Core stuff (public number: aichip001)
Author | Zhihuai
Edit | Desert Shadow
Once, the relationship between mobile phone brands and solution providers was once "you are in front, I am behind", a stage in front of the fascinating, a behind-the-scenes pouring out of help, but with the "Vivo Dual Core Image Technology Communication Meeting" held on April 20, Vivo and MediaTek jointly unveiled the prelude to the Combination of Tianji 9000 plus Vivo V1+.
At this point, through a huge "deep joint investigation", MediaTek also went from behind the scenes of the vivo X80 series to the front of the stage.
The cooperation between vivo and MediaTek may provide new cooperation ideas for the flagship market. Today's smart phone market competition is fierce, it seems that the few remaining product differentiation selling points, is being unscrupulously consumed by manufacturers one new product after another, especially the fight between high-end flagships is more intense, when the performance and hardware configuration have reached the top, where is the breakthrough of the next flagship?
On this question, MediaTek and vivo have joined forces to bring us the latest answer - two-core collaboration.
On the latest X80 series, Tianji 9000 and vivo's self-developed V1+ have realized the "core" meaning communication through in-depth joint tuning, and mediatek chips and mobile phone brand self-developed chips have cooperated with each other to jointly bring about a comprehensive improvement in compatibility and functionality.
▲Chen Guanzhou, general manager of MediaTek, delivered a speech for the vivo dual-core × imaging technology communication meeting
"Deep joint commissioning" does not stop at the degree of making the dual-core combination of Tianji 9000 and Vivo's self-developed V1+ available, but to blend the advantages and characteristics of the two chips and finally inject every inch of the vivo X80 series into the experience.
In order to make the two originally independent chips "transparent" to each other, the investment of the two teams during the period must be huge. Chen Chaoxin, senior director of vivo system strategy center, revealed at the technical communication meeting: "Vivo and MediaTek have invested hundreds of elite development teams since last year, and after nearly a year of in-depth collaborative development of software and hardware, they have greatly innovated the software channel architecture, and finally adjusted the V1+ chip and Tianji 9000, releasing the strongest performance of Tianji 9000. ”
Any cooperation is not a decision to pat the brain, behind the "deep joint investigation" is the two-way choice made by vivo and MediaTek based on trust. In the process of opening up the "two-core collaboration", what kind of story has Vivo and MediaTek produced? What kind of power supports the two teams to insist on crossing the barriers in the process of "double core joint commissioning"; behind the "double core joint commissioning", vivo and MediaTek seem to be brewing some things, after in-depth communication with the three core leaders, we see the whole picture behind the "double core joint commissioning" collaboration.
First, cooperation requires similar ideas and impacts common goals
"Rushing high-end" is the common goal of everyone in the mobile phone industry today, whether it is a mobile phone brand or a solution provider, everyone wants to compete for the rare market share of the "high-end market". The reason why manufacturers have not hesitated to launch flagship products one after another is also to continuously strengthen the cognition of the high-end image of the brand in the minds of consumers.
On the road of "rushing to the high-end", some people choose to fight alone, and some people choose to go hand in hand, and the cooperation between vivo and MediaTek belongs to the latter, because for today's market, not only the brand needs to "rush to the high-end", but the solution providers behind it are also "rushing the high-end". The reason is likely to be related to the transparency of today's information channels, consumers will not only value the brand when purchasing, but also through the product, to understand who the solution provider behind it is.
For those names that frequently appear in the supply chain of high-end flagship products, over time, consumers will subtly classify this program provider and the products they provide as "high-end", and because of this, the solution providers have also joined the team of "rushing high-end" in order to "brush high-end presence".
The joint efforts of vivo and MediaTek are an opportunity to seek a breakthrough in the face of the frequent "inner volume" of the flagship machine market, and it is also an impact on the inherent framework of existing flagship products initiated by two brands with similar beliefs and common goals. "Chip" as a resonance point of vivo and MediaTek, the former with the self-developed vivo V1 chip, gradually promoting mobile phone images towards "algorithm hardware"; the latter is relying on Tianji 9000 to successfully advance into the smartphone flagship chip market, breaking the situation of Qualcomm's long-term single shadow single.
In this way, the cooperation between Vivo and MediaTek, the chip is undoubtedly the best carrier.
When it comes to cooperation, both teams have the same goal - "rushing high", and before Tianji 9000 and vivo V1+ joined forces, MediaTek and vivo were each working in this direction.
In 2021, MediaTek will have a total market share of 40% of 4G + 5G According to the first in the global smartphone chip market, and according to the latest data from market research agency CINNO Research, the terminal sales of China's smartphone chip market in 2021 will be 314 million, an increase of 3% year-on-year, of which MediaTek ranks first with 110 million terminal sales and has become the king of China's smart phone chips in 2021.
▲CINNO Research ranks the terminal sales volume of China's smartphone chip market in 2021
According to the latest data released by Counterpoint, in 2021, the total sales volume of China's domestic smartphone market, Vivo peaked with a market share of 22%, while the global high-end market share also increased by 2%.
One is the first market share of mobile phone chips, one is the first market share of domestic smartphone shipments, although there have been mobile phone manufacturers equipped with self-developed chips on their own products, but the intersection and depth of cooperation such as MediaTek and vivo are rare before, this time Tianji 9000 and vivo V1 + "deep joint investigation" Influence and industry attention are self-evident.
Yang Qing, product manager of vivo X series, said in an interview with Zhidong: "First of all, our (vivo and MediaTek) concept is very consistent, whether it is vivo or MediaTek, they are innovative and practical, that is to say, we are committed to innovation, but also very down-to-earth. We all adhere to the user-oriented, user-driven demand to drive, we also see each other's determination and confidence, do our best, work together to create. ”
▲Vivo X series product manager: Yang Qing
The information revealed by Yang Qing's words is very obvious, the premise of rushing to the high-end, not only to have enough technical accumulation, but also to reverse the consumer's previous inherent perception of the brand through product strength. The improvement of product power is not just a simple way to pile the top hardware together, the product itself should be attractive, the experience should be retained, and some problems that could not be solved by a single force before must be solved.
The release of Tianji 9000 brings the mobile phone chip market into the era of "heavy energy efficiency"; the release of vivo V1 brings computational photography into the era of "self-developed computational photography", this time with the release of the X80 series of V1+ chips, it is a further breakthrough in games and displays, vivo and MediaTek are trying to change themselves by creating top chips, changing the industry, and finally landing on the vivo X80 series, through the double-core "deep joint adjustment", they finally want to change, It is the traditional model of "one before and one after" of mobile phone brands and solution providers, which promotes the upgrade of flagship machine experience.
Second, the small goal of "double-core joint investigation" - the king of Tianji 9000
Giving Tianji 9000 and vivo V1+ "deep joint investigation" is like gathering two people who have never known each other together, to cultivate a very high tacit understanding between them, and finally achieve "core" meaning. As for how "deep" the degree of tuning can be, it all depends on the contribution of the technology of both sides and the degree of digestion of each other's technology.
To put it simply, if you want to achieve the best results in "double-core joint commissioning", vivo and MediaTek must not only "exchange the bottom", but also have a technical tacit understanding between the two teams. "Give users an unprecedented experience and maximize the balance of power consumption and performance." And "hope to achieve breakthroughs in each other, more innovation, together to create greater value for the industry." "It has become the driving force for vivo and MediaTek in chip cooperation."
Chen Guanzhou, General Manager of MediaTek, also mentioned in the opening speech of the "Vivo Dual-core Imaging Technology Communication Meeting" that MediaTek is deeply involved in the entire research and development process of vivo new products, and through the collaborative work of Tianji 9000 and vivo self-developed chip V1+, the image level of the vivo X80 series will be strengthened.
From the news released by MediaTek and vivo officials, we have reason to speculate that the working mode of Tianji 9000 and Vivo V1+ will not be the traditional way of relying on blocking an IP on the SoC end to achieve compatibility between the two cores, but in the real sense, from the hardware and software level, open up the channel between Tianji 9000 and vivo V1+.
Since "deep joint tuning" is not just a simple way to make two chips on the same mobile phone motherboard to be compatible with each other, then the effect that Tianji 9000 and vivo V1+ ultimately want to harvest is not 1+1=2, but 1+1>2.
In terms of games, through the AI computing power of Tianji 9000 APU and the collaborative work of multiple processors inside and outside the linkage, the hardware and interpolation algorithm of vivo V1+ are more stable.
At the same time, the all-scene high-quality HDR display enhancement provided by tianji 9000, as well as the display enhancement of ai SDR to HDR for video, can dynamically adjust color, sharpness and high dynamic range, providing more vivid pictures for X80 series users, with the smoothness improvement brought by the interpolation function of V1+ games, and achieving another breakthrough in the flagship machine experience.
In terms of cameras, thanks to MediaTek's new AI-ISP open architecture interface in the recording link of The Tianji 9000, vivo's AI algorithm can achieve some AI functions with lower power consumption and better results, and the excellent black light night vision effect of vivo X80 series is due to this.
It is worth mentioning that Li Junnan, technical planning director of MediaTek's wireless communication division, revealed in an interview that the important "display technology and video enhancement function" in MediaTek MiraVision image display technology has achieved coexistence with the V1+ chip through the efforts of MediaTek and vivo engineers, and has a bonus effect, which further supports the technical depth involved in the dual-core joint commissioning of Tianji 9000 and vivo V1+ chips.
Tianji 9000 and vivo V1+ "double core joint commissioning", the two sides have achieved multi-level joint research and development from the underlying hardware to software, performance, AI, imaging, games, communications and multimedia and other fields are involved, and because of this, vivo and MediaTek have enough confidence to vow to build the X80 series as the "King of Tianji 9000"
Third, the target industry leaders, face the challenges together
At present, the effect of Tianji 9000 and vivo V1+ "deep joint investigation" is eye-catching, but as I mentioned earlier, in the process of double core joint adjustment, experience, technology, epidemic factors, etc. may become the challenges that vivo and MediaTek need to face together, in order to refine the polishing, vivo does not pay too much attention to competing for the first position of Tianji 9000, in order to do a better job of the double core "deep joint adjustment" experience as much as possible, so that consumers can feel the intentions of vivo and MediaTek.
In fact, before the X80 series, Vivo and MediaTek have established a long period of cooperation. In the vivo X70 series, X70 standard edition and vivo X70t Pro are equipped with the "Tianji 1200-vivo" chip jointly created by vivo and MediaTek, which further strengthens the AI performance and energy consumption of X70 standard version and vivo X70t Pro through the open architecture of Tianji 5G.
At the same time, on vivo S12 Pro, thanks to the open architecture of Tianji 1200, the ISP and APU hardware and software architectures in the chip are integrated into open image AI, and the professional image algorithm capabilities of vivo help the machine to achieve a 40% increase in photo encoding speed and 27% increase in photo decoding speed before optimization.
The dual-core joint commissioning of Tianji 9000 and vivo V1+ is much deeper than the previous cooperation. Yang Qing said that the reason for choosing Tianji 9000 is that it has excellent performance and excellent energy efficiency ratio, and the second is that the cooperation between vivo and MediaTek has lasted for a long time, and the two sides have established a good tacit understanding, and some of the previous cooperation experience of joint tuning can give full play to the potential of this chip on Tianji 9000, which are the key factors contributing to this cooperation.
Of course, no matter how high the goal is set, the challenge is great. In the interview, both sides invariably said that in addition to the investment of time, personnel, cost and energy, under the epidemic, as remote work and video conferencing become more and more complete, the teams of both sides have adapted to this new office model and will overcome difficulties together and insist on moving forward.
In the current mobile phone ecosystem, the evaluation of manufacturers' strength is no longer a simple configuration and supply chain side of the ability, more importantly, how the brand really digests these hardware and technology, vivo chooses to cooperate with MediaTek in terms of chips, which means that MediaTek will open a new cooperation model between mobile phone chip manufacturers and brands with an open attitude.
Under the general trend of today's mobile phone manufacturers' self-developed chips, mobile phone chip manufacturers and brands should not be a simple supply and demand relationship, flagship chips and flagship products complement each other, MediaTek hopes that through this cooperation model, the high-quality characteristics of Tianji 9000 will radiate to the entire market and stabilize MediaTek's position in the high-end flagship chip market.
For vivo, this cooperation model can better share the pressure of chip technology, such as ic line design, tape-out, production and other processes, vivo can hand over these problems to the supplier to solve, as for the algorithm, IP conversion and chip architecture design, it is vivo himself.
Supply chain in the short term there is no resource to do, vivo to do; suppliers have the ability to solve, vivo will give priority to choose to cooperate with them, both sides use their respective professional and advantages, reasonable division of labor and cooperation, in order to release the strongest performance of Tianji 9000 as the goal, vivo and MediaTek hope to work together to become the flagship reshaper of the market and the industry.
epilogue:
Products to the market, the concept to the industry, MediaTek and vivo of this joint cooperation, the mobile phone chip + self-developed independent chip integration, which is also the "double core deep joint adjustment" can bring to the industry, beyond the meaning of the product itself.
Zhang Genghao, product planning director of MediaTek's wireless communication division, said: "The dual-core cooperation model means that the synergy between MediaTek and vivo has entered a deeper level, which is quite positive for the development of the entire industry. In addition to making it easier to shape product differentiation, MediaTek finally has the opportunity to explore more possibilities and make progress together with terminal manufacturers, which will eventually have a substantial innovative significance and achievements for the entire industry. ”
In the future, "dual-core collaboration" is likely to become a new direction for the future flagship market, vivo and MediaTek long-term in-depth cooperation, for each other on this road to bring advantages, but also for each other to impact the high-end market to provide favorable conditions. Based on this, we have reason to expect that MediaTek and vivo will have more voice in the future high-end market and open up a larger territory through an open two-core cooperation strategy.