MediaTek has announced the launch of the Helio P70 system-on-chip (SoC), with an enhanced AI engine combined with CPU and GPU upgrades. The Helio P70 also comes with upgraded imaging and camera support, a gaming performance boost and advanced connectivity features.

Built with TSMC's 12nm FinFET technology, the Helio P70 features a multi-core APU operating at up to 525MHz for fast and efficient edge-AI processing, according to MediaTek. To maximize the performance of demanding AI applications, the chipset packs four Arm Cortex-A73 2.1GHz processors and four Arm Cortex-A53 2.0GHz processors in an octa-core big.LITTLE configuration. For an additional power boost, the chipset has an improved Arm Mali-G72 MP3 GPU operating at up to 900MHz, which provides a 13% performance improvement compared to the Helio P60, which was introduced earlier this year.

"With an enhanced AI engine that works seamlessly across the CPU and GPU, Helio P70 delivers much faster performance for AI applications and is still highly power efficient," said TL Lee, general manager of MediaTek's Wireless Communication business unit. "The introduction of Helio P70 continues MediaTek's commitment to deliver high-end smartphone features and advanced technology for the mass market."

AI Engine

Helio P70's enhanced AI engine delivers a 10-30% AI processing boost compared to the Helio P60, said the vendor. That means Helio P70 can support more complex AI applications such as real-time human pose recognition and AI based video encoding.

MediaTek said its AI video encoder enhances video call quality even when connection bandwidth is limited. It can be used for video calls including Skype calls, Facebook video calls and Youtube live video streaming.

Helio P70 is built on MediaTek's NeuroPilot platform, the company's hardware and software ecosystem to support edge AI. NeuroPilot supports common AI frameworks, including TensorFlow, TF Lite, Caffe, Caffe2 and custom third party offerings.

Gaming and Camera Features

MediaTek said Helio P70 GPU enhancements also deliver a better overall gaming experience. It's optimized to reduce frame-rate jitter and improve latency for touch controls and display visuals for a smooth, fluid gaming experience.

Helio P70 supports a variety of AI-infused photo and video experiences including real-time beautification, scene detection and artificial reality (AR) capabilities, according to the firm. The chipset features improved deep-learning facial detection with up to 90% accuracy. With support for a 32-megapixel single camera, or 24+16-megapixel dual cameras, the chipset gives device makers more design flexibility. Its three ISPs are tuned to provide power savings, reducing consumption by 18% compared to previous Helio generation dual-camera setups, it said.

Connectivity

Helio P70 comes with a 4G LTE modem and 300MBit/s of download performance. Dual 4G VoLTE support provides a user experience across two different SIMs for higher quality calls and faster connection times. Helio P70 also features MediaTek's smart antenna technology, which automatically uses the best antenna combination to sustain signal quality.

MediaTek said the Helio P70 is in volume production now, and is expected to be available in consumer devices by November 2018.