New Delhi: MediaTek has recently announced its two latest smartphone processors, Dimensity 9500s and Dimensity 8500, aimed at powering upcoming flagship-adjacent and premium Android phones. These latest chips sit below MediaTek’s top-end Dimensity 9500 and strive to offer near flagship-grade performance, gaming features and on-device AI tools. MediaTek has not confirmed when the first phones with the Dimensity 9500s or Dimensity 8500 will launch, but Android devices powered by these chips are expected to arrive in the coming months.
The Dimensity 9500s is built on a 3nm manufacturing process and uses an all-big-core central processing unit layout. It includes: One Cortex-Z925 core clocked up to 3.73GHz, three Cortex-X4 cores, and four Cortex-A720 cores. This setup is similar in structure to last year’s Dimensity 9500, but uses different CPU cores. For graphics, the chip uses the Immortalis-G925 graphics processing unit, with support for hardware ray tracing. MediaTek stated that the GPU works with its Adaptive Game Technology 3.0 and Frame Technology 3.0 to manage performance and power use during gaming.
On the AI side, the Dimensity 9500s include the latest neural processing unit designed to handle generative and multi-modal AI models. MediaTek stated that the chip supports on-device tasks such as: Live photo post-processing, Image editing features like background removal and object deletion, Summarising calls, meetings and documents. In terms of camera, it includes: 8K video recording with Dolby Vision HDR, Real-time motion tracking at 30fps, Noise reduction and fast image capture. Connectivity features include: 5G Release-17 modem with 4CC carrier aggregation and up to 7Gbps download speeds, MediaTek UltraSave 4.0 for power efficiency, AI Network Suite 2.0 for weak signal conditions, Xtra Range 3.0 for extended indoor Wi-Fi range, Bluetooth phone-to-phone connections up to 5km.
The Dimensity 8500 is positioned a step below the 9500s. It is built on a 4nm process and also uses an all big core CPU design, with eight Cortex-A725 cores clocked up to 3.4GHz. It supports LPDDR5X memory at speeds up to 9600Mbps and uses MediaTek’s scheduling system to balance performance and power use. For graphics, the chip uses a Mali-G720 GPU; MediaTek stated that GPU performance is about 25% higher than the previous generation, while power use is reduced by around 20%. The chip also supports ray tracing in supported games. Large language models and multi-modal AI models. Image generation models, AI-based telephoto image enhancement, and semantic image optimisation for photos.
