Amlogic
Amlogic is an American technology company that was founded in the US as Amlogic Inc. and is predominantly focused on designing and selling SoC integrated circuits. Like most fabless companies in the industry, the company outsources the actual manufacturing of its chips to third-party independent chip manufacturers such as TSMC. Its main target applications as of 2014 are entertainment devices such as Android-based TV and IPTV/OTT set-top boxes, media dongles, smart TVs and tablets. It has offices in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Santa Clara, California.
The company was founded in 1995 in Silicon Valley. It developed Video CD player chips and later chips for DVD players and other applications involving MPEG2 decoding. Amlogic was involved in the creation of the HVD standard promoted in China as an alternative to DVD video disks used in DVD players. The company was a player in the developing Chinese tablet processor market since 2010–2013.
Amlogic is an ARM licensee and uses the ARM architecture in the majority of its products as of 2014. According to a joint press release with ARM in 2013, it was the first company to use ARM's Mali-450 GPU in a configuration with six cores or more.
Products
Tablet computer SoC
AML8726 family
- Amlogic AML8726-M Legacy single core ARM Cortex A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-400 GPU released in 2011, with a 16-bit DRAM interface and manufactured on a 65 nm process.
- Amlogic AML8726-M3 Legacy single-core ARM Cortex A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-400 GPU, released in 2012, with a 16-bit DRAM interface and manufactured on a 45 nm process.
- Amlogic MX Dual-core ARM Cortex A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-400 MP2 GPU, released in 2012 on a 40 nm process.
M8 family (announced 2013)
- Amlogic M802 Quad-core ARM Cortex A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-450 MP6 GPU running at 600 MHz. Supports 4 GB DRAM and 4K2K display output. 64-bit DRAM interface, manufactured on a 28 nm HPM process.
- Amlogic M801 Similar to M802 but with DRAM limited to 2 GB and display output limited to 1080p.
- Amlogic M805 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A5-based SoC with Mali-450 MP2 GPU in a reduced-size 12 mm x 12 mm LFBGA package.
Originally scheduled to be in production as early as the middle of 2013 in the form of the AML8726-M8, as of 2014, only one tablet has been announced using a chip from the M8 family.
A few manufacturers have shown Android TV boxes using the M802. It has been noted that some devices using the M802 may run hot and use a heatsink for cooling. This is common among other popular OTT set top boxes such as the Amazon FireTV which uses a metal shell to disperse heat, much like a heatsink would.
TV SoCs
Media player SoCs (S8 family)
Amlogic also offers SoC products specifically targeting Android TV boxes and OTT set-top boxes.- Amlogic S802 Similar to M802, quad-core ARM Cortex-A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-450 MP6 GPU.
- Amlogic S805 A low cost SoC similar to M805 with quad-core ARM Cortex A5-based SoC with Mali-450 MP2 GPU running at 500 MHz, with hardware support for HEVC/H.265 decoding up to 1080p.
- Amlogic S812 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A9-based SoC with ARM Mali-450 MP6 GPU running at 600 MHz with hardware support for HEVC/H.265 decoding up to 4K.
Media player SoCs (S9 family)
First 64-bit Amlogic Products lineup.- Amlogic S905 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53-based SoC with a Mali-450 MP3 GPU running at 750 MHz, supports hardware decoding up to 4K@60fps for multiple formats including H.265 10-bit, H.264, AVS+.
- Amlogic S905X Similar to S905 except it supports up to 4K@60fps VP9 profile-2 hardware decoding, HDR, HDMI 2.0a and having a built-in DAC.
- Amlogic S905L Similar to S905X except it supports HDMI 2.0b but lack VP9 decoding, camera interface and TS inputs.
- Amlogic S905D Similar to S905X except it supports DVP interface.
- Amlogic S905W A low cost variant of the S905X, it supports video decoding only up to 4K@30fps.
- Amlogic S905Z Similar to S905X, but no more details known about it, used in the third generation Amazon Fire TV and the Fire TV Cube.
- Amlogic S912 Octa-core ARM Cortex-A53-based SoC with a Mali-T820 MP3 GPU running at 600 MHz.
- Amlogic S805X A low cost version of S905X SoC with 1.2 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A53-based SoC with a Mali-450 MP3 GPU, with hardware support for HEVC/H.265/VP9 decoding up to 1080p.
S905X was scheduled to be released in Q1 2016 while S905D and S912 were scheduled for Q2 2016. All three of the SoCs have Android Marshmallow and Buildroot Linux SDKs released.
| S905L | S905X | S905D | S912 | |
| Process | 28 nm HKMG | 28 nm HKMG | 28 nm HKMG | 28 nm HKMG |
| CPU | Quad-core Cortex-A53 | Quad-core Cortex-A53 | Quad-core Cortex-A53 | Octa-core Cortex-A53 |
| GPU | Mali-450 OpenGL ES 2.0 | Mali-450 OpenGL ES 2.0 | Mali-450 OpenGL ES 2.0 | Mali-T820 MP3 OpenGL ES 3.1 |
| SDRAM | DDR3/4, LPDDR2/3 | DDR3/4, LPDDR2/3 | DDR3/4, LPDDR2/3 | DDR3/4, LPDDR2/3 |
| Storage | NAND flash eMMC 5.0, SD, NOR flash | NAND Flash eMMC 5.0, SD, NOR Flash | NAND Flash eMMC 5.0, SD, NOR Flash | NAND Flash eMMC 5.0, SD, NOR Flash |
| USB | 2.0*2 | 2.0*2 | 2.0*2 | 2.0*3 |
| Video Decoding | 4Kp60 10-bit H.265 4Kp30 H.264 | 4Kp60 10-bit H.265 4Kp60 VP9 Profile2 4Kp30 H.264 | 4Kp60 10-bit H.265 4Kp60 VP9 Profile2 4Kp30 H.264 | 4Kp60 10-bit H.265 4Kp60 VP9 Profile2 4Kp30 H.264 |
| Video Encoding | 1080p60 H.264 | 1080p60 H.264 | 1080p60 H.264 | 1080p60 H.265/H.264 |
| Video Output | HDMI 2.0b/HDCP 2.2 CVBS | HDMI 2.0b/HDCP 2.2 CVBS | HDMI 2.0b/HDCP 2.2 CVBS, RGB | HDMI 2.0b/HDCP 2.2 CVBS, RGB |
| Video Input | / | / | TS in, DVP | TS in, DVP |
| Ethernet | 10/100M MAC+PHY | 10/100M MAC+PHY | 10/100/1000 RGMII 10/100M MAC+PHY | 10/100/1000 RGMII 10/100M MAC+PHY |
| Audio Output | Stereo DACs I2S, SPDIF, DMIC | Stereo DACs I2S, SPDIF, DMIC | Stereo DACs I2S, SPDIF, DMIC | Stereo DACs I2S, SPDIF, DMIC |
| HDR | HDR 10, HLG | HDR 10, HLG | HDR 10, HLG | Dolby Vision, HDR 10, HLG |
| Application | IPTV | TMALL M17 / Xiaomi box 3S / Skyworth&JBL CINEMA STV215 / HF 10 / ATV195X / ZTE B860H / PPBOX P1 / Amazon Fire TV | Rokid Pebble / | TMALL M16S / TMALL 3Pro / Raven-H / Phicomm T1 / JJ box |
Media player SoCs (S9 family gen 2)
At IBC 2018 Amlogic showed to the public for the first time their second generation SoCs for media players on reference boards running Android TV 9.- Amlogic S905X2 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53-based SoC with a Mali-G31 MP2 "Dvalin" GPU and adds to the first generation SoCs support to HDMI 2.1 at 4k60 and to the HDR formats of Dolby vision and TCH Prime.
- Amlogic S905Y2 Silmilar to the S905X2, built for smaller HDMI dongles and because of that it loses some features like Ethernet, DVP interface, CVBS.
- Amlogic S922X Quad-core ARM Cortex-A73+Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A53-based SoC with a Mali-G52 MP4 GPU.
| S905X2 | S905Y2 | S922X | |
| CPU Process | 12 nm | 12 nm | 12 nm |
| CPU | Quad-core Cortex-A53 | Quad-core Cortex-A53 | Quad-core Cortex-A73+Dual-Core CortexA53 |
| GPU | Mali-G31 MP2 Vulkan 1.0, OpenGL ES 3.2 | Mali-G31 MP2 Vulkan 1.0, OpenGL ES 3.2 | Mali-G52 MP4 Vulkan 1.0, OpenGL ES 3.2 |
| SDRAM | DDR3/3L/4, LPDDR3/4 | DDR3/3L/4, LPDDR3/4 | DDR3/3L/4, LPDDR3/4 |
| Storage | SLC NAND Flash, eMMC 5.0, SD, SPI NOR/NAND | SLC NAND Flash, eMMC 5.0, SD, SPI NOR/NAND | SLC/MLC/TLC NAND Flash, eMMC 5.0, SDSC/SDXC/SDHC/SDIO, SPI NOR/NAND |
| USB | 3.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 |
| Video Decoding | 4Kp60 10-bit H.265, 4Kp60 VP9 Profile2, 4Kp30 H.264 | 4Kp60 10-bit H.265, 4Kp60 VP9 Profile2, 4Kp30 H.264 | 4Kp60 10-bit H.265, 4Kp60 VP9 Profile2, 4Kp30 H.264 |
| Video Encoding | 1080p60 H.264/H.265 | 1080p60 H.264/H.265 | 1080p60 H.264/H.265 |
| Video Output | HDMI 2.1 | HDMI 2.1 | HDMI 2.1 |
| Video Input | TS in, DVP | TS in | TS in, DVP, MIPI |
| Wifi/Bluetooth | MIMO 2T2R Wifi / BT 5.0 | MIMO 2T2R Wifi / BT 5.0 | MIMO 2T2R Wifi / BT 5.0 |
| Ethernet | 10/100/1000 MAC+ 10/100 PHY | - | 10/100/1000 MAC+ 10/100 PHY |
| Audio Output | Stereo DACs I2S, SPDIF, DMIC | ||
| HDR | HDR 10, HLG, Dolby Vision, TCH Prime | HDR 10, HLG, Dolby Vision, TCH Prime | HDR 10, HLG, Dolby Vision, TCH Prime |
| Package | 14 mm × 14 mm BGA | 10.9 mm × 10.9 mm BGA | 16.1 mm × 14.3 mm BGA |
Media player SoCs (S9 family gen 3)
- Amlogic S905X3 quad core Cortex-A55 SoC. The S905X3 has an optional Neural Network Accelerator with 1.2 TOPS NN inference accelerator supporting TensorFlow and Caffe. Arm Mali G31 MP2 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.0 and OpenCL 2.0 support.
- Amlogic S922D Quad-core ARM Cortex-A73+Dual-Core ARM Cortex-A53-based SoC with a Mali-G52 MP4 GPU. The S922D has an Neural Network Accelerator with 2.5 TOPS and 5.0 TOPS NN inference accelerator supporting TensorFlow and Caffe.
Media player SoCs (S8 & S9 family gen 4)
- Amlogic S905X4 : Mid-range SoC pin-compatible with S905X2 and -X3 processors. Adds 4k 120fps AV1 decoding.
- Amlogic S805X2 : Low-end SoC with at least 1080p AV1 decoding and unknown CPU and GPU.
- Amlogic S908X : High-end SoC with 8K 60fps AV1 and AVS3 decoding, HDMI 2.1 and unknown CPU and GPU.
Smart speakers and audio applications SoCs
- Amlogic A111 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A5-based SoC,2-channel I2S input and output, TDM/PCM input and output, up to 8 channels, S/PDIF output, ethernet 100M and RGB888 output
- Amlogic A112 Quad-core ARM Cortex-A53-based SoC, 8-channel I2S and S/PDIF input and output, TDM/PCM input and output, up to 8 channels, 2-channel PDM input, ethernet 1Gig and LVDS/MIPI-DSI panel output
- Amlogic A113 Similar to A112 except it support 16 I2S channels, 8 PDM channels.
| A111 | A112 | A113 | |
| Process | 28 nm HKMG | 28 nm HKMG | 28 nm HKMG |
| CPU | Quad-core Cortex-A5 | Quad-core Cortex-A53 | Quad-core Cortex-A53 |
| SDRAM | DDR3 | DDR3/4 | DDR3/4 |
| I2S | 2ch I2S input/output | 8ch I2S input/output | 8ch I2S input/output |
| PDM | - | 2ch | 8ch |
| TDM | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SPDIF | input/output | input/output | input/output |
| Panel | MIPI/LVDS | RGB | MIPI |
| Application | Harman Kardon allure | Xiaomi AI Speaker / Yeelight Speaker | Amazon Alexa / Sengled / Xiaomi AI Speaker HD |
- Amlogic A311X.
- Amlogic A311D Hexa-core S0C featuring 4x ARM Cortex-A73 cores and 2 ARM Cortex-A53 cores. The GPU would be a 4-core Mali-G52 ARM with support for Vulkan 1.1, OpenGL 3.2 and OpenCL 2.2. It also has a Neural Processing Unit for AI inference. The VPU supports 4K2K@60 Hz with CEC, HDR and 4K decoding h.265, VP9 and AVS2.
Other products
Amlogic also offers SoCs targeting smart TVs and projectors, including M6L, M6C, M6D, T826, T828, T866, T868, T962, T966 and T968.
Comparison table
LPDDR2/31200 MHz
VP9 4K profile 2 60fps,
H.264 4K HP@L5.1 30fps 60fps
VP9 4K profile 2 60fps,
H.264 4K HP@L5.1 30fps 60fps
VP9 4K profile 2 60fps,
H.264 4K HP@L5.1 30fps 60fps
! rowspan="2" | Model Number
! rowspan="2" | Fab
! colspan="4" | CPU
! colspan="2" | GPU
! colspan="2" | Memory Technology
! rowspan="2" |Ethernet
Speed
! rowspan="2" |Hardware
Decoding
! rowspan="2" |Hardware
Encoding
! rowspan="2" | Sampl. Avail-
ability
! rowspan="2" | Utilizing Devices
Markets and sales
Amlogic does not publish sales or financial information on its website.The company is listed as a client of several venture capital firms.
In the market for SoCs targeting Chinese tablet manufacturers and manufacturers of Android media players, TV boxes and media dongles, it faces competition primarily from Rockchip, Allwinner Technology, Actions Semiconductor, MediaTek, Intel and Realtek. Amlogic was reported to be fourth largest application processor supplier for Chinese tablets in 2012. For Q2 2014, Amlogic was reported to be the fifth largest supplier, after Rockchip, MediaTek, Allwinner and Actions Semiconductor.
Chinese SoC suppliers that do not have cellular baseband technology are at a disadvantage compared to companies such as MediaTek that also supply the smartphone market as white-box tablet makers increasingly add phone functionality to their products.
In 2011, the AML8726-M was selected as one of the "hottest" processors by EE Times China, while in 2012, the AML8726-MX won EE Times-China's Processor of the Year award.
Open source commitment
Amlogic maintains a website dedicated to providing source code for the Linux kernel and Android SDK supporting Amlogic chips and reference designs. The Linux kernel source code is freely available, and has recently been updated to support certain chips in the M8 family as well as the older MX family, with Android versions up to 4.4 being supported. However, the Android SDK requires a NDA and is only available to business partners. The source code includes Linux kernel 3.10.10, U-Boot, Realtek and Broadcom Wi-Fi drivers, NAND drivers, "TVIN" drivers, and kernel space GPU drivers for the Mali-400/450 GPU. XBMC/Kodi Amlogic S805 / M805 / S806 / M806 / S812 Android video decoding compatibility list: http://kodi.wiki/view/Android_hardware#Compatible_chipsetsHowever an effort to push Linux upstream support for the GX ARM64 lineup is ongoing on http://linux-meson.com/. Currently only the AML8726MX, S802, S805 and S905 SoC are booting headless on Linux 4.8. But S905X, S905D and S912 Headless support is expected for Linux 4.10.