If you’ve bought a phone recently, you may not have thought too much about the chipset. But it is fundamental for the operation of the device.
Officially known as SoCs (system on a chip), they combine the CPU (central processing unit), GPU (graphics processing unit), and RAM (random access memory) on a single piece of silicon.
Most modern chipsets also include NPUs (neural processing units), specifically designed for machine learning – essentially, AI functionality and other related tasks.
And although Samsung’s Exynos and Google’s Tensor are present in some Android phones, there are two big rivals in the mobile chipset space: Qualcomm and MediaTek.
Ahead of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 launch later this month, MediaTek got there first, and the new Dimensity 9400 looks like an absolute beast. Here’s everything you need to know about the latest and greatest from MediaTek.
MediaTek officially announced the Dimensity 9400 on October 9, 2024. Although the launch took place in its native Taiwan, the chipset will be available worldwide.
Since its return to the flagship chipset space in 2021, MediaTek has maintained a very consistent release schedule:
- Dimensions 9000 – Q4 2021
- Dimensions 9200 – T4 2022
- Dimensions 9300 – T4 2023
As for when you’ll be able to get your hands on a Dimensity 9400 device, it doesn’t look like you’ll be waiting long. Oppo has confirmed that at least one of its Find X8 phones will use the chip, with the standard model (via Smartprix) due to launch later this month.
For now, MediaTek simply indicates that the first Dimensity 9400 smartphones will be available “from the fourth quarter of 2024”. Then, many more Android phones and potentially tablets will likely use the Dimensity 9400 throughout 2025 and beyond.
Along with the announcement, Oppo confirmed that it will have the honor of launching the first Dimensity 9400.
For now, all we know is that it will be part of the Find X8 series. Oppo can match what it did with the Find X7 series, where the standard model used the Dimensity 9300 but the Ultra opted for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
None of these phones have been released in Europe, but Oppo has already confirmed that it will be a different story this time around.
As for other models, we can look at the Dimensity 9300 and 9300+ devices. It is likely that their successors will use the Dimensity 9400:
According to Digital Chat Station on Weibo, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and MediaTek Dimensity 9400 are expected to see a similar price increase. While the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 would cost between $190/£140 and $240/£180, the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 would still be more affordable.
This means that phones powered by the Dimensity 9400 will likely be more expensive than their predecessors.
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
Jon Mundy / Foundry
With the Dimensity 9400, MediaTek wants to become the go-to chipmaker for flagship Android phones and tablets. And judging by the specs and benchmarks, things are going well.
The Dimensity 9400 focuses on three key areas: performance, power efficiency and AI experiences. Built on the second generation of TSMC’s 3nm process, it is also the second iteration of MediaTek’s “All Big Core” design.
This means that none of the total eight cores are what are called “SMALL” cores in the traditional “big:LITTLE” structure, found on chips including the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.
Instead, you get an Arm Cortex-X985 main core, which can run at up to 3.62 GHz. It’s joined by three Cortex-X925s at 3.3GHz, as well as four smaller Cortex-A720 cores.
According to MediaTek, this upgraded lineup delivers 35% faster single-core performance and 28% faster multi-core performance than last year’s Dimensity 9300 – a significant jump.
Interestingly, despite none of the “SMALL” cores traditionally focused on power efficiency, MediaTek claims a 25% reduction in power consumption across generations. This should allow for better battery life in otherwise identical devices, or greater capacity for intense workloads.
The Dimensity 9400 also has double the L2 cache and 50% higher L3 cache than the Dimensity 9300, allowing more memory to be retained at these faster speeds. The LPDDR5x memory itself can reach 10.7 Gbps, delivering a 25% increase in performance and a 25% reduction in power consumption compared to last year.
MediaTek
MediaTek
MediaTek
Benchmarks shared by MediaTek show encouraging results, with significantly higher scores on Geekbench 6.2 and AnTuTu.
On the graphics side, the Dimensity 9400 has a 12-core Arm Immortalis-G925 GPU – an additional core compared to the Dimensity 9300. As a result, Raytracing performance would be up to 40% faster, achieving peak performance higher while significantly improving energy savings. .
MediaTek says you can expect “super immersive gaming experiences,” including “PC-level features.”
The Dimensity 9400 also features MediaTek’s eighth-generation NPU. Among other things, it is heavily focused on improving the performance of generative AI. It features on-device LoRA Large Language Model training, enhanced on-device video generation, and developer support for Agentic AI.
The latter fits into MediaTek’s vision of a unified system spanning various applications and services, where a single command could intelligently trigger multiple processes.
There are plenty of future-proof features too, with support for the latest iteration of Wi-Fi 7 and support for tri-fold phones, with the Huawei Mate XT potentially soon joined by Xiaomi rivals Oppo and Tecno.
On paper, the Dimensity 9400 looks like an extremely capable chipset. But will it be able to beat Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in the battle of flagship chipsets? That remains to be seen.
