- MediaTek has announced the Dimensity 720 processor.
- This is expected to be its most affordable MediaTek 5G chipset yet.
- There’s no word on when this processor will land in phones.
The transition to 5G is happening at a fast pace, as all the major chip players bring high-end and mid-range 5G silicon to the market. We saw Qualcomm go even lower by announcing the Snapdragon 690 last month, and now MediaTek has announced the Dimensity 720.
The 7nm chipset is the first in the Taiwanese brand’s Dimensity 700 series, and it too will target mid-tier 5G smartphones. In terms of specific 5G capabilities, the Dimensity 720 brings support for SA and NSA networks, as well as sub-6Ghz connectivity. Don’t expect mmWave from this processor just yet, much like the rest of MediaTek’s 5G lineup right now.
This new connectivity standard also tends to consume plenty of juice in comparison to 4G, but the chipmaker says it’s using its MediaTek 5G UltraSave technology suite to reduce power consumption. It remains to be seen how this will compare to rival 5G chipsets though.
What else does Dimensity 720 have?
Moving to the meat and potatoes of any chipset, the Dimensity 720 is equipped with an octa-core design (2x Cortex-A76 and 6x Cortex-A55) and Mali-G57 MC3 graphics. This means you’re getting two fewer heavyweight CPU cores and fewer shader cores for the GPU compared to the Dimensity 820 seen in the Redmi 10X series.
The new processor also ticks several boxes elsewhere, supporting an APU for machine learning tasks, FHD+ screens at 90Hz, 64MP single cameras, 20MP+16MP dual cameras, and 4K video recording.
Read: The best 5G phones you can buy right now
Other notable features include support for HDR10+ content, Wi-Fi 5 (no Wi-Fi 6 unfortunately), Bluetooth 5.1, LPDDR4X RAM, and UFS 2.2 storage.
MediaTek told Android Authority that the first phones with the new chipset should arrive in “the next few months.� We’ve also asked the company about 5G+5G dual SIM support and will update the article accordingly. In any event, if Xiaomi can offer a 5G phone with the Dimensity 820 for just under ~$250, then it stands to reason that we might see even lower pricing with the Dimensity 720.
Looking for more 5G and chipset coverage on Android Authority? Then take a peek at our list below.
- Verizon has the fastest 5G, but there’s a catch
- Xiaomi seems to have forgotten about its first 5G flagship
- What to expect from the next generation of Android phone processors
- How long do chipmakers support their processors for Android updates?
- 5G is not going to microwave your brain: All the myths, debunked