Dual cameras may soon be more accessible with mid-priced smartphones. On Wednesday, semiconductor company MediaTek announced the Helio P25, a mobile camera processor handling the demands of two cameras while being better suited for devices with a bit less power.
The new chipset supports dual cameras but operates 25 percent more efficiently than the company’s other dual- camera chipsets. For consumers, that means the chip can go inside mid-level smartphones, instead of leaving the feature up to high-powered, high-priced devices.
“MediaTek Helio P25 paves the way for high-resolution and feature-rich smartphone cameras that enable amazing static shots and 4K2K videos,” Jeffrey Ju, Executive Vice President and Co-Chief Operating Officer at MediaTek, said in a statement. “Supporting two cameras up to 13MP each, the MediaTek Helio P25 redefines expectations for mobile photography and our multimedia features like MediaTek MiraVision technology, continuously enhance visual user experiences.”
The new chip can be paired with camera systems with up to 13 megapixels in each camera, or with a 24-megapixel single camera. Since the chip is optimized for dual cameras, it can process the data from both sensors for adding the computer-generated depth of field (or background blur) in real time. The chipset is also designed to improve auto exposure adjustment speeds by 30 to 55 percent, which means the camera will adjust to changes in lighting while recording a video a bit faster than with previous options.
While the chip is designed for mid-range smartphones, MediaTek says the Helio P25 delivers more power with less energy than competitors. Using eight cores, half of those clock in at 2.5 GHz, while the older version hit 2.3. The processor supports up to 6 GB of RAM, but only supports 1080p displays.
The Helio P25 is currently only a processor — but the company says the chip will be added to smartphones that are rolling out before the end of April, so those mid-priced dual-camera smartphones may not be far behind.
