Mediatek just announced its flagship smartphone processor - Dimensity 9300, which will power the upcoming Android flagships like the Vivo X100. Just like Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, the Dimensity 9300 also boasts its computing and AI capabilities. On top of that, Mediatek is positioning the Dimensity 9300 as an "all big core processor," with an emphasis on performance. Here is what makes the Dimensity 9300 an all-big core processor and how different it is from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Mediatek Dimensity 9300 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Dimensity 9300 CPU core Architecture Clock speed Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 CPU core Architecture Clock speed Core 0 Cortex-X4 3.25 GHz Core 0 Cortex-X4 3.3 GHz Core 1 Cortex-X4 2.85 GHz Core 1 Cortex-A720 3.2 GHz Core 2 Cortex-X4 2.85 GHz Core 2 Cortex-A720 3.2 GHz Core 3 Cortex-X4 2.85 GHz Core 3 Cortex-A720 3.2 GHz Core 4 Cortex-A720 2.0 GHz Core 4 Cortex-A720 3.0 GHz Core 5 Cortex-A720 2.0 GHz Core 5 Cortex-A720 3.0 GHz Core 6 Cortex-A720 2.0 GHz Core 6 Cortex-A520 2.3 GHz Core 7 Cortex-A720 2.0 GHz Core 7 Cortex-A520 2.3 GHz Like most smartphone processors, the Mediatek Dimensity 9300 also has an octa-core CPU cluster. In most cases, a flagship CPU usually consists of high-performance, medium-performance, and efficient cores. In this case, all cores on Dimensity 9300 are meant to deliver high performance. The Mediatek Dimensity 9300 consists of four cores based on Cortex-X4 microarchitecture, where, a single core has a higher clock speed of 3.25 GHz, and the clock speed of three other cores are limited to 2.85 GHz. Similarly, there are four cores, based on Cortex-A720 architecture with a clock speed of 2 GHz. The CPU cluster on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has a single high-performance core based on Cortex-X4 architecture with a slightly higher clock speed of 3.3 GHz, five medium-performance cores based on Cortex-A720 architecture, with three cores featuring a 3.2 GHz clock speed, and two with up to 3 GHz clock speed. Lastly, there are two efficient cores, based on Cortex A520 architecture with 2.3 GHz clock speed. Given the clock speed of the primary CPU core, the single-core performance of the Dimensity 9300 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 should be similar. However, when it comes to multi-core performance, the Dimensity 9300 should be slightly ahead of the curve, which should help in tasks like multi-tasking and video rendering. As per the benchmarks shared by respective brands, the Mediatek Dimensity 9300 has posted 2265 and 7995 on Geekbench 6.2 single-core and multi-core CPU tests. Similarly, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has posted 2203 points on single-core and 7492 points on multi-core CPU benchmark. This indicates that the Mediatek Dimensity 9300 is more powerful than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the multi-core performance. While the MediaTek Dimensity 9300 might have an advantage over Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in terms of performance, the two efficient cores, based on Cortex-A520 architecture should give this processor an edge over Dimensity 9300 in terms of power efficiency, and a phone with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 might deliver slightly (given the other aspects of the phone are identical to each other) better battery life, especially when used for simpler tasks like social media scrolling or web browsing. Do note that the entire performance and power efficiency also depends on a lot of parameters, such as cooling solution, software optimisation, and other components like display.
