MediaTek’s share in the global premium Android smartphone SoC market is expected to grow from 5% in 2022 to around 13% in 2025, driven by the Dimensity 9400 and 9500 series and strong partnerships with OEMs such as vivo, OPPO and Xiaomi, with most sales remaining concentrated among Chinese brands.

The Dimensity 9000 series has rapidly gained traction, with shipments projected to rise 27% YoY in 2025, led by OPPO, vivo and Redmi in China and emerging markets like India and Southeast Asia. Strong adoption of the Dimensity 9300 and 9400, backed by competitive pricing, efficiency, and advanced AI/gaming capabilities, has strengthened MediaTek’s position in the premium SoC segment, placing it firmly alongside Qualcomm and Apple. The premium tier is defined by revenue, profitability, influence and long-term partnerships, with the Dimensity 9000 series elevating MediaTek to compete head-to-head with Qualcomm’s Elite 8 and Apple’s A-series SoCs.

Source: MediaTek

MediaTek Dimensity 9500 key specifications

The Dimensity 9500 is the fifth and latest addition to MediaTek’s flagship lineup. It introduces the new C1-Ultra core, an upgraded GPU with ray-tracing support, and AI Engine 2.0 with compute-in-memory for efficient AI tasks. Imaging and multimedia capabilities are enhanced with high-resolution capture, 4K portrait video, advanced stabilization, and ultra-dark display support. Connectivity is upgraded with a 5G modem, AI-assisted power management, and Wi-Fi 7, making the 9500 a more AI-centric and feature-rich flagship SoC compared to the 9400.

The Dimensity 9500 also features the third generation of the all-big-core CPU design, based on the latest ARM Cortex-X1 family. It delivers up to 32% higher single-core performance and 37% lower power consumption compared to the Dimensity 9400. Also, the new SoC will offer up to 29% higher single-core and 16% higher multi-core performance, while reducing ultra-core power consumption by as much as 55% at peak performance when compared to the previous generation.

• One Arm C1-Ultra CPU clocked at up to 4.21GHz

• Three Arm C1-Premium CPUs clocked at up to 3.5GHz

• Four Arm C1-Pro CPUs clocked at up to 2.7GHz

The Dimensity 9500 features a significantly upgraded cache system to enhance performance and efficiency. Its L1 and L2 caches have been optimized per core and per cluster, while the L3 system cache has been increased by around 33% compared to the Dimensity 9400, enhancing overall performance and efficiency.

Source: MediaTek

9th-Gen NPU 990 processor

The Dimensity 9500 features a next-generation NPU architecture that nearly doubles AI performance compared to the Dimensity 9400, achieving up to 100 TOPS. The architecture is designed to efficiently separate tasks, with a powerful NPU for heavy workloads and a new, industry-first and super-efficient Compute-in-Memory (CIM) NPU for light, always-on AI models.

Source: MediaTek

The Dimensity 9500 is the first to support an integrated compute-in-memory architecture for its newly added super-efficient NPU. It supports BitNet 1.5–8-bit models on hardware, reducing power consumption while enabling on-device LLM LoRA training and processing of up to 128K-token-long texts. The NPU also leverages second-generation large-model hardware compression technology, reducing storage and bandwidth requirements, and supports the industry’s first 4K ultra-high-resolution text-to-image generation.

The Dimensity 9500 enables on-device “Agentic AI” that is proactive, personalized, collaborative and secure, delivering sophisticated AI experiences while remaining fully compatible with existing applications, particularly in flagship devices from Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo. Unlike traditional AI, which follows fixed instructions, Agentic AI adapts by reasoning and learning from its environment without human intervention. The SoC also supports GenAI applications for content creation and voice recognition.

MediaTek highlighted collaborations with Google on Gemini and Gemma and future lightweight AI models, aiming to empower OEMs with personalized, secure on-device AI. The company positions the Dimensity 9500 as not only a performance powerhouse but also the most AI-centric mobile SoC to date.

GPU-Arm Mali-G1 Ultra MC12

MediaTek introduced ray tracing starting with the Dimensity 9200 series. With the Dimensity 9500, it has introduced the industry’s first mobile SoC supporting 120 FPS ray-traced gaming. The integrated Arm G1-Ultra GPU provides new ray tracing architecture with 33% faster performance and 42% higher energy efficiency compared to the Dimensity 9400, enabling console-grade mobile gaming with 120 FPS ray tracing support.

Source: MediaTek

Note: Compared to Dimensity 9400

Compared to the Dimensity 9400, GPU performance has doubled, and as more mobile games adopt ray tracing, the gaming experience is set to become significantly more immersive.

Moreover, the Dimensity 9500 GPU supports Vulkan 1.4, a modern graphics API that allows developers to optimize performance and efficiency for gaming and graphics-heavy apps. It also supports Unreal Engine 5.5/5.6, enabling the GPU to handle advanced rendering features such as lighting, physics and ray tracing for high-quality 3D mobile games.

Enhanced connectivity and multimedia

The Dimensity 9500 features 5CC multi-carrier aggregation for a 15% boost in bandwidth. It also features multi-network intelligence to seamlessly switch between Wi-Fi and cellular for a stable connection. It supports Wi-Fi 7 tri-band concurrency with five streams for up to 7.3 Gbps data rates and up to 20% faster large file throughput. MediaTek Connect UltraSave further reduces Wi-Fi power consumption by 20% using AI traffic prediction for media streaming. These enhancements ensure faster, more reliable connections, lower latency, and improved overall network efficiency, supporting demanding applications like cloud gaming, real-time AI tasks, and high-speed media streaming.

The Dimensity 9500 boasts MediaTek’s advanced 5G modem with AI-optimized connectivity, up to 7.4 Gbps speeds, 10% power savings and 50% lower latency.

The Dimensity 9500 with Imagiq 1190 ISP delivers flagship imaging and display performance, offering 4K120 video capture with EIS, 4K60 cinematic mode, and 200MP AI-denoised photos with NPU-assisted focus tracking. Its MiraVision SmartScreen engine ensures vivid, uniform colors, high sunlight visibility, and ultra-low-light readability down to 1 nit, all while maintaining power efficiency.

Memory and storage support

The Dimensity 9500 supports LPDDR5X with speeds of up to 10,667 Mbps, similar to the Dimensity 9400. It also features the industry's first support for four-lane UFS 4.1 storage, which doubles read/write speeds and accelerates the loading of large AI models by 40%.

Dimensity 9500 vs Dimensity 9400

The Dimensity 9500 surpasses its predecessor, the Dimensity 9400, in multiple areas. While both are built on TSMC’s 3nm technology, the 9400 uses the N3E process, whereas the 9500 is manufactured on the more advanced N3P node, offering better performance and efficiency. This SoC features MediaTek’s third-generation All Big Core CPU design with the latest ARM v9.3 architecture, including the new C1-Ultra core, an upgraded GPU with ray-tracing support, and AI Engine 2.0 with compute-in-memory for enhanced AI and multimedia processing. The Dimensity 9500’s AI Engine 2.0 doubles NPU performance compared to the 9400 and adds compute-in-memory for more efficient AI and on-device model processing. It also introduces multiple AI-based enhancements – the MediaTek AI Network Suite reduces latency by 50%, MediaTek Connect UltraSave delivers 20% Wi-Fi power savings via AI-based traffic prediction for media streaming, and GNSS accuracy is improved by up to 20% with AI, compared to the Dimensity 9400.

Source: Counterpoint Research

Expected timeline

OPPO’s Find series and vivo’s X series will be the first set of smartphones to support the newly launched MediaTek Dimensity 9500 series. They will be launched in early Q4 2025.