Flagship devices are packed to the brim with cutting-edge technology, premium design, and versatile cameras. However, the force driving this innovation lies at the heart of these devices, namely the chipset. After all, a flagship smartphone isn’t just about sleek build. It’s about setting a new benchmark by offering blazing-fast performance, next-gen features, and more.
This is where MediaTek’s expertise comes into play. As one of the world’s largest fabless companies, many flagship smartphones feature its chipsets. MediaTek dominates the Indian smartphone market by powering a whopping 54 percent of devices in the country. The numbers are even higher in the under Rs 30,000 segment, where it has an impressive 64 percent market share. With the launch of its latest flagship chipset, the Dimensity 9400, MediaTek is out to solidify its position by powering the next wave of flagships.
Join us as we take a deep dive into what MediaTek’s latest and greatest has to offer and also get a glimpse into what features the next generation of flagship smartphones will provide.
Powerful performance with the All Big Core design
MediaTek introduced the All Big Core design last year with the Dimensity 9300. With the Dimensity 9400, MediaTek has improved upon this with the 2nd Gen All Big Core design. This design is built on Arm’s v9.2 CPU architecture and integrates one Arm Cortex-X925 core, three Cortex-X4 cores, and four Cortex-A720 cores.
The chipset leverages the configuration to ensure an optimal balance between performance and efficiency. For example, for everyday use, the smartphone could use the four Cortex-A720 cores, which can get the work done while maintaining battery efficiency. However, when running more resource-intensive tasks such as gaming, the smartphone can switch to a more powerful core cluster, such as the three Cortex-X4 or even the Cortex-X925.
MediaTek notes that the All Big Core design allows for up to 35 percent faster single-core performance and up to 28 percent faster multi-core performance when compared to the Dimensity 9300.
The Dimensity 9400 supports LPDDR5X 10667 memory, the latest and fastest smartphone memory standard currently available. Developed in collaboration with Samsung, it delivers an impressive memory bandwidth of 10.7Gbps, which enables faster data transfer between the processor and memory. With this memory in place, the Dimensity 9400-powered smartphones can excel in multitasking, provide smoother app launches and more responsive switching between applications. Additionally, it significantly enhances gaming performance by reducing lag and ensuring faster load times. As such, users can experience an improvement when running demanding tasks such as gaming and resource-intensive applications.
The Dimensity 9400 doesn’t stop at raw power. The new chipset features an increase in the in-chip cache with a 100% more L2 cache and 50% more L3 cache. This large cache allows for improved performance, better multitasking speeds, and reduced latency.
Beyond the cache improvements, the chipset is built on the 2nd Gen TSMC 3nm process, allowing the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 to deliver more performance per milliwatt. In fact, MediaTek notes that the chipset can deliver 40% better power efficiency. As such, users can also expect a better battery life alongside improved performance.
Game on without breaking a sweat
For graphics, the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 packs a 12-core Immortalis G925 GPU. This is Arm’s 5th Gen GPU and offers improvements to traditional and raytraced graphics. MediaTek notes that users can expect up to 41 percent faster peak performance and up to 40 percent faster ray tracing performance. The cherry on the cake is that this performance increase does not come at the cost of battery life. In fact, users can expect up to a 44 percent improvement in power efficiency.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Thanks to new Opacity Micromaps (OMM), users can experience desktop PC-grade raytracing capabilities with enhanced perceived depth in scenes with layering effects. All this means that when users play OMM-enabled games such as Arena Breakout, they will experience more realistic effects with mass-material models such as vegetation, hair, and feathers. At the same time, the GPU will output better FPS thanks to reduced geometry rendering.
Alongside, MediaTek will also offer its HyperEngine suite of technologies to ensure a great gaming experience. HyperEngine helps channel in the exceptional performance of the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 to deliver smoother and more stable FPS while also helping to reduce the issue of overheating. This is made possible by MediaTek Adaptive Gaming Technology 3.0 and Frame Rate Converter. Furthermore, there is also Super Resolution technology that helps to improve battery life while delivering impressive picture quality to gamers.
Smart made smarter
The Dimensity 9400 SoC also comes with the 8th generation MediaTek 890 NPU, which aims to raise the bar and change the game. It’s noted as the world’s first Agentic AI engine that’s ready for developers. But that’s not all. It builds on the Dimensity 9300’s impressive on-device video and image generation capabilities and is able to deliver high-quality on-device video generation along with on-device LoRA training.
With the Dimensity 9400 processor, users can also expect improvements in generative AI content with support for long content, faster LLM speculative speed, comprehensive SLM+LLM AI models, and multi-modality. Further, the chipset is compatible with Gemini Nano, an ultra-efficient version of Google’s Gemini AI that is designed for on-device tasks.
Ultimately, users can expect an improved AI experience across the board with better digital assistants, improved autonomy, faster responses and greater personalisation. The NPU also promises better on-device generative AI, which is a far cry from traditional systems that had to rely on the cloud. This not only leads to faster results but also greater overall privacy.
Capture it all
The MediaTek Dimensity 9400 also comes with the Imagiq 1090 ISP, which is touted as the only flagship chip that can enable HDR video capture throughout the zoom range. So, quality remains stable regardless of magnification. This quality is then further enhanced with Generative AI Super Resolution that helps enhance blocky and low-resolution images with corrective fill. Everything comes together to allow for Gen-AI Super Zoom, which allows users to take crisp pictures with 100x magnification without losing detail.
But it’s not just about taking pictures. The MediaTek Dimensity 9400 also offers a great video recording experience. MediaTek promises 4K60 video recording with up to 14 percent greater power efficiency, while AI-ISP Segmentation is up to 60% more power efficient.
What you should know is that it doesn’t matter if the end-user is a photographer or a videographer, they are going to have a great time capturing the world around them. Not only that, but users will also be able to use MediaTek’s powerful video encoder/transcoder to share their captures with friends and family almost immediately.
Your window into the world
Some might argue that the display is the most important component of a smartphone. After all, one’s interaction with the device begins with the display. MediaTek knows this extremely well and has equipped the Dimensity 9400 SoC with its MiraVision 1090 suite of display technologies. The Dimensity Adaptive Vision Engine helps enable a constant visual experience when viewing videos across different ambient lighting conditions. It does so by offering support for brightness that ranges from 0 to 1,00,000 Lux. Further, the chipset also includes support for all notable HDR video formats, including HDR10+ and HDR Vivid.
The Dimensity 9400 also offers per-pixel precision OLED panel deburn-in compensation technology, which helps reduce the chances of pixel burn-in that can affect OLED displays. And if all of this wasn’t enough, the Dimensity 9400 is already prepped for the future and it can be used in foldable smartphones, including ones with tri-folding form factors, thereby reaching a whole new level of immersion.
Connectivity first
Like any modern smartphone chipset, the Dimensity 9400 offers support for 5G connectivity. Yes, it supports the latest global 5G standard and a new RFFE. Not only will it be compatible with newer 5G networks, but it will also offer more stable connectivity by reducing signal interference. Moreover, the chip also supports 5G/4G Dual SIM Dual Active, Dual Data. As if that wasn’t enough, the chipset supports advanced carrier aggregation (CA), including 5G-CA and 4G-CA, enabling faster download and upload speeds by aggregating multiple frequency bands. This gives the end user greater flexibility when choosing their network and data plans.
The Dimensity 9400 also features support for Wi-Fi 7 standards, which allows the chipset to access all three bands like 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz simultaneously. There is also MediaTek Range 3.0 which uses intelligence-optimised wireless beams to offer more stable connections. This technology now supports dual-band connections and extends coverage by an additional 30 meters, so users can expect better coverage. And those who like to connect their smartphone to a hotspot will be pleased to know that with MediaTek Wi-Fi Hybrid Power Saving Technology, users can expect 50% greater power efficiency.
The Dimensity 9400 also supports phone-to-phone direct, ultra-long reach communication that allows for Bluetooth connections between two smartphones that are up to 1.5km apart. So users can communicate without having to rely on cellular mobile services.
Bottomline
The MediaTek Dimensity 9400 represents a great leap forward in mobile technology by delivering unmatched 5G connectivity, AI-driven enhancements, and power-efficient performance. With its advanced features, the Dimensity 9400 isn’t just an upgrade — it’s a glimpse into the future of flagship mobile experiences, empowering users to stay ahead of the curve.
This is a promotional post done as part of a brand collaboration.
