Category:MediaTek

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About MediaTek

MediaTek Inc.
Brand of MediaTek Inc.
Brand of MediaTek Inc.
Name MediaTek Inc.
Native name 聯發科技股份有限公司
Nickname MTK,發哥
Country Taiwan / Worldwide
Industry Arm, Chip
Resources Homepage

MediaTek Inc. is a chip maker company from Taiwan.

Devices with a MediaTek SoC

Device Chipset Booting Mainline
MediaTek MT8186
Acer Chromebook 311 (C722 / C722T) MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Acer Chromebook 311 (CB311-11H / CB311-11HT) MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Acer Chromebook 314 (CB314-2H / CB314-2HT) MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Acer Chromebook 514 (CB514-2H / CB514-2HT) MediaTek MT8192 Yes Y
Acer Chromebook R13 MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Acer Chromebook Spin 311 (CP311-3H) MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Acer Chromebook Spin 311 (R722T) MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Acer Chromebook Spin 513 (CP513-2H) MediaTek MT8195 Yes Y
Acer Liquid Zest 4G MediaTek MT6735 Yes
Acer Liquid Zest 4G MediaTek MT6735 No
Alcatel OneTouch Pixi 4 (5) 5010D MediaTek MT6580 Yes N
Alcatel Pixi 4 (4) [4034D/4034X] MediaTek MT6580 Yes
ALPS ASK SP618/Bluboo Maya Max MediaTek Helio P15 (MT6750) No
ALPS Mediatek Obscure Device (MT6572) MediaTek MT6572 No
ALPS Philips S562Z MediaTek Helio P15 (MT6750) No
Amazon Echo Dot (2nd gen) MediaTek MT8163 Yes
Amazon Echo Show 5 MediaTek MT8163 No
Amazon Fire 7 (2015) MediaTek MT8127 Yes N
Amazon Fire 7 (2017) MediaTek MT8127 Yes N
Amazon Fire 7 (2019) MediaTek MT8163V/B (64-bit quad-core) Yes
Amazon Fire HD 10 (7th gen) MediaTek MT8173 Yes
Amazon Fire HD 8 (2017) MediaTek MT8163 Yes N
Amazon Fire HD 8 (2018) MediaTek MT8163 Yes
Amazon Fire TV 2 Mediatek MT8173C No N
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K MediaTek MT8695 Yes P
Amazon Fire TV Stick Basic Edition MediaTek MT8127D Yes
Amazon Fire tv stick lite MediaTek MT8695 Yes P
Archos Sense 55s MediaTek MT6737T No P
Asus Chromebook C202XA MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Asus Chromebook CZ1 MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Asus Chromebook Detachable CM3 (CM3000) MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Asus Chromebook Detachable CZ1 MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Asus Chromebook Flip CM3 (CM3200, MT8183) MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
ASUS Chromebook Flip CM3 (CM3200, MT8192) MediaTek MT8192 Yes Y
Asus Chromebook Flip CZ1 MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Asus Zenfone Go (MTK) MediaTek MT6580 Yes
BQ Aquaris E5 HD MediaTek MT6582 Yes
BQ Aquaris M10 MediaTek MT8163B No
BQ Aquaris M10 FHD MediaTek MT8163B Yes N
Coolpad Modena 2 MediaTek MT6735P No
Digma 1538E 4G MediaTek MT8735 No Y
Fairphone 1 MediaTek MT6589 Yes P
Fly Spark MediaTek MT6572 Yes
Gini w5 MediaTek MT6735 No
Google Asurada Chromebook MediaTek MT8192 Yes Y
Google Cherry Chromebook MediaTek MT8195 Yes Y
Google Corsola Chromebook MediaTek MT8186 Yes Y
Google Kukui Chromebook MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Google Oak Chromebook MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
HMD Global Nokia 3.1 MediaTek Helio P15 (MT6750N) Yes Y
HomTom HT20 MediaTek MT6735M No
HP Chromebook 11a MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
HP Chromebook 11MK G9 EE MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
HP Chromebook x360 11MK G3 EE MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
HP Chromebook x360 13b-ca0xxx MediaTek MT8195 Yes Y
Huawei Y3 II 3G MediaTek MT6582 (M?) No
Huawei Y360-U61 MediaTek MT6582 No
Just5 Freedom X1 MediaTek MT6753 No N
Kosagi Fernvale Mediatek MT6260 No
Land Rover A9 MediaTek MT6582 No
LeEco Le 1s MediaTek Helio X10 (MT6795) Yes
Lenovo 100e Chromebook 2nd Gen (MTK) MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Lenovo 100e Chromebook 2nd Gen MTK 2 MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Lenovo 10e Chromebook Tablet MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Lenovo 300e Chromebook MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Lenovo 300e Chromebook 2nd Gen (MTK) MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Lenovo 300e Yoga Chromebook Gen 4 MediaTek MT8186 Yes Y
Lenovo Chromebook C330 MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Lenovo Chromebook S330 MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Lenovo Flex 11 Chromebook MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Lenovo IdeaPad 3 Chromebook (MT8183) MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook (CB-11M735) MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Lenovo IdeaPad Flex 3 Chromebook (MT8183) MediaTek MT8183 Yes Y
Lenovo IdeaTab A3000 MediaTek MT6589 Yes P
Lenovo K4 Note Mediatek MT6753 Yes
Lenovo Lenovo Smart Tab M10 FHD Plus MediaTek Helio P22T (MT6762) No
Lenovo N23 Yoga Chromebook MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus 2nd Gen MediaTek Helio P22T (MT8768) No
Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus 2nd Gen MediaTek Helio P22T (MT8768)
Lenovo Tab3 7 Essential MediaTek MT8321 No
Lenovo Vibe P1m MediaTek MT6735P Yes N
LG Bello II MediaTek MT6582 No N
LG K4 MediaTek MT6735M No
LG K40 (AT&T) MediaTek MT6765 Yes
LG K5 MediaTek MT6582 No
Mediatek ZH960 MediaTek MT6582 No
Meizu M2 MediaTek MT6735 Yes
Meizu M2 Note Mediatek MT6753 No
Meizu M3 Note MediaTek Helio P10 (MT6755) No
Mobvoi Ticwatch E/S MediaTek MT2601 No
Motorola Moto C Plus MediaTek MT6737 Yes
NGM WeMove Action MediaTek MT6575 No
Nokia 1 MediaTek MT6737M Yes
Nokia 3 (2017) MediaTek MT6737 Yes
Onn Tablet Gen 3 MediaTek MT8168 No
Oppo Neo 5 Mediatek MT6582 No
Oppo Reno Z MediaTek Helio P90 (MT6779) Y
Oysters T84Bi 4G MediaTek MT8735 No Y
Planet Computers Cosmo Communicator MediaTek Helio P70 (MT6771T or MT6771WT?) Yes N
Planet Computers Gemini PDA MediaTek MT6797P/X Helio X25/X27 Yes N
Poin2 Chromebook 11C MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Poin2 Chromebook 14 MediaTek MT8173C Yes Y
Prestigio Prestigio MultiPad PMT5008 3G MediaTek MT8382 No P
PxPhone PxPhone I5 TV WIFI MediaTek MT6250A No n
Samsung Galaxy A32 4G MediaTek Helio G80 (MT6769T) Yes N
Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime+ MediaTek MT6737T Yes Y
Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite MediaTek Helio P22T (MT8768) Yes N
Sony Sony Bravia KDL-43W755C MediaTek MT5890 No
Sony Xperia M5 MediaTek Helio X10 (MT6795) Yes
Sony Xperia XA MediaTek Helio P10 (MT6755) Yes N
Sony Xperia XA Ultra MediaTek Helio P10 (MT6755) Yes
TCL A3 MediaTek Helio P22 (MT6762) Yes P
Teracube One MediaTek Helio P60 (MT6771) No
Umidigi F2 MediaTek Helio P70 (MT6771V/CT) Yes N
Unihertz Titan Pocket MediaTek Helio P70 (MT6771V/CT) No
Verizon (Quanta) Verizon Ellipsis 7 QMV7B Mediatek MT8389 No
Vernee Thor MediaTek MT6753 Yes N
Volla Phone MediaTek Helio P23 (MT6763V) Yes Y
Volla Phone 22 MediaTek Helio G85 (MT6769Z) Yes Y
Volla Phone X MediaTek Helio P23 (MT6763V) No N
Volla Phone X23 MediaTek Helio G99 (MT6789) No
Vsmart Star 4 MediaTek MT6765 Yes N
Wiko Fever MediaTek MT6753 No
Wiko Harry MediaTek MT6737/MT6735M No
Wiko Lenny 2 MediaTek MT6580 Yes N
Wiko Lenny 3 MediaTek MT6580M Yes
Wiko Lenny 5 MediaTek MT6580 Yes
Wiko Sunset 2 MediaTek MT6572W No
Wiko U FEEL MediaTek MT6735 Yes
Xiaomi Redmi 12 MediaTek Helio G88 (MT6769H) Yes N
Xiaomi Redmi 6 MediaTek Helio P22 (MT6762) Yes
Xiaomi Redmi 6A MediaTek Helio A22 (MT6761) Yes
Xiaomi Redmi 9 MediaTek Helio G80 (MT6769T) Yes
Xiaomi Redmi 9C MediaTek Helio G35 (MT6765G) Yes Y
Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 5G MediaTek Dimensity 700 5G (MT6833) No
Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro MediaTek Helio G90T (MT6785) Yes N
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 MediaTek Helio G85 (MT6769Z) Yes
Xiaomi Redmi Pad MediaTek Helio G99 (MT8781) No
Xunlong Orange Pi 4G-IoT MediaTek MT6737M No
ZTE Blade X3 MediaTek MT6735P No

For an overview of Mediatek devices, see Mediatek.

Glossary

See MediaTek Glossary.

Naming Conventions

While there doesn't seem to be a stable pattern that MediaTek SoC names follow between subsequent generations, there are a few naming patterns that are prevalent.

MediaTek SoCs can be split into 5 main categories, each corresponding to a certain period of time where several SoCs were released with highly similar core architectures:

Pattern Common name CPU GPU Modem
MT62** - ARMv5 (ARM7) - 2G
MT65** - ARMv7 (Cortex-A) Mali Utgard, PowerVR SGX 3G
MT67** Helio* ARMv8 (Cortex-A) Mali Midgard, Mali Bifrost, PowerVR Rogue 4G
MT68** Dimensity ≤8000 Mali Valhall 5G
MT69** Dimensity 9000 ARMv8 (Cortex-X + Cortex-A)

*The Helio name wasn't used for MT673* as well as MT6750, MT6752 and MT6753 variants

There are SoCs that don't follow this convention. These SoCs are usually tablet or application variants of the MT6*** SoCs, and have names that follow the MT8*** pattern. For some of those SoCs, the only difference between the mobile and tablet variant is the first digit, while others have completely different names despite them being functionally identical. Here are some known mobile/tablet variant pairs:

Mobile MT6*** Tablet MT8***
MT6580 MT8321
MT6582 MT8382
MT6589 MT8389
MT6592* MT8127*
MT6735 MT8735
MT6771 MT8183
MT6875* MT8192*

*Unconfirmed

Flashing

If you want to flash firmware to Mediatek-based devices, there is a proprietary tool for that: SP Flash Tool. It is e.g. used for the Wiko Lenny 3 (wiko-lenny3).

Some devices also support fastboot, e.g. Sony Xperia XA (sony-tuba), and some support odin, e.g. Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime Plus (samsung-grandpplte).

Some open source software has been developed:

  1. https://github.com/saleemrashid/mediatek_flash_tool has only been tested with the MT6580
  2. https://github.com/MediaTek-Labs/mt76x7-uploader which is compatible with the MT7687 and MT7697 for flashing the bootloader
  3. https://github.com/Wiz-IO/Mediatek-MT2625-Flash-Utility for the MT2625
  4. https://github.com/McBitter/flasher only support for MT6735P, is WIP
  5. https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient

Enabling previously disabled UART on downstream kernels

Sometimes you might need to get some data from UART on downstream kernel (for example, with intention to debug boot process of your pmOS port) but it's been automatically disabled by the preloader or UBoot or something else. One of the solutions suggested by the official MediaTek OEM FAQ is to run this command as early as possible:

echo "6 4 1 6" > /proc/sys/kernel/printk

To disable UART logs, run:

echo "0 0 0 0" > /proc/sys/kernel/printk

Icon TODO: Validate whether these commands require root shell
Icon TODO: Check if it works on mt67xx devices

Booting procedure

Power applied to the SoC

When chip is powered on the dram controller pushes the address of brom (boot rom, mask rom that is hardwired) to PC (program counter) and execution of rom begins.

Brom execution

  1. UART1 gets initialized to some predetermined baudrate. Baud usually depends in chip input clock source. Observation has been made that UART1 is disabled on many phones, but can be enabled if proper firmware is used and eFuses are not blown.
  2. Initialize storage with low clock. Reason why it's using low clock is because muxes are not programmed at this stage.
  3. Wait for "Start" string on UART1 for unknown amount of time, the internet keeps buzzing about 150ms. After start is recieved, listen to commands from host until jump is observed (refer to brom spec in further reading section). If start is not sent then Preloader image will be loaded from the storage to the SRAM (static ram) and brom loads it. Not sure if flags SP flash tool needs are used at bootup phase.
  4. If KCOL0 pin is shorted to the ground, preloader loading is avoided and download protocol is rolled up on USB port.

Memory maps of different system on chips

Image format

Note Incomplete and has missing information. Feel free to coordinate corrections on Matrix chat. Information here is only for reference. Flashing the binaries to storage will be done using brom protocol and custom flashing software.


This format is used in brom and preloader(has to be verified) while flashing with SP flash tool. All fields are in little endian.

File info image format

Size Content Extra notes
4 4d 4d 4d 01
4 Length of complete header (including this size field and the magic field above)
12 "FILE_INFO\0\0\0" Pay attention to padding bytes
4 01 00 00 00
2 Image type 0: NONE 1: ARM-Bootloader 2: ARM-External-Bootloader 10: Root-Certificate 256: Primary-MAUI 264: VIVA 769: SECURE_RO_ME
1 Storage type 0: NONE 1: NOR Flash 2: NAND Sequential Flash 3: NAND_TTBL 4: NAND_FDM50 5: EMMC-Boot-Region 6: EMMC-Data-Region 7: Serial Flash 255: Device-End
1 Signature type 0: No Signature 1: PHASH 2: SINGLE 3: SINGLE and PHASH 4: MULTI 5: TYPE_NUM 255: TYPE_END
4 Load address
4 Total file size
4 00 00 04 00 Maximum file size
4 Content offset in file You can have multiple headers before actual content (preloader assembly image)
4 Signature length If no signature was set, size is 0
4 Jump offset Seems to be the same as content offset, maybe because preloader needs to execute
4 Ending 1: POST_BUILD_DONE 2: XIP (Execute In Place) use bitwise OR to combine multiple flags

Example data from MT6735P chipset

ROM:00031128 magicValue      DCD 0x14D4D4D
ROM:0003112C HeaderSize      DCD 0x38                ; completeHeaderSize
ROM:00031130 aFile_info      DCB "FILE_INFO",0,0,0
ROM:0003113C alwaysOne       DCD 1
ROM:00031140 FileType        DCW 1                   ; ARM-Bootloader
ROM:00031142 FlashType       DCB 5                   ; EMMC-Boot-Region
ROM:00031143 SignatureType   DCB 3                   ; Single and PHASH
ROM:00031144 LoadAddress     DCD 0x200D00            ; SRAM address
ROM:00031148 FileLength      DCD 0x1CE4C
ROM:0003114C MaximumSize     DCD 0x40000
ROM:00031150 ContentOffset   DCD 0x300
ROM:00031154 SigLen          DCD 0x124
ROM:00031158 JumpOffset      DCD 0x300
ROM:0003115C Ending          DCD 1                   ; POST_BUILD_DONE

SP Flash Tool authentication bypass

By patching a USB driver, it is possible to bypass the chain of trust during flashing. More info in this GitHub repo and here

It is compatible with the following SoCs:

  • mt6261
  • mt6572
  • mt6580
  • mt6582
  • mt6735
  • mt6737
  • mt6739
  • mt6755
  • mt6757
  • mt6761
  • mt6763
  • mt6765
  • mt6768
  • mt6771
  • mt6779
  • mt6785
  • mt6799
  • mt6873
  • mt8127
  • mt8163
  • mt8173
  • mt8695

Mainlining

Supported SoCs

A few MediaTek SoCs have decent support in mainline, and many others have some basic support (only UART and/or I2C). This table shows the SoCs with documented support:

SoC Arch Year UART USB Storage Display CPU GPU Pinctrl I²C Audio Video Thermal WiFi BT Modem GPS Camera Suspend
MediaTek Helio P10/P15/P18 aarch64 2014 P N N P P N N N N N N N N N N N N
MediaTek Helio P90 aarch64 2018 Y N Y P Y N Y N Y N N N N N N N
MediaTek MT6580 armv7 2015 Y N N N P N N N N N N N N N N N N
MediaTek MT6582 armv7 2013 Y N N N P N N N N N N N N N N N N
MediaTek MT6589 armv7 2013 Y N N N P N N N N N N - - N - N N
MediaTek MT6735 aarch64 2014-2016 Y P P Y N Y Y N N N N N N N N N N
MediaTek MT6765 aarch64 2018/2020 Y Y P P P N Y Y N N N N N N N N N
MediaTek MT8173 aarch64 2015 Y Y Y Y Y P Y Y Y Y Y N N - - N Y
MediaTek MT8183 aarch64 2019 Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y N N - - N Y

There have been some successes in porting mainline Linux to other SoCs:

Futher reading