Foreword: Vivo X80 series released, some details you may not have noticed
On the evening of April 25, 2022, Vivo released their 2022 annual image flagship model X80 series in a high profile.
For the performance and design of the X80 series this time, as well as the specific performance of its updated ZEISS imaging system, we have previously shown it through graphic and video evaluation content, and everyone is interested in reading or watching on major platforms.
Because of this, today's content we are not going to repeat the product performance of the X80 series itself. Instead, we intend to talk about a rather noteworthy change in the X80 series and the industry trend it reflects from the details that many friends may not have noticed.
Looking at the configuration of the vivo X80 series, it will be found that Tianji is really "on the top"
First of all, you may wish to take a look at the hardware platform information of the vivo X80 series. There are only two models in the X80 series, namely the X80 and X80 Pro. Among them, the X80 series adopts the MediaTek Tianji 9000 platform, with vivo's self-developed V1+ chip; while the X80 Pro has a dual version to choose from, namely Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen1 platform with V1+, and MediaTek Tianji 9000 with V1+.
To be honest, this is actually not the first flagship model to provide a "dual version" SoC configuration this year, but compared with the previous such products, Vivo's X80 series has two very different points:
First of all, the X80 series is equipped with a self-developed V1+ chip in both the Tianji version and the Snapdragon version for additional image and game screen processing. In contrast, some of the previous similar products, the Tianji version is not equipped with an additional enhancement chip.
Image from the official website of vivo
Secondly, in the product sequence of X80 Pro, the 8GB+256GB version of the "entry-level" is only available on the Snapdragon platform, while the Tianji version is instead starting from the 12GB+256GB medium-matching, providing two choices of medium-matching (12GB+256) and high-end (12GB+512GB), and the price is exactly the same as the corresponding Snapdragon version. In contrast, other flagship products in the industry that offer both the Tianji 9000 and Snapdragon 8 Gen1 platforms, the price of the "Tianji Edition" is almost always lower.
So this also means that although the vivo X80 series is not the first model of tianji 9000 main control, it is the first model in the industry to successfully adapt the additional auxiliary processing chip for the tianji 9000. At the same time, this also means that in vivo's view, the Tianji 9000 they tuned has fully equipped with the product power of "sitting on an equal footing" with snapdragon 8 Gen1, and even the positioning may be slightly higher.
Abandoning the "first launch", the joint research and development in the past year has exchanged for an exclusive experience advantage
Why is vivo so confident in the Tianji 9000 platform they are tuning, and why can they do what others can't do, and plug in the design of the self-developed chip on the Tianji 9000? Regarding the answers to these two questions, in fact, in the two pre-technical communication activities before the release of the X80 series, vivo and MediaTek have already given answers.
In fact, vivo has set a plan with MediaTek more than a year ago to deeply tune and adapt to Tianji 9000, so the two sides jointly set up a team of more than 300 people, spending more than 350 days to exclusively tune and deeply adapt the performance, AI, imaging, games, communications, multimedia, etc. of Tianji 9000, and the experience of multiple fields.
In this process, the biggest challenge faced by both parties is to exclusively adapt Vivo's self-developed chip V1+ for Tianji 9000. And this "adaptation" is not simply to let V1+ run on the Tianji 9000 platform, but to play the effect of "1+1>2" between the two chips.
For example, V1+ itself has the function of "game interpolation", and The Tianji 9000 also has the "game screen super-resolution" feature based on GPU + APU heterogeneous computing. As a result, vivo and MediaTek successfully combined the two major game functions of the two chips through deep joint tuning.
On the vivo X80 and vivo X80 Pro Tianji editions, the GPU and APU of the Tianji 9000 can work in conjunction with V1+, first rendering low-resolution game screens by the GPU, then super-enhancing by the APU, and finally through V1+ interpolation frames. This results in a lower power consumption and smoother gaming experience, which is undoubtedly a feature that has never been available on other models before, including other products equipped with the Tianji 9000 platform.
The "Tianji Open Platform" has become a great hero behind the X80 series
Of course, in addition to the long-term joint adjustment and the mutual integration of the two technologies, there is another term in vivo's cooperation with MediaTek that is also extremely common, that is, MediaTek's "Tianji Open Architecture".
What is the Open Architecture of Tianji? To put it simply, this is a differentiated design that MediaTek has been executing since the Tianji 1000 series. Under the existing technical conditions, it mainly refers to mediatek will reserve some customizable application interfaces for some built-in hardware modules of the Tianji platform. Therefore, mobile phone manufacturers can directly apply the software functions provided by MediaTek, or use self-developed algorithms or software to "dock" these hardware modules, so as to play a different experience.
For example, in the vivo X80 series, MediaTek added an AI-ISP development architecture interface to the recording hardware link of the Tianji 9000, and vivo used the self-developed AI imaging algorithm and AI white balance algorithm to dock this interface. The result is a "black light night vision" effect that far exceeds that of other models, as well as professional-grade white balance performance.
For example, in the Tianji 9000, the relevant hardware modules for display link calibration are integrated. Vivo has adapted a self-developed calibration algorithm for it, which realizes the low-power "one color of a thousand screens" high-precision screen color performance for the X80 series, making the effect of the flagship image model from shooting to playback more restored and more in line with the needs of professionals.
And it is worth mentioning that according to the information disclosed by MediaTek, the "Tianji open architecture" has downward compatibility, and the mobile phone manufacturers have differentiated performance or applications based on the open performance or application of the Tianji open architecture, and the intellectual property rights belong to themselves. This also means that for mobile phone manufacturers, the more functions they develop on the "Tianji Open Architecture", the greater the experience differences and advantages of future products, and this difference will gradually accumulate and be difficult to copy.
Conclusion: A significant technical cooperation may change the territory of the mobile phone market
Understanding this, we will look back at vivo's in-depth cooperation with MediaTek and find that this is actually a case in which both sides can greatly benefit from it.
On the one hand, vivo ostensibly seems to have spent more money, but failed to grab the start. But in fact, under the framework of the "Tianji Open Architecture", they have accumulated exclusive functions that are far superior to other competitors, and these functions cannot be "borrowed" by MediaTek or other mobile phone manufacturers. Coupled with the fact that vivo relies on exclusive in-depth joint commissioning, it has achieved performance release and "two-core collaboration" experience that other products cannot do, although the market time is a little late, but the market competitiveness of the product is much stronger.
On the other hand, for MediaTek, with the in-depth cooperation with the vivo X80 series, they finally have a "super top flagship" model that can raise their eyebrows and really surpass their competitors at this stage in market positioning. And this product also has many exclusive functional experiences that are difficult to be copied, and it can definitely "play" in terms of performance, power consumption, imagery, and even the texture of the fuselage.
If the Previous Tianji 9000 model can only prove that MediaTek's new flagship master control has a huge advantage in terms of energy efficiency ratio, then the release of the vivo X80 series may really make the Tianji 9000 gain a firm foothold in the top flagship market. This is obviously crucial for MediaTek.