MediaTek announced new MediaTek Kompanio 1380 SoC for premium Chromebooks. The new chipset is manufactured using TSMC's 6nm process. The processor includes four high-performance ARM Cortex-A78 cores clocked at up to 3GHz and four efficiency-focused ARM Cortex-A55 cores. This is a really powerful SoC that is likely on par with or even ahead of last year's Dimensity 1200. The chipset also features an ARM Mali-G57 GPU with five cores.
This GPU allows the MediaTek Kompanio 1380 to support two 4K 60Hz displays or one 4K 60Hz display and two 4K 30Hz displays. Thus, users will have a wide variety of resolutions in devices with this chip. The chipset also includes MediaTek APU 3.0, which accelerates AI camera and AI voice applications and optimizes battery life. The processors also have support for AV1 hardware decoding. This allows consumers to stream 4K movies and TV shows at the best quality settings. They will also enjoy longer battery life.
The MediaTek Kompanio 1380 also comes with dedicated digital audio signal processors (DSPs) that provide ultra-low power (VoW) voice-on-wake capabilities for a wide range of voice assistant services. Last but not least, the chipset also supports Wi-Fi 6/6E, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, and QZSS. The Acer Chromebook Spin 513 will be the first Chromebook to feature the MediaTek Kompanio 1380 SoC. According to the company, it will go on sale in June.
“The Kompanio 1380 continues MediaTek’s legacy as the #1 chip maker for Arm-based Chromebooks, taking the premium Chromebook experience to new levels of performance. It will also prolong battery life."
“Companio 1380 is an integral part of providing a comfortable experience for users, whether they are working at home, enjoying multimedia on the go, or performing any other tasks. We're excited to see its versatility brought to life in the Acer Chromebook Spin 513, the first product to feature this chip,” said John Solomon, vice president of Chrome OS at Google.
We have yet to see how the new chipset will work with upcoming Chromebooks. That said, it's interesting to see MediaTek expanding its territory into the PC scene even though it's the Chromebook scene. We wouldn't be surprised if a Taiwanese chipmaker launches an ARM chip for computers in the future. At present, the company seems to be mainly focused on getting a good chunk of the flagship market with its Dimensity 9000 series.
