Opera’s data-saving Max app will be embedded into two new MediaTek chipsets
Now this is clever – the Taiwanese chipset manufacturer MediaTek, which tends to focus on cheaper phones for emerging markets, will embed Opera Max in two of its upcoming mid-range 4G chipsets.
The Norwegian firm has long had data-compression features in its mobile browsers, to help users save money. Opera Max is an app that extends that technique to all the data flowing through the user’s handset, not just the data being used by the browser. And now it’s going to become part of the handset itself, much as the [company]Opera[/company] Mini browser (and Facebook and Twitter) did in earlier [company]MediaTek[/company] partnerships.
According to a Wednesday statement, users will be able to monitor their data usage through the embedded app’s dashboard, which will also warn them when they’re switching to roaming and encourage them to adjust their settings to avoid higher fees.
Both of the 64-bit chipsets are based on 2.0GHz ARM Cortex-A53 CPUs. The MT6732 is a quad-core affair, and the MT6752 is an octa-core system-on-a-chip (SoC) that throws in a Mali-T760 GPU as well. They’re both part of MediaTek’s so-called “super-mid market” push.
The Taiwanese firm’s chipsets power the entire first wave of phones in [company]Google[/company]’s Android One program, which aims to introduce consistency to the low-end Android market in emerging markets, starting with India.
However, Google said earlier this week that manufacturers participating in the scheme will also get to use Qualcomm if they like. The Opera Max deal is targeting more high-end devices at this point, but these kinds of partnerships are clearly designed to make MediaTek more competitive as it jostles with its American rival.