The launch of MediaTek's Dimensity 9500 kicks off the next generation of flagship Android smartphone performance figures. As always, the key benchmark for a new high-end chip is how it competes with Apple's latest offering, but what's more interesting is how it compares to Apple's previous-generation non-Pro chipset. This comparison puts the Dimensity 9500 in a direct showdown with the Apple A18 to see which processor leads the pack.
Dimensity 9500 vs A18: Geekbench Score
| Geekbench 6 CPU | Dimensity 9500 (Official) | Apple A18 |
|---|---|---|
| Single-core | 4,007 | 3,254 |
| Multi-core | 11,217 | 8,070 |
MediaTek officially unveiled the Geekbench 6 scores for the Dimensity 9500 chipset, showcasing an impressive 4,007 points in single-core and 11,217 points in multi-core tests. Compared to the Apple A18, which scored 3,254 in single-core and 8,070 in multi-core, MediaTek's official numbers are significantly higher.
Based on this data, the Dimensity 9500 performs approximately 23% faster in single-core and a substantial 39% faster in multi-core tasks than the A18. This lead is likely thanks to having two more cores and MediaTek using Arm's latest C1 Ultra performance core, which is clocked at 4.21GHz versus the 4.05GHz on the Apple A18.
It's worth noting that these figures are officially shared by MediaTek. We'll soon put the Dimensity 9500 through its pace and verify the numbers on an actual consumer smartphone.
Dimensity 9500 vs A18: Specs Comparison
The battle between the Dimensity 9500 and Apple A18 extends to their core design. MediaTek is leveraging TSMC's cutting-edge N3P process and Arm's latest C1 cores, while Apple is using its 6-core custom CPU on TSMC's N3E process.
| Specs | Dimensity 9500 | Apple A18 |
|---|---|---|
| Process Node | TSMC's 3nm (N3P) | TSMC’s 3nm (N3E) |
| CPU | 8-core Arm C1-series CPU | 6-core Apple CPU |
| CPU Cores | 1x C1-Ultra (4.21GHz), 3x C1-Premium (3.50GHz), 4x C1-Pro (2.70GHz) | 2x 4.05GHz Performance cores, 4x 2.42GHz Efficiency cores |
| GPU | Arm Mali-G1 Ultra MC12 | 5-core Apple GPU |
| Storage and Memory | UFS 4.1 (4-lane), LPDDR5X memory, Up to 10667 Mbps | NVMe storage, LPDDR5X memory, Up to 7500 MT/s |
| NPU | MediaTek NPU 990 | 16-core Neural Engine, 35 TOPS |
| Modem | MediaTek Release 17 5G modem (Sub-6GHz only), Up to 7.4Gbps peak download speed | Snapdragon X75 5G modem |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 | Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 and UWB |
