MediaTek's 2025 flagship, the Dimensity 9500 is the first processor to pack Arm's new C1-series CPU and G1 Ultra GPU. It's expected to close the performance gap against Apple and Qualcomm in the mobile segment, but can it deliver? MediaTek already made tall claims during the launch event with exceptional numbers. So to test the claim, we have benchmarked the Dimensity 9500 chipset on AnTuTu V11, Geekbench, 3DMark, CPU Throttling Test, and more. Now, let's see how it stacks up.
Dimensity 9500 AnTuTu Score
| AnTuTu V11 Benchmark | Score |
|---|---|
| Dimensity 9500 AnTuTu Score | 3,331,723 |
| CPU | 964,510 |
| GPU | 1,330,281 |
| Memory | 395,484 |
| UX | 641,448 |
To benchmark MediaTek's flagship Dimensity 9500 chipset, we started with the latest AnTuTu V11 test on our Vivo X300 Pro. The Dimensity 9500 scored 3,331,723 points on AnTuTu V11, which is impressive, but much lower than what MediaTek claimed during its media presentation.
Even after running the test multiple times, the Dimensity 9500 couldn't cross 3.5 million points, let alone touching 4 million points as MediaTek touted earlier. For your reference, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 scored 3,740,686 points in our AnTuTu V11 test.
Besides that, the new Arm C1-series CPU achieved 964,510 points while the upgraded Arm Mali-G1 Ultra MC12 GPU delivered a whopping 1,330,281 points. The Dimensity 9500 did offer exceptional performance and it's indeed flagship-level, but it's nowhere near what MediaTek claimed.
Dimensity 9500 Geekbench Score
| Geekbench 6 CPU | Dimensity 9500 |
|---|---|
| Single-core | 3,315 |
| Multi-core | 9,914 |
Coming to the Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark, the Dimensity 9500 scored 3,315 in single-core and 9,914 in multi-core. Arm's new C1-series CPU has delivered promising performance, but the C1-Ultra core is running at a mighty 4.21GHz, so I expected a much higher performance uplift in single-core tasks.
Apple's A19 Pro, running a single performance core at 4.26GHz, achieved a mind-blowing 3,895 score on Geekbench's single-core test. Basically, the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 has a competitive CPU, but it's not the best in the market.
Dimensity 9500 CPU Throttling Test
| CPU Throttling Test | Dimensity 9500 |
|---|---|
| Maximum Score | 489,327 GIPS |
| Average Score | 323,934 GIPS |
| Minimum Score | 264,236 GIPS |
| Throttling Percentage (Higher is better) | 59% |
Now, when we look at the CPU Throttling performance, it becomes clear that Dimensity 9500 is struggling to sustain its performance under severe load. In our 15-minute CPU Throttling Test, the Dimensity 9500 throttled to 59% of its maximum performance, which is not that great. Its CPU started throttling from the very beginning and within just two minutes, the performance was down to 80%.
And after six minutes, the CPU performance stabilized at 60%. All in all, you need a superior cooling system if you want sustained performance out of the Dimensity 9500.
Dimensity 9500 3DMark Score
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test | Dimensity 9500 |
|---|---|
| Best Loop Score | 7,184 |
| Lowest Loop Score | 3,286 |
| Stability | 45.7% |
Now, to measure the graphics performance, we ran the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress test. Here, the Dimensity 9500 got an impressive score of 7,184, but after 20 rounds, it reduced to 3,286 with an average stability of 45.7%. Just like its CPU, the new Arm Mali-G1 Ultra MC12 GPU is struggling to sustain its graphics performance under heavy workload for longer. While the GPU is very potent, It's recommended to buy a phone with a great cooling system to enjoy the raw horsepower of Dimensity 9500.
| Dimensity 9500 | 3DMark Solar Bay | 3DMark Steel Nomad Light |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 14,450 | 3,179 |
| Average FPS | 54.94 | 23.55 |
Next, we ran the 3DMark Solar Bay test to evaluate the ray tracing performance. The good news is that the Dimensity 9500 delivered the best ray tracing performance on any smartphone, even outranking the Apple A19 Pro. And in the demanding 3DMark Steel Nomad Light test, the Dimensity 9500 hit it out of the park with a score of 3,179 and average FPS of 23.55
Overall, the Arm Mali-G1 Ultra MC12 GPU is a beast and currently, the most powerful mobile GPU in the market. However, it's also marred by poor thermals.
Dimensity 9500 Speedometer 3.0 Score
Finally, in the Speedometer 3.0 benchmark, the Dimensity 9500 got a decent score of 18.1, which is pretty strange. In my assessment, the CPU couldn't handle the severe load for longer and resulted in lower scores. Nevertheless, the Dimensity 9500 is powerful enough for web browsing and you wouldn't notice any issue for day-to-day browsing.
Dimensity 9500 Benchmark Gallery
Dimensity 9500 Specs
| Specs | DImensity 9500 |
|---|---|
| Process Node | TSMC's 3nm (N3P) |
| CPU | 8-core Arm C1-series CPU |
| CPU Cores | 1x C1-Ultra (4.21GHz), 3x C1-Premium (3.50GHz), 4x C1-Pro (2.70GHz) |
| GPU | Arm Mali-G1 Ultra MC12 |
| NPU | MediaTek NPU 990 |
| ISP | Imagiq 1190, 320MP image, 8K60FPS video capture |
| Storage and Memory | UFS 4.1 (4-lane), LPDDR5X memory, Up to 10667 Mbps |
| Modem | MediaTek Release 17 5G modem (Sub-6GHz only), Up to 7.4Gbps peak download speed |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 |
Verdict
The Dimensity 9500 is a highly capable chipset and a huge upgrade over the last-gen Dimensity 9400, but it's not what MediaTek claimed during the launch event. Arm's new C1-series CPU is quite impressive, but it still lags behind Apple's latest A-series chip and Qualcomm's 3rd-gen Oryon CPU cores. However, on the graphics front, the Dimensity 9500 truly stands out, delivering exceptional GPU performance that surpasses its mobile rivals.
But again, due to poor thermal performance, it loses steam pretty quickly. The bottom line is that you should get a Dimensity 9500 phone if it's equipped with a large vapour chamber and an effective cooling system to maintain consistent performance.
