MediaTek’s Dimensity 9300 has been in the headlines recently thanks to its so-called “All Big Core” design. The new flagship Android chipset doesn’t feature efficiency cores. Unsurprisingly, there are concerns about overheating issues. However, the company seemingly isn’t backing down. Its next-gen flagship SoC, the Dimensity 9400, will reportedly lack efficiency cores too. More importantly, it might outperform Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 4.
Dimensity 9400 might top Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 with its big-core design
The Dimensity 9300 has four Cortex-X4 prime cores and four Cortex-A720 mid-cores. With no efficiency cores, there were always concerns that the chip might overheat when all CPU cores were running at their full capacity. A YouTuber ran the CPU Throttling Test on the Dimensity 9300-powered Vivo X100 Pro to show that the chip relies on extensive performance throttling to keep the temperature within the safe range.
However, MediaTek refuted the claims, labeling the test “flawed.” It said that thermal throttling on phones isn’t new, though there haven’t been many documented cases of a new chip throttling its performance down to just 46% of its capacity within just a few minutes. Nonetheless, a smartphone processor isn’t usually pushed to its limits in normal usage, so the firm has a point. It appears MediaTek has faith in its new big-core chip design.
According to Weibo tipster Digital Chat Station, the Dimensity 9400 won’t have four Cortex-X5 prime cores. However, it still won’t feature efficiency cores. The precise CPU configuration isn’t known, but it looks like MediaTek has added an extra mid-core to help with thermal management. As expected, TSMC will manufacture the chip using its 3nm process node, so improved efficiency of the new process will come in handy too.
Meanwhile, the source adds that the Dimensity 9400 will outperform the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in all aspects. The next-gen Qualcomm chips will use the same 3nm TSMC process node. But if the report is accurate, it will lag the MediaTek counterpart not just in raw performance but efficiency and thermals too. This is despite rumors of Qualcomm using custom Oryon cores instead of ARM’s stock Cortex cores.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 could drop efficiency cores too
Interestingly, the same source previously suggested that the early development of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 only features prime and mid-cores in a 2+6 configuration. It remains to be seen if Qualcomm also drops efficiency cores to go head-on against MediaTek. The latter may have a price advantage as the switch to custom CPU cores is said to make the new Snapdragon more expensive. We should get a clearer picture in a few months.
2023-12-18 15:12:20