In September 2025, the Android camp will usher in a new round of flagship chip competition. The countdown to the release of Qualcomm's second-generation Snapdragon 8 Extreme Edition (SM8850, also known as Snapdragon 8 Elite 2) and MediaTek's Dimensity 9500 has begun.
According to currently disclosed information, both chips utilize TSMC's advanced N3P (third-generation 3nm) process technology, providing a solid foundation for balancing high performance and low power consumption.
In terms of CPU architecture design, the two exhibit different technical approaches. The Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 utilizes a "2+6" dual-cluster architecture, equipped with two proprietary Oryon Prime cores clocked at up to 4.74GHz and six performance cores clocked at 3.63GHz, continuing Qualcomm's strategy of pursuing extreme single-core performance. The Dimensity 9500 utilizes a "1+3+4" triple-cluster design, featuring a 4.21GHz Arm Cortex-X9 Travis supercore, three 3.50GHz Alto cores, and four 2.7GHz Gelas cores, prioritizing multi-tasking and optimizing energy efficiency.
In terms of GPU, the Snapdragon platform features the Adreno 840 GPU, which consistently offers advantages in graphics rendering, gaming performance, and energy efficiency, especially stable performance under high loads. The Dimensity 9500 integrates a Mali-G1-Ultra MC12 GPU and supports hardware-level ray tracing.
In terms of release timing, MediaTek plans to launch the Dimensity 9500 first on September 22nd, while Qualcomm's Snapdragon Summit is scheduled for September 23rd to 25th, putting the two companies in a head-to-head competition. The first models equipped with Dimensity 9500 may include the vivo X300 series and OPPO Find X9 series, while the Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 is expected to be launched first by the Xiaomi 16 series.
