Mediatek MT8121 vs Mediatek MT6589

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 MT6589

The MediaTek MT6589 (previously known as the TMK6588) is an SoC for budget Android tablets and smartphones. It is manufactured in 28 nm and offers a quad-core Cortex-A7 processor, a PowerVR SGX 544 GPU, 1080p30 video encoding and decoding, 802.11n WLAN, Bluetooth 4.0 and radios for Dual-SIM UMTS HSPA+, GPS and FM. The performance is similar to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 Series and adequate for everyday tasks like browsing.