MediaTek has announced that it will compete with Samsung, Nvidia and Qualcomm in the emerging market for quad-core chips designed for smartphones.
The processor itself is based on ARM's Cortex-A7 design, which is the same technology found in Qualcomm's forthcoming quad-core S4 processors.
Qualcomm's aforementioned chip, however, won't launch until the latter stages of 2013. The MediaTek chip, meanwhile, will power a number of smartphones expected to ship during the first quarter of 2013.
MediaTek's MT6589 supports 1080p 30fps/30fps low-power video playback and recording, a camera boasting 13-megapixels and up to a 1,920x1,080 resolution display.
Samsung recently announced the existence of its Exynos 5440 Quad-Core processor, which is widely expected to be powering the upcoming Galaxy S4.
Despite smartphone manufacturers starting to increase the amount of quad-core-powered handsets launched into the market, an IHS analyst believes vendors will soon move away from focusing on integrating quad-core chips in favor of delivering a more solid core experience.
