Yup, it's a new midrange chipset, to replace the A12 that Rockchip never moved to bring forward once it was given to them (understandably since all Rockchip's competitors immediately leap frogged right over the A12 by going A-15/A-7 Octa-core big/LITTLE all over it).
This one swings the newest "sea of cores" technology and an even better Mali 720 GPU as the stock setup. It can pair with A-7 and A-15 in any sea of cores type configuration and it can share co-processing duties with 700+ series Mali GPU cores.
ARM's Mali is engaged in a death struggle with VR graphics, with both players taking turns improving graphics in leaps and bounds. The boys have both GONE PAST what screen resolutions you can afford to battery power and are dicing out faster frame rates and lower energy usage now.
What is interesting about the A-17 is that the partner this time was Mediatek and as per Mediatek's general way ABSOLUTELY NOTHING was said by anyone until after the trial production runs and the early vendor prototyping was completed and production samples were ready.
This explains the big silence for the last 6 months.
So, in the exact same day ARM announces a new mid-range ARM chipset and Mediatek announces a completed Octa-core A-7/A-17 big little chipset that is done and ready for sampling.
This is what Intel hates about fighting on ARM's turf -- Intel is building huge clunker chipsets that require a lot of extra hardware on the motherboard (and requires an energy nanny chipset) to do the job at all. And Intel has to loss leader the pricing, losing 15-20% on each chip to help pay for all the extra hardware.
So, by the time Intel even starts to get it right, ARM has rolled a whole new generation of chipsets that hit the disputed niche exactly with real energy efficiency and better graphics. And with full on chip integration of Wifi and 3-4G and GPS, etc etc etc that Intel simply can't do yet.
Also of note -- Mediatek has completed their 20nm fab plant, it is in full production and this new chip comes out at 20nm from the get go.
Intel is still currently working with 22nm .....
.... ouch, that's gotta sting a whole bunch.
Intel crows on and on about their technological excellence yet they just got reality lapped ON TWO FRONTS by a Chinese Cheapie guy.