MediaTek Dimensity 9500: flagship SoC — All-Big-Core CPU, ray tracing, 2026 launch

MediaTek's Dimensity 9500 is the company's flagship mobile SoC for 2026-2027 Android phones. It launches at MediaTek Summit in November 2025, with first phones (OPPO Find X9, Vivo X300) shipping in Q1 2026. It is MediaTek's third-generation 3nm SoC and the first to use an "All-Big-Core" CPU configuration — abandoning the small-efficiency cores that ARM's reference designs typically include.

This article covers the architecture, performance expectations, target OEMs, and the strategic question of where MediaTek sits in the Snapdragon-vs-Apple flagship race.

What is MediaTek Dimensity 9500?

Dimensity 9500 is the fifth generation of MediaTek's flagship 9-series — succeeding Dimensity 9400 (2024) and Dimensity 9300 (2023). It continues MediaTek's "All-Big-Core" CPU philosophy (no small cores), which the company pioneered with Dimensity 9300 and which has since been validated by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 4 also dropping efficiency cores in favor of more mid-tier cores.

Three architectural changes define this generation:

1. TSMC N3P (3nm) — refresh of N3E used in Dimensity 9400. ~10% perf/W gain over N3E.
2. All-Big-Core CPU — 1× Cortex-X930 + 7× Cortex-A720 (vs 1× X925 + 4× A720 + 4× A520 in Dimensity 9400).
3. Immortalis-G925 GPU — ARM's latest mobile GPU with hardware ray tracing v2 and 12-core configuration.

Notably, Dimensity 9500 does not move to TSMC N2 (2nm) — that's reserved for Dimensity 9600 in 2027. This keeps Dimensity 9500 cheaper than Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 (which uses N2).

Confirmed and leaked specs

Spec	Dimensity 9400 (2024)	Dimensity 9500 (2025)
Process	TSMC N3E (3nm)	TSMC N3P (3nm)
CPU	1× X925 + 4× A720 + 4× A520	1× X930 + 7× A720
CPU single-core	3,000 Geekbench 6	~3,400 (est)
CPU multi-core	9,500 Geekbench 6	~11,200 (est)
GPU	Immortalis-G720 (12-core)	Immortalis-G925 (12-core)
GPU perf (GFXBench Aztec)	165 fps	~195 fps
NPU (INT8 TOPS)	50	60
On-device LLM	1B (FP16)	4B (FP16) / 10B (INT4)
Memory	LPDDR5X, 4.8 Gbps	LPDDR5X, 5.5 Gbps
Modem	MediaTek M85	MediaTek M90
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 7	Wi-Fi 7 (320 MHz)
Launch	Oct 2024	Nov 2025 (announce) / Q1 2026 (phones)

The biggest change is the drop of the A520 efficiency cores. MediaTek's research showed that for sustained workloads (gaming, AI inference), the small cores throttled quickly and the mid-tier A720 cores performed almost as well at slightly higher power. Dimensity 9500's 7× A720 + 1× X930 configuration delivers higher sustained performance.

All-Big-Core: why it works for 2026

MediaTek's All-Big-Core architecture has been validated by Apple's A19/A20 Pro (which use a similar approach — high-performance + mid-tier cores, no efficiency cores for sustained workloads). The argument:

1. Modern process nodes — at 3nm and below, the power cost of running A720-class cores at low frequencies is manageable.
2. AI workloads are sustained — running an LLM inference doesn't have "idle" periods; the cores are constantly active.
3. Thermal headroom — phone thermal designs have improved (vapor chambers, graphite), allowing sustained high-core-count usage.

The trade-off is idle power efficiency — a small efficiency core draws less power when the SoC is mostly idle (notification checks, screen-on with no active use). MediaTek's solution is aggressive power gating of the entire CPU cluster when idle, which recovers most of the efficiency.

Immortalis-G925 GPU + ray tracing v2

The Immortalis-G925 is ARM's flagship mobile GPU for 2025-2026. Key features:

• 12-core configuration — same core count as Dimensity 9400's G720, but with better per-core perf.
• Hardware ray tracing v2 — second-gen ray tracing, supporting real-time reflections in games.
• Astc+ texture compression — better texture quality at lower bandwidth.
• Hyper-performance cluster — 4 of the 12 cores can run at higher clocks for sustained gaming.

Dimensity 9500's GPU is roughly 18% faster than Dimensity 9400 in GFXBench Aztec, but ~10% behind Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5's Adreno 830 refresh. The gap is real but not dramatic for most gaming workloads.

Hexagon-equivalent NPU

Dimensity 9500's NPU (called APU 790 in MediaTek's naming) hits 60 INT8 TOPS, matching Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The on-device LLM capabilities are nearly identical: 4B FP16 / 10B INT4. For most AI workloads (Llama 3 8B, Stable Diffusion XL), the two SoCs are functionally equivalent.

The MediaTek NPU historically lags Qualcomm in software support — fewer SDKs, fewer optimized models. MediaTek has invested heavily in Dimensity 9500's SDK, with direct support for Llama.cpp, ONNX Runtime, and TensorFlow Lite. The software gap has closed substantially vs 2023.

Phones launching with Dimensity 9500

Eight flagship phones are confirmed for Dimensity 9500 in 2026:

Phone	Launch	Region	Notable
OPPO Find X9 Pro	Q1 2026	China + global	Periscope 200MP Hasselblad
Vivo X300 Pro+	Q1 2026	China + global	Samsung HP9 200MP sensor
Xiaomi 16	Q1 2026	China + global	Value flagship
Xiaomi 16 Pro	Q1 2026	China + global	Leica optics
Honor Magic 7 Pro	Q1 2026	Global	1-inch Sony LYT-900 main
Honor Magic 7 Ultimate	Q1 2026	China	Periscope 200MP
Vivo X300 Pro	Q1 2026	China + global	ZEISS optics
OPPO Find X9	Q1 2026	China + global	Vanilla sibling to Pro

Notably, Samsung Galaxy S27 does NOT use Dimensity 9500 — it uses Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 exclusively. The MediaTek customer base is OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi (value tier), and Honor.

Comparison: Dimensity 9500 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Metric	MediaTek Dimensity 9500	Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
Process	TSMC N3P (3nm)	TSMC N2 (2nm)
Single-core	~3,400	~3,700
Multi-core	~11,200	~11,500
GPU (GFXBench Aztec)	~195 fps	~220 fps
NPU (INT8 TOPS)	60	60
Memory bandwidth	77 GB/s	77 GB/s
Modem	MediaTek M90 (external)	Snapdragon X85 (integrated)
OEM adoption	OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, Honor	Samsung, Google, OnePlus, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, Honor
Price (SoC)	~$80-100 (est)	~$150-180 (est)

Dimensity 9500 trails Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 by ~10% on single-core and GPU, but the SoC is ~40-50% cheaper. This is the central trade-off: MediaTek offers near-flagship performance at a meaningful price discount.

Comparison: Dimensity 9500 vs Apple A20 Pro

Metric	Dimensity 9500	Apple A20 Pro
Process	TSMC N3P (3nm)	TSMC N2 (2nm)
Single-core	~3,400	~3,800-4,000
Multi-core	~11,200	~9,500-10,000
GPU (GFXBench Aztec)	~195 fps	~260 fps
NPU (INT8 TOPS)	60	38 (Apple)

Apple's A20 Pro leads on single-core (~12% faster) and GPU (~33% faster). Dimensity 9500 leads on multi-core (~18% faster) and NPU TOPS. Apple is on 2nm; MediaTek is on 3nm. The next-generation Dimensity 9600 (2027, 2nm) will close the process gap.

Strategic position

MediaTek's flagship strategy is value-flagship: deliver 90% of Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5's performance at 50% of the SoC cost, and let OEMs price their phones 15-25% below Snapdragon equivalents.

Counterpoint Research estimates MediaTek's flagship market share grew from 18% (2023) to 32% (2025), driven by Chinese OEMs (OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, Honor) using Dimensity for value-flagship SKUs while reserving Snapdragon for the ultra-premium tier.

The 2026-2027 challenge: Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is on 2nm, but Dimensity 9500 is on 3nm. For the first time since 2022, there's a real process node gap. If Qualcomm's perf/W advantage from 2nm is meaningful (likely 15-20%), Dimensity's value proposition narrows. Dimensity 9600 (2027) will close the gap.

What to watch

1. Dimensity 9500 first benchmarks (Q4 2025) — MediaTek's claims of "Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 parity" need independent verification.
2. OPPO Find X9 launch (Q1 2026) — first phone to ship, will set the bar for thermal sustained performance.
3. Dimensity 9600 architecture disclosure (Q4 2026) — MediaTek's 2nm design will determine if the company can sustain the value-flagship play vs 2nm Snapdragon.
4. NPU ecosystem maturity — Dimensity 9500's 60 TOPS is competitive on paper, but real-world AI app availability (vs Snapdragon's wider SDK support) determines user experience.

For buyers, Dimensity 9500 is the right choice for value-flagship Android phones in 2026. The performance gap vs Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is real but small; the price savings (typically $100-200 on a phone) is meaningful. For users who want the absolute best Android phone performance, Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 remains the choice.

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Bottom line: MediaTek Dimensity 9500 is a credible flagship mobile SoC for 2026, with All-Big-Core CPU architecture delivering near-Snapdragon-8-Elite-Gen-5 multi-core performance at ~50% of the SoC cost. It ships in 8+ flagship phones from OPPO, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor in Q1 2026. The process node gap (3nm vs 2nm) is real but the value proposition holds. Dimensity 9600 in 2027 will close the gap further.