MediaTek is an intrinsic part of many consumer gadgets one carries around, but may hardly get to know of its presence. The Taiwanese company makes everything from chipsets for smartphones powering smart speakers, Fire TV sticks and probably even the smart TV in your drawing room. In spite of being among the bellwethers in the world of chipsets, MediaTek's brand recall is largely for its smartphone chipsets.
The company has walked the hard yards from a time when smartphone processors were mostly considered inferior to competition to a point in time now when they are among the most desired ones. We spoke to Anku Jain, MediaTek India’s Managing Director on topics like the arrival of 5G in India, the impact of Covid-19 on smartphones and tech Industry at large and more.
He credited the Helio P series chipsets as a step taken in the right direction. The SoC not only democratized 4G connectivity but also made way for new G series chipsets that are more powerful and gaining user acceptance. The current generation of MediaTek powered phones offer a similar experience when it comes to fast charging, camera and gaming performance as any competition chipset would offer. But, at a cost that is way below the others.
The entire interview can be watched in the video which is available on the TechRadar India YouTube Channel:
Dimensity-powered phones in India
Though it is up to the OEMs to assess the market feasibility before they bring a phone powered by a certain chipset, the news that Realme is launching the X7 Pro series marking the entry of MediaTek Dimensity chipset in India is an exciting news.
While we did try to dig deeper to get an insider scoop on which one’s next, however, without naming the brand he only hinted that the next phone powered by a Dimensity chipset may launch next year only. To recall, MediaTek Dimensity chipsets are 5G capable chipsets and are considered to be powerful yet affordable.
5G in India
He strongly feels that 5G could be extremely beneficial to the markets like India and while we already have a few 5G capable phones, it is up to the government to ensure that the roadblocks from 5G spectrum auction are removed swiftly and the countrywide rollout can happen.
While there was a delay in discussion around 5G due to the pandemic outbreak, he felt that the onus is on the government to restart the dialogues with the network operators to ensure that the country does not fall behind when it comes to leverage the benefits of super-fast 5G connectivity.
MediaTek’s role in IoT
Smartphone chipsets are only a third of MediaTek’s portfolio. As mentioned above, MediaTek’s chipsets power smart devices like smart speakers, smart TVs, ebook readers, TV sticks and set-top boxes and IoT enables products and more. In fact, he mentioned that over 70% of smart TVs across the globe are powered by MediaTek chipsets.
