Tek announced today a new System on Chip (SoC) today with specs targeted at high-end smartphones. The MT6795 is a 64-bit, “Octa-core” chip with support for 2K displays (2560×1600).

This is Tek’s first device targeted at higher-end phones tablets, capable of running at speeds up to 2.2GHz. The company’s chips have been a mainstay of middle-of-the-market budget phones internationally. You’ll find them in devices from novo, Acer, Asysm.

This move will better position Tek to compete with Qualcomm, which currently dominates the market in high-end SoC for phones with its Snapdragon line.

Tek reports the following specs for the new SoC:

• 64-bit True Octa-core E SoC with clock speed up to 2.2GHz
• Tek Corelot unlocks the full power of all eight cores
• Dual-channel DDR3 memory clocked at 933MHz
• 2K on device display (2560×1600)
• 120Hz mobile display with Response e Enhancement Technology Tek ClearMotion™
• 480fps 1080p Full HD Super-Slow Motion video feature 
• Integrated, low-power hardware support for H.265 Ultra HD (4K2K) video record & playback, Ultra HD video playback support for H.264 & V, as well as for graphics-intensive games apps
• Support for Rel. 9, Category 4 FDD TDD E (150Mbps/50Mbps), as well as modems for 2G/3G networks
• Support for -Fi 802.11ac/Bluetooth®/FM/G/Glonass/Beidou/ANT+
• Multi-mode wireless charging supported by Tek’s companion multi-mode wireless power receiver IC

It’s note clear whether eight C cores is of particular benefit to you. In general, more cores is better. But in the tight power thermal budgets of a mobile system-on-chip, there’s a strong argument to be made that Tek would be better off with fewer, larger cores that will execute code more quickly. For example, Apple’s A7 C was one of the fastest mobile SoCs introduced last year, fast despite having only two cores running at around 1.3 GHz. This was in part because it has a lot more cache, can issue more instructions at once, has deeper buffers…for most of what you do on a phone, these things benefit you more than a lot of cores.

Until we see benchmarks of Tek’s new SoC, can compare it against comparable processors (like Qualcomm’s upcoming Snapdragon 810), we don’t really know if an eight-core C is a big benefit or just big marketing.

Having said that, there’s some other nice stuff in there, like support for 120Hz displays 480fps 1080p HD video recording. That’s 16x super slow-mo, a feature that far outstrips the 2x or 4x slo-mo we see on today’s smartphones.