Mediatek MT8121 vs MediaTek MT6572 vs Mediatek MT6592

Mediatek MT8121

The Mediatek MT8121 is a low-cost ARM SoC (System on a Chip) mainly used in tablets. It is manufactured in 28 nm and integrates a quad-core Cortex-A7 processor and a PowerVR SGX 544 GPU. The CPU cores are typically clocked at 1.3 GHz while the GPU is clocked at 156 MHz.

Performance

Since the Cortex-A7 architecture is somewhat slower than a Krait or Cortex-A9 design at the same clock speeds, the performance of the MT8121 is just below Nvidia's Tegra 3 or the Samsung Exynos 4412. The PowerVR SGX 544 is also just a low-cost solution not designed for ultra-high resolution displays or very demanding games.

Features

In addition to the processor and GPU, the SoC integrates a decoder for 1080p video, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 as well as GPS, but lacks a 2G/3G/4G radio. Cameras are supported up to a resolution of 13 MP.

Power consumption

Thanks to the energy-efficient A7 cores and 28 nm manufacturing, the power consumption is likely very low and suitable for even smaller tablets.

MediaTek MT6572

The dual-core Mediatek MT6572 is an entry-level ARM SoC found in a number of Android smartphones and tablets. It contains two Cortex-A7 CPU cores and an ARM Mali-400 graphics card. The CPU cores are typically clocked at 1.2 GHz and the GPU core at 500 MHz. Furthermore, an LPDDR2 memory controller, a 2G/3G (HSPA+) radio, 720p video decoder, WLAN, Bluetooth and GPS modules are integrated onto the chip. 

Performance

As the Cortex A7 architecture is slightly slower per clock than the older Cortex-A9 or Krait cores, the CPU performance is approximately on the same level as a Samsung Exynos 4210 or similar. The ARM Mali-400 GPU is only an entry-level graphics card unsuited for demanding Android 3D games.

Power Consumption

Due to the power-efficient Cortex-A7 cores and the 28 nm manufacturing process, the power consumption of the Mediatek MT6572 is low enough to be used in smaller smartphones.

Mediatek MT6592

The MediaTek MT6592 is a mid-range 28 nm SoC for Android smartphones and tablets. It was announced near the end of 2013 and is manufactured in 28 nm. It includes 8 Cortex-A7 processor cores that are typically clocked up to 1.7 - 2.0 GHz. Furthermore, the SoC integrates an ARM Mali-450 GPU at 700 MHz, WLAN, a video decoder for up to 4K content, a LPDDR3 memory controller at 666 MHz, and a 2G/3G (UMTS/HSPA+) radio.

Although the MT6592 offers eight relatively high clocked CPU cores compared to other SoCs, its performance in day-to-day usage is a bit lower, as the Cortex-A7 cores offer slower performance per clock and only a few apps are able to make use of all 8 cores simultaneously. Modern dual-core (e.g., Apple A7) or quad-core (e.g., Cortex A15 or Snapdragon 800) SoCs can be clearly faster in everyday scenarios.

The integrated ARM Mali-450 MP4 GPU offers 4 graphics clusters that are clocked at a high 700 MHz. However, the performance of the GPU is somewhat below that of a Tegra 4 or Adreno 320. Also like the Nvidia rival, the Mali-450 lacks support for OpenGL ES 3.0.