MediaTek Dimensity 9500s: Benchmarks and Specs

MediaTek recently unveiled its flagship-killer processor, the Dimensity 9500s, aiming to bring premium performance for affordable sub-flagship range of smartphones. The processor offers a balance of extreme power and efficiency, so we decided to put the chip through its paces to see how it truly performance under pressure. We benchmarked the Dimensity 9500s on the Poco X8 Pro Max and here's how it performed.

MediaTek Dimensity 9500s AnTuTu Score

Kicking things off with the AnTuTu V11 benchmark, the Dimensity 9500s in Poco X8 Pro Max scored an impressive 2,704,498 points. The score was divided between 812,656 for CPU, 955,888 for GPU, Memory and UX. The scores suggest the processor comes very close in performance or is on par with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, which scored 2,886,527 points in our benchmark tests on the OnePlus 15R.

The DImensity 9500s is an extremely capable performer that should be able to handle anything and everything you throw at it. It's an octa-core processor with ARMv9.3A cores, including the primary Cortex-X925 core clocked at 3.73GHz, 3x Cortex-X4 performance cores and 4x Cortex-A720 cores. The CPU performance is flanked by ARM's Immortalis-G925 MP12 GPU. The 9500s is made on TSMC's 3nm process and supports UFS 4.0 and LPDDR5X RAM.

The processor performed surprisingly well in terms of thermals too. While the sections below paint a clearer picture of them, the processor's temperature peaked at 42.8°C in AnTuTu, which signals a very strong start. All-in-all, based on the AnTuTu scores alone, the Dimensity 9500s packs serious performance and has the essence of a flagship-killer chip.

Dimensity 9500s Geekbench Score

On Geekbench 6, the Dimensity 9500s achieved 2,650 points in single-core and 8,379 in multi-core. The healthy single-core score suggests the primary Cortex-X925 with a clock speed of 3.73 GHz is performing as intended. This means single-threaded tasks like app opening speeds should be pretty quick. 

The multi-core score is pretty healthy too, suggesting the processor is highly capable of handling multitasking with ease. While not as good as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 or Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, these are really good numbers for a sub-flagship processor that will arrive in phones that are much more affordable than Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 phones.

MediaTek Dimensity 9500s CPU Throttling Test

In the gruelling 15-minute CPU throttling test, the Dimensity 9500s truly shone. It maintained a throttling percentage of 76%, achieving a maximum score of 443,923 GIPS and an average score of 364,904 GIPS. This suggests that even under heavy load, the processor delivers 76% of its maximum performance.

The average score of Dimensiy 9500s is actually better than the maximum score of Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. It is because the latter is less stable than the Dimensity, which means it struggles to keep this cool. Bear in mind that this could just be a OnePlus 15R thing rather than the chipset's fault.

The bottom line is, where flagship chipsets these days plummet to below 60% under sustained load, MediaTek's approach to efficiency allows the cores to sustain higher average clock speeds without buckling under the heat.

Dimensity 9500s 3DMark Score

To get the sustained graphics performance, we ran the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress test. The Immortalis GPU delivered a best loop score of 6,131. More importantly, after 20 continuous rounds, it maintained a highly commendable stability rating of 59.1%. What this means for gamers is that the processor likely won't aggressively throttle their framerates after just a few minutes of play.

In the 3DMark Solar Bay test, which tests hardware-accelerated ray tracing, the Dimensity 9500s scored 10,937 points with an average of 41.59 FPS. In the newer, highly demanding Steel Nomad Light test, the GPU pulled a score of 2,315 with an average of 17.15 FPS. These are excellent scores for a sub-flagship processor, and imply that it's fairly capable of handling ray-traced games and shadows in them.

This means that pushing titles like Genshin Impact and CoD Mobile to their maximum settings should result in stable 60 FPS experiences. Thanks to the 59.1% GPU stability observed in 3DMark, frame drops during highly extended, hour-long gaming sessions are practically non-existent. The device does get a bit warm, but not uncomfortably hot to the touch.

MediaTek Dimensity 9500s Speedometer 3.0 score

Finally, we tested the web and application rendering using the Speedometer 3.0 score, and the Dimensity 9500s scored 19.4 points. While not earth-shattering, it guarantees a smooth browsing experience when loading heavy JavaScript or any script-heavy websites using progressive apps.

Benchmark Gallery

MediaTek Dimensity 9500s Specs

Verdict

The MediaTek Dimensity 9500s could end up being the definitive choice of most manufacturers planning to make performance phones at an affordable price. It's even more important with memory prices going up. The processor is a testament to the fact that peak numbers aren't everything, which we also noted in our Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 comparison.

While it's not as good as the top-tier flagship processors like its older sibling Dimensity 9500, its sustained performance is vastly better. By retaining 76% of performance and nearly 60% GPU stability under extreme testing, the Dimensity 9500s is arguably the better choice for power users and heavy gamers who value consistent, reliable framerates over obsessing over benchmark numbers.