MediaTek Dimensity 9000 overview: world’s first TSMC 4nm chipset is here to power your next flagship smartphone

It’s not unusual for MediaTek to surprise us every year with its high-end chipsets, but this year is something special. For those unaware, the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 SoC has debuted with technological prowess that’s making smartphone enthusiasts’ jaws drop. Equipped with a series of industry-firsts, this 4nm silicon is now ready to power the next wave of Android flagships that will be hitting the stores in 2022. OEMs have tremendous scope for exploiting the chip’s potential and creating highly advanced smartphones that are ultra-fast and offer outstanding imaging capabilities, among other things. Here’s a look at everything that the new MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chipset brings to the table.

World’s first TSMC 4nm chipset

World's first 4nm chipset

The MediaTek Dimensity 9000 is the world’s first smartphone chip built on TSMC’s new 4nm process node. The bleeding-edge TSMC N4 process is the most advanced and power-efficient chip-making process ever. In real life, it will translate into jaw-dropping powerful performance and long battery life.

Another first for this MediaTek chip is the adoption of the ARMv9 CPU architecture. It’s headlined by the Cortex-X2 core that promises up to 16 percent performance improvement compared to last year’s model. There’s also the Cortex-A710 core, which provides up to 30 percent better power efficiency and 10 percent better performance. Then there’s the new Cortex-A510 design that delivers a massive 30 percent jump in performance and a 20 percent jump in power efficiency.

This industry-leading tech means faster clock speeds as well. The single Cortex-X2 core runs at a crazy-fast 3.05GHz clock speed, whereas the trio of Cortex-A710 cores run at 2.85GHz each. And then there are the four Cortex-A510 cores that are clocked at 1.8GHz each. All of these will combine to deliver power like never before in the palm of your hand. 

Complementing the processor capabilities is the support for LPDDR5X RAM that can go up to 7,500Mbps. The SoC also comes with 8MB L3 cache and 6MB system cache. 

Huge strides in imaging capabilities

One look at the photography chops of the MediaTek Dimensity 9000, and you know that it’s a paradigm shift. The chipset comes with MediaTek Imagiq 790, an 18-bit HDR-ISP design that lets you capture 4K HDR videos on three camera sensors simultaneously. And while you may wonder what the battery drain will be in such a scenario, MediaTek has taken special care that this process will take place with exceptional power efficiency on any smartphone that utilises this feature.

Another option at the behest of OEMs is equipping their phones with whopping 320MP sensors. Yes, you read that right. Such large sensors don’t even exist in the smartphone space at the moment. But it will happen in near future, and MediaTek Dimensity 9000 is currently the only chipset that can make this happen. Its ISP is also capable of transferring data at 9-gigapixels per second. This promises a massive leap in photography and videography for phones that come with this SoC inside.

AI brilliance like never before

5th generation ai processor

A brand-new APU has gone inside the MediaTek Dimenisty 9000 chip. It has been designed to achieve maximum effective performance in AI-powered multimedia, gaming, camera, and social video experiences. In fact, it is four times more power-efficient than its predecessor, meaning your experience will be nothing like you’ve ever seen on a smartphone. This 5th-gen AI processor from MediaTek also delivers industry-leading performance in the ETZH benchmark test.

Gaming boost with support for raytracing

While the highly advanced CPU design is sure to provide a massive leap in gaming performance, it’s the integrated Mali-G710 MC10 GPU that takes gaming to the next level. This GPU comes with a raytracing SDK baked in, which will enable developers to bring realistic lighting enhancements to their games. This SDK can be used in conjunction with Vulkan for Android, making it easier for game developers to exploit it and create true AAA gaming titles. All this means that MediaTek’s HyperEngine 5.0 will deliver serious gaming capabilities. Apart from that, gamers will be pleased to know that the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 supports 180Hz FullHD+ displays for a smoother experience.

Incredible 5G and enhanced connectivity

The 5G modem at the heart of this MediaTek Dimensity chipset is the only one in the world to support the 3GPP Release-16 standard technology. What this means is that there’s a tremendous increase in sub-6GHz 5G network performance. All in all, phones with the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chips inside them are sure to provide astounding download speeds once 5G is made available in India.

What’s more, the SoC is also the world’s first to grab 3CC Carrier Aggregation (300MHz), offering up to 7Gbps downlink speeds. MediaTek has also introduced its leading MediaTek 5G UltraSave 2.0 technology, which will ensure long battery life even on a 5G network.

Other important improvements

MediaTek Dimensity 9000 infographic

The list of improvements doesn’t end here. MediaTek Dimensity 9000 is the first chipset to bring Bluetooth 5.3 support in smartphones, bringing evolutionary changes to device performance. Furthermore, the chip’s support for Wi-Fi 6E promises up to 2X better performance efficiency. New Beidou III-B1C GNSS support is also present, aside from Bluetooth LE audio-ready technology that provides dual-link true wireless stereo audio. That’s not all, just like Dimensity 1200, MediaTek will also offer Dimensity Open Resource Architecture for its flagship chipset, allowing phonemakers to introduce customised smartphones. 

All these factors have set the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 up to be a true giant in the smartphone industry. Major phone manufacturers such as OPPO, Vivo, and Xiaomi have already announced that they’ll equip their flagship offerings with this new chipset. And we can’t wait to see how this chipset will fare in the real world.