There's a new 2 nm smartphone chip on the market, and it's not the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6. MediaTek has announced the Dimensity 9600 Pro, the first 2 nm silicon from the company, beating Exynos and Qualcomm to the 2 nm finish line.
MediaTek announces the Dimensity 9600 Pro
The MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro at a glance. | Image by MediaTek
MediaTek has finally announced the Dimensity 9600 Pro after weeks of teasers on X and Weibo. The chip is built using a 2 nm manufacturing process and, according to MediaTek, offers a 61% drop in multi-core power consumption compared to the previous generation.
The Dimensity 9600 Pro uses a 2+3+3 core architecture with L2 and L3 cache, supporting the latest LPDDR6 memory and UFS 5 storage.
AI is central to the smartphone experience, and devices need greater performance, efficiency, and intelligence to keep pace with rapidly evolving user demands. The Dimensity 9600 Pro meets these demands with a Native AI architecture and dual improvement in performance and power efficiency to deliver new agentic AI experiences.
- JC Hsu, corporate senior vice president at MediaTek and general manager of the Wireless Communications Business Unit
The new chip also utilizes a clever Fusion Architecture system, basically allowing the CPU and NPU to work on different AI tasks simultaneously.
The chipset uses two C2-Ultra cores with clock speeds up to 4.55 GHz, three C2-Pro big cores at 4.35 GHz, and three C2-Pro cores at 3.1 GHz.
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On-device agentic AI
MediaTek promises to bring AI agents to your phone. | Image by MediaTek
Just like the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, the Dimensity 9600 Pro focuses on on-device AI and bringing AI agents to your phone. The chipset uses two NPU modules: MediaTek’s 10th-generation Super Performance NPU and eNPU 2.0.
This system promises a 51% improvement and a 40% efficiency gain over the NPU 990 found in the previous generation.
The Fusion Architecture allows splitting AI tasks between the CPU and NPU for an additional boost in performance. The system offers 51% higher LLM prefill performance and 55% higher token generation per watt, supporting complex on-device applications, including models with up to 30B parameters.
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Ray-tracing gaming GPU with an integrated NPU
AI is everywhere these days, so it's no surprise to find an integrated NPU inside the graphics processing unit of the system. The GPU uses a third-generation ray-tracing engine that is 18% better when running ray-traced games and adds native 185 Hz support. All this while running 24% more efficiently.
The ISP has also been upgraded, and MediaTek boasts that it's the most powerful in a Dimensity chipset ever. It can process slow-motion 4K video at up to 240 fps, run 4K 120 fps Cinematic LOG, and offer 4K Live Photo support as well.
First phones with Dimensity 9600 Pro
OPPO officially announced its partnership with MediaTek. | Image by OPPO
Vivo officially confirmed its partnership with MediaTek immediately following the chip's announcement. The Vivo X500 Pro Max will make use of the new chipset and bring specialized chip-level display hardware, along with a very powerful camera system.
The iPhone 18 Pro series is currently expected to feature 2 nm silicon, which could soon be put to the test. Most importantly, MediaTek managed to beat both Samsung and Qualcomm to the 2 nm line.
Read more news about upcoming smartphone silicon here:
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Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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