MediaTek Dimensity 800U Lowers the Bar to Accessing 5G Technology

• MediaTek has presented Dimensity 800U, and it’s a very capable, modern, and energy-efficient 5G chip.
• Mobile processors like the Dimensity 800U make it very hard to justify buying anything more expensive.
• Dimensity chips haven’t been picked up by many manufacturers yet, but it could be a matter of time.

MediaTek has unveiled the “Dimensity 800U,” which is now the entry model of the “800” series of its 5G chips. While it’s not the cheapest 5G mobile processor of the company, as that would be the “Dimensity 720”, the 800U supports screen refresh rates of up to 120 Hz, 12GB of RAM, UFS 2.2 storage, features the Mali-G57 MC3 GPU, and its Cortex A76 cores are clocked at 2.4 GHz.

All in all, this is a very capable and highly energy-efficient 7nm chip that is blurring the line between mid-range and top-range, as the performance gains one would get from the state of the art chips of other manufacturers would be hardly noticeable, and at a huge price hike.

In regards to the 5G technology, MediaTek promises multi-channel support, global dual 5G SIM, VoNR support, global 5G NR Band coverage, 2CC 5G carrier aggregation, seamless handover when hopping to a new 5G area, and over 30% greater throughput layer coverage.

In addition to all this, MediaTek also mentions the following 5G power-saving technologies for the 800U:

• MediaTek 5G UltraSave Network Environment Detection
• MediaTek 5G UltraSave OTA Content Awareness
• Dynamic BWP
• C-DRX (Connected Mode DRX)

Compared to the cost of Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G, 730, and 730G that play on the same level, the 800U is a far more inexpensive offering that could populate a wide range of mid-range smartphones looking to offer 5G without many compromises on other areas, for under $300.

This is very important right now because consumers are typically not willing to spend above $500 for a 5G device, especially when the infrastructure for the new communication technology is not in a state which guarantees a seamless experience. Offering cheaper 5G models that are adequately powerful to be considered future proof may make all the difference in the market right now.

It’s been a while since we covered the news about MediaTek’s all-new “Dimensity 1000,” and to be honest, the chip has failed to capture the attention and preference of smartphone vendors so far. Only the Redmi K30 Ultra, the Oppo Reno 3, and the Vivo iQOO Z1 feature the processor - which is weird, to say the least. Maybe the vendors need some time to be convinced that their clients won’t see a MediaTek processor as a lackluster point or a compromise.

Hopefully, the 800U will be a path towards more dynamic adoption rates by phone makers. We have every reason to wish for this to happen - and it’s not because this post would be promoted by MediaTek (since it isn’t), but because the fierce competition is only bringing benefits to us, the consumers.