MediaTek announced today a new Android platform designed to address the emerging low-cost smartphone market. Designated the MT6575, this platform combines a single-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, a graphics processor, and GSM/HSPA radios into a System-on-Chip package. This setup can also handle dual hot-swappable SIM cards and a variety of screen and camera resolutions. Will this be the chipset we see in developing markets and MVNOs over the next few years?
For its mid-range offerings, the MT6575 can handle 720p high-definition recording and playback via a PowerVR SGX Series5 GPU; this will accommodate the qHD screen (960x540) and 8MP camera targets for this phone range. The system scales down well, providing usability and economy for the smaller screens, lower memory capacity, and less resolution-intensive cameras that will likely be found on many phones in emerging and pre-paid markets.
The MT6575 platform also brings enhanced dual-SIM experiences to the Android platform. From the press release:
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With the MT6575 dual‐SIM solution, consumers will no longer have to worry about dropped calls while active data transfer is happening on either SIM card, and will experience automatic resumption of data exchange once calls on the other SIM card have ended, in addition, with the hot swap feature enabled, the SIM card can be inserted without switching off the mobile.
The first handsets based on the MT6575 chipset are expected to be available in Q1 2012. The full press release can be found at MediaTek's media site.
