The Helio G85 was unveiled with the announcement of the global versions of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 last week, but we didn’t know much more. However, MediaTek has just unveiled its specifications, including performance improvements thanks to the faster GPU, connectivity optimizations and the inclusion of a 48MP camera with integrated AI.
The CPU is the same 12nm octa-core chip as the G80, with two 2.0GHz ARM Cortex A75 cores and six 1.8GHz ARM Cortex A55 cores. In the meantime, the GPU has been upgraded to a Mali G52 MC2 ARM running at 1 GHz, which is 50 MHz faster than the GPU of the Helium G80. This is clearly a midrange SoC optimized for gaming workloads, as evidenced by the somewhat limited memory support of up to 8GB LPDDR4x-1800.
Connectivity is still limited to 4G LTE Cat-7. However, MediaTek has made several optimizations, including a faster switch between Wi-Fi and LTE networks (only 13 ms) to ensure a delay-free connection and improved signal amplification. The latter allows a faster response between the smartphone and the mobile phone’s antenna. In addition, users can now defer calls while playing without losing the data connection.
There are also some improvements in resource management, allowing optimized memory allocation for both CPU and GPU and increased battery capacity. In addition, the new SoC supports new FHD+ panels with a 60 Hz refresh rate. Finally, the voice activation function has been refined to minimize battery consumption.