MediaTek said that it believes 64-bit processors “should be a fundamental for the LTE segment”, as it announced its latest product targeting the market.

The company’s MT6735 system on chip includes “WorldMode” modem capabilities, adding support for CDMA family technologies to GSM, WCDMA and LTE, to enable vendors to target operators worldwide with the same products.

Speaking at the MediaTek Executive Forum this morning in London, Jeffery Ju (pictured), general manager of the wireless communication business unit at MediaTek, said: “We were not the first people to introduce LTE in the world, we know. But we catch up very, very fast.”

“We understand that some other companies are providing the old, 32-bit chips into the LTE space for next year, but we don’t think that’s the right direction.  For LTE products, for the manufacturer and the users, they want it futureproof. They want to upgrade to [Android] L or the M-version next year, and that will be 64-bit oriented,” he observed.

While Apple kicked-off the 64-bit game with its iPhone 5s last year, other vendors have not been as quick to bring products to market. HTC unveiled a device powered by such silicon at IFA2014 in September.

MT6735 includes a quadcore application processor at up to 1.5GHz.

The chip is sampling to customers in the current quarter, with the first commercial devices set for the second-quarter of 2015.