MediaTek has introduced the most recent iteration of its Dimensity flagship chipsets, with the Dimensity 9200 positioned to compete with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and seem in smartphones earlier than the top of the yr.
It’s a second-gen 4nm chip powered by the most recent era of Armv9 structure, together with ray-racing from the Immortalis-G715 GPU, together with next-gen options like help for 240Hz shows and Wi-Fi 7. With built-in mmWave 5G, it’s additionally the primary Dimensity flagship that’s positioned nicely to interrupt into the US market – although that’ll nonetheless take some doing.
Right here’s all the things you should know concerning the Dimensity 9200.
When will the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 seem in telephones?
MediaTek introduced the Dimensity 9200 on 8 November, however it’s going to take a little bit longer for it to seem in precise telephones.
The corporate’s VP of company advertising, Finbarr Moynihan, mentioned that the primary {hardware} bulletins must be made “imminently,” and in a press launch the corporate guarantees that “Smartphones powered by the Dimensity 9200 can be out there available in the market by finish of 2022.” So there gained’t be too lengthy to attend.
The chip’s large rival, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, can be anticipated quickly – it’s anticipated to be introduced at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit, which takes place over 15-17 November. Early rumours concerning the Snapdragon specs put the chips on a reasonably stage footing, however Qualcomm nonetheless has a heavy benefit relating to model consciousness and help within the US and European markets.
Which telephones will function the MediaTek Dimensity 9200?
Up to now, we’ve seen rumours of two essential smartphone ranges which might be anticipated to launch with the Dimensity 9200 inside.
The primary is the Vivo X90 sequence: whereas the common Vivo X90 gadgets are thought to make use of Snapdragon SoCs, the flagship Vivo X90 Professional+ could possibly be the primary smartphone to incorporate MediaTek’s new providing. A tipster known as WHYLAB appeared to verify this in a put up on Weibo the place he mentioned that “Dimensity 9200 can be launched by vivo X90 sequence.” The X90 may launch as quickly as December 2022, which strains up with MediaTek’s promise of the primary telephones arriving this yr.
Becoming a member of this could possibly be the Oppo Discover X6, anticipated to seem round March 2023. Whereas some rumours have advised it’s going to use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Oppo has a historical past with MediaTek. The corporate’s Discover X5 Professional was one of many first to sport a Dimensity 9000, albeit solely in China, so seeing the brand new chipset within the upcoming flagship Oppo system would make plenty of sense.
The massive query is whether or not MediaTek can construct on the gross sales of the 9000, which didn’t seem in too many flagships and struggled to interrupt out of the Chinese language market. Moynihan is assured, saying the chip must be extra “broadly out there” worldwide than final yr’s, although with one large caveat: even he admits that it “might take a while” for Dimensity flagships to go on sale within the US.
What are the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 specs?
Just like the Dimensity 9000 earlier than it, the 9200 is constructed on a 4nm processing node by TSMC, with chips based mostly on Armv9 structure. It makes use of the up to date model of Armv9 although, together with the Cortex-X3 CPU core and Immortalis-G715 GPU.
Let’s begin with the CPU. It makes use of a regular 1+3+4 design, with the X3 working because the prime core at a clock velocity of three.05GHz. It’s joined by a trio of Cortex-A715 efficiency cores at 2.85GHz and 4 Cortex-A510 effectivity cores at 1.8GHz.
How does that evaluate to final yr’s chip? MediaTek says it’s seen 12% enchancment in single-core efficiency and 10% in multi-core on the Geekbench 5 benchmark. There are effectivity advantages too although, with a 25% discount in energy consumption – which ought to assist battery life and warmth administration.
Throw in help for LPDDR5X RAM and new UFS 4.0 storage, and 9200 telephones must be fairly nippy in comparison with present {hardware}.
Then there’s the GPU. Whereas rival Qualcomm designs its personal Mali GPU techniques, MediaTek has determined to as an alternative use the Arm Immortalis-G715, the corporate’s first GPU to incorporate {hardware} acceleration for ray tracing. Ray tracing help continues to be rolling out slowly in cell video games, however the place supported it’s going to pretty drastically enhance how gentle, shadow, and reflections are rendered in video games.
Ray tracing apart, the G715 delivers loads of efficiency boosts, with MediaTek claiming it may possibly hit 32% increased efficiency than the Dimensity 9000 on the similar energy consumption.
MediaTek hasn’t but shared many concrete benchmark outcomes, however leaks earlier than the launch give us a touch of the chip’s efficiency. First up, an unknown telephone that includes the 9200 set an AnTuTu benchmark report of 1.26 million factors – nicely up on the earlier 1.12 million finest scored by a Dimensity 9000+ telephone.
Graphical outcomes could possibly be probably the most promising. Ice Universe has leaked GFXBench scores that outpace even Apple’s A16 Bionic – although since this check doesn’t use ray-tracing, it doesn’t push the Immortalis GPU to its limits. Digital Chat Station has additionally reported graphics benchmark scores, although by his numbers the 9200 lags behind each the A16 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
With such early (and unknown) {hardware} these numbers don’t imply an excessive amount of but anyway, however ought to solely be taken as tough indicators: on this case that the Dimensity 9200 ought to have loads of energy to compete with its two large rivals.
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What about the remainder of the chip? Networking is among the apparent highlights, with help for the most recent Bluetooth 5.3 customary together with low power audio, which helps with battery life, and excessive constancy audio for lossless high quality.
Arguably extra thrilling is that the 9200 is “Wi-Fi 7 prepared,” however I wouldn’t get too enthusiastic about that. The Wi-Fi 7 customary hasn’t even been finalised but, and the primary routers and different {hardware} that includes the tech are a yr off or extra. However hey, your Wi-Fi is likely to be a little bit sooner a couple of years from now with a 9200 telephone.
Then there’s 5G. That is MediaTek’s first flagship chip to incorporate built-in Sub-6 and mmWave 5G. That issues as a result of mmWave help is all-but required by most US carriers, so together with it right here opens the door for the 9200 to seem in telephones destined for the US market – one thing that the 9000 by no means managed.
The 9200 additionally opens the door to the subsequent era of telephone shows. It’s able to supporting 240Hz refresh charges for Full HD+ shows, an honest leap up from the 165Hz that’s presently the quickest available on the market. It might drive 144Hz refresh charges on WQHD+ shows too, which opens the door to increased decision gaming telephones, whereas at 60Hz it may possibly deal with huge 5K resolutions.
The opposite large improve is the Imagiq 890 ISP, which incorporates native help for RGBW digital camera sensors together with AI options that permit the ISP itself to do issues like select the topic of a photograph and separate the sky from the ocean to be able to optimise every component individually in post-processing.