Mediatek showcases African innovation in Dubai

Kenya’s Airtel and South Africa’s Yoco featured among African products showcased at the chipmaker’s Dubai event, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK. 

African innovation featured strongly in a “Technology Diaries” showcase hosted by chipmaker Mediatek  in Dubai last week.

Kenya’s Airtel and South Africa’s Yoco featured among African products showcased by Mediatek, the world’s biggest smartphone chipmaker.

As the event demonstrated, however, it’s products go much further than handsets. Last year, it powered nearly 2-billion connected devices, including smart devices, automotive, satellite connectivity solutions and wearables. 

Its processors include the Dimensity series for 5G Smartphones, the Helio G series for 4G gaming smartphones, Kompanio for arm-based Chromebooks, Pentonic for Smart TV technologies, Genio for the Internet of Things, Filogic for Wi-Fi solutions, and Dimensity Auto.

The MediaTek Technology Diaries event was part of an interactive series aimed at demystifying the newest technologies transforming daily lives.

During the event, Mediatek reiterated a commitment to expanding its footprint across the smartphone and smart device ecosystem in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) regions. MediaTek is also looking at accelerating its collaboration with equipment manufacturers and telecom operators across the MEA region to increase digital adoption and promote growth.

Rami Osman, MediaTek director for business development in Middle East and Africa, said the company was working to bring technologies like 5G, Wi-Fi, TV and AI-IoT to the local industry by collaborating with the regional technology and telecom players.

He said the initiative was driven by three major strategic focus areas: connectivity, smartphones and  AI-IoT.

“In Connectivity, a combination of our T750 or T830 5G FWA CPE chipsets and Filogic Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 7 chipsets bring faster internet connectivity into homes and businesses and empower operators to entirely transform and elevate their fixed wireless access (FWA) services and enhance the consumer perception of these services. 

“In the Smartphone space, we are the clear leaders in market share, and our focus remains on bringing consumers better variety in the Premium and Flagship range while maintaining support to the migration initiatives from Featurephones to Smartphones. 

“In AI-IoT, new frontiers are being explored, new cellular technologies that serve the use cases better are being tested and we … look forward to collaborating with regional satellite and telecom operators.”

MediaTek showcased some of its latest collaborations from the MEA region. Payment provider Yoco featured prominently, with the new Yoco Khumo POS and Yoco Neo Touch POS featured. Kenya’s Airtel was also highlighted with a 5G CPE powered by MediaTek.

Other devices on show included the T750, the Xiaomi 13T Pro powered by MediaTek Dimensity 9200+, the Xiaomi 13T powered by MediaTek Dimensity 8200-ULTRA, and the HP Chromebook x360 powered by MediaTek Kompanio 1200. Other devices powered by MediaTek included the Motorola Defy Satellite Link, TAG Pluto Tab, TAG-Tab 3, Jazz Digit 4G Smart Feature Phone, and Amazon Echo.

Mediatek provided the following overview of its technologies:

• Smartphones – MediaTek Dimensity 5G smartphone platforms power cutting-edge features from professional-grade imaging and multi-camera videography, brilliant non-stop gaming to advanced AI. The flagship family includes MediaTek Dimensity 9200+, 9200, 9000+, 9000 system-on-chips (SoCs) and premium family with MediaTek Dimensity 8200, 8100, 8050, among others.
• Smart Devices – MediaTek is a market leader across digital TVs, smart speakers, Wi-Fi routers, arm-based Chromebooks and other smart home products.
• 5G Satellite NTN – This includes both the IoT-NTN and NR-NTN technologies based on the 3GPP 5G specification, with IoT-NTN initially targeting messaging services and NR-NTN supporting higher data rates. Devices powered by MediaTek MT6825 and Bullitt Satellite Connect include Cat S75 smartphone, Motorola defy 2 smartphone and Motorola defy satellite link.
• MediaTek Automotive Platform – MediaTek Dimensity Auto is a range of new automotive solutions featuring high-performance computing, impressive AI, along with extensive feature integration. The comprehensive portfolio includes Dimensity Auto Cockpit, Dimensity Auto Connect, Dimensity Auto Drive, and Dimensity Auto Components to empowering smart vehicle technology innovation.
• Networking & Connectivity – MediaTek Filogic Wi-Fi solutions enable extreme speeds, enhanced coverage, in-build security and superb power efficiency, empowering a wide range of consumer and business products, and cloud-services. Filogic 880 and Filogic 380 will drive next-gen connectivity and fast – reliable Wi-Fi 7 experiences. MediaTek T750 and T830 5G CPE chipsets enable fast 5G connectivity in homes, businesses with Optical Network (GPON) and advanced broadband solutions.
• Develops First Chip Using TSMC’s 3nm Process – MediaTek has successfully developed its first chip using TSMC’s 3nm process, set for volume production in 2024 which will be the industry’s most advanced semiconductor process technology for smartphone.
• MediaTek & NVIDIA Partnership – The collaboration will provide a global one-stop shop for the automotive industry, designing the next generation of intelligent, always-connected vehicles.
• MediaTek Leveraging Meta’s Llama 2 – Utilizing Meta’s LLM as well as MediaTek’s latest APUs and NeuroPilot AI Platform, MediaTek aims to build a complete edge computing ecosystem designed to accelerate AI application development on smartphones, IoT, vehicles, smart home, and other edge devices.
• MediaTek’s 5G RedCap Testing Platform – MediaTek has teamed up with Verizon and Ericsson to make 5G low-cost, low-power device ecosystem a reality. Successful completion of data and voice sessions over Verizon’s 5G network using Ericsson’s new NR light compatible software and MediaTek’s 5G RedCap testing platform will pave the way for lower complexity devices and enterprise IoT products.

* For more information, visit: https://www.mediatek.com/