MediaTek is on a roll. Last week the first benchmarks of its new octa-core SoC popped up online and then it was revealed that the first devices are coming in November.

Although it’s easy to dismiss an A7-based octa-core as a marketing gimmick, it appears that a marketing gimmick is just what some phone makers were looking for. According to Focus Taiwan, eight major Chinese outfits are developing smartphones based on the MT9592 SoC.

Lenovo, ZTE and Huaweii are the biggest names on the list, but OPPO, Gionee, Coolpad and Vivo are on board as well. As many as 20 phone makers are expected to churn out cheap octa-core phones based on this strange chip.

However, production will be limited in the initial stage and it should ramp up toward the end of the year. Most phones based on the new chip should appear in early 2014.