Flagship MediaTek Dimensity 9000 and FiLogic RZ600 chipsets are looking impressive, but they may have a hard time breaking into the U.S.

MediaTek is ending this year with a bang by announcing several new chipsets set to launch in 2022. Some of these include the flagship Dimensity 9000 SoC for smartphones, FiLogic RZ600 Wi-Fi 6E M.2 modules for laptops, and the Pentonic 2000 SoC designed for 4K and 8K TVs. Though MediaTek has a strong grip on televisions and general IoT devices like smart speakers and thermostats, the company will likely have a tougher time cracking into the flagship laptop and smartphone markets particularly in the US.

Unlike the rest of the world, the U.S. flagship smartphone market is dominated by just Apple and Samsung with almost no other options to choose from. Each of these two brands have their own respective in-house chipsets — the Apple A series and the Samsung Exynos series — to power their own flagship smartphones. These companies are therefore unlikely to use any high-end MediaTek SoCs like the Dimensity 9000 on their top-of-the-line models. MediaTek would instead have to rely on smaller smartphone makers like Realme, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, or OnePlus who all have a more limited presence in the US.

As for the FiLogic RZ600 series, MediaTek has teamed up with AMD to incorporate the Wi-Fi 6E chipset on as many laptops as possible. The challenge is that every AMD laptop today is already running on Wi-Fi chipsets from Intel, Killer, Qualcomm, and RealTek meaning MediaTek will have to undercut these alternatives or convince laptop makers to switch brands.

It'll be interesting to see just how many new smartphones and laptops next year will utilize the Dimensity 9000 and FiLogic RZ600. MediaTek certainly has the technology available to be in the game, but they must be desirable enough for smartphone and PC makers to actually want to use them over existing and established alternatives.