BARCELONA, Spain--Chipmaker MediaTek is targeting what it calls the "super-mid market" for smart devices, which the company said is being driven by a rising global middle class and a vision of markets worldwide where literally anyone can become connected.
"Quality should not exist for its own sake but be inclusive," said Johan Lodenius, MediaTek CMO, during a press and analyst event here on the eve of the Mobile World Congress trade show. He added that a "highly functional user experience should be available to everyone."
To that end, MediaTek coined a new branding tagline that emphasizes its desire to, in Lodenius' words, "democratize the market." The tagline, "Everyday Genius," highlights the company's notion of the new all-inclusive world of connected devices that everyone, everywhere can exploit.
"There is a strong reason to believe that the current market structure is about to change radically," Lodenius explained. He said that will open doors for up-and-coming MediaTek, which had 37 percent year-over-year growth in 2013 but remains the No. 3 fabless chip company behind Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Broadcom.
In addition to the growing middle class of consumers, other trends creating the so-called super-mid market include operators ending big phone subsidies, feature phones being displaced by smartphones, and the harmonization of mobile platforms as Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android becomes what MediaTek contends is the world's dominant smartphone operating system.
Taiwan-based MediaTek says this super-mid category will soon represent 80 percent of the total smartphone market as the low and high ends of the market flow toward the middle.
At its press and analyst event, the chipmaker also announced that the new LTE-enabled Alcatel Onetouch Pop S7 will include MediaTek's LTE 1.3 GHz quad-core processor and MT6290 multi-mode LTE modem. Available next quarter, the handset will be priced in the affordable mid-range, MediaTek said.
In addition, the vendor rolled out its MT6732 64-bit LTE system on chip (SoC), which includes a 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 cluster and Mali-T760 GPU for mobile computing. With this chip, "we are bringing next-generation technology for high-end smartphones to the mass market," said Jeffrey Ju, general manager of the MediaTek smartphone business unit.
The company also discussed its new MT6630, which is unique in that it is a five-in-one combo wireless system on a chip (SoC) that supports full-featured smartphones, tablets and other premium mobile devices. The dual-band, single-stream 802.11a/b/g/n/ac chip supports 20/40/80MHz channel bandwidths.
On the charging front, MediaTek announced the MT3188, which is says is the world's first multi-mode wireless charging ASIC to support multiple competing standards. The ASIC supports resonant charging technology and is compatible with current inductive chargers certified by the Power Matters Alliance (PMA) and the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC).
MediaTek also touted its Pump Express fast-charging technology for smartphones and tablets. The technology can be incorporated into a mobile device's power management integrated circuit (PMIC) and corresponding DC wall charger to slash mobile device battery recharge times by half vs. a standard USB charger.
For more:
- see this MediaTek release, this release, this release, this release and this release
Related articles:
Report: Qualcomm, Apple battled for top spots in smartphone, tablet chips in 2013
MediaTek combines LTE modem with latest octa-core chip, aims for low-end smartphone market
Intel, MediaTek, Broadcom and Nvidia try to catch up to Qualcomm in LTE
MediaTek claims upper hand over Samsung