Support our independent tech coverage. Chrome Unboxed is written by real people, for real people—not search algorithms. Join Chrome Unboxed Plus for just $2 a month to get an ad-free experience, access to our private Discord, and more. Learn more about membership here.
START FREE TRIAL (MONTHLY)START FREE TRIAL (ANNUAL)
MediaTek has made a name for itself as the leading chip maker for ARM-powered Chromebooks and this week, the company ascended on Sonoma, California to announce its latest offerings in the SoC space. The announcement included two new Kompanio processors that are designed specifically for entry-level Chromebooks. These new chipsets are meant to “take entry Chromebooks to the next level.”
Enhanced power efficiency, speedy performance and reliable connectivity are at the core of a great user experience, and that’s exactly what MediaTek’s new Kompanio chipsets deliver.
Adam King, VP and GM, Client Computing Business Unit at MediaTek
Kompanio 520 & 528
True successors to the MT8183 found in the original Lenovo Duet tablet, the new 500 series Kompanio SoCs feature an octa-core CPU that consists of two larger ARM Cortex-A76 cores, six smaller cores, and an ARM Mali G52 MC2 2EE GPU. The chips run at 2GHz and 2.2Ghz respectively and both support LPDDR4x RAM. They can be combined with MediaTek’s Filogic solutions to support Wi-Fi 6. MediaTek has also integrated a dual-core AI processing unit for “AI enhancements” for applications as well as camera-related AI features.
The new Kompanio SoCs will be geared specifically for entry-level Chromebooks to offer a better user experience that previous generations of low-end devices. This includes 60fps Full HD video recording support, support for Full HD+ displays, and encoding for the newer H.265 video format. All of this is combined with better battery optimization with the hopes of giving users a more robust ChromeOS experience at lower price points.
As the No.1 provider of Arm-based Chromebooks, MediaTek makes the latest AI, connectivity, display and imaging features accessible at every price point.
Adam King, VP and GM, Client Computing Business Unit at MediaTek
Key Features
- Arm Mali G52 MC2 2EE
- LPDDR4x memory with a max frequency of 3733MHz
- eMMC 5.1 storage with a hardware command queue
- Hi-Fi 5 DSP
- 2560 x 1200 display support at 60Hz and 1920 x 1080 external monitor display support at 60Hz
- 1920 x 1080 at 60fps video encoding
We don’t have an ETA on any of the upcoming devices powered by these new chipsets but we do know from our repository research that some are very close to the production stage. It’s highly possible that we could see one of these devices in the wild before the end of the year. Stay tuned for more news on the new MediaTek Kompanio SoCs.
SUBSCRIBE TO UPSTREAM
Get Chrome Unboxed delivered straight to your inbox
Upstream is our flagship, curated newsletter with the top stories, most click-worthy deals, giveaways, and trending articles from Chrome Unboxed sent directly to your inbox a few times a week. Join 31,000+ subscribers.
