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.

Rumors that the chipset overheated in testing were shot down by MediaTek and Vivo used the Dimensity 9300 AP to power its X100 series. The chip and the Dimensity 9300+ (with enhanced AI capabilities) helped bring more than $1 billion into MediaTek's coffers. And this will be followed up with the upcoming announcement of the Dimensity 9400 which will continue to use an unusual configuration.

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.

The Dimensity 9400 AP could also be the largest die ever for a smartphone chipset at 150mm2. And there is speculation that the chip will contain 30 billion transistors. As a comparison, the A17 Pro used to power the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max carries 19 billion transistors.

The Dimensity 9400 should be introduced before October 21st when the SoC's main rival, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 AP, will become official. Leaker Digital Chat Station wrote on social media platform Weibo that he was told by a friend that the Dimensity 9400 chipset will deliver a single-core performance 30% higher than the result achieved by the Dimensity 9300. Digital Chat Station also says that internal testing reveals that at peak performance, the Dimensity 9400 chipset uses only 30% of the energy consumed by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Power and energy efficiency combined make the Dimensity 9400 a real powerhouse.

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.