Dimensity 9500s vs 8500: MediaTek New “All Big Core” Chips Explained
Taiwanese semiconductor giant MediaTek continues its aggressive push into the high-performance mobile market. Following the successful debut of its flagship Dimensity 9500 last September, the company has officially lifted the covers off an enhanced successor, the Dimensity 9500s, alongside a powerful new option for the premium mid-range segment, the Dimensity 8500.
Dimensity 9500s: The New Performance King?
The headline act is undoubtedly the Dimensity 9500s. Sticking to MediaTek’s aggressive “All Big Core” architectural philosophy, the new chip completely abandons low-power efficiency cores in favor of raw performance. Manufactured on a cutting-edge 3nm process, the octa-core CPU is headlined by a primary Arm Cortex-X925 Ultra core clocked at a blistering 3.73GHz.
This powerhouse core is supported by three additional Cortex-X4 premium cores and four Cortex-A720 performance cores.
For gamers, the chipset integrates the Immortalis-G925 GPU. This graphics unit supports advanced ray tracing, Adaptive Game Technology 3.0, and Frame Technology 3.0, promising console-level visual fidelity on mobile devices. In the era of artificial intelligence, the chip also packs a flagship-grade NPU designed specifically to handle generative reasoning and multi-modal models directly on the device.
Multimedia specs are equally robust. The updated Imagiq image signal processor (ISP) supports 320MP camera sensors, 8K video recording at 60fps with full-focus, and real-time motion tracking. It also supports WQHD+ displays with refresh rates up to 180Hz.
Mediatek Dimensity 8500: Premium Features for the Mid-Range
MediaTek also introduced the Dimensity 8500, a chipset designed to bring flagship-tier experiences to a more accessible price point. Built on a highly efficient 4nm process, this chip also utilizes an “All Big Core” CPU design, featuring eight Cortex-A725 cores clocked at up to 3.4GHz.
The graphical heavy lifting is done by a Mali-G720 GPU, which MediaTek claims offers a 25% performance boost and 20% lower power consumption compared to its predecessor. Like its flagship sibling, it includes a powerful NPU (the 8th-gen NPU 880) capable of running most Large Language Models (LLMs) and image generation tasks.
Connectivity and Efficiency
Both chips are packed with modern connectivity standards. The flagship 9500s features Wi-Fi 7, while the 8500 supports Wi-Fi 6E. Both offer Bluetooth 5.4, extensive global satellite navigation support (GPS, BeiDou, Galileo, etc.), and Dual SIM Dual Active 5G capabilities.
To manage the power demands of such high-performance hardware, MediaTek has deployed its UltraSave technology—version 4.0 for the flagship and 3.0+ for the mid-range chip—to optimize battery life during intensive tasks.
