At the recent press conference, MediaTek's Deputy General Manager and General Manager of the Wireless Communication Business Unit, Xu Jingquan, proudly announced the launch of the company's new flagship chip, the Tianji 9200. The chip boasts 17 billion transistors and has lower power consumption, making it a high-performance, high-energy-efficiency, and low-power device.

As is well known, under the guidance of Moore's Law, chip manufacturers have been pursuing how to integrate more transistors in the same area to achieve higher performance over the past years. At the same time, they also hope to achieve power consumption control on the chip. However, as the process has reached below 10 nanometers, this has become an extremely difficult task.

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But MediaTek has once again achieved this with the all-new Tianji 9200. In addition to the support of TSMC's second-generation 4nm process, MediaTek's design and investment in various modules of the chip are also indispensable. MediaTek's General Manager, Chen Guanzhu, also frankly stated: "The chip can achieve such results, mainly thanks to the company's huge investment in the R&D field for many years. On the Tianji 9200, MediaTek has also set several firsts."

And all they have done is to provide strong support for the performance and experience that smartphone users need.

Since Apple released the first-generation iPhone in 2007, smartphones have played an important role in promoting the development of the semiconductor industry. Judging from the chip process alone, almost every generation of mobile phone chips is also the user of the latest process, and it is precisely because of this huge output of products that can make the wafer factory have the motivation and money to promote the development of new processes.

Seeing this, some readers may ask, why do mobile phone manufacturers have such high requirements for chips? In fact, the reason is obvious. In the development of smartphones for more than ten years, whether it is the size and resolution of the mobile phone, or the performance requirements of the game, even the photography and video encoding and decoding, have put unprecedented challenges to its core - "mobile phone chip."

As a result, these mobile phone chip manufacturers are resolutely walking at the forefront of the semiconductor industry, and MediaTek is no exception.

Leading CPU and GPU

As shown in the figure below, the new generation of flagship Tianji 9200 launched by MediaTek is the world's first product produced using the second-generation 4nm process technology. It is also the first chip that uses the second-generation Armv9 architecture, the super-large core Cortex-X3, pure 64-bit large core CPU, Immortalis-G715 hardware ray tracing GPU, WiFi 7 Ready, LPDDR5X 8533 Mbps memory, RGBW ISP, and multi-cycle queue technology to accelerate UFS 4.0, and many other industry-leading technologies.With the support of these skills, MediaTek's Tianji 9200 has the confidence to compete with all competitors in the industry.

Firstly, looking at the process aspect, although TSMC has repeatedly stated this year that the company will mass-produce its most advanced 3nm process in the next few months. But for MediaTek, which is eager to deliver the chip to mobile phone design manufacturers, this time cycle may seem a bit slow. In addition, as an upgrade version of the 5nm full node, the 4nm process has advantages in cost, performance, and power consumption that the new process does not have, which reflects MediaTek's wisdom in choosing the 4nm process for the new flagship.

According to TSMC, as the third major improvement of TSMC's 5nm series, N4P's performance will be increased by 11% compared to the original N5 technology, and 6% compared to N4. Compared to N5, N4P will also provide a 22% power efficiency improvement and a 6% increase in transistor density. It is such process characteristics that have given Tianji 9200 the transistor density and quantity mentioned at the beginning of the article. It is worth mentioning that Apple's A16 bionic chip released in September this year only has 16 billion transistors, which is 10 billion less than MediaTek's new flagship.

With the support of such a process, the CPU and GPU used by MediaTek in the new flagship chip have also exerted the greatest effect.

MediaTek said that Tianji 9200 is equipped with an "1+3+4" octa-core flagship CPU, where Cortex-X3 is the super-large core, with a main frequency of up to 3.05GHz, and all performance cores support pure 64-bit applications, multi-threaded 64-bit computing can greatly upgrade the experience of APP applications; in terms of large cores, three Cortex-A715 are used, with a main frequency of up to 2.85GHz, which can meet most high-energy application needs; as for the small core Cortex-A510, it has the characteristics of low power consumption.

Such a configuration has made the CPU performance of the chip increase significantly compared to the previous generation, and it can also be at ease when facing a variety of applications.

In terms of GPU, the latest Immortalis-G715 hardware ray tracing GPU from Arm has been adopted. As a new generation of flagship products, Immortalis-G715's performance has increased by 32% compared to the previous generation, and the power consumption has been greatly reduced by 41%. It is particularly worth mentioning that on this new GPU, it also innovatively supports mobile hardware ray tracing and variable rate rendering technology, releasing powerful graphics performance to enhance the gaming experience, which can be said to be the strongest GPU of Tianji, and also the current first in GPU performance scores.

In the past few years, gamers could only get such an experience by relying on high-end graphics cards from PC manufacturers, but now with the support of Tianji 9200, Android phone users have also begun to become "ray tracing" players. MediaTek said that this new GPU makes every frame of the game on the phone true, and the environmental light and shadow, reflection, and shadow are also immersive.

Progressive APU and ISP

In addition to the CPU and GPU, MediaTek has also brought a new generation of APU and ISP to Tianji 9200, which is also a very important function for mobile phones.Starting with the APU aspect, according to MediaTek's perspective, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence, it is reshaping the technology we use at home, in the workplace, and in the city, bringing us new experiences and changing the way we interact. Currently, artificial intelligence can achieve technologies such as deep learning face detection (DL-FD), real-time beautification, creative layer stacking, object and scene recognition, AR/MR acceleration, and enhanced reality for photography and video. MediaTek's "APU" is its artificial intelligence processing unit specifically designed for smartphones and mobile devices, used to implement various intelligent tasks on mobile phones.

On the Tianji 9200, the MediaTek sixth-generation AI processor APU 690 is integrated. The new processor, through hybrid computing combined with intelligent neural network architecture, can efficiently coordinate the processing of images, displays, games, and other daily applications, bringing breakthrough performance in video recording and photography, as well as higher frame rates and stunning display effects. Thanks to its high-energy AI architecture, this chip not only improves AI performance by 35% compared to the previous generation but also reduces the power consumption of various AI applications.

In terms of ISP, the MediaTek Imagiq 890 image processor is used, which is also a hardware module that current smartphones pay great attention to. This is a key link that determines the quality of the photos and videos taken by our mobile phones.

To meet the general needs of everyone, MediaTek's latest ISP is the first to support RGBW sensors, which allows it to obtain brighter, sharper, and more detailed photos and videos in HDR or low-light environments. Combining this ISP with the APU can support advanced intelligent image semantic technology, using artificial intelligence to analyze environmental colors, object structures, and actions, layer labeling and color tuning, thereby improving overall image quality.

"In addition, with fast and accurate AI image capture and noise reduction technology, Tianji 9200 also supports AI dual-track capture and movie mode, making every shot a professional blockbuster, and casual shots are also clear." MediaTek emphasized.

More highlights including wireless

In addition to the above modules, many skill points of MediaTek on this chip are also full.

For example, Tianji 9200 integrates an advanced 5G modem, supporting high-speed 5G network connections, combined with advanced AI artificial intelligence technology, creating a 5G intelligent travel mode in scenarios such as high-speed trains, underground garages, subways, and airports, achieving intelligent network connection functions such as fast network finding, quick network recovery, and fast network speed. It is the first to support the upcoming Wi-Fi 7 wireless connection, with a theoretical peak network transmission rate of up to 6.5Gbps, as well as the new generation of Bluetooth audio LE Audio.

When Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are connected at the same time, MediaTek HyperCoex ultra-connection technology can provide stronger signals, longer connection distances, and stronger anti-interference capabilities, allowing users to enjoy lower latency whether it is for audio and video entertainment or connecting game peripherals. MediaTek's unique UltraSave power-saving technology has also extended from 5G connections to Wi-Fi, bringing a more complete low-power communication solution.

In terms of multimedia, Tianji 9200 fully demonstrates MediaTek's technical strength accumulated over the years, taking the lead in supporting 24bit/192KHz high-definition audio encoding and decoding, and bringing studio-level high-fidelity Bluetooth sound quality with up to 8Mbps Bluetooth rate. Tianji 9200 is also equipped with MediaTek MiraVision 890 mobile display technology, supporting high-quality HDR display in all scenarios, presenting pleasing image details, and can also adapt to a wide range of terminal screen designs, including high-performance game display screens, high-resolution display screens, and foldable display screens, supporting Full HD+ resolution 240Hz refresh rate, WQHD resolution 144Hz refresh rate, and 5K (2.5K×2) resolution 60Hz refresh rate, as well as adaptive refresh rate technology, which can provide a smoother display effect. In addition, Tianji 9200 supports chip-level intelligent anti-blue light technology, providing a more comfortable viewing experience.In addition, the LPDDR5X 8533 Mbps and UFS 4.0 mentioned earlier are also advantages that the Dimensity 9200 cannot be without discussing. Moreover, supporting the MediaTek Dimensity Open Architecture, which allows for in-depth collaboration with terminal manufacturers, is also one of the features of the Dimensity 9200. This brings a more personalized and differentiated user experience to terminal devices equipped with the Dimensity 9200, unleashing the potential of the flagship.

It is precisely because of such a powerful configuration that the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 can achieve a high score of more than 1.26 million in AnTuTu, and the improvement in the experience brought to applications is also obvious.

Comprehensively Enhancing the Smartphone Experience

According to MediaTek, the experience upgrade brought by the Dimensity 9200 is comprehensive, which is first reflected in the cold start speed of various apps. As shown in the following figure, compared with the previous generation, the new flagship chip has improved the cold start speed of mainstream apps such as Tencent Video, Kugou Music, Taobao, Baidu, and Honor of Kings.

While reducing the time to open apps, the Dimensity 9200 can also reduce the power consumption during daily use of the phone. From the data provided by MediaTek, we can see that whether it is daily browsing, WeChat, video recording, or playing games like Genshin Impact and Honor of Kings, the new chip can reduce the phone's power consumption by at least 15% compared to the previous generation. Especially in personal hotspot mode, the power consumption has decreased by 70% compared to the previous generation.

At the press conference, MediaTek emphasized that the introduction of the GPU supporting mobile ray tracing has made the experience improvement in gaming particularly obvious for the new generation of chips. As can be seen from the following figure, in mainstream games, the experience improvement brought by the Dimensity 9200 through the fully specified "CPU, GPU, memory/flash memory" is comprehensive.

In addition to enhancing the visual experience of the game process, under the influence of the new architecture and new process technology, this chip from MediaTek can save an average of 21% of power consumption during the MOBA game process. The maximum power consumption saving is up to 56%. This further enhances the consumer's gaming experience. Here, we need to emphasize an additional point: MediaTek has also introduced exclusive packaging technology for the new chip, increasing the chip's heat dissipation capability by 10%. The benefits of this are self-evident.

In order to further enhance the experience of end users when playing mobile games, MediaTek has also added support for the MediaTek HyperEngine 6.0 gaming engine to the Dimensity 9200, pushing the mobile game screen to a new realm and bringing a smooth and immersive sensory experience to players. With the release of the Dimensity 9200, MediaTek also released a brand-new game adaptive control technology (MediaTek Adaptive Game Technology, MAGT), which can reduce the power consumption and temperature of terminal devices for high frame rate games, making full frame operation more durable.

The optimized network technology also allows smartphones equipped with the Dimensity 9200 to avoid networking anxiety in any usage scenario. As shown in the figure, in familiar network black spots such as high-speed trains, basements, and subways, MediaTek has increased the internet speed of its new chip by 20% compared to the previous generation. In the AI airport mode, the speed of finding the network after turning on the phone has been increased by 30%, and MediaTek has also promoted this experience to more than 40 airports worldwide. This shortens the network waiting time for users when turning on and off the phone during flights.

Of course, the upgrade of MediaTek's proud 5G new dual-pass also makes the Dimensity 9200 smooth in any scenario. Faced with the 5G network power consumption issue that everyone has criticized, MediaTek has also made further improvements on the new chip.These enhancements have also filled manufacturers such as OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, Honor, Transsion, and ASUS with high expectations for this chip.

Undoubtedly, the release of the Dimensity 9200 has given the industry a glimpse of the prototype for flagship smartphones in 2023. By continuously breaking through in the high-end market share, it is clear that MediaTek has mastered the secret to creating flagship chips, as well as the approach to collaborating with terminal manufacturers to refine high-end smartphones. With cutting-edge layout, technological accumulation, innovative research and development, and joint tuning experience, the Dimensity 9200 will add bricks and tiles to MediaTek's high-end story of the Dimensity series.