MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 is the biggest challenger to Qualcomm yet

MediaTek has a sizeable presence within the price range and mid-range segments on the again of robust releases, nevertheless it struggled to make progress within the high-end class. Even till two years in the past, most Android telephones have been powered by the Snapdragon 8 platform, with Qualcomm successfully monopolizing this tier.

That dynamic is altering slowly; MediaTek was capable of safe key design wins with the Dimensity 9200 and 9300 within the final two years, giving it a much-needed foothold on this profitable phase. The truth that it was capable of outmuscle Qualcomm to take action is all of the extra spectacular.

Part of this has to do with the {hardware} itself; whereas Qualcomm is simply now beginning to use efficiency cores all through within the Snapdragon 8 Elite, MediaTek has been at it for over 12 months, with each the Dimensity 9300/9300+ and 9400 powered completely by efficiency cores.

Doing so permits MediaTek-powered gadgets to ship higher multi-core outcomes, and that has been the case in my testing. Telephones that includes the Dimensity 9300/9300+ — just like the Vivo X100 Professional and Xiaomi 14T Professional — have among the many highest scores in Geekbench’s multi-core workloads, and whereas they nonetheless do not fairly measure as much as the A18 Professional within the iPhone 16 Professional Max, they’re higher than the rest obtainable on Android.

The most important endorsement for MediaTek’s efforts on this phase is by Samsung, which is utilizing the Dimensity 9300+ completely on its Galaxy Tab S10 sequence tablets globally. Certain, Samsung’s high-end tablets do not rack up wherever as many gross sales because the model’s Galaxy S24 sequence, however the truth that the producer went with MediaTek {hardware} in all areas — together with North America — is a vote of confidence.

It is a related story with the Dimensity 9400, MediaTek’s reply to the Snapdragon 8 Elite. The Dimensity 9400 makes use of the newest Cortex X925 core alongside Cortex X4 and A720 cores, and it’s powering OPPO’s Discover X8 and eight Professional in addition to Vivo’s X200 gadgets.

Though these gadgets haven’t got an enormous presence in western markets but, they promote within the thousands and thousands in China, and OPPO and Vivo are making some progress within the high-end class in international locations like India.

As to why a telephone producer would use MediaTek as an alternative of Qualcomm, value is probably going an element within the consideration, however most manufacturers I talked to say customizability as a giant differentiator. MediaTek affords the flexibility to tailor its Dimensity platform to specific gadgets, and OnePlus used this to good impact in its mid-range gadgets in recent times.

Rivalry is an efficient factor on this business, and whereas Qualcomm continues to be the dominant model, it is good to see MediaTek providing a platform that may maintain its personal. Vivo’s X100 Professional is one among my favourite telephones of 2024, and it’s simply as performant as the handfuls of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered gadgets I used over the course of the 12 months.

With Qualcomm going again to fully-custom designs after almost a decade, it will likely be fascinating to see how the Dimensity 9400 — which has Arm’s newest cores — holds up in real-world utilization in opposition to Qualcomm.