OPPO and MediaTek execs talk about the F7 and Helio P60

On May 9, 2018, OPPO PH and MediaTek Taiwan (HQ) held a roundtable at Shangri-La at the Fort to further discuss the recently-released F7 and the prowess of the Helio P60 chipset. If you have read our review of the F7, you probably already had an idea that it’s one heck of a powerful mid-range device that comes with a low price.

For those who are scratching their heads, wondering what’s with the new Helio P60 chipset, has to know that it is the world’s first 12nm multi-core AI processor (runs on two APU processors) which only proves that it is both powerful and fast at the same time, and you can experience all that good stuff with the F7. The device even had a massive score of 138,758 during our AnTuTu benchmark.

We were able to have a brief interview with OPPO Vice President for Operations Mr. Garrick Hung and MediaTek General Manager for Wireless Business Unit, Mr. TL Lee, to talk about the F7.

How were the consumers’ feedback with the F7?

Hung: Well, quite surprisingly, aside from the fact that our sales figure is really high, but the feedback and the acceptance of the market was very, very good as well. A lot of people love the new phone– they’re posting online, they’re posting their new AR stickers, and how they are enjoying the new features of the phone. Primarily, this is because of one of our partners, MediaTek, which we have tonight here with us who is really behind in helping us to develop a good and better phones for the market.

What makes the Helio P60’s NeuralPilot AI technology different from the rest, say, Huawei’s, ASUS’, and Vivo’s?

Hung: In terms of difference, ours is way different. One is because we have a dual APU processor which really enhances the experience of the user, not only in terms how the picture is being taken, the effect on how pictures are being output, but also in the fact that the power is, you know, being save, conserve the energy of the phone in terms on the processor or how fast the phone is compared to its predecessor before.

When did OPPO and MediaTek’s partnership started?

Hung: Our partnership goes back to when we first launch the F1s in the market. So from F1s, to F3, to F5, ’till now. So generally, all in all, plus the research we had before, we can say we’re close to a decade partnership.

Lee: For the Southeast Asia, OPPO and MediaTek started working during the F series. But actually, I think, it’s longer. 10 years ago, OPPO and MediaTek had been working on a DVD player. So, we actually have a very long history on collaboration.

Hung: I think even the MP4 players.

So is there a plan for OPPO and MediaTek to release a flagship phone someday?

Hung: Well, for now, we don’t have any ideas in terms of our headquarters, in terms of the direction, but definitely, MediaTek is one of the important partners of OPPO. As you can see, we’ve been releasing a lot of good products in the market with the start of F1, when we first introduced them here, becoming the Selfie Expert. Up until now, since F1s up to F3, to F5, to F7, consumers have always been, you know, growing and growing and they’ve been loyal, they’ve been patronizing our brand, especially our hero product.

Do you have any message for all F7 fans out there?

Hung: Well, to all of the F7 fans, first of all, we’d like to thank you for patronizing the OPPO product, our hero product, the F7. And behind that, that’s why tonight we’re having this our partnership PR event is to mainly to let everyone knows who’s really behind in helping OPPO in terms of developing a great product. So one of our great partners, the MediaTek, who has been able to develop, say, the F7, a dual AI processor which a lot of our consumer is able to see the benefit of it. So, we hope that as we go along, we’re able to develop a better product for the market and for the consumer.

Right after, we were able to ask Mr. Lee questions that are more focused on the MediaTek sphere. 

Why aren’t we seeing MediaTek chipsets in popular flagship devices?

Lee: We have our priority on smartphone. Smartphone is a very big industry. So, we need to help our customers success based on their priority. You know, MediaTek, is a big company. We develop different products which are everywhere in our daily lives. Our product, actually, is in many, many, different flagship products– like Sony for TV, Amazon’s Echo Dot for voice-assistant, not just in smartphones. MediaTek’s product is everywhere.

And the most burning question of all…. we asked Mr. Lee about his thoughts on people’s perception that MediaTek chipsets are “not as good” as, say, Qualcomm’s. Smiling, he said: 

You can see that OPPO’s F7 has such a great success in the market, so it tells everything.

And there you have it, folks. It was really nice to know people who work hard behind to come up with a powerful device we use today. If you have any thoughts to share, feel free to comment down below!