MediaTek is gearing up to launch its latest flagship, the Dimensity 9500, later this year, and it’s set to compete head-to-head with top-tier chips like Apple’s A19 Pro and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon. Built on TSMC’s advanced third-gen 3nm process (N3P), this SoC promises a significant boost in performance. 
According to a tipster, the Dimensity 9500’s single-core and multi-core performance numbers have been revealed, showing that it could outpace Apple’s A19 Pro in multi-core tests.
The exact CPU cluster for the Dimensity 9500 wasn’t disclosed, but based on prior reports, we expect it to feature a ‘2 + 6’ configuration, with two high-performance cores clocked at 4.00GHz. MediaTek has also boosted the cache for the 9500, including a 16MB L3 cache and 10MB of SLC cache. This suggests a performance-focused design, as opposed to Xiaomi’s XRING 01, which prioritized efficiency by avoiding an SLC cache for lighter tasks.
One of the key upgrades in the Dimensity 9500 is its new NPU (Neural Processing Unit), which is expected to significantly improve performance in AI tasks. The tipster estimates the single-core score of the 9500 to be over 3,900 and the multi-core score could exceed 11,000
. While Apple’s A19 Pro might still hold the edge in single-core performance, the Dimensity 9500 could take the lead in multi-core benchmarks, which will be a major win for MediaTek.
Unlike the A19 Pro and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2, the Dimensity 9500 doesn’t rely on custom cores. Instead, it is likely to adopt ARM’s new Cortex-X930 cores, which are rumored to provide better performance than Apple’s A19 and A19 Pro. Another factor contributing to its potential performance advantage is ARM’s Scalable Matrix Extension (SME), a technology that boosts efficiency when handling complex workloads.
While the Dimensity 9500’s performance numbers look promising, it’s still too early to make definitive conclusions. We’ll have to wait for real-world tests and comparisons to see how it stacks up against Apple’s and Qualcomm’s chips. Stay tuned for more updates!