Qualcomm recently unveiled its newest flagship chipset and successor to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
This announcement came just weeks after MediaTek announced its latest high-end chipset, the Dimensity 9400, in Taiwan.
Keep reading to learn how these two mobile chipsets compare.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite has a new Oryon CPU
The Snapdragon 8 Elite is powered by a new Oryon CPU, delivering a 45% performance boost compared to its predecessor, as well as 44% greater power efficiency and, according to Qualcomm, the mobile industry’s largest shared data cache.
The 8-core CPU includes two 4.32GHz prime cores and six 3.53GHz performance cores, along with Instant Wake which prompts the cores to execute instructions immediately and without lag.
The MediaTek Dimensity 9400 also includes an 8-core CPU, consisting of one Arm Cortex-X925 3.63Ghz big core, three Arm Cortex-X4 cores and four Arm Cortex-A720 cores.
This should result in up to 35% faster single core performance and 28% faster multi-core performance, says MediaTek. The company also states that the CPU offers 40% more power efficiency.
However, you’ll have to wait for our full review to see how these numbers translate into real-world use and our benchmarking tests.
The Dimensity 9400 packs more GPU upgrades
The MediaTek Dimensity 9400 features the Immortalis-G925 GPU based on Arm’s 5th generation GPU architecture.
This 12-core GPU offers up to 41% faster peak performance, 40% faster ray tracing performance and is 44% more power efficient compared to its predecessor. The GPU also takes advantage of new opacity micromaps, reducing the geometry rendering, adding additional visual details without significantly increasing the model complexity and applying realistic effects to materials like hair, feathers and vegetation.
Meanwhile, the GPU features a range of MediaTek HyperEngine gaming technologies to deliver smoother and sustainable FPS and eliminate overheating.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite also received a huge boost to its gaming performance with the updated Adreno GPU. The GPU features sliced architecture for the first time, enabling a range of improvements including higher clock speeds, improved ray tracing, 40% higher framerates and 40% better efficiency. These upgrades can extend gameplay up to 2.5 hours, according to Qualcomm.
The Adreno GPU also supports Unreal Engine’s Chaos Engine and Nanite solutions, with the latter allowing more realistic textures and lighting in 3D environments, while Adaptive Performance Engine 4.0 support in GRID Legends will improve device efficiency.
Both chipsets are packed with AI upgrades
It’s difficult to compare the AI engines in chipsets without testing their capabilities out ourselves, but it’s clear both companies have put a lot of effort into upgrading AI performance in 2024.
For the Snapdragon 8 Elite, these upgrades come in the form of Qualcomm’s AI Engine and Hexagon NPU, with the NPU delivering 45% improved performance and 45% better performance per watt with this generation.
There’s also support for on-device personalisation and multimodal AI, while the Qualcomm Sensing Hub takes into account personal context to help your multimodal Gen AI assistant make the best suggestions and decisions for you.
The Dimensity 9400, on the other hand, features MediaTek’s 8th Generation NPU. This NPU continues to make improvements in its generative AI support, while also including support for Agentic AI for the first time.
The NPU features 100% faster diffusion generation performance compared to its predecessor, as well as 80% faster LLM prompt performance and is up to 35% more power efficient.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite supports Bluetooth 6.0
When it comes to connectivity, the two mobile chipsets are generally evenly matched.
However, Qualcomm has an edge when it comes to wireless connectivity, with the recently launched Bluetooth 6.0 standard onboard.
The Dimensity 9400, meanwhile, sticks with 2023’s Bluetooth 5.4 generation.
Early verdict
The Snapdragon 8 Elite and MediaTek Dimensity 9400 are two high-end chipsets that power flagship features on Android mobile devices.
On paper, these two chipsets appear very evenly matched but, hopefully, the differences will become clearer when the first handsets featuring the chips are launched. Keep an eye out for our benchmark results featuring the new chipsets in our reviews going forward.
