Upcoming MediaTek-powered phones that are likely to come to Verizon Wireless will probably cost $300-$500, according to a slide released at a company conference today.
MediaTek is now the number-one global mobile chipset vendor by volume, and its chips power the best-selling Android phone in the US (according to MediaTek), the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G. But until now, it’s had trouble breaking into the higher reaches of Verizon’s lineup because it lacks millimeter-wave 5G, a technology Verizon still requires in costlier phones. Adding millimeter-wave to a phone generally adds a “tax” of $50-$100 to the retail price, as seen on the Google Pixel 6 ($699 with mmWave; $599 without).
Yesterday, MediaTek said its upcoming flagship Dimensity 9000 chipset would not include mmWave, but future chipsets in other families would.
In a slide presented at a company event today, MediaTek showed mmWave coming in the Dimensity 1000-1200 range, rather than in the 700-800 range where the company currently has the Samsung Galaxy A32 5G.
The Dimensity 1000 first came to the US in the T-Mobile model of the LG Velvet, but LG no longer makes smartphones. The 1000-1200 range chips are heavily used by Oppo, OnePlus, Vivo, Xiaomi, Redmi, and Honor in other countries, though, in phones costing $300-$500. Currently, the least expensive mmWave phone on the US market is the $300 Motorola One 5G UW Ace, which uses Qualcomm’s older 750G chipset.
The A32 is a $280 phone. So the jury is out on whether MediaTek will be able to break the $300 barrier with millimeter-wave-compatible solutions in the US next year. If it does, it’ll be with some subsidy help from Verizon.
Does This Even Matter?
The bigger question is if this even matters. Verizon has demanded mmWave in most of its 5G phones for a while now, because most of its 5G network was mmWave. But early next year, it will be flipping on a massive amount of sub-6GHz C-band, which works with less expensive chipsets and devices.
Even as other countries turn on limited mmWave systems in places like sports venues and convention halls, the technology may finally be retreating from what Verizon promised in 2018-2019—a dominant form of 5G—to being a cherry on top for premium devices, backhaul, and home internet. We’re sure to hear more millimeter-wave vision at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in two weeks.
