Dimensity 9300 vs. third-generation Snapdragon 8, who will be the winner?

Qualcomm and MediaTek are two of the largest chipset suppliers in the Android smartphone space, and the two companies have announced their flagship processors for 2024. Qualcomm launched the third-generation Snapdragon 8 at the end of October, and now MediaTek has launched the Dimensity 9300. Each chipset offers a different approach, but which solution is actually better? Please join us as we compare the two processors.

Comparison of mobile phone CPUs

Until recently, we didn't see the 1+3+4 layout become the preferred CPU core layout for flagship chips, but Qualcomm bucked the trend with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, whose chipset offers a 1+4+3 layout, lowering the small cores and getting medium cores.

The third-generation Snapdragon 8 continues this trend of ditching small cores in favor of mid-cores, as the new SoC features a 1+5+2 CPU layout that includes one 3.3GHz Cortex-X4 core, five Cortex-A720 mid-size cores (three clocked at 3.2GHz and two clocked at 3GHz), and two 2.3GHz Cortex-A520 Refresh cores. This means that six of the eight CPU cores are clocked at 3GHz or more.

MediaTek is more aggressive in terms of CPUs, completely abandoning small cores. Instead, the Dimensity 9300 brings four Cortex-X4 large cores and four Cortex-A720 medium cores. One 3.25GHz Cortex-X4 core, three 2.85GHz Cortex-X4 cores, and four 2GHz Cortex-A720 cores are expected. Suffice it to say, both the third-generation Snapdragon 8 and the Dimensity 9300 offer a very compromise CPU approach.

Qualcomm also brought more L3 cache (12MB compared to 8MB for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2), although the company has not disclosed other cache details. Meanwhile, the Dimensity 9300 maintains 8MB of L3 cache but offers 10MB of system cache (up from 6MB to 10MB).

What does this mean for performance and energy efficiency? It looks like both chipsets bring extremely powerful CPUs, but MediaTek's large/midsize setup suggests that the Dimensity 9300 has a performance advantage here.

Qualcomm says that the Snapdragon 8th Gen CPU is 30% faster and 20% more efficient than the Snapdragon 8th Gen. At the same time, MediaTek claims that compared to its predecessor, the Dimensity 9300 has a 40% increase in peak performance, a 15% increase in performance at the same power, and a 33% reduction in power consumption at the same performance. We will have to wait for real-world devices to see which processor offers better all-round battery life.

MediaTek goes one step further and claims that the Dimensity 9300 CPU has a better multi-core score than the third-generation Snapdragon 8. However, it doesn't reveal the single-core score, and the Snapdragon chip is clocked at a slightly higher frequency. The Cortex-X4 and more L3 caches have slightly higher clock speeds, suggesting that it could be faster in this regard.

It's also worth noting that Arm's slideshow shows that the Cortex-A720 consumes less power at minimum load than a fully loaded Cortex-A520 small core. This suggests that so-called "rush to sleep" tasks such as loading web pages or decompressing files will see efficiency gains on MediaTek chips. But we do have reservations about idle power consumption and less demanding, longer-lasting tasks (e.g. music playback, recording).

Both chips are manufactured using TSMC's 4nm process. However, MediaTek says the Dimensity 9300 is built on a third-generation 4nm process, while Qualcomm confirmed that the Snapdragon chip is designed on an N4P process. It's unclear how the two processes compare. In addition to this, MediaTek chips also support the newer LPDDR5T RAM standard, while Qualcomm sticks with the older but still fast LPDDR5X standard.

Comparison of graphics processors

Qualcomm has long been a leader in flagship mobile graphics, and the third-generation Snapdragon 8 also brings some clever upgrades. The chip designers claim that Adreno GPUs are 25% faster and 25% more efficient. The company's ray tracing feature has also seen a speed boost of about 50 percent.

Meanwhile, MediaTek's latest flagship chipset brings the Arm Immortalis-G720 MC12 GPU. This also looks like a pretty impressive upgrade, with chip designers claiming a 46% increase in peak performance compared to the Dimensity 9200. MediaTek added that the GPU also consumes 40% less power for the same performance.

Both SoCs are also introducing global illumination technology this time around. This graphic technique more realistically depicts how light interacts with its environment. Qualcomm has worked exclusively with Epic and its Unreal Engine 5 to enable this support. This means that we may see big-name games with the technology land first on Snapdragon-powered phones. MediaTek says that the Dimensity 9300 GPU is better than the third-generation Snapdragon 8 GPU, but enthusiasts generally prefer Qualcomm's GPU.

Interestingly, MediaTek stated that the Dimensity 9300 outscored the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 by 23% in the Manhattan 3.1.1 benchmark. However, this is only a test, and this statement comes from MediaTek itself. It's also worth noting that some of the more demanding apps traditionally offer better support for Snapdragon devices. For example, the open-source Turnip graphics driver used in many emulators is only available for Qualcomm SoCs.

The third-generation Snapdragon 8 supports a 240Hz refresh rate and 8K resolution, although it is only supported when output to an external screen. The refresh rate is up to 144Hz at QHD+ resolution or 4K/60Hz. Meanwhile, the Dimensity 9300 supports a 180Hz refresh rate at WQHD resolution and 120Hz at 4K resolution. MediaTek's chips also provide dual-active display support for foldable devices.

Artificial intelligence comparison

Many companies are embracing generative AI capabilities, and MediaTek and Qualcomm are no exception this time. The new chipset has upgraded hardware and features to take advantage of the next step in artificial intelligence.

Starting with Qualcomm, the third-generation Snapdragon 8's Hexagon NPU delivers 98% better performance and 40% more efficiency compared to the 2023 chip. The third-generation Snapdragon 8 also claims to support large language models (LLMs) with over 10 billion parameters and runs at almost 15 tokens per second. Qualcomm added that these improvements allow for the generation of a stable diffusion image in less than a second.

At the same time, the Dimensity 9300's APU 790 offers a 45% drop in power consumption and a two-fold performance boost. The chip also supports LLMs with up to 7 billion parameters running at a rate of 20 tokens per second.

MediaTek added that when using memory compression on devices with up to 16GB of RAM, despite its lower rate, it was not specified. MediaTek says it can power LLMs with up to 33 billion parameters, running at a rate of 24 to 3 tokens per second on devices with 3GB of RAM, but admits that this is not very useful. That being said, the company also rivals Qualcomm by providing stable diffusion image generation in less than a second.

Both brands also offer INT4 support, which allows large language models to be reduced in size to reduce their footprint. The two companies do have some little tricks of their own, though.

First of all, the third-generation Snapdragon 8 has an "on-device personalization" feature that uses your device's sensors to securely personalize the chatbot's queries. It also supports Android's underlying AI model, suggesting that some of Google's generative AI features could be coming to Snapdragon phones next year. Qualcomm added that it has also partnered with Snapchat to bring a stable diffusion image generation feature to the app.

MediaTek, meanwhile, says it is bringing hardware memory compression to the table. This will allow larger LLMs to use fewer resources. The company also said it is working with companies such as Baidu and Meta to provide support for LLMs.

Obviously, both brands bring extremely powerful on-device generative AI capabilities, but it looks like the difference may depend on the business partner. More specifically, there is no word yet on whether MediaTek's chips will support Google's underlying AI model. This would be a significant omission for global consumers looking to get on-device AI capabilities from major vendors.

Connection comparison

Qualcomm is traditionally one step ahead of MediaTek in connectivity. Over the years, this advantage has narrowed, but we still see a gap in the cellular space.

The third-generation Snapdragon 8 uses an X75 modem, bringing the features of Release 17 and being "ready" for Release 18. This means that as we enter the era of "5G Advanced", processors should be able to handle the latest and greatest network technologies. Otherwise, you can still get up to 10Gbps downlink speeds and up to 3.5Gbps uplink speeds. Compared to the Dimensity 9300, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 undoubtedly brings more advanced connectivity capabilities.

The Dimensity 9300 isn't too bad here, but it's not as feature-rich as the Snapdragon chip. Version 16 features are expected to be supported (version 17 is not supported here), as well as downlink speeds of up to 7Gbps. MediaTek says the new SoC also brings multi-link hotspot technology and claims to deliver three times faster tethering speeds compared to "competing" solutions.

In addition to that, the two chips share support for Bluetooth 5.4 and Wi-Fi 7. But Qualcomm also offers support for its XPAN technology, which allows you to use supported wireless headphones over Wi-Fi for superior coverage.

Camera comparison

Between multi-camera setups, ultra-high-resolution sensors, 8K recording, and computational photography, the camera experience of modern smartphones is virtually indistinguishable from that of first-generation mobile cameras. However, MediaTek and Qualcomm are both launching new chips to upping the ante.

Starting with MediaTek, the Dimensity 9300 tightly integrates AI chips with ISPs. This means that up to 16 layers of object segmentation (even when recording video), always-on HDR for 4K video recording, 4K/30fps bokeh video with auto-tracking, and a dedicated OIS core can be expected. A dual lossless zoom hardware engine is also obtained, which improves image quality when using crop zoom. This should be a boon given the growing trend of smartphones using the main camera for cropping zoom. Finally, we also get the "HDR Audio Noise Reduction" technology, although it's not clear if this is the equivalent of Google's Audio Magic Eraser or something less exciting.

The third-generation Snapdragon 8 is fully committed to generative AI camera capabilities, while the Dimensity 9300 completes the basics.

The third-generation Snapdragon 8 retains the same core photo and video resolution support as last year. These include 8K HDR video support and 200MP single-camera capabilities. However, Qualcomm is using generative AI to implement several camera-related functions. The most notable feature is the so-called photo extension, which allows you to use generative AI to expand the boundaries of your image (effectively shrink down). The company also showcased a video magic eraser feature (which lets you remove objects and subjects from a video) as well as video capture with a generative AI background.

There are also some more notable features, such as night mode video support (recording videos with AI enhancements at 4K/30fps and then converting them to 4K/60fps), real-time semantic image segmentation of up to 12 objects in photos/videos, Samsung's Zoom Anyplace technology, and Vlogger's view feature. We also get TruPic support for verifying images and Dolby HDR photo capture.

Both phones also support Google's Ultra HDR photo standard. This should allow for more vivid images while still using the JPEG file format for maximum compatibility.

Either way, it's clear that the third-generation Snapdragon 8 boasts some crazy features. But the MediaTek SoC has a lot of features that are not so exciting but still functional. The real question in this regard is how many smartphones will actually use all these features.

Snapdragon 8 3rd Gen vs Dimensity 9300: Which is Better?

We haven't gotten a commercial phone with these processors yet, so it's impossible to pick a winner right now. Still, we do have an idea of what to expect in some areas.

In terms of multi-core CPU performance, MediaTek looks likely to dominate, while the company's own benchmarks tentatively suggest that graphics processing power is superior to the competition. Add to that some useful camera extras and powerful artificial intelligence, and there's a lot to like.

However, the third-generation Snapdragon 8 brings more advanced connectivity features, equally powerful AI support (and better partner support), a powerful GPU that enthusiasts love, and plenty of AI-enabled camera features. MediaTek's decision to go with only large and mid-core cores could also open the door to a more efficient design for Qualcomm processors. We also believe that the third-generation Snapdragon 8 can bring better single-core CPU performance.

The Xiaomi 14 series is the first phone to be powered by the third-generation Snapdragon 8 chipset and is already available in China. Separately, the first Dimensity 9300 phone will be the vivo X100 series, which is scheduled to launch in China on November 13.