Built around an eight-core system that includes two Arm Cortex-A76 cores and six Cortex-A55 cores running at 2.05 GHz, MediaTek’s G90 and G90T SoCs are designed for high-performance gaming 4G smartphones (see figure). An 800-MHz Mali G76 GPU delivers high-performance graphic output in addition to providing a GPU-accelerated computational platform. The GPU can handle display resolutions up to 2400 × 1080 pixels, essentially 21:9 full HD+ at 60 Hz.
MediaTek’s G90 and G90T SoCs incorporate a 4G LTE modem and an octal-core Arm Cortex processor along with a Mali G76 GPU.
The chip can access up to 10 GB of 2133-MHz LPDDR4 DRAM. It also can take advantage of eMMC 5.1 and UFS 2.1 storage.
Wireless support includes dual-band Wi-Fi (2.4 and 5 GHz) and Bluetooth 5. The cellular modem handles CAT-12 4G LTE with speeds up to 1 Gb/s. It supports MediaTek’s smart antenna switching, including 4×4 MIMO support and carrier aggregation. The system is designed to handle Wi-Fi signal degradation, such as when the phone is moving away from an access point. It can switch to cellular support within milliseconds and manage simultaneous operation, providing transparent communication that’s key to lag-free online gaming.
The chip uses a trip-ISP design for camera support. It can handle a single 64-Mpixel, high-resolution input or a 48-Mpixel super-size input. Dual camera arrays up to 24 Mpixels plus 16 Mpixels are supported, with machine-learning analysis available as well via a pair of 750-MHz MediaTek APUs. Video inputs at 30 frames/s are supported. The Picture Quality Engine provides 10-bit color depth for the latest HDR10 standard.
The user interface has been enhanced—the chip supports dual wakeup words (G90T) for smart speaker interfaces like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home. And a Rapid Response engine improves the touch interface.
One of the first platforms to use the chip will be available from Xiaomi.
