MediaTek's Upcoming 3nm Chip Aims to Challenge Qualcomm's Smartphone Dominance

For years, the majority of smartphone makers who wanted to make a flagship smartphone would avoid MediaTek’s chipsets like the plague. That is because Qualcomm’s chipsets typically offer up much better performance capabilities. However, that gap could be closing. Thanks to leaked details surrounding the upcoming MediaTek Dimensity 9500, it looks like the differences between MediaTek and Qualcomm aren’t as big as it once was.

Dimensity 9500 details

According to reliable tipster Digital Chat Station, they shared some details of the Dimensity 9500 on Weibo. If it’s accurate, the upcoming chipset could come with 1x Cortex X930+, 3x Cortex X930+, and 4x Cortex A730 cores. For a bit of context, the Dimensity 9400’s setup consists of 1x Cortex-X925 core clocked at 3.73GHz, 3x Cortex-X4+ cores, and 4 Cortex-A720 cores.

MediaTek is also rumored to use the Immortalis-Drage GPU and a 16MB L3 cache and 10MB SLC cache. This is a step up from its predecessor which only comes with a 12MB L3 cache. Other features include four LPDDR5x RAM with 10667Mbps frequency and UFS 4.1 (4-Lane) storage. Last but not least, the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 will be built using TSMC’s 3nm N3P process. This is an upgrade over the N3E process used for the Dimensity 9400. Also, the N3P process is the same process Qualcomm is expected to use for its Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset.

MediaTek vs Qualcomm

So, does this mean that the Dimensity 9500 is on par with the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 for performance? On paper, it sounds like the gap is a lot closer than ever. However, real-life performance remains to be seen. Also, we’re not sure which handset makers will adopt MediaTek’s chipset.

So far, most of MediaTek’s customers seem to be Chinese OEMs. This means that it’s highly unlikely we’ll see companies like Samsung or Google take advantage of MediaTek’s chipsets for its flagship phones. We did hear rumors in the past that Samsung could go with MediaTek for the Galaxy S25 series, but obviously turned out to be false.

However, never say never. Qualcomm’s chipsets are going up in terms of price. If MediaTek’s chipsets can offer similar levels of performance but at a cheaper price, who knows, maybe one day MediaTek’s chipsets will become the new standard.

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