-profile tie-up for MediaTek after it did a similar one with Yahoo. Spice Mobility (MediaTek has a 10 percent stake) and Micromax will launch the first handsets with embedded Facebook experience.

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We see the tie-up as a win-win for everyone. Users will get a much better Facebook experience on these low-cost phones than what they are getting at the moment. Handset vendors will obviously benefit from this and Facebook will be able to ramp up its user base in India.

Vaughan Smith, Mobile Partnerships and Corporate Development Vice President of Facebook, expects India to account for most Facebook users globally by overtaking Indonesia and United States. India currently accounts for 30 million Facebook users, of which almost half access it from their mobile phones. MediaTek’s chipset solution is used in almost 40 percent of phones sold in India, according to the company.

Taiwanese chip manufacturer MediaTek has invested $20 million in Spice Digital, first reported by Medianama. With this investment, MediaTek has acquired 10 per cent share in mobile Value Added Services (mVAS) company Spice Digital. According to a recent report by Standard Chartered, mVAS market in India will grow substantially by more than 100 per cent in the upcoming 5 years. Ming-Kai Tsai, Chairman at MediaTek quotes “we are hoping to capitalize on its (Spice) market potential and reinforce its (Spice) strong operation relationship and leading postion in India, SEA, Africa and Middle East.”