MediaTek 9500s unveiled as an all-big-core true rival to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5

While ordinary people are battling the January Blues (and the January Financial Blues after the holidays), Big Tech is full of energy, so now we have another major chipset: MediaTek's Dimensity 9500s is here.

Bold promises are made, and big numbers are cited by MediaTek; this is clearly a high-end all-rounder, a slightly toned-down chipset that should not cost an arm and a leg to get. It looks like the Dimensity 9500s is an answer to Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 (or even last year's Snapdragon 8 Elite).

By utilizing an "all-big-core" CPU design and a significant increase in on-chip cache, this new chipset aims to provide a consistent performance floor for demanding multitasking and resource-hungry apps.

Let's dive deeper.

The octa-core heart

At the heart of the Dimensity 9500s is an octa-core CPU configuration led by the Arm Cortex-X925, which reaches clock speeds of up to 3.73GHz. Rather than relying on small efficiency cores, the architecture uses a mix of high-performance Cortex-X and Cortex-A720 cores.

To manage the thermal and power demands of this design, the 9500s implements a 19MB CPU cache and a 10MB system cache, which MediaTek proudly says is the largest in its class. This expanded cache reduces the frequency of data retrieval from the system RAM, which lowers latency and improves overall power efficiency during routine operations like web browsing and app switching.

Gamers' delight

For video workloads, the chipset integrates the Arm Immortalis-G925 GPU, available in 11-core or 12-core configurations.

The hardware includes dedicated support for ray tracing and Opacity Micromap (OMM) technology, which improves the precision of lighting and shadows in mobile games. To address the issue of thermal throttling during long sessions, the 9500s employs Adaptive Gaming Technology 3.0 and Frame Rate Converter 3.0.

This should manage power consumption dynamically, allowing for sustained frame rates of up to 120 FPS in standard high-end titles and reaching up to 165 FPS in optimized esports scenarios.

AI that doesn't rely completely on cloud processing

The onboard Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is specifically tuned for the current demands of "Agentic AI" and generative models.

Key features include Speculative Decoding+, which enhances the speed and accuracy of AI-driven tasks, and hardware-level support for real-time document summarization and meeting transcriptions.

The unit also enables generative AI video creation and advanced photo editing, such as object removal, without relying on cloud processing.

Camera goodies

The Imagiq ISP (Image Signal Processor) supports 18-bit RAW capture and sensors up to 320MP. It is designed for high-motion environments, featuring 30fps focus tracking to keep moving subjects sharp.

For video, the chip can encode 8K footage at 30fps and decode up to 8K at 60fps, supporting standards like Dolby Vision and portrait bokeh effects. It is also designed for modern hardware trends, featuring a tri-port MIPI interface to support the unique display requirements of trifold devices.

Connectivity is handled by a 5G Release-17 modem capable of 7Gbps downlink speeds. A notable inclusion is the support for Wi-Fi 7 with Xtra Range 3.0, which should improve signal stability through physical barriers like walls and floors.

The overall benefit

This chipset is built for the crowd that wants flagship muscle without paying that "top-shelf" tax.

It looks like a perfect choice for power users and gamers who need their phone to stay cool and fast during a heavy grind, thanks to all that extra cache and smart thermal management.

Content creators and photo junkies will also find a lot to love here, especially with the AI tools that let you edit 8K video and scrub objects out of shots right on the device.

The Dimensity 9500s might arrive first on the Redmi Turbo 5 Max, so stay tuned for further observations and in-depth information about it.