MediaTek ties up with Micromax to announce its Helio platform in India
By Nandagopal Rajan
Silicon major MediaTek Inc has tied up with smartphone maker Micromax to increase 4G adoption in India. Micromax will become the first brand to launch devices powered by MediaTek’s new Helio platform.
Micromax Canvas Fire 4G will be the first smartphone to be powered by the MediaTek MT6735 processor. Underlining that MediaTek had a big role to play in the growth of Micromax, CEO Vineet Taneja said his company was committed to 4G adoption in India and hence the entire Canvas range will be converted to the new standard soon. “Both Micromax and MediaTek believe in democratizing technology.” Micromax will launch three 4G devices in September, followed by five more before Diwali. Taneja said Canvas Fire 4G will be priced around $100 and a final price would be available in coming weeks.
According to analysts, India will be the fastest growing 4G market in World and will overtake Japan as the third largest market in 2017. MediaTek, which has been one of the drivers of the affordable smartphone revolution in India, sold over a billion chipset in 2014 and is valued at over $23billion. The Taiwan based company is the largest supplier of SoCs to Indian brands and is now investing heavily on R&D in India with offices in Noida and Bangalore.
Dr Finbarr Moynihan, GM of international sales at MediaTek, said that while the global smartphone growth rates are supposed to be federate the indian market will be out growing the rest of the world. “We believe there is a lot of pent up demand still in India for mobile internet,” he said, adding that MediaTek will have a full portfolio of SoCs to cater to the demand from India with the Helio X and Helio P range hitting the market in coming months. “By addition of 4G india will add to its spectrum and let operators offload a lot of traffic improving the 3G experience,” said Taneja, adding that overall this new technology will improve customer experience drastically.