The MediaTek Kompanio Ultra is officially a beast and just for Chromebooks

Well folks, the MediaTek MT8196 we’ve been tracking for some time now has officially been branded, and it is called the Kompanio Ultra. In a step that moves MediaTek’s Chromebook SoCs more in-line with the naming conventions first put forth by Apple and now being used by Intel, we’re seeing the first of the Kompanio chip rebrands to ditch the numbers and instead go with a simpler, more user-friendly naming convention.

Kompanio Ultra will be a beast

Based on the information provided and our own research up to this point, the “Ultra” name is well earned, here. This new chip from MediaTek will enter the market as the most powerful processor in a Chromebook, period. As we previously discussed with the MT8196, MediaTek has confirmed that – in benchmark numbers, at least – the Kompanio Ultra will be a performance champion in the Chromebook space.

Previously, we’ve referred to Kompanio chips by comparing them to one another as they have always been less performant than Intel’s higher-end Core chips. That won’t be the case with the Kompanio Ultra. Instead, MediaTek is touting a chip that will supersede all those that have come before it in the performance category: including Intel chips.

The benefits of the Kompanio Ultra are clear: fast performance, long battery, thin/light devices, and AI prowess. But there are other superlatives here, too, and MediaTek has laid them all out quite clearly. Here’s a look at all the Kompanio Ultra will bring to the table when it begins arriving in Chromebooks.

MediaTek Kompanio Ultra specs

• NPU: 50 TOPS AI Performance – designed to handle NPU-centric Chromebook functions.
• Outperforms Intel Core Ultra 5 115U and 125U in Chromebook space.
• 18% faster single-thread performance compared to Intel Core Ultra 5 processors.
• 40% more multi-thread performance compared to Intel Core Ultra 5 processors.
• 250% higher frame rate in Minecraft compared to the Intel 125U.
• Battery life up to 20 hours on a 60Wh battery.

Chromebooks only

MediaTek also noted that this processor is built for Chromebooks, and Chromebooks only. Though there were a few questions about the possibility of this chip being put in Windows devices as well, they quickly dispelled this notion and made it clear that Kompanio is made for Chromebooks, and Chromebooks alone. As a Chromebook fan, this just made me feel good.

Fully positioned for the Android kernel arrival

It truly looks like we’re on the verge of a massive change in the high-end Chromebook ecosystem. For over a decade, now, if you wanted a premium Chromebook, that meant using a device with an Intel processor on the inside. That simply won’t be true once devices like ‘Navi’ and ‘Hylia’ (Kompanio Ultra devices in development) arrive on the scene with the Kompanio Ultra inside.

But that’s really only part of the story, here. Though MediaTek made no mention of any of this, the writing on the wall is pretty easy to read when you think through the benefits of a high-end ARM processor in a Chromebook that will (eventually) be running on the Android kernel under the hood.

For games and other more-intensive Android applications, this Kompanio Ultra will be indispensable for running them all smoothly. While I’m sure the ChromeOS team is hard at work to make Android run well on x86 processors from Intel, there’s no real additional work to be done when it comes to Android on ARM. And that could be a distinct advantage for a processor like the Kompanio Ultra once this kernel change happens.

For now, however, it is simply exciting to know a flagship ARM chip is finally on the way to Chromebooks. Though we truly do want to see a tablet or two with this chip inside it, I’m also plenty excited to see the first standard Chromebooks running on this SoC. It’s a big deal for Chromebooks and ChromeOS, and we cannot wait for the (expected) May event to get here so we can finally see it in action.