The flood of octa-core smartphones has begun, here's what to expect

posted by Chris P.

Dec 26, 2013, 5:38 AM

The flood of octa-core smartphones has begun, here's what to expect

For good or bad, a month ago, Chinese MediaTek officially launched its all-new MT6592 chipset, powered by eight ARM Cortex-A7 cores, and there's no stopping the flood now. In a typical Android fashion, more is always better, and while there's definitely an argument to be made about the practical feasibility of as many cores, it seems likely at this point, that 2014 will see quite a few devices packing the MT6592 or a similar system-on-chip from the likes of LG, Qualcomm, Exynos, Huawei, Allwinner and Rockchip.

As this is still some pretty new tech, established big brands aren't exactly killing themselves in an attempt to reach the shore first, but that doesn't mean they don't mean to eventually. Truth be told, even if we do assume that octa-core processors are nothing more than show, we still see a future ahead for the seemingly redundant chips. If anything, history has shown that smartphone buyers sometimes get sold on significantly more gimmicky features.

So, who's taken to the task of carrying out the largely ungrateful task of heading the first charge? Chinese companies, for the most part, at least for now. The same, lacking the financial resources of incumbents, are often forced to look for each and every possible scenario that would serve to differentiate their wares, and MediaTek's new chip fits that bill perfectly. That being said, we're already seeing some palpable interest from large companies, such as HTC, LG, Alcatel (TCL), Huawei and Vivo, though we are yet to witness this materialize into an actual product. At this point in time, the number of devices that have/are set to receive the new octa-core chip easily exceeds two dozens, though we've narrowed it down to the more noteworthy ones. Facts of smartphone industry life apply, of course, so there's no knowing whether all the devices on the list will ultimately end up in customers' hands. Nonetheless, if you've caught an episode of octa-core fever, you'll likely want to keep tabs on them.

Octa-core smartphones to watch for in 2014

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47 Comments

42. bigstrudel

Posts: 621; Member since: Aug 20, 2012

Too bad single core performance is more important than multi core performance because thats what governs most UI elements. Even quad core is big time overkill. Optimized dual core Android devices like the Moto X are ideal IMO. Apple's A7 also gets it right by increasing the performance by improving the architecture and keeping the clock speed low to keep power consumption in check.

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 8:06 PM 1

39. COZMAN

Posts: 99; Member since: Nov 28, 2013

Octacore? This is a joke. Even quad is over doing it. Get creative with features instead of power that we cannot use and do not require to run our apps.The cell market has become predictable and boring.

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 4:24 PM 0

43. Joshing4fun

Posts: 1256; Member since: Aug 13, 2010

Agreed. I miss the days where phones came in all crazy shapes and designs. Now theyre just black and white rectangles with fancy names for stuff under the hood that nobody can see/feel.

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 9:10 PM 0

36. xoxoGeorges

Posts: 209; Member since: Jul 11, 2013

Until Qualcomm starts making Octa-Core devices no other chipmakers will be able to surpass the Quad Core 800/805.

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 1:48 PM 0

31. apple4never

Posts: 1064; Member since: May 08, 2013

how long till we have an intel knights corner in a phone ?

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 12:28 PM 0

33. AppleHateBoy unregistered

A decade??

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 12:41 PM 0

16. N-fanboy

Posts: 543; Member since: Jan 12, 2013

The biggest question here is 'WILL ANDROID STOP TO LAG?', i hope so. But my xperia z lags somtimes but thats not acceptable.

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 7:34 AM 0

26. JMartin22

Posts: 2422; Member since: Apr 30, 2013

That's not Android, that's your OEMs custom launcher. It doesn't matter how good the hardware is, if someone like Sony doesn't optimize it's software offerings to work efficiently with the hardware, there will be moments of latency. That's why some phones feel more fluid than others and why installing a custom ROM drastically speeds up the UI

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 10:00 AM 3

35. elitewolverine

Posts: 5192; Member since: Oct 28, 2013

Jmartin, techies love to tinker and install stuff. For a large large large majority of people with warranties and no-know how, installing a rom is not their cup of tea. They just want it to work. And is why iOS7 and WP usually feel more fluid, because of the control they have on the OS itself. And even then custom roms do not always play nice with google services. Just look at the custom rom forums, bugs everywhere imo that is, and of course bugs that never get fixed cause the rom dies or gets dropped...

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 1:33 PM 0

32. AppleHateBoy unregistered

You can't help it. Smartphones are following the foot steps of pc's. PC's became responsive after they got rid of mechanical hard drives. Smartphones are the same. The storage solutions they use are incredibly slow. The galaxy note 3 has a random write speed of 2.2 MBps. Modern mainstream ssds exceed 400 MBps. Unless tablets and smartphones gain a suitably fast storage solution. Performance will continue to suffer. I still dream of the day when tablets/smartphones gain at least one-eighth of today's ssd speed.

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 12:38 PM 1

13. Tsepz_GP

Posts: 1227; Member since: Apr 12, 2012

2014 is looking awesome already! Can't wait for the Exynos based phones :D

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 7:07 AM 0

12. XaErO

Posts: 353; Member since: Sep 25, 2012

Don't want that Octa-Core processors .. I believe people will soon know that quality Quad Core processors are way much better to get real practical performance in day-to-day life on a smartphone.

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 7:01 AM 0

10. xperiaDROID

Posts: 5629; Member since: Mar 08, 2013

Octa core, here we come!

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 6:40 AM 1

8. pongkie

Posts: 663; Member since: Aug 20, 2011

my pc is still quad core. things are changing very fast

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 6:31 AM 1

7. eldyagustius

Posts: 182; Member since: Oct 30, 2013

No hope for LG when it comes to software updates. Don't know what they'd do with flagship phones. I'm G2 user and I know that the 4.2.2 isn't a big deal for me. But there's many older phones updated to 4.3. Why isn't there any confirmed news about the kitkat update?

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 6:22 AM 0

9. xperiaDROID

Posts: 5629; Member since: Mar 08, 2013

LG is already rolling out the KitKat update to the G2 owners in South Korea. So, don't worry, you will get it soon.http://www.phonearena.com/news/Android-4.4-starts-rolling-out-in-Korea-for-the-LG-G2_id50671 And there are many phones still haven't get updated to 4.3, some of them are jumping to KitKat. For instance, the Huawei Ascend P6 (currently on 4.2, will jump straight to 4.4 KitKat maybe in January), the Lenovo K900 (currently on 4.2, no news about 4.3 or 4.4 but I think Lenovo will update it soon).

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 6:36 AM 2

14. MANGUELPR unregistered

LG Optimus G had already KitKat too in many countries.

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 7:27 AM 0

25. LoveHater

Posts: 235; Member since: Oct 09, 2013

....update was for 4g support not 4.4... and on the front of android lagginess,, google is going to change their game,, art is the first one ,,,hopefully more comes in future which we don't hav idea.

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 9:56 AM 0

28. WakaFlakaD

Posts: 576; Member since: Apr 30, 2011

I am a LG G2 user as well. Honesty, going from 4.2 to 4.4, how big of a difference does it really make? I am not trying to argue, but the days of Froyo and Gingerbread are over. Those are the days that update REALLY matters. We will probably get our updates at the end of Q1. For now, let's just be happy and continue to "knock knock" on our phones lol

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 10:14 AM 0

29. freebee269

Posts: 543; Member since: Aug 10, 2012

i find 4.4.2 to be a nice upgrade to 4.2.2. i have slimkat on my at&t lg g2 and it is buttery smooth. also i enjoy the new google launcher and "ok google". i find i use it alot more than i thought i would. it's a little bit of a performance upgrade because it can now be used with devices that have 512mb ram, but it's also a feature upgrade. so i think the upgrade from 4.2.2 to 4.4.2 is warranted.

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 10:40 AM 0

44. WakaFlakaD

Posts: 576; Member since: Apr 30, 2011

I found the apk for the (Ok,Google) launcher, while it is cool to use on its own, it takes away the knock-on feature. That is the main reason I am using this phone. It's cool to get better battery, yet I still charge it every night. This phone do lasts the whole day (I am a heavy user)

posted on Dec 27, 2013, 1:51 AM 1

45. freebee269

Posts: 543; Member since: Aug 10, 2012

Try slimkat ROM if you have an at&t g2. It has knock on and off with Google launcher and very good battery life with a kernel that has added options like under volting and volume increase. It's the best of all the worlds.

posted on Dec 27, 2013, 11:05 AM 0

46. WakaFlakaD

Posts: 576; Member since: Apr 30, 2011

Unfortunately I am with T-Mo. Many people reported about the echo issue in call. I will wait until a more stable ROM is there. This is the very first Android phone I am using that still running in stock...ever since that Nexus One

posted on Dec 30, 2013, 1:46 AM 0

6. zuckerboy

Posts: 898; Member since: Dec 22, 2011

octa core will lags on android again but on wp and ios 2 cores is enough to blizzard performance

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 6:15 AM 2

11. Teja171 unregistered

Its not true. the ios and wp operating systems aren't as complex as android is. They dont offer so many features/functionality as android does..

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 6:52 AM 6

15. zuckerboy

Posts: 898; Member since: Dec 22, 2011

you r wrong it is true... android lags even devices has 2 gb of rams, 2ghz speeds and 4 cores but ios and wp doesnt lag eventhough they have 1gb ram and 1 ghz speed.... when you jailbreak your ios device you have widgets, homescreen animations , live wallpapers but they also works fluidly...

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 7:30 AM 0

18. roozbeh101

Posts: 99; Member since: Mar 31, 2012

android is a linux-core platform! SDK machine and so on... it is much complex and featured system than ios and wp! my nexus 7 2013 never lags! and i got a galaxy i9000 with 4.4.2 android that lags minimum ! those laggy days of 2.x.x androids are over! deal with it!

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 7:58 AM 7

20. roozbeh101

Posts: 99; Member since: Mar 31, 2012

and also ios and wp ! are limited and everybody is waiting for an improvement is features and costumize ability ! while android is just going further to be perfect! fast/open source/ smart/lagfree with tons of features!

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 8:02 AM 6

21. zuckerboy

Posts: 898; Member since: Dec 22, 2011

lol your nexus isnt lagging bcuz its google's device... my sister has galay s3 with 4.3 and lags as hell... it takes 1000 years to rotate screen :D what a performance.... and galay s4 is lagign as well my friend has it and compplains about that... it doesnt important that android has tons of feature , important thing is smooth performance...

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 8:55 AM 0

34. roozbeh101

Posts: 99; Member since: Mar 31, 2012

I know what you imply blame but it on samsung with those useless ugly bloatwares not android! i mean why in hell the rom itself uses that much ram ! 700mb!!!!

posted on Dec 26, 2013, 12:52 PM 1

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