Rockchip RK3288 To Be Phased Out Soon? GPD XD+ Android Console To Get Mediatek MT8176 SoC, 4GB RAM Upgrade

[Update: I have now seen an email exchange with ASUS replying that Rockchip RK3288 will still be in production for 5 years, so GPD claims that manufacturing will stop for RK3288 may be incorrect, or misunderstood

Update 2: Rockchip has now confirmed RK3288 will not be phased out. So I’m guessing there may have been info lost in translation with GPD simply not manufacturing their own RK3288 board anymore]

Rockchip RK3288 32-bit Arm processor was first spotted in a company presentation in the summer of 2013, before being announced – with some confusion (Cortex A12 vs A17) – at CES 2014 in January. The quad core Cortex A17 processor had then its moments of glory with inclusion in products such as Chromebooks (2015), and ASUS Tinker board SBC earlier this year.

Another product based on the processor is GPD XD Android game console, but according to a report on reddit, GPD will soon launch an upgraded version call XD+ powered by Mediatek MT8176 Hexa-core Cortex A72/A53 processor with 4GB RAM, mainly because “Rockchip are phasing out sales of the RK3288”. If true, it means most products based on the chip will soon be phased out or upgraded to another solution. How long each product will keep selling will depend on the stocks held by the manufacturer.

GPD XD+ console preliminary specifications:

  • SoC – Mediatek MT8176 hexa-core processor with 2x Cortex A72 cores @ 2.1 GHz, 4x Cortex A53 cores @ 1.7 GHz, and Imagination PowerVR GX6250 GPU (as used in Xiaomi Mi Pad 3 tablet)
  • System Memory – 4GB RAM
  • Storage – 32GB and up internal storage, micro SD slot
  • Display – 5″ 720p capacitive touch display
  • Video Output – 1x mini HDMI
  • Audio – Dual speaker, via HDMI output, 1x 3.5mm audio jack
  • Connectivity – Dual band WiFi, Bluetooth
  • USB – 1x micro USB port
  • Buttons – Power button, cross button, dual-character button(A/B/X/Y;△/○/×/□), L1/L2/L3/R1/R2/R3, joysticks, Start/Select button, Volume +/-, Back,Android function, Home, Keymapper button
  • Sensor – 3-axis gravity sensor
  • Battery – TBD
  • Power Supply – TBD
  • Dimensions – 155 x 89 x 24 mm
  • Weight – ~300 grams

The device will run Android 7.x, and as you’ll see from the video below some people already got prototypes, with the device achieving 74,500 points in Antutu 6, and a the following Geekbench scores: Single core: 1375; multi core 3529.

The physical aspect of XD+ looks exactly the same as XD, but performance should be quite better with the Cortex A72 cores and PowerVR GPU in the Mediatek SoC, and some games did run better on the new model in the video above. Some games also only work with 64-bit Arm, so more games will be supported.

GPD XD+ is expected to start selling in Q1 2018 with some resellers mentioning January, while other telling the February-March timeframe is more likely. It will all depend on results of testing of the beta units, and other potential production delays.

I contacted Rockchip to try to get more information about the timeline of RK3288 end-of-life status, but I did not get an answer in time for this article. I’ll update it if I get an answer.

Via Liliputing

Share this:

Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress

ROCK Pi 4C Plus
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
The comment form collects your name, email and content to allow us keep track of the comments placed on the website. Please read and accept our website Terms and Privacy Policy to post a comment.
23 Comments
oldest
newest
vamrs
6 years ago

not true

alevan
6 years ago

What’s not true?

Gouwa
6 years ago

Actually, Rockchip there was a new revision RK3288W and will be in long term lifetime.

vamrs
6 years ago

RK3288w is the new revision of RK3288, W stands for Windows? The improvement includes Direct X support.

nobe
nobe
6 years ago


another thing, rk3288 is one of the 3 chips that Rockchip officially supports in their opensource / mainlining efforts.
It would have been such a waste if it was already phased out.

Demetris
Demetris
6 years ago

RK3288W is also used in chromeOS(chromebooks) and Windows Tablets

tkaiser
tkaiser
6 years ago


Pipo U8T for example 🙂

And I just spotted some commits referencing RK3288W as ‘rk3288v2’ with own DVFS/thermal settings.

theguyuk
theguyuk
6 years ago

” For the moment the SoC designated is the Rockchip RK3288W which, according to what the Chinese company tells us, will not have substantial novelties compared to the RK3288 chip mounted on tablets and TV-Box with Android and the suffix “W” should only serve to distinguish the destination for a different software platform. We do not exclude, however, as already happened for the Rockchip RK3288C specific for Chromebook , there may be small differences in terms of maximum frequency achievable “”

Source forced translate , Sun, 10 Jan. 16 Crystal Palm article

http://notebookitalia.it/tablet-windows-10-mobile-rockchip-rk3288w-pipo-u8t-e-best-buy-22935

tkaiser
tkaiser
6 years ago


Yep, you’re right. The only somewhat useful reference I found is from May this year and then these pretty recent commits which should at least indicate that there will be products (soon)?

theguyuk
theguyuk
6 years ago


I thought it made sense of the letter after the Soc number

Suffix

W = Windows

C= Chromebook

Plain RK3288 = Linux / Android

You yourself recent!y covered the Aaeon RICO-3288 board

Demetris
Demetris
6 years ago

Yeah is already in devices like Asus chromebooks and MiQi dev board

Skelton
Skelton
6 years ago

The info of rk3288 not selling it anymore was provided by gpd. Maybe they mean tablet boards , and not stb or chromebooks. Maybe that rk3288w is for that kind of products (stb, develpment boards etc but not current Android tablets i guess)

Demetris
Demetris
6 years ago

i have seen no C revision, i suspect was a marketing trick. Flash any Chromebook image on your MiQi and will boot but will be recognized as veyron-xxx.
Also flash test https://forum.mqmaker.com/t/lakka-libreelec-images/740
If Lakka boots on your MiQi then is definitely an RK3288W

Yann
Yann
6 years ago

Am I the only bothered by the color switching between “A” and “Y” from the classic xbox controller? Literally unplayable.

Khadas VIM4 SBC