MediaTek announces the Helio P20 as the first P10 phones only start showing up


gizchina1 2MediaTek have announced an upgrade to their P-series range of mid-range SoCs in the new MediaTek Helio P20.

The Helio P20 was announced at MWC 2016, which also saw a lot of other launches. The P20 is expected to show up on phones in the second half of this year.

The P20 is made up of an octa-core ARM Cortex A53 2.3GHz CPU which is made to be extremely power efficient. According to MediaTek, the P20 draws 25% less power compared to the Helio P10.

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Graphics on the phone are handled by the new Mali T800 GPU, which on the Helio P20 runs at 900MHz. The chip can handle up to two FHD displays, one 24 mega-pixel camera (or two 13 mega-pixel cameras), and can encode video at up to 4Kx2K resolutions @ 30fps.

READ: Elephone P9000 Review — World’s first Helio P10 phone

MediaTek have radio covered as well, with the Helio P20 having support for Cat.6 LTE, GPS (with Glonass/Beidou), WiFi a/c and Bluetooth.

Disclaimer: We may be compensated by some of the companies whose products we talk about, but our articles and reviews are always our honest opinions. For more details, you can check out our editorial guidelines and learn about how we use affiliate links.

Previous MWC 2016: Ulefone Future Hands on video
Next MWC 2016: Doogee P1 Projector hands on

82 Comments

  1. realjjj
    February 23, 2016

    You have more details here http://mediatek-helio.com/p20/
    So the GPU is MP2.
    It’s notable that not only it supports up to 6GB of RAM but supports LPDDR4X – it is the first to support the standard and LPDDR4X brings additional power savings by running at just 0.6V.

  2. MattD
    February 23, 2016

    I think they are a little late to the architecture party, but as long as the socs are good and cheap I don’t see that as a big problem… However, I’m still more hyped for the X30, at this point it will definitely have at least a 16nm architecture… Wonder when they’ll release it (end of 2016 maybe?)

    • realjjj
      February 23, 2016

      Samsung 8xA53 @ 1.7GHz and Mali T830 on 14nm is the slowest competitor.
      Qualcomm’s 625 seems at least slightly bellow the P20 and arrives at about the same time.
      Spreadtrum SC9860 on 16FFC with 8xA53 at 2GHz, or higher, Mali T880 MP4 , 2k display support, up to 26MP cam ,integrated sensor hub, 4k video encode/decode cat 7 LTE is already in production with devices in Q2. So it is “higher end” and arriving sooner. We’ll see how it is priced. The GPU if clocked at 800-900MHz would be appealing.

      • MattD
        February 23, 2016

        Mmm spreadtrum is really speeding up, it’s really an interesting soc (like a spiritual heir of helio x10), and it shouldn’t be priced high at all

        • Muhammad Yasir
          February 24, 2016

          ditto my opinion 😀

      • Muhammad Yasir
        February 23, 2016

        can we expect phones powered by the SC9860 with my type of price range ?

        • realjjj
          February 23, 2016

          No clue how it will be priced, it does seem that they have integrated some more higher end features but , on the other hand, they can’t charge too much with just A53 and MP4. Can’t be as cheap as SD625 but it can be in cheap enough phones.

          • Muhammad Yasir
            February 24, 2016

            hmmm … is SD 625 really that low-end ? i mean , most specs are pretty good !

            when can we expect to see phones equipped with SC9860 and SD 625 ? and what’ll be their approx price ranges ?

            • realjjj
              February 24, 2016

              SD625 is a bit or more than a bit bellow P20 and both should arrive in the second half of the year. If that’s gonna be this summer or it drags to early next year, we’ll see.
              SD625 has 2GHz 8xA53, Adreno 506 (hard to guess perf but the model number is bellow 510 that is in the 650), single channel LPDDR3 @933MHz.
              P20 has 2.3GHz, Mali T880MP2 @ 900MHz (they claim GPU 50% gain over P10) and up to 6GB LPDDR4X @ 1600MHz but it also has the option for single channel LPDDR3 @ 933MHz
              So the 2 will compete but MTK seems at least a bit above.
              They do follow P10 and SD617 so should be in a similar price range but we’ll see.
              Spreadtrum, as i said, might have integrated more higher end features and they do have a GPU 2x bigger than the P20 so it should cost at least a bit more. As for timing they said volume production has already started and devices in Q2.
              The P20 should shine in power consumption , especially with LPDDR4X (when this new type of RAM arrives), the Spreadtrum should be nice enough for budget gaming.

              I am rather annoyed not to see some big cores in these new SoCs but , in the end, high clocked A53s are not bad and they do offer much better efficiency than big cores.

            • Muhammad Yasir
              February 24, 2016

              hmm… so in a nutshell , the Spreadtrum will be priced above p10 phones but below p20. and a 625 equipped device will be cheaper than the spreadtrum one … but all these appear in at least Q2 or beyond (mostly second half of the year…)

              speaking of Snapdragons … the 435 looks rather peculiar to me. its an octa core , altho built on the ancient 28nm process so a kinda power hog compared to what we see now and afaik , will arrive in 2nd Half of the year … but no idea on how it’ll be priced …. possibly below the $180 range ? considering it’ll be going up against a much older (and subsequently a retail-wise , muc0h discounted) p10 , altho it has a lower clocked ram and the DSP is also lesser in specs … along with 1080p playback being the zenith…

              EDIT : what the cheapest A72 phone going for nowadays ?

            • realjjj
              February 24, 2016

              you got all confused.
              SD625 and P20 practically replace P10 and SD617.
              the 2 will compete for the same segment. I have no clue if they’ll cost 15-20$ or 10-15$. i just have no idea how big these chips are to make a guess but given the specs they got to be pretty cheap.
              The Spreadtum, we’ll see. They could try to charge 35$ for it or …20$ and it is supposed to arrive in Q2, sooner than the others.

            • Muhammad Yasir
              February 25, 2016

              ah … thanks for clearing that up !

            • realjjj
              February 24, 2016

              As for Qualcomm, they are just spamming with 28nm parts , hell knows what’s what anymore lol.

            • Muhammad Yasir
              February 25, 2016

              lol..

            • MattD
              February 24, 2016

              More than the “feature count”, we should take in account also companies’ policy to really figure out the final prices: i.e. usually snapdragon powered devices are priced much higher than the feature they offer! Obviously that depends on oem’s policy too.
              But here we’re talking about spredtrum, a company who always struggle in the tablet’s soc market to offer the best soc possible at the lowest price (some months back they announced the cheapest chip ever, if i recall).
              Now, they’re new in the smartphone’s midranger socs war, so they need to build a proper name and they know it. Plus, as i said, they tend to offer the chip at the lowest price possible…
              All that considered, I think at the end of the day spreadtrum’s soc could be the cheapest in the segment, than all the rest is up to oems… In the end I believe we’ll see mostly prices below 200$ like it has been with mt6752/3

            • realjjj
              February 24, 2016

              The competition between Mediatek and Qualcomm in 4G last year has been far more ferocious than the competiton between Mediatek and Spreadtrum in 3G at any point in time.
              Both Qualcomm and Mediatek too huge hits on margins last year. Furthermore, adding higher end features means higher costs, a bigger die . At best they can be more aggressive but it can’t be cheaper , the others won’t let it be and the others have lower costs.

      • Muhammad Yasir
        February 23, 2016

        also , what does support for 2 FHD displays mean ?

  3. balcobomber25
    February 23, 2016

    Andi if you read this I am just now finishing up my meetings for the day. I will be walking around the show floor from about 5-630, I’ll keep an eye out for you come over and introduce myself if I see you. Also if anyone here wants me to check out anything let me know, i’ll be checking Disqus every once in awhile. This is my last night here, I leave tomorrow.

    • jimberkas
      February 23, 2016

      anything from Zuk?
      would always like more info on the Alcatel Idol 4

      • balcobomber25
        February 23, 2016

        The Idol is one phone I definitely want to get some hands on time with. Zuk doesn’t have an official presence here but I am going to check their partners and see if there is anything. I am curious about them too.

    • February 23, 2016

      I would be interested in the next ZUK and Archos Diamond 2 Note, which looks like a solid device for the price.

    • Darevintage
      February 23, 2016

      Thanks Balco…pls check out the HP Windows Phone. The specs of the phone alone gives me goosebumps and it looks really nice from the pictures.

      • balcobomber25
        February 23, 2016

        Haha I’ve already had a detailed hands on with that. I work for Msoft Mobile. When i have more time ill give some info on it

        • Darevintage
          February 24, 2016

          That’s true…I forgot that. Lucky you. I’m so eager to hear about that device. It’s ironic that HP is the one trying to make a beast of a phone for Windows OS. All the other manufacturers have just been having a dance of shame all this while

      • balcobomber25
        February 23, 2016

        I got to use the Hp Elite, Vaio Biz (won’t be in the US anytime soon) and Alcatel Fierce Windows today. (those were all in my meetings earlier in the day). If you are a fan of Windows Phone there are big things coming this year. The Elite is a possible game changer for the business segment.

    • MaxPower
      February 23, 2016

      You gotta be kidding me! Are you really leaving before the MI5?

      • balcobomber25
        February 23, 2016

        Yup I leave tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon. I have to fly to India to deal with an issue and then I have to go Malaysia and then back to the US.

        • MaxPower
          February 23, 2016

          Lol, so close yet so far.

          • balcobomber25
            February 23, 2016

            Yea the one device I wanted to see more than any other was the Gionee S8 so overall I am happy but I agree with Andi it was a bit underwhelming this year.

            Although today I got to use several of the new Windows Phones including the HP Elite, Vaio and Alcatel. It doesn;t sound that exciting but when you spend months looking at spec sheets and designs of phones but never actually getting to play around with them, it is exciting to finally hold them.

            • MaxPower
              February 23, 2016

              Well, last year was just the same.
              I remember that the hype was only on the Galaxy S6 and HTC M9, not really much about Chinese phones.

            • balcobomber25
              February 23, 2016

              I could have sworn last year we had a lot more Chinese announcements with all the 6752 phones being dropped.

            • balcobomber25
              February 23, 2016

              And I am seriously considering the S8 over the Mi5. Xiaomi needs to really wow me tomorrow.

            • MaxPower
              February 23, 2016

              Get ready picking up your jaw from the floor

            • balcobomber25
              February 23, 2016

              Haha I don’t know to tell you the truth. That Gionee spoke to me! Plus the Gionee rep said the magic word: US LTE!!!

            • MaxPower
              February 23, 2016

              Pfff!

            • balcobomber25
              February 23, 2016

              You know my love affair with Gionee! It felt so good in the hand, the camera seemed excellent and it was super model thin and sexy.

            • MaxPower
              February 23, 2016

              Your wife is going to think that you’re cheating on her if she reads that out of the contest.

              I’m going to set the alarm at 3am today.

  4. Muhammad Yasir
    February 23, 2016

    looks good !
    but they’ll need to hold if off so they dont cannibalize p10 phones !

  5. realjjj
    February 23, 2016

    You have more details here http://mediatek-helio.com/p20/
    So the GPU is MP2.
    It’s notable that not only it supports up to 6GB of RAM but supports LPDDR4X – it is the first to support the standard and LPDDR4X brings additional power savings by running at just 0.6V.

  6. MattD
    February 23, 2016

    I think they are a little late to the architecture party, but as long as the socs are good and cheap I don’t see that as a big problem… However, I’m still more hyped for the X30, at this point it will definitely have at least a 16nm architecture… Wonder when they’ll release it (end of 2016 maybe?)

    • realjjj
      February 23, 2016

      Samsung 8xA53 @ 1.7GHz and Mali T830 on 14nm is the slowest competitor.
      Qualcomm’s 625 seems at least slightly bellow the P20 and arrives at about the same time.
      Spreadtrum SC9860 on 16FFC with 8xA53 at 2GHz, or higher, Mali T880 MP4 , 2k display support, up to 26MP cam ,integrated sensor hub, 4k video encode/decode cat 7 LTE is already in production with devices in Q2. So it is “higher end” and arriving sooner. We’ll see how it is priced. The GPU if clocked at 800-900MHz would be appealing.

    • MattD
      February 23, 2016

      Mmm spreadtrum is really speeding up, it’s really an interesting soc (like a spiritual heir of helio x10), and it shouldn’t be priced high at all

    • Guest
      February 23, 2016

      can we expect phones powered by the SC9860 with my type of price range ?

    • Guest
      February 23, 2016

      also , what does support for 2 FHD displays mean ?

    • realjjj
      February 23, 2016

      DSI means Display serial interface https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Display_Serial_Interface
      Maybe some clients requested it for eink displays on the back or integrating a projector.

    • realjjj
      February 23, 2016

      No clue how it will be priced, it does seem that they have integrated some more higher end features but , on the other hand, they can’t charge too much with just A53 and MP4. Can’t be as cheap as SD625 but it can be in cheap enough phones.

    • Guest
      February 24, 2016

      hmmm … is SD 625 really that low-end ? i mean , most specs are pretty good !

      when can we expect to see phones equipped with SC9860 and SD 625 ? and what’ll be their approx price ranges ?

    • Guest
      February 24, 2016

      oh … nice !

    • realjjj
      February 24, 2016

      SD625 is a bit or more than a bit bellow P20 and both should arrive in the second half of the year. If that’s gonna be this summer or it drags to early next year, we’ll see.
      SD625 has 2GHz 8xA53, Adreno 506 (hard to guess perf but the model number is bellow 510 that is in the 650), single channel LPDDR3 @933MHz.
      P20 has 2.3GHz, Mali T880MP2 @ 900MHz (they claim GPU 50% gain over P10) and up to 6GB LPDDR4X @ 1600MHz but it also has the option for single channel LPDDR3 @ 933MHz
      So the 2 will compete but MTK seems at least a bit above.
      They do follow P10 and SD617 so should be in a similar price range but we’ll see.
      Spreadtrum, as i said, might have integrated more higher end features and they do have a GPU 2x bigger than the P20 so it should cost at least a bit more. As for timing they said volume production has already started and devices in Q2.
      The P20 should shine in power consumption , especially with LPDDR4X (when this new type of RAM arrives), the Spreadtrum should be nice enough for budget gaming.

      I am rather annoyed not to see some big cores in these new SoCs but , in the end, high clocked A53s are not bad and they do offer much better efficiency than big cores.

    • Guest
      February 24, 2016

      hmm… so in a nutshell , the Spreadtrum will be priced above p10 phones but below p20. and a 625 equipped device will be cheaper than the spreadtrum one … but all these appear in at least Q2 or beyond (mostly second half of the year…)

      speaking of Snapdragons … the 435 looks rather peculiar to me. its an octa core , altho built on the ancient 28nm process so a kinda power hog compared to what we see now and afaik , will arrive in 2nd Half of the year … but no idea on how it’ll be priced …. possibly below the $180 range ? considering it’ll be going up against a much older (and subsequently a retail-wise , muc0h discounted) p10 , altho it has a lower clocked ram and the DSP is also lesser in specs … along with 1080p playback being the zenith…

      EDIT : what the cheapest A72 phone going for nowadays ?

    • Guest
      February 24, 2016

      ditto my opinion 😀

    • MattD
      February 24, 2016

      More than the “feature count”, we should take in account also companies’ policy to really figure out the final prices: i.e. usually snapdragon powered devices are priced much higher than the feature they offer! Obviously that depends on oem’s policy too.
      But here we’re talking about spredtrum, a company who always struggle in the tablet’s soc market to offer the best soc possible at the lowest price (some months back they announced the cheapest chip ever, if i recall).
      Now, they’re new in the smartphone’s midranger socs war, so they need to build a proper name and they know it. Plus, as i said, they tend to offer the chip at the lowest price possible…
      All that considered, I think at the end of the day spreadtrum’s soc could be the cheapest in the segment, than all the rest is up to oems… In the end I believe we’ll see mostly prices below 200$ like it has been with mt6752/3

    • realjjj
      February 24, 2016

      The competition between Mediatek and Qualcomm in 4G last year has been far more ferocious than the competition between Mediatek and Spreadtrum in 3G at any point in time.
      Both Qualcomm and Mediatek took huge hits on margins last year. Furthermore, adding higher end features means higher costs, a bigger die . At best they can be more aggressive but it can’t be cheaper , the others won’t let it be and the others have lower costs.

    • realjjj
      February 24, 2016

      you got all confused.
      SD625 and P20 practically replace P10 and SD617.
      the 2 will compete for the same segment. I have no clue if they’ll cost 15-20$ or 10-15$. i just have no idea how big these chips are to make a guess but given the specs they got to be pretty cheap.
      The Spreadtum, we’ll see. They could try to charge 35$ for it or …20$ and it is supposed to arrive in Q2, sooner than the others.

      the cheapest phone with A72 cores is the Redmi 3 Pro for now but it’s early.

    • realjjj
      February 25, 2016

      As for Qualcomm, they are just spamming with 28nm parts , hell knows what’s what anymore lol.

    • Guest
      February 25, 2016

      ah … thanks for clearing that up !

    • Guest
      February 25, 2016

      lol..

  7. balcobomber25
    February 23, 2016

    Andi if you read this I am just now finishing up my meetings for the day. I will be walking around the show floor from about 5-630, I’ll keep an eye out for you come over and introduce myself if I see you. Also if anyone here wants me to check out anything let me know, i’ll be checking Disqus every once in awhile. This is my last night here, I leave tomorrow.

    • jimberkas
      February 23, 2016

      anything from Zuk?
      would always like more info on the Alcatel Idol 4

    • balcobomber25
      February 23, 2016

      The Idol is one phone I definitely want to get some hands on time with. Zuk doesn’t have an official presence here but I am going to check their partners and see if there is anything. I am curious about them too.

    • MUG3NHC
      February 23, 2016

      I would be interested in the next ZUK and Archos Diamond 2 Note, which looks like a solid device for the price.

    • Guest
      February 23, 2016

      Thanks Balco…pls check out the HP Windows Phone. The specs of the phone alone gives me goosebumps and it looks really nice from the pictures.

    • balcobomber25
      February 23, 2016

      Haha I’ve already had a detailed hands on with that. I work for Msoft Mobile. When i have more time ill give some info on it

    • MaxPower
      February 23, 2016

      You gotta be kidding me! Are you really leaving before the MI5?

    • balcobomber25
      February 23, 2016

      Yup I leave tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon. I have to fly to India to deal with an issue and then I have to go Malaysia and then back to the US.

      I get to watch the launch from the Barcelona airport.

    • MaxPower
      February 23, 2016

      Lol, so close yet so far.

    • balcobomber25
      February 23, 2016

      Yea the one device I wanted to see more than any other was the Gionee S8 so overall I am happy but I agree with Andi it was a bit underwhelming this year.

      Although today I got to use several of the new Windows Phones including the HP Elite, Vaio and Alcatel. It doesn;t sound that exciting but when you spend months looking at spec sheets and designs of phones but never actually getting to play around with them, it is exciting to finally hold them.

    • balcobomber25
      February 23, 2016

      I got to use the Hp Elite, Vaio Biz (won’t be in the US anytime soon) and Alcatel Fierce Windows today. (those were all in my meetings earlier in the day). If you are a fan of Windows Phone there are big things coming this year. The Elite is a possible game changer for the business segment.

    • MaxPower
      February 23, 2016

      Well, last year was just the same.
      I remember that the hype was only on the Galaxy S6 and HTC M9, not really much about Chinese phones.

    • balcobomber25
      February 23, 2016

      I could have sworn last year we had a lot more Chinese announcements with all the 6752 phones being dropped.

    • balcobomber25
      February 23, 2016

      And I am seriously considering the S8 over the Mi5. Xiaomi needs to really wow me tomorrow.

    • MaxPower
      February 23, 2016

      Get ready picking up your jaw from the floor

    • balcobomber25
      February 23, 2016

      Haha I don’t know to tell you the truth. That Gionee spoke to me! Plus the Gionee rep said the magic word: US LTE!!!

    • MaxPower
      February 23, 2016

      Pfff!

    • balcobomber25
      February 23, 2016

      You know my love affair with Gionee! It felt so good in the hand, the camera seemed excellent and it was super model thin and sexy.

    • MaxPower
      February 24, 2016

      Your wife is going to think that you’re cheating on her if she reads that out of the contest.

      I’m going to set the alarm at 3am today.

    • Darevintage
      February 24, 2016

      That’s true…I forgot that. Lucky you. I’m so eager to hear about that device. It’s ironic that HP is the one trying to make a beast of a phone for Windows OS. All the other manufacturers have just been having a dance of shame all this while

  8. Guest
    February 23, 2016

    looks good !
    but they’ll need to hold if off so they dont cannibalize p10 phones !

  9. JNG_RULZ
    February 23, 2016

    ……Okay, Fair Enough. Still… I’am waiting for the X22 (a beefed up version of x20 but with 16nm, LPDDR4,

    and as for X30 i think that will face delays, for about a year…probably!

  10. Guest
    February 24, 2016

    ……Okay, Fair Enough. Still… I’am waiting for the X22 (a beefed up version of x20 but with 16nm, LPDDR4,

    and as for X30 i think that will face delays, for about a year…probably!