MediaTek's new Helio P60 chipset brings AI to the mid-range phones

SPAIN:  MediaTek today unveiled the MediaTek Helio P60 system-on-chip (SoC), featuring a multi-core AI processing unit (mobile APU) and MediaTek’s NeuroPilot AI technology, which will enable device makers to bring to market smarter, more capable and more reliable mid-range smartphones. The chipset will be available globally starting in early Q2 2018.

“Packing big core power and performance with a processing unit purpose-built for AI applications, the MediaTek Helio P60 chipset brings consumers flagship features like deep-learning facial detection, object and scene identification, fluid gaming experiences, and smarter camera functions. This new chipset gives everyone access to incredible devices without the premium price tag,” said TL Lee, General Manager of MediaTek’s Wireless Communication business unit.

The MediaTek Helio P60 features four Arm A73 2.0 GHz processors and four Arm A53 2.0 GHz processors in an octa-core big.LITTLE configuration. The SoC is fabricated on the TSMC 12nm production process and is MediaTek’s most power efficient Helio P series SoC yet.  Its Arm Cortex A73 and A53 processor mix delivers up to a 70 percent CPU performance boost over the Helio P23 and Helio P30, in addition to a 70 percent GPU performance enhancement. Built using new 12nm FinFET technology, MediaTek Helio P60 delivers incredible energy efficiency to extend device battery life.

MediaTek Helio P60 brings MeidaTek’s NeuroPilot AI technology to the smartphones. Its AI-compute architecture works seamlessly across CPU, GPU and Mobile APU within the SoC to maximize performance and energy efficiency. The MediaTek’s NeuroPilot SDK in P60 is compatible with Google Android Neural Networks API (Android NNAPI), and also supports common AI frameworks, including TensorFlow, TF Lite, Caffe, and Caffe2. That makes it easy for developers to quickly bring-to-market innovative AI applications. As a partner of the Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX), MediaTek is working on bringing ONNX support to the chipset in Q2 2018 to provide developers with even more flexibility for designing AI-powered applications.

Compared to the previous Helio P series, MediaTek Helio P60’s three image signal processors (ISPs) increase power efficiency by using 18 percent less power for dual-cameras set-ups. Users can enjoy AI-infused experiences in apps with real-time beautification, novel, real-time overlays, AR/MR acceleration, enhancements to photography, real-time video previews and more.

MediaTek Helio P60 also packs a 4G LTE WorldMode modem, dual 4G VoLTE and TAS 2.0 smart antenna technology to provide consumers with seamless global connectivity.