MediaTek Helio G85 SoC Is the New Mobile Chip for Everyday Gamers

MediaTek has been making smartphone processors for more than 15 years and has developed many different series of chipsets over the years. Now, the company has unveiled its latest entry dubbed the MediaTek Helio G85. Part of the G series, the processor is designed with gaming in mind. The processor made its debut in the Redmi Note 9 that was announced on Thursday. Further, the company also announced that it will enable YouTube video streams using the AV1 video codec on the MediaTek Dimensity 1000 5G SoC.

The MediaTek Helio G85, according to Xiaomi at Redmi Note 9 launch event, is “Made for everyday gamers”. It comes with the 2+6 core arrangement where there are two Cortex-A75 cores clocked at up to 2.0GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores. As of now, the clock speeds for the Cortex-A55 cores is unknown. The integrated Mali G52 GPU is clocked at 1000MHz, according to the spec sheet for the Redmi Note 9. During the launch of the phone, Xiaomi also shared some benchmarks putting the Helio G85 against the Snapdragon 665 and Exynos 9611 with results tipping in the favour of the Helio G85.

However, it should be noted that the difference between the new Helio G85 and the relatively older Helio G80 is an extra 50MHz on the Arm Mali G52 GPU. The core configuration for the CPU is the same in both the Helio G85 and the Helio G80.

Further, MediaTek had announced that it will enable YouTube video streams using the cutting-edge AV1 video codec on the MediaTek Dimensity 1000 5G SoC. The company says as the AV1 codec has improved compression efficiency, the processor will give users “incredible visual quality and smoother video experiences, while using less data.” In this day and age where a lot of the media consumption takes place on the phone, the implementation will be quite useful as users will be using less battery with the same amount of video streaming. Additionally, the AV1 hardware video decoder enables playback of AV1 video streams up to 4K resolution at 60 fps.

“MediaTek is engaged in consistently upgrading its offerings to enhance user experience, and AV1 technology is a prime example,” said Dr. Yenchi Lee, Assistant General Manager of MediaTek's Wireless Business Unit in a statement. “Video is now the most used form of communication, with 70 percent of Millennials and Gen Z reportedly using streaming services.”

The announcement by the company also mentions that the AV1 codec is an ultra-high-performance video codec technology that delivers 30 percent more compression efficiency compared to existing VP9.

To recall, the MediaTek Dimensity 1000 5G SoC was launched late last year and is based on the Based on 7nm architecture.

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