MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 AP delivers single-core performance 30% higher than its predecessor

When MediaTek announced the Dimensity 9300 last year, the world’s top supplier of application processors for smartphones was rolling the dice. That’s because it was the first chipset made for smartphones that used all big CPU cores and contained no small cores. The configuration of the chip includes four super Cortex-X4 CPU cores and four efficiency-performance  Cortex-A720 processors. Note the absence of efficiency CPU cores like the Cortex-A520.

The Dimensity 9400 chipset will feature one Cortex-X5 super CPU core running up to 3.4GHz, three Cortex-X4 super CPU cores with a clock speed as high as 2.96GHz, and four Cortex-A720 efficiency-performance CPU cores running as fast as 2.27GHz. The Dimensity 9400 will also include Samsung’s 10.7 Gbps LPDDR5X memory chip (16GB) which could help the chipset’s Immortalis GPU deliver outstanding gaming performance.

Leaker reveals some internal performance data for the MediaTek Dimensity 9400. | Image credit-Weibo

The Dimensity 9400 is expected to be built by TSMC using its second-generation 3nm process node (N3E). One dark horse to look out among the current top APs is the Exynos 2500. Unlike the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and Apple’s A17 Pro, the latest Exynos chip will be made by Samsung Foundry using its 3nm node. One advantage is that at 3nm, Samsung Foundry is using Gate-all-around (GAA) transistors which have a gate that wraps around all four sides of the channel.

The GAA transistors do not leak current as much as their FinFET predecessors which cover only three sides of the channel. They also increase the drive current leading to greater chip performance. Samsung Foundry has a brief advantage over TSMC now because TSMC will also start using GAA transistors with its 2nm production starting next year.