
Rockchip, Allwinner, Spreadtrum, and MediaTek are brand names that a lot of people probably won't recognize. But all of those companies are competing in the same space as Samsung, Qualcomm, and Nvidia for share of the Android-based device market.
When people talk about Android, they often mention products like the Nexus range from Google, the Galaxy line from Samsung, or one of Asus' Transformers, along with HTC, LG, and Sony. And sometimes, depending on the success of marketing campaigns and word of mouth, what also follows are the names of the SoCs powering those smartphones and tablets. Exynos. Snapdragon. Tegra. But that's only part of the story...As more companies compete for your dollar with an ever-increasing portfolio of mobile devices, we're seeing Chinese SoC manufacturers steadily staking claims in the low-cost Android device market. Android, iOS, and mobile computing in general are largely dependent on one U.K.-based company, ARM Holdings. Its history dates back to one of the first commercially successful home PCs of the early 1980s: the 8-bit BBC Micro. This computer was one of three that set the British and European home PC market in motion. The BBC Micro's war with another 8-bit system, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, is now computer legend.
Following the resounding success of the BBC Micro, Acorn (as the company was then known) cut its modern computing teeth on nascent adventures into the optimization of 16-bit CPUs. By intelligently simplifying and removing often-repeated instructions, Acorn developed a more efficient design that could do more with less. This approach is known as RISC, or Reduced Instruction Set Computing. 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, which, incidentally, was recently re-released as an open-source variant for the popular Raspberry Pi hobbyist PC—yet another device powered by an ARM SoC.
ARM’s emphasis on efficiency powered the company's own range of RISC PCs and operating systems for the next decade. ARM Holdings would later go on to design low-powered RISC-based SoCs for all manner of devices, starting with simple disk controllers and eventually winding up in the mobile computing SoCs at the heart of everything from the Compaq iPAQ to the Apple iPad—and, of course, the vast majority of Android devices.
This ubiquity happened when ARM Holdings cleverly removed manufacturer from its résumé. As part of a trend set in the late 1970s, ARM became a fabless semiconductor designer, allowing it to focus exclusively on design and constant improvements to its RISC architecture without worrying about manufacturing technology. That decision accelerated development and allowed some of the costs incurred during the design process to be offset by ARM licensees, which take the IP and determine how to implement it.
Such an approach has benefits beyond cost savings because it also allows for licensees to customize their SoCs to suit specific purposes. Aspects like the actual GPU, RAM, and modem can be selected, and often even modified, to satisfy any function or budget constraint. You could almost say that ARM SoCs can be built to order, which is of particular importance for companies that want to create devices for so many different needs and markets.
Given a diverse market with room for innovation and a sensitivity to cost, ARM SoCs and the fabless semiconductor industry present an exceptionally good fit for China.
Android is central to Chinese success in the mobile marketplace. Independent hardware vendors (IHVs) utilizing Chinese SoCs for their tablets tend to use Google’s OS because it's cost-free and open-source. Android is what allows $100 to $200 devices to work just as well as $600 flagship devices. Some buyers of China-made tablets may brag that their budget devices can do everything the more premium products can do. In some ways, they are right. But the story isn’t that simple. In many cases, "cheap" can also be code for "unsupported and closed-source."
And therein lies the problem. While Android (specifically, the Android Open Source Project) is open source, many of the Chinese SoC vendors aren’t true to the initiative’s spirit. There's been some valid criticism aimed at some of these companies and the ways in which they enjoy the benefits of being part of the Android experience, yet don't actually give much back in return. Companies like Rockchip, MediaTek. and Allwinner are unapologetically closed source when it comes to their kernels, making it difficult for owners of products based on those platforms to move beyond the version of Android that shipped with their devices. Furthermore, this also makes it nearly impossible for these devices to properly utilize aftermarket ROMs like CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android, and AOKP.
There have been some strides made on the Rockchip front; for instance, a Spanish tablet manufacturer opened up the source for its kernel. In turn, a beta version of Ubuntu surfaced for the SoC. Ithas since grown up, settled down, and now goes by the unfortunate name of PicUntu. The distribution has been making the rounds in the HDMI media stick communities, and is generally well-regarded. While it doesn't include full hardware acceleration, it's full-featured in almost every other aspect.
Still, that's Linux. Most RK3066 owners are stuck using older versions of Android, and the situation doesn't seem like it's going to change anytime soon. Meanwhile, the more modern quad-core RK3188 has yet to see a Linux variant. And that's even more disappointing since, in some cases, RK3188 devices ship with 2 GB of RAM and are far more powerful than the older RK3066.
For these reasons, Chinese SoCs and the devices they power tend to be somewhat devalued compared with their more prominently-branded equivalents from Qualcomm, Samsung, and Nvidia. Even though those familiar names and their partners do sometimes engage in closed-source, locked-down shenanigans, alternatives to their preinstalled versions of Android often do exist. XDA has countless forums for devices with Snapdragon, Exynos, and Tegra SoCs. Yet, the community push for China-based SoCs just isn't as effective. Most owners are left to "alternative solutions" on smaller forums, many of which lack support or are simply administered unprofessionally.
Also worrying, some of these Chinese companies are forking Android. They're doing it to avoid having to appease Google's Open Handset Alliance (OHA), and to ship their own software storefronts instead of Google Play.
Right now, we're seeing two major Android forks coming out of China: LeWa OS and the controversial Aliyun OS, the latter of which has been caught offering pirated versions of for-sale Android games, which could become a big problem down the road.
To make things worse, other China-based Android variants are not being particularly friendly with the open-source community: Flyme and MIUI. Flyme is available on Meizu's range of phones, while MIUI can be found on phones from Xiaomi or as a ROM for other devices. Both skin the OS in much the same way as HTC's Sense or Samsung's TouchWiz. The issue lies in the fact that both of these Chinese operating systems are closed source, which flies in the face of Android's AOSP GPL license. It also sets a worrying precedent that further releases may remain that way, again locking users into non-upgradable software experiences.
That trend probably worries AOSP fans and ROM developers, particularly in regard to how it may affect future China-based SoCs and devices.
Now, let's take a closer look at some of China's homegrown SoCs, starting with Rockchip.
Founded in 2001 and based in Fuzhou, China, the Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co. Ltd., or simply Rockchip, designs and develops integrated circuits, particularly SoCs. The company is a well-established ARM licensee, utilizing the IP company’s architecture for the majority of its products. Rockchip's focus has been predominantly on the tablet and personal media player (PMP) markets, so Rockchip SoCs do not include support for radios other than Wi-Fi.
SoC | CPU Core | GPU Core | Max Resolution | Camera | Video Encode/Decode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RK2918 | Cortex A8 (1-core) @ 1.0-1.2 GHz | Vivante GC800 @ 575 MHz | 1280x800 | 5MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
RK3066 | Cortex A9 (4-core) @ 1.6 GHz | Mali-400 MP4 @ 400 MHz | 2048x1536 | 5MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS (h.265/VP9 support) |
RK3026 | Cortex A9 2-core) @ 1.0 GHz | Mali-400 MP2 @ 330 MHz | 1920x1080 | 5MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
RK3168 | Cortex A9 (2-core) @ 1.2-1.5 GHz | Mali-400 MP4 @ 400 MHz | 1920x1080 | 5MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
RK3188 | Cortex A9 (4-core) @ 1.6 GHz | Mali-400 MP4 @ 600 MHz | 2048x1536 | 5MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS (h.265/VP9 support) |
RK3288 | Cortex A17 (4-core) @ 1.8 GHz | Mali-T764 @ 400MHz | 3840x2160 | 13MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS / 4k @30 FPS |
RK2918
Released in 2012, the RK2918 was Rockchip's first ARMv7 chip. It used a Cortex-A8 CPU and Vivante GC800 GPU, supporting a display resolution of up to 1280x800, though it could encode and decode video of up to 1080p. The notable feature of this processor is that it was among the first to support the open-source VP8 codec.
RK3066
Released in 2012, the Rockchip RK3066 is a 40 nm, 1.6 GHz, dual-core Cortex-A9 SoC coupled with the Mali 400 GPU and up to dual-channel DDR3 support. It was designed to compete with the dual-core Samsung Exynos 4, and benchmarks proved its mettle, with the RK3066 registering around 7000 points in AnTuTu at the time.
In some ways, it went beyond its competitors' capabilities, offering support for faster memory, an upper limit of 2 GB (though implementations were rare) and five-point multitouch panels up to 1920x1080 (which, as far as we understand, never surfaced in devices, perhaps due to it being a largely budget-focused chipset).
RK3066 was sold extensively in tablets from a wide variety of Chinese and European manufacturers, including Cube, Pipo, and Archos. In fact, Archos was still releasing RK3066-based devices in late 2012. That included some products in the company's budget line, Arnova, and the game-focused Gamepad, which includes a hardwired gaming controller. RK3066 also powered the OUYA competitor, GameStik.
RK3066 devices tended to be most popular in the budget 10-inch range of early- to mid-2012, and continued to sell well throughout the year. Another area of success for RK3066 was the HDMI stick form factor. Indeed, RK3066 quite clearly put HDMI Android Media devices on the map, with more than 20 such devices released over the 2012 period alone.
Interestingly, Archos released the 97 Titanium HD, which pushed the RK3066 beyond its theoretical limits by powering a 2048x1536 "Retinal" display. And while it didn't perform as smoothly as its 800p brothers in games, it still held its own in terms of browsing and general day-to-day tasks, proving the RK3066 to be extremely versatile.
RK3188
Building on the success of the RK3066, RK3188 ups the ante considerably by pushing into quad-core territory. The budget-oriented tablets that use it are in a performance tier previously reserved for premium devices like the Tegra 3-equipped Transformer Pad Infinity.
Excitement for this 28 nm quad-core Cortex-A9, Mali MP4-equipped SoC was so high that there was a record-breaking number of preorders for devices like the Cube U30GT2 and PIPO M4 Pro. The bump in GPU speed and CPU power meant that more devices with 1920x1200 screens were released, and the RK3188 SoC handled that gracefully, partly because almost all those devices came standard with 2 GB of DDR3 RAM. In fact, the only RK3188 devices that shipped with only 1 GB of RAM were budget HDMI media sticks.
Benchmarks put this chipset around the 14,000- to 18,000-point mark in AnTuTu, landing beyond Tegra 3's space at a lower price.
RK3168
Considering it has only a dual-core Cortex-A9 processor complex and a GPU that’s more commonly included with Cortex-A7-based SoCs, the RK3168 is a more budget-conscious revision of the RK3188. It's designed to ship in smaller, 7-inch tablets, which tend to be less expensive.
RK3288
The RK3288 is Rockchip's latest and most powerful SoC, and is expected to surface this year. It comes with a quad-core Cortex-A17 processor at 1.8 GHz, and a Mali-T760 GPU. Initially, Rockchip was supposed to use the Cortex-A12 core, but since ARM announced Cortex-A17 quite suddenly, improving Cortex-A12, Rockchip quickly updated its SoC to use the newer IP instead.
Cortex-A17 will target the mid-range market in 2015, while Cortex-A57 remains at the high end, possibly improved. Unfortunately, the -A17 core isn't based on the new and improved ARMv8 architecture, and it's still a 32-bit chip. That's disappointing for a piece of hardware surfacing in 2015, but Rockchip most likely chose it because of cost considerations. Rockchip sells some of the lowest-cost SoCs for mobile devices. It's also why the company chose the Cortex-A17 instead of something even more powerful for its mid-range chips.
On the GPU side, it doesn't look like Rockchip spares any expense, since the company is using a high-end Mali-T764 GPU. Considering Rockchip is mainly targeting tablets, it's not too surprising to see it match a high-end GPU with a more modest CPU. Tablets tend to use higher resolutions than phones, and a more powerful GPU can make sure the tablet doesn't overheat and doesn't use up the battery too quickly.
The GPU also supports the latest mobile graphics features, along with support for 4K video decoding. It even supports HDMI 2.0 and 10-bit color, in case you want to hook the tablet up to a 4K TV.
Rockchip recently partnered with Intel to build some 28 nm non-FinFET SoCs using the Atom core and branding. Intel hopes that with this partnership, it can lower the cost of Atom and push it into less expensive platforms. It remains to be seen how competitive these chips will be, particularly since Intel’s own 22 nm Atoms are barely fast enough to compete with high-end ARM chips. These SoCs will most likely be targeted at the mid-range market, and also use Intel's 3G modems. In the meantime, the ARM-based RK3288 will arrive with support for 4G LTE this year.
MediaTek Inc. is a leading fabless semiconductor designer with a focus on 3G GSM HSPA+ and WCDMA phone handsets and phablet SoCs. The company emphasizes power efficiency mixed with performance and, up until recently, built around Cortex-A7, coupling lower-power ARM7 CPUs with a potent GPU to deliver SoCs that save battery while offering comprehensive application and multimedia performance.
Smartphone Chips
SoC | CPU Core | GPU Core | Max Resolution | Camera | Video Encode/Decode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MT6572 | Cortex A7 (2-core) @ 1.3 GHz | Mali-400 MP1 @ 500 MHz | 960x540 | 5MP ISP | 720p @ 30 FPS |
MT6573 | ARM11 @ 650 MHz | PowerVR SGX531 @ 281MHz | 854x480 | 8MP ISP | 480p @ 30 FPS |
MT6575 | Cortex A9 (1-core) @ 1.0 GHz | PowerVR SGX531 Ultra @ 522 MHz | 960x540 | 5MP ISP | 720p @ 30 FPS |
MT6577 | Cortex A9 (2-core) @ 1.0 GHz | PowerVR SGX531 Ultra @ 522 MHz | 1280x720 | 8MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
MT6589 | Cortex-A7 (4-core) @ 1.2 GHz | PowerVR SGX544 @ 286 MHz | 1920x1080 | 13MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
MT6592 | Cortex-A7 (8-core) @ 1.7-2.0 GHz | Mali-450 @ 700 MHz | 1920x1080 | 16MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS (h.265 support) |
MT6595 | Cortex A7 (4-core) @ 1.7 GHz/Cortex A17 (4-core) @ 2.2 GHz | PowerVR 6200 @ 600 MHz | 2560x1600 | 20MP ISP | 2160p @ 30 FPS (h.265 support) |
MT6732 | Cortex A53 (4-core) @ 1.5 GHz | Mali-T760 MP2 @ 500 MHz | 1920x1080 | 13MP ISP | 2160p @ 30fps(h.265 support) |
MT6572
The MT6572 is one of MediaTek's newer chips, released in 2013. It’s aimed a low-end devices, and consists of a dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU and Mali-400 MP1 graphics engine at 500 MHz. As you might imagine, it doesn’t support very high resolutions; its limit is 960x540p. The hardware also can't record video at higher than 720p and 30 FPS. But for an entry-level SoC, not much more can be expected.
MT6573
The MT6573 is based on the much older ARMv6 architecture, most likely for cost reasons. MediaTek still seems to be using it for ultra-cheap smartphones that have only the bare minimum of performance required to power Android, although with Cortex-A7 becoming almost ubiquitous for the low end, it should be on its way out within a year. The chip can't support resolutions and video playback higher than 480p, but it does seem to support 8 MP cameras.
MT6575
While the Cortex-A9 core is also pretty old, it still appears in some devices. Performance-wise, it should be between the MT6573 and MT6572, because the latter is higher-clocked and has two cores. The chip comes with support for display resolutions of up to 960x540 and 720p video playback, along with support for 8 MP cameras.
MediaTek made a cheaper version of this SoC back in 2012. Called MT6575M, it had a GPU that was half as powerful and was manufactured using an older 65 nm process.
MT6577
The MT6577 SoC also utilizes the older Cortex-A9 (in dual-core trim, operating at 1 GHz). MediaTek keeps selling the processor because of its popularity, which enabled a lot of phones to shoot 720p video back in 2012.
Despite its age, the chip continues to support 720p display resolutions, full-HD video playback, and 8 MP cameras, making it a valuable offering from MediaTek at the right price.
MT6589 and Variants
The MTK6589 is another popular offering. It’s so in-demand, in fact, that MediaTek created another two versions of this chip: one slower (MT6589M) and one faster (MT6589T).
SoC | CPU Core | GPU Core | Max Resolution | Camera | Video Encode/Decode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MT6589M | Cortex-A7 (4-core) @ 1.2 GHz | PowerVR SGX544 @ 156 MHz | 960x540 | 8MP ISP | 720p @ 30 FPS |
MT6589 | Cortex-A7 (4-core) @ 1.2 GHz | PowerVR SGX544 @ 286 MHz | 1920x1080 | 13MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
MT6589T | Cortex-A7 (4-core) @ 1.5 GHz | PowerVR SGX544 @ 357 MHz | 1920x1080 | 13MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
All three are based on the Cortex-A7 CPU, and all are quad-core. But the M version has half the GPU performance, supports cameras up to 8 MP, and can only play 720p video. The T version is 25 percent faster for both its CPU and GPU, and supports cameras up to 13 MP. All three of them use PowerVR GPUs from Imagination.
MT6592
The MT6592 is an eight-core Cortex-A7-based chip that runs between 1.7 and 2.0 GHz (typically 1.7 GHz), and comes with a Mali-450 MP4 GPU operating at 600 MHz. This chip can support cameras up to 16 MP, and you'll typically see it in higher-end Chinese smartphones that cost about half as much as the flagships we’re used to.
MT6595
The MT6595 isn't available yet, but it should be by the end of the year. This chip shows that MediaTek wants to compete against Qualcomm and Samsung near the high end of the market. The upcoming SoC will employ ARM’s big.LITTLE power optimization technology with a quad-core Cortex-A7 cluster clocked at 1.7 GHz and a quad-core Cortex-A17 cluster operating at 2.2 GHz. Of course, -A17 is a new core design from ARM that promises roughly twice the performance of Cortex-A7 at a given frequency, or around the same performance as the latest revision of Cortex-A15 (like the one from Tegra K1).
The new SoC will be coupled with a PowerVR 6200 GPU clocked at 600 MHz. It will also bring support for 20 MP cameras and 802.11ac Wi-Fi, in addition to integrating an LTE modem.
MediaTek must expect the chip to be very popular, because it's making two other versions of it: the MT6595M, which will have the Cortex A7 cores clocked at 1.5GHz, and the high-end Cortex A17 cores at 2.0 GHz, and the MT6595 Turbo, which will have its Cortex A7 cores clocked at 1.7 GHz and the Cortex A17 cores at 2.4-2.5 GHz.
MT6732
At this year's Mobile World Conference, MediaTek announced its first ARMv8-based 64-bit chip, the MT6732, which comes with a quad-core Cortex-A53 complex running at 1.5 GHz and a powerful Mali T760 GPU boasting OpenGL ES 3.0 and OpenCL 1.2 support.
The chip supports dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, LTE, an ISP supporting 13 MP sensors, and 1080p video at 30 FPS, with hardware-accelerated HEVC decoding.
Tablet chips
Soc | CPU Core | GPU Core | Max Resolution | Camera | Video Encode/Decode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MT8127 | Cortex A7 (4-core) @ 1.5 GHz | Mali-450 MP4 @ 600 MHz | 1920x1080 | 13MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
MT8377 | Cortex A9 (2-core) @ 1.2 GHz | IMGSGX531 Ultra @ 400 MHz | 1280x720 | 8MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
MT8135 | Cortex A15 (2-core) @ 1.7 GHz / Cortex A7 (2-core) @ 1.2 GHz | IMGG6200 @ 600 MHz | 1920x1080 | 13MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
MT8125 / 8389 | Cortex A7 (4-core) @ 1.5 GHz | IMGSGX544 @ 300 MHz | 1920x1080 | 13MP ISP | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
MT8127
The latest chip announced by MediaTek (MT8127) was designed specifically for tablets on which customers tend to watch more videos and movies. Unlike the MT6732, though, this is not meant as a high-end chip from MediaTek, but as a more low-cost SoC for low-end and mid-range tablets. As such, it comes with quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A7 CPU, a Mali-450 MP4 GPU, and support for 1080p displays, 1080p video playback, and 13 MP cameras.
MT8377
The MT8377 is a lower-end offering for tablets, which was released last year. It comes with a dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU made with the older 40 nm process and a PowerVR SGX531 Ultra GPU, which supports a maximum resolution of 1280x720. It also supports Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, and GSM/GPRS/EDGE/HSPA modems.
MT8135
This is currently MediaTek's highest-end 32-bit tablet chip, which takes advantage of big.Little technology by integrating two Cortex-A15 cores at 1.7 GHz and two Cortex-A7 cores at 1.2 GHz. It also comes with a PowerVR Series6 G200 GPU that supports OpenGL ES 3.0. Tablets incorporating this processor should be capable of respectable gaming performance, even at 1080p.
MT8125/8389
These two chips are MediaTek's older "high-end" products for tablets that have been shipping since last year. They both support 1080p displays and 1080p video playback, along with cameras up to 13 MP. The difference between them is that the MT8389 packs an embedded GPS module and comes with Bluetooth 4.0 support. Both work with wireless standards like GSM, GPRS, EDGE and HSPA+.
Allwinner Technology is a China-based fabless semiconductor company founded in 2007. It was one of the first few independent companies to become an ARM licensee, and is probably the first Chinese SoC manufacturer to get our attention in the U.S. with its Android-oriented platforms. Its single-core A10 (Cortex-A8 with Mali 400 GPU), released in late 2010, proved that a Chinese processor could compete with more heavily-marketed brands. Even still, its focus has been largely on mid- and low-end budget tablets, PMPs. and HDMI media sticks, and not so much on smartphones.
The A10 was so prolific that it distorted prices in the Chinese tablet market for almost a year. Its combination of a modest ARMv7 CPU and a then-leading-edge Mali 400 GPU meant that even though it employed one core, it could match the gaming performance of Nvidia’s substantially more expensive Tegra 2. Indeed, such excitement grew around the Mali GPU that a GPU emulation layer, called Chainfire 3D (no longer in development), gained a lot of support from customers with A10-equipped devices.
Back then, forums were filled with reports of A10-based tablets running quite a few high-end Tegra 2-optimized games smoothly and, in some cases, with more features enabled (such as FSAA) than what was thought to be theoretically possible at the time on Nvidia’s GeForce ULP GPU.
Allwinner is again focusing on premium GPU performance with its quad-core A31, based on Cortex-A7 and equipped with the PowerVR SGX 544 GPU. This is the same GPU that was used in the third-gen iPad, thus enabling a whole swathe of 2048x1536p-class 9- and 10-inch Android tablets at budget prices.
Soc | CPU Core | GPU Core | Max Resolution | Camera | Video Encode/Decode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A10 | Cortex A8 (1-core) @ 1.0 GHz | Mali 400 | 1920x1080 | N/A | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
A10s | Cortex A8 (1-core) @ 1.0 GHz | Mali 400 | 1920x1080 | N/A | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
A13 | Cortex A8 (1-core) @ 1.0 GHz | Mali 400 | 1920x1080 | N/A | 1080p @ 30 FPS |
A20 | Cortex A7 (2-cores) | Mali 400 MP2 | 1920x1080 | 8MP | 1080p @ 30 FPS / 2160p @ 30 FPS |
A31 | Cortex A7 (4-cores) | PowerVR SGX 544 MP2 | 2048 ×1536 | 12MP | 1080p @ 30 FPS / 4kx2k @ 30 FPS |
A80 | Cortex A7 (4-cores) / Cortex A15 (4-cores) | PowerVR 6230 | 2560x1600 | 16MP | 4K×2K @ 30 FPS (h.265/VP9 support) |
A10
The A10 SoC has been a major success for Allwinner; it's what put the company on the map as a Chinese mobile chip maker. It was mostly used to drive Android- and Linux-based mini-sticks, but also some sub-$150 tablets like the Ainol Novo 7 Aurora, from India. The processor supports a maximum resolution of 1920x1080, though it’s mostly often seen in tablets with 1024x600 or 1280x800 resolutions.
A10s
The A10s is basically a stripped-down A10 that’s less expensive. Allwinner uses the A10s to target cheap mini TV sticks. It also adds DLNA and Wi-Fi display support. Compared to the A10, you get better power management, too.
A13
Allwinner’s A13 is one of the company's more recently released chips, and is targeted mainly at small tablets and e-readers. However, even though it's new, the processor only comes with a Cortex-A8 CPU and Mali-400 MP1 GPU. This isn’t one of Allwinner's more powerful offerings.
A20
The A20 followed the A10, doubling CPU and GPU core count, while switching to Cortex-A7 from -A8 for better battery life and adding support for cameras. Cleverly, it was pin-compatible with the A10, theoretically meaning that tablet manufacturers could just use it in place of its predecessor to save design time. In practice, though, the market had already started shifting to quad-core platforms, so the A20 saw mixed success.
A31
The A31 seems to be recreating the A10 budget hero experience. Just as that old classic introduced 720/800p tablets to the market at affordable prices, the A31 seems to be doing the same for Retina-class resolutions in the 9.7-inch range. The -A7 CPU aspect of the chipset isn't particularly powerful, but it is extremely efficient. On the other hand, the PowerVR 544MP2 GPU is extremely powerful, maxing out many benchmarks. The chipset has also found its way into HDMI sticks. It's currently Allwinner's highest-end SoC, and it also supports camera sensors up to 12 MP.
A80
The Allwinner A80 is expected to arrive this year, at which point it’ll be Allwinner's highest-end chip. It’s too early to tell, but the A80 could put Allwinner in competition with the likes of Samsung, Qualcomm, and Nvidia. The processor will utilize big.Little technology, with quad-core Cortex-A7 and -A15 clusters. The chip is as high-end as you could expect, so it will also have support for 4K video and the hardware-accelerated H.265 and VP9 codecs.
Spreadtrum Communications Inc. is a Shanghai-based fabless chip maker and the world's 17th largest semiconductor company. It is best known for making chipsets for the Chinese TD-SCDMA 3G network, but it also sells chips to customers from other countries. The company was acquired last year by Tsinghua Unigroup, a Chinese consumer electronics firm.
Back in 2011, Spreadtrum managed to win 25 percent of the 2G phone market in China, mainly from MediaTek, which introduced a weaker chip at the time and, in turn, gave Spreadtrum the opportunity to grow its market share rapidly.
Today, Spreadtrum is known mainly for making chipsets that work on China’s TD-SCDMA 3G network, which covers 50 percent of the customers there. But it's also making chips for other customers in other countries. If you’re looking at the overall Chinese smartphone market, Spreadtrum only has 11 percent share.
SC6821
While we generally think of companies like MediaTek as offering entry-level hardware, Spreadtrum goes even lower. Earlier this year, we learned that Spreadtrum and Mozilla are partnering to offer a $25 Firefox OS smartphone, which is way below the retail price of any phone we've tested on Tom’s Hardware.
This smartphone will come with a SC6821 chip. We don’t know too much about the platform, other than that it's based on ARM's Cortex-A5, has support for Wi-Fi (presumably 802.11b/g/n) and Bluetooth, and integrates FM radio functionality. It also supports a camera (most likely up to 5 MP) and HVGA resolutions, will run Firefox OS, and will work on WCDMA and EDGE networks.
Mozilla most likely chose Spreadtrum due to its processor's low price. Therefore, performance and features probably weren’t the priority. At least Mozilla picked an ARMv7-capable chip, as it prepares to completely drop ARMv6 support from both Firefox OS and the mobile Firefox app for Android. The sooner everyone gets rid of ARMv6, the sooner developers can focus on supporting ARMv7 and ARMv8 architectures.
SC7735S
Mozilla is not the only big-name customer serviced by Spreadtrum. HTC has also put the Spreadtrum Quak (SC7735S) chip inside its Desire 700 mid-range smartphone. This chip is based on a quad-core Cortex-A7 1.2 GHz CPU and Mali-400 GPU. It supports up to 2 GB of RAM, 1080p video playback at 30 FPS, VP8 hardware decoding, and up to 13 MP cameras.
HTC hasn't had the best luck with its low-end smartphone offerings because, for some reason, it always ends up more expensive than the competition sporting similar specs. Spreadtrum might help HTC reduce its overall prices for its low-end smartphones.
Earlier this year, there were some talks about a potential Spreadtrum/RDA Microelectronics merger, but this deal was met with opposition from RDA employees, who consider Spreadtrum a much less nimble company than their own.
ARM’s open-license model has allowed it to become ubiquitous in the mobile market, simultaneously giving lesser-known or brand-new semiconductor companies the opportunity to use its IP to build SoCs of their own. Those chip makers can then use their hardware to compete against the well-known semiconductor giants.
Many of these companies, which don’t yet have pervasive brands, have to compete against the entry-level offerings from larger, more established competitors. This is exactly the kind of strategy Chinese companies use to excel, thanks to the low costs of manufacturing. Now, as some of those vendors cultivate more notable brands, many device manufacturers are starting to choose their wares, and not just because of low prices.
The Chinese semiconductor companies started out at the lower end of the performance spectrum, and have successively raised the bar to hit higher levels. More powerful SoCs command greater premiums and earn higher margins. Naturally, they all want to increase their profits.
At the same time, since they've been offering aggressive pricing from the beginning, even their quicker processors are still considered affordable compared to the competition. This should allow them to steal market share from the better-known chip companies, even at the high end of the mobile chip market, earning positions in more popular flagship devices, which, in turn, will strengthen their brand.
The Chinese chip makers that seem to be doing the best right now are MediaTek, Rockchip, and Allwinner. Together, they have 75.7 percent of the tablet processor market in China, with Rockchip and Allwinner taking the lead.
MediaTek is doing much better in the phone market in China, with over 50 percent market share, thanks to the integration of its processors with baseband modems. Its main Chinese competition there is Spreadtrum, though that company’s market share is five times smaller.
Qualcomm is the only real challenge to MediaTek in the Chinese smartphone market. But even that juggernaut had to adopt stock Cortex-A5 and -A7 designs in order to become price-competitive. It had a brief advantage in the LTE market by integrating the cellular standard into its SoCs. However, Qualcomm’s market share is declining as more companies integrate baseband modems.
With the Chinese government and manufacturing customers tending to favor Chinese chip makers as well, it's going to become increasingly difficult for an outsider like Qualcomm to compete against these fast-growing Chinese chip makers, especially when they can't even beat them on price.
















