Chipsets for tablets and chipsets for smartphones: what are the differences?

    I noticed for a long time that there are quite a few tablets on Qualcomm chipsets. Apple is a separate song, it uses its own solutions. Samsung most often produces two variants of almost every model: one without LTE with its own Exynos chipsets, the second with LTE and Qualcomm chipsets. Sony, perhaps, one is tightly “sitting” on Qualcomm. But the rest ... The rest, that is, manufacturers of tablets and smartphones with a lower rank, previously mainly used the Rockchip, Allwinner, Amlogic and MediaTek chipsets.



    However, by 2014, the first three manufacturers were practically "retired": as representatives of companies offering purely Chinese tablets under their brands told me more than once, they were tired of an unstable level of quality, crooked software, high energy consumption (which were regularly complained of in the literal sense users) and other "pitfalls" that Chinese engineers Rockchip, Allwinner and Amlogic could not deal with in principle.

    As for Qualcomm, the answer to the question "why is it not Qualcomm?" Sounds almost always the same: "Expensive!". In addition, this large American corporation has no desire to work with small device manufacturers. She needs high-flying birds - Sony, Samsung, LG and so on. Another point: tablet developers in informal conversations claim that it’s quite difficult to work with Qualcomm - its chipsets are “tailored”, primarily for smartphones, and it’s not always possible to “optimize” them for a tablet. Of course, I became interested: what does it mean to “re-optimize”? To answer this question, it was necessary to understand what are the differences between the platforms for smartphones and for tablets in principle. However, comparative tables, extensively presented in the same Wikipedia, did not give an answer to this question. If so, then there is only one way out - turn to knowledgeable guys directly related to the development of tablets. Which was done.



    To begin with, what is meant by the word "platform" just a chip in our time is fundamentally wrong. A tablet is a complete solution that includes a set of hardware components (a chipset with a processor, graphics, wireless modules, etc.), a set of drivers for other hardware components, and the assembly of Android, and even in most cases also a motherboard. For example, the Taiwanese company MediaTek has two clearly separated line of platforms - one for smartphones (indexes start at “6”), the second for tablets (at “8”). If you compare the top solutions with 8 cores - MT6592 and MT8392 - then by specifications and "numbers" they will be the same. But the first is for smart phones, the second is for tablets.


    MT8392 seems to be the twin of MT6592, but there are differences between them. There are

    differences between them in the following. MediaTek is actively applying the concept of a “complete platform solution." That is, one in which the device manufacturer is offered not just a chipset and software, but also a reference board design. So, the design of motherboards with chipsets for smartphones and tablets varies, and very significantly. Smartphones are more compact than tablets, which means that the layout of the board should be more dense.

    In addition, tablets in the vast majority of cases have more capacious batteries (say, if an average smartphone has 2500 mAh, then an average tablet has 4000 or more). However, of course, I want to charge their users in the same couple of hours as in the case of “smart phones”. Therefore, the MediaTek MT8392 chipset is optimized for more powerful chargers - so that the tablet charges quickly, but without compromising battery life. This is especially important precisely in the situation with tablet computers, since smartphones most often have removable batteries, but for tablets in 99.9% of cases they have built-in batteries.

    Next are the differences in the set of drivers - and, above all, regarding working with the screen. Smartphones typically use displays with a resolution of 2560 × 1440, 1920 × 1080, or, for example, 1280 × 720 pixels, that is, a 16: 9 aspect ratio. But in tablets, everything is somewhat different: 2560x1600, 1920x1200 and 1280x800. Therefore, the driver sets that come with the MediaTek MT6592 and MT8392 are different. There is, of course, "Monsieur, loving perversions" - they are trying to make tablets on MT6592, trying to get some of the drivers from the package for MT8392. Such devices work acceptable, but ... In this case, the user is not safe from glitches.

    Finally, the Android builds offered by MediaTek bundled with the MT6592 and MT8392 also vary slightly. For example, in the case of MT8392, it is possible to display the entire interface, including the desktop, in both vertical and horizontal mode. Because tablets are usually exploited both ways. The interface of the “Settings” section is also completely different - simply because the screens of tablet computers are larger (from 7 inches and above), and in their case it is logical to make this menu with two columns, and not with one, like smartphones. There are many such differences - just twist in your hands a smartphone on MT6592 and a tablet on MT8392.


    The design of the "Settings" section in the tablet (left) and in the smartphone

    As far as I can tell, Qualcomm does not offer such a clear "separation", and that is why small and relatively small players in the tablet market increasingly prefer MediaTek solutions. Just because it’s easier to work with solutions from a Taiwanese manufacturer. And, as a result, finished products are faster and cheaper for the end user. My sources call the figure of 20-30% - the time spent on creating a tablet on MediaTek hardware is just that much lower.

    Of course, time costs can be offset by human resources - read, by a huge team of developers; however, only the giants of the market have it - the same Samsung, as well as Sony and, say, HTC. But those who have neither time nor people stop at MediaTek chipsets. In addition to small manufacturers, MediaTek solutions are increasingly attracted by those who may have enough resources - companies just know how to count money - Lenovo, Acer, ASUS, Alcatel. By the way, I’ve been using the Alcatel OneTouch Hero 8 D820 tablet on MediaTek MT8392 for two weeks now - an extremely pleasant and fast device. More about him - another time.


    Alcatel OneTouch Hero 8 D820

    Such is the situation with the differences between the chipsets for smartphones and tablets. While studying this issue, I was once again convinced that in the field of high technology everything is exactly the same as in life: the same things in appearance can turn out to be completely different. Yes, the individual components of MT6592 and MT8392 are unified, but the “bundle” (primarily software) of each of these solutions has its own unique features. And it is she (“bundle”) that makes these chipsets as suitable as possible for devices of a particular type.

    PS I want to thank Mikhail Chernyshov, director of business development for PocketBook smartphones, for detailed consultations in the process of preparing the material. I also thank Evgeny Kosmosov, representative of the Russian brand of bb-mobile tablets.

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