The International ARM Race: Rise Of The Chinese SoC
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Smartphone Processors
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Smartphones
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- rockchip
- allwinner
- spreadtrum
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Tablets
- mediatek
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Last response: in Reviews comments
Anonymous
August 28, 2014 12:16:30 AM
Thanks to low prices and a gradual increase in both quality and performance, Chinese chip makers are starting to pose serious problems for Qualcomm, Nvidia and others.
The International ARM Race: Rise Of The Chinese SoC : Read more
The International ARM Race: Rise Of The Chinese SoC : Read more
More about : international arm race rise chinese soc
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Reply to Anonymous
blackmagnum
August 28, 2014 12:37:15 AM
jossrik
August 28, 2014 12:52:20 AM
jjjjkkkk
August 28, 2014 12:54:55 AM
Draven35
August 28, 2014 1:13:51 AM
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The company's first commercial foray using this technology came in 1983 with the 16-bit Acorn RISC Machine, or ARM. It ran one of the first true multitasking operating systems in production, RISC OS,Except, the first silicon didn't exist until 1985, and the machine running RISC OS didn't exist until 1987.
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Reply to Draven35
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blubbey
August 28, 2014 2:23:26 AM
virtualban
August 28, 2014 4:30:26 AM
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Reply to virtualban
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icemunk
August 28, 2014 4:37:14 AM
The writer seems to think the RK3288 is a 2015 SOC, however it has been out since April, and many devices are available with it, lots of $200 tablets with 2000X1500 resolution, and a bunch of TV boxes as well for $100. It's an excellent chip, achieving around 40,000 antutu scores. 2015 I'm sure we'll see a brand-new Rockchip, but the RK3288 has been out for some time.
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Andy Chow
August 28, 2014 4:53:44 AM
oxiide
August 28, 2014 5:48:32 AM
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MediaTek is Taiwanese not Chineseremove it from the list
Since when is Taiwanese not Chinese? Read a book.
Hopefully your books mention that the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (mainland China) are two distinct and, for the most part, recognized nations.
MediaTek is indeed a Taiwanese company, though I'd rather they just specify that in the article rather than being told to remove it over a technicality. It's still relevant to the topic regardless of where they are headquartered.
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amk-aka-Phantom
August 28, 2014 6:07:57 AM
Au_equus
August 28, 2014 6:32:01 AM
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MediaTek is Taiwanese not Chineseremove it from the list
Since when is Taiwanese not Chinese? Read a book.
Hopefully your books mention that the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (mainland China) are two distinct and, for the most part, recognized nations.
MediaTek is indeed a Taiwanese company, though I'd rather they just specify that in the article rather than being told to remove it over a technicality. It's still relevant to the topic regardless of where they are headquartered.
... as recognized by the US and said partners, but not by the United Nations.
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mliska1
August 28, 2014 7:15:19 AM
Avus
August 28, 2014 8:45:22 AM
calmlikeabomb
August 28, 2014 10:58:30 AM
SWEETMUSK
August 28, 2014 11:14:39 AM
Please stop saying that Taiwan is equal to China . We are different , yes maybe Taiwanese's Ancestor are the same from china but now we are different!! just like England and America before . we speak same language but doesn't mean we are the same. is Canda and America are the same country ? because they both speak english?NO they are not the same! Taiwanese got a lot different Politics,Community and Traditional compare to the China please put 2 flag on which one is Taiwan and which one is China Thank you
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Reply to SWEETMUSK
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allenpan
August 28, 2014 3:41:33 PM
where is WonderMedia Arm SoC? WonderMedia is part of VIA embedded for ARM solution
http://www.wondermedia.com.tw/en/index.jsp
http://www.viagallery.com/Products/wondermedia-wm8980-7...
http://www.wondermedia.com.tw/en/index.jsp
http://www.viagallery.com/Products/wondermedia-wm8980-7...
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Simi69
August 28, 2014 4:36:36 PM
This article exaggerates the performance of many of these SOC's and fails to mention the large volume of very low binned chips that should never have been released finding their way into cheap tablets. The rockchip 3188 is a prime example of this, constantly locking up if put under any real pressure. Which is a shame as the rockchip 3066 was an excellent chip.
It also skips the most ubiquitous of the mediatek chips the mtk6582 which was released just before the mtk6592 as a replacement to the mtk6589, and is the Chinese (Taiwanese) chip most likely to be encountered in budget phones the west at the moment. I appreciate the effort of the article though, and with a bit of cleaning up could be a good reference for those wishing to delve into the world of Chinese smartphones.
It also skips the most ubiquitous of the mediatek chips the mtk6582 which was released just before the mtk6592 as a replacement to the mtk6589, and is the Chinese (Taiwanese) chip most likely to be encountered in budget phones the west at the moment. I appreciate the effort of the article though, and with a bit of cleaning up could be a good reference for those wishing to delve into the world of Chinese smartphones.
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Reply to Simi69
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ldo
August 28, 2014 7:42:53 PM
andy5174
August 28, 2014 9:25:21 PM
Quote:
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MediaTek is Taiwanese not Chineseremove it from the list
Since when is Taiwanese not Chinese? Read a book.
Hopefully your books mention that the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China (mainland China) are two distinct and, for the most part, recognized nations.
MediaTek is indeed a Taiwanese company, though I'd rather they just specify that in the article rather than being told to remove it over a technicality. It's still relevant to the topic regardless of where they are headquartered.
... as recognized by the US and said partners, but not by the United Nations.
rofl! Peoples from all over the world know that Taiwan is an independent country including you Chinese. You Chinese just don't admit it! China's economy will become a joke when China is no longer the cheapest place for manufacturing. By then, no country will support your *OWNERSHIP claim of Taiwan politically. BTW, even now, no one but you Chinese support the stupid claim in non-political situations. Truth always hurts, PITA Chinese!
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andy5174
August 28, 2014 9:25:45 PM
andy5174
August 28, 2014 9:30:00 PM
somebodyspecial
August 28, 2014 10:01:15 PM
The money is being made in the high end, not the $100-200 phones and they are not the same. If they were even close you couldn't sell the $600+ versions.
"Android is what allows $100 to $200 devices to work just as well as $600 flagship devices."
So a free OS somehow makes up for a $400 difference when both sides get the same free OS? I'm confused. It's the hardware that sells the $600 version and the differences between that hardware and what is in the $200 or less models. That doesn't have much to do with the OS, which on the cheap phones is closed as noted. If anything the OS screws the cheap guys because they mess with it and close it.
http://www.arctablet.com/blog/featured/rockchip-rk3288-...
Manhattan for instance offscreen rk3288 (their latest just hitting shelves) =9.6fps
K1 in the same test on shield tablet 31.7fps.
http://anandtech.com/show/8296/the-nvidia-shield-tablet...
So a $200 phone scores 1/3 of a $600 phone. The math sort of makes sense right? 3x the perf for 3x the price. Quite the value considering you usually get just a small portion more in most cases of other products for a massive increase in price like here. You generally don't get a direct price to perf correlation. Games will run at $200 performance not $600. Not even in the same league.
T-rex offscreen same story, 21fps vs. 68fps. Even better at over 3x perf. This thing is barely a match for Snapdragon S800 as shown.
"On the GPU side, it doesn't look like Rockchip spares any expense, since the company is using a high-end Mali-T764 GPU"
Umm...Really? If that's ARM's high end gpu, it leaves a LOT to be desired vs. K1...LOL. I'll take a K1 to go please. These are no threat to anyone buying $600 phones, who will keep doing it for 3x the perf especially as gaming amps up on these things.
"The GPU also supports the latest mobile graphics features"
Nope, no opengl 4.4 etc.
The A80 allwinner dx9.3 and no opengl 4.4 either or ES3.1+. So lacking in dx11+ and OpenGL and ES features.
Rockchip and allwinner are your leaders you say, but it seems they're way behind and have no chance of stealing high end or even the middle.
Also the Pico tablet with 3288 is $255 so this is even worse vs. a $360 Shield tablet on with the gamepad ($299 without). I'll take the shield for 3x the perf everyday at this price difference.
"It’s too early to tell, but the A80 could put Allwinner in competition with the likes of Samsung, Qualcomm, and Nvidia."
It's not too early to tell...Last gen at best. Wishful thinking.
I could go on but you should get the point tomshardware.
"Android is what allows $100 to $200 devices to work just as well as $600 flagship devices."
So a free OS somehow makes up for a $400 difference when both sides get the same free OS? I'm confused. It's the hardware that sells the $600 version and the differences between that hardware and what is in the $200 or less models. That doesn't have much to do with the OS, which on the cheap phones is closed as noted. If anything the OS screws the cheap guys because they mess with it and close it.
http://www.arctablet.com/blog/featured/rockchip-rk3288-...
Manhattan for instance offscreen rk3288 (their latest just hitting shelves) =9.6fps
K1 in the same test on shield tablet 31.7fps.
http://anandtech.com/show/8296/the-nvidia-shield-tablet...
So a $200 phone scores 1/3 of a $600 phone. The math sort of makes sense right? 3x the perf for 3x the price. Quite the value considering you usually get just a small portion more in most cases of other products for a massive increase in price like here. You generally don't get a direct price to perf correlation. Games will run at $200 performance not $600. Not even in the same league.
T-rex offscreen same story, 21fps vs. 68fps. Even better at over 3x perf. This thing is barely a match for Snapdragon S800 as shown.
"On the GPU side, it doesn't look like Rockchip spares any expense, since the company is using a high-end Mali-T764 GPU"
Umm...Really? If that's ARM's high end gpu, it leaves a LOT to be desired vs. K1...LOL. I'll take a K1 to go please. These are no threat to anyone buying $600 phones, who will keep doing it for 3x the perf especially as gaming amps up on these things.
"The GPU also supports the latest mobile graphics features"
Nope, no opengl 4.4 etc.
The A80 allwinner dx9.3 and no opengl 4.4 either or ES3.1+. So lacking in dx11+ and OpenGL and ES features.
Rockchip and allwinner are your leaders you say, but it seems they're way behind and have no chance of stealing high end or even the middle.
Also the Pico tablet with 3288 is $255 so this is even worse vs. a $360 Shield tablet on with the gamepad ($299 without). I'll take the shield for 3x the perf everyday at this price difference.
"It’s too early to tell, but the A80 could put Allwinner in competition with the likes of Samsung, Qualcomm, and Nvidia."
It's not too early to tell...Last gen at best. Wishful thinking.
I could go on but you should get the point tomshardware.
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Reply to somebodyspecial
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somebodyspecial
August 28, 2014 10:11:01 PM
It remains to be seen if K1 will end up in a phone, but tablet to tablet makes the point at $255 vs. $299 and S805 is the new competition for phones which blows away the S800 gpu also which already wins as shown in the link before.
Just in case someone's about to chime in on the phone comment.
Denver will surely get into a phone if K1 32bit doesn't as it's power on the cpu side should be a lot better and surely they'll get something from the gpu side by then too (they had another 4-6 months to optimize it).
Just in case someone's about to chime in on the phone comment.
Denver will surely get into a phone if K1 32bit doesn't as it's power on the cpu side should be a lot better and surely they'll get something from the gpu side by then too (they had another 4-6 months to optimize it). -
Reply to somebodyspecial
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Avus
August 29, 2014 5:21:36 AM
shahbaz200
August 29, 2014 5:28:51 AM
tomfreak
August 29, 2014 5:33:52 AM
clonazepam
August 29, 2014 7:08:43 AM
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SWEETMUSK - please stop posting duplicates. Also, anyone else doing so for voting purposes could be banned from Tom's. Here's what happens. Someone posts a comment. Then they immediately click on Refresh because they're really excited to get some reaction or votes. The act of refreshing the page right after commenting causes duplicates to be posted.
The good news is that the fact this is happening means there are new readers here at Tom's.
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Reply to clonazepam
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Vlad Rose
August 29, 2014 9:27:09 AM
pessimism
August 29, 2014 10:51:03 AM
renzhe
August 29, 2014 11:41:22 AM
wavetrex
August 31, 2014 7:59:35 AM
I have a PiPo M9-Pro tablet using RK3188. (1920x1200, GPS, All sensors). While it's fast and can run anything, the reliability is really poor.
I had to do hardware reset on the tablet several times, and sometimes it slows down to a crawl for a couple of minutes without any apparent reason.
The tablet is sturdy, the screen looks great, and when it works, it works well. That is, when it doesn't freeze...
For this reason, I still won't recommend these kind of "cheap" tablets to anyone because of the many "bugs" the hardware and software contain... too bad, seems like wasted electronics
I had to do hardware reset on the tablet several times, and sometimes it slows down to a crawl for a couple of minutes without any apparent reason.
The tablet is sturdy, the screen looks great, and when it works, it works well. That is, when it doesn't freeze...
For this reason, I still won't recommend these kind of "cheap" tablets to anyone because of the many "bugs" the hardware and software contain... too bad, seems like wasted electronics
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somebodyspecial
September 3, 2014 8:56:45 PM
broccauley
September 4, 2014 2:57:47 PM
It is quite sickening to have seen Western companies like TI, ST-Ericsson, Broadcom etc. being forced to exit this market (mostly due to the sheer dominance of the Qualcomm monopoly and the insanity following the reality distortion field around Apple and then Samsung products meaning there were less opportunities for more competition) and the space being filled by these inferior Asian companies with products that often in the past have not met regulations (e.g. in the past Mediatek have released chips that did not pass GSM certification but its products were flooded in the grey market anyway), do not engage in the open source community, and are often using stolen IP.
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Reply to broccauley
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bloosteak
September 4, 2014 11:35:17 PM
bloosteak
September 4, 2014 11:37:31 PM
omnimodis78
September 6, 2014 8:41:08 AM
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MediaTek is Taiwanese not Chineseremove it from the list
Since when is Taiwanese not Chinese? Read a book.
Please don't bother pulling the Party's BS here, nobody will buy it - keep your Chinese lies in China, we know the facts, and the fact is that Taiwan is a constitutional republic - only communist mainland China spins it otherwise, and brainwashed communists who to this day can't believe it that the Republic of Chinese government got the hell out of the mainland as per the Chinese Civil War. The best part of China and the Chinese people are in Taiwan, and they no longer care to identify themselves as "Chinese". Sorry for your loss. This article is shockingly BS!
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terroralpha
September 12, 2014 8:58:26 PM
The3monitors
September 16, 2014 7:50:43 PM
!