Quad core smartphones and tablets will soon be old news. Taiwan-based MediaTek has launched what it is calling the first true octa-core mobile platform.
The company's latest System on a Chip (SOC) includes an eight-core application processor, with each core capable of speeds of up to 2GHz.
Digital Trends notes that Samsung has used an eight-core processor in some international versions of its Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3. But unlike the early versions of Samsung's Octa chip, the MediaTek SOC is capable of running all eight cores at the same time.
Samsung has since announced that the new version of its Exynos 5 Octa processor will be able to use all eight cores simultaneously.
According to MediaTek's launch announcement, the first Android Jellybean devices using the new SOC are expected to launch by the end of the year, with the first devices running Android Kit-Kat to follow in early 2014.