Dimensity 9500s: Specs, Pros & Cons, Alternatives

KACBU

Should I buy it?

Dimensity 9500s

CONSIDER

Current model — 7 months on the market

Great choice if these matter:

Gaming
Content Creation
Value for Money

Watch out for:

The 's' is a step below the full Dimensity 9500: lower clocks and a trimmed configuration.
MediaTek does not publish cache sizes or a TDP figure.

7 months on the market

Regret riskLOWlimited data

Main risks

The 's' is a step below the full Dimensity 9500: lower clocks and a trimmed configuration.
MediaTek does not publish cache sizes or a TDP figure.
Sustained performance depends heavily on each phone's cooling; peak scores are brief.
Appears mostly in premium-midrange phones, so software optimisation is narrower than for the top Snapdragons.

The risk level is computed from the release date and verified weaknesses. The confidence score appears only once enough owner reports exist.

Alternatives

Google Tensor G6newerCompare

Intel Core 7 350newer

This box relies only on verified specs, the release date and editorial assessment; owner reports join them as they come in. We do not predict prices.

Official Statement

What does MediaTek say about the product?

A summary of MediaTek's official product description.

MediaTek

Official MediaTek source

MediaTek unveiled the Dimensity 9500s and Dimensity 8500 together, aimed at flagship and premium phones.

Announced on January 15, 2026, the Dimensity 9500s is built on a 3nm process with one Cortex-X925 core at 3.73 GHz, three Cortex-X4 cores at 3.3 GHz and four Cortex-A720 cores at 2.4 GHz, alongside a 12-core Immortalis-G925 GPU. MediaTek presented it in the same announcement as the Dimensity 8500, positioning the pair across flagship and premium tiers.

“”

Open MediaTek's official statement

Core Structure

How many cores does the processor have?

Manufacturer's official core and architecture information.

CORE STRUCTURE

The structure decisive in multi-core tasks.

8 Core

8-core — Total Cores · 8 Thread — Concurrent Threads · 4 Performance — High-performance core · 4 Efficiency — Low-power core · Cortex-X925 / X4 / A720 — Core architecture

8-core8 Thread4 Performance4 EfficiencyCortex-X925 / X4 / A720

8-coreTotal Cores

8 ThreadConcurrent Threads

4 PerformanceHigh-performance core

4 EfficiencyLow-power core

Cortex-X925 / X4 / A720Core architecture

Frequency

How fast does it work?

Manufacturer's official frequency values.

FREQUENCY

Value that determines single-core performance.

3.73 GHz Boost

3.73 GHz — Maximum boost frequency · 2.4 GHz — Efficiency core frequency

3.73 GHz2.4 GHz

3.73 GHzMaximum boost frequency

2.4 GHzEfficiency core frequency

Power and Cooling

How much power does it draw?

Official power values that determine cooling needs.

POWER AND COOLING

These values determine the cooling budget.

—

Device dependent — Cooling solution

Device dependent

Device dependentCooling solution

Who Is It For?

Where does it stand out?

A usage guide built from the specs and the editors' tags; not a test result.

Gaming

For gaming; tagged from the display's refresh rate and the chip's class. We have not measured frame rates or heat ourselves.

Good fit

Content Creation

For creators who need professional video formats and fast transfer.

Good fit

Value for Money

An editor's tag for hardware that is well priced for what it offers. We do not track current prices; check the price before you buy.

Good fit

Editorial Analysis

Strengths and points to consider

The Kacbu editors' assessment of the specifications the maker publishes. We do not test devices ourselves, so nothing here is a measured result. Anything taken from an independent review is shown with its publication and date in the Press section.

Strengths based on the specs

Cortex-X925 prime core at 3.73 GHz backed by three Cortex-X4 cores — four large cores rather than the usual one or two.

12-core Immortalis-G925 graphics, a full flagship GPU configuration with hardware ray tracing.

Built on a 3nm process, the same class as Qualcomm's and Apple's current flagship silicon.

Around 2.44 million on AnTuTu in GSMArena's POCO X8 Pro Max testing.

Supports Wi-Fi 7 and UFS 4.1, so phones on it are not bottlenecked elsewhere.

Things to consider

The 's' is a step below the full Dimensity 9500: lower clocks and a trimmed configuration.

MediaTek does not publish cache sizes or a TDP figure.

Sustained performance depends heavily on each phone's cooling; peak scores are brief.

Appears mostly in premium-midrange phones, so software optimisation is narrower than for the top Snapdragons.

Historical Product Info

Official launch details

Instead of tracking today's retail price, Kacbu keeps the product's official launch information as a reference.

AnnouncedJanuary 15, 2026

The manufacturer's official announcement date.

ReleaseMarch 17, 2026

The start of the initial sales period.

Design🇹🇼 Taiwan

Manufacturing🇹🇼 Taiwan

MediaTek is headquartered in Hsinchu, Taiwan and designs the chip there; it does not run its own fabs — Dimensity chips are produced by TSMC, also in Taiwan.

This is not the current retail price — it shows the product's historical, official launch information.

Specifications

Dimensity 9500s specifications

Click a linked value to see other products that share that same spec, and leave a comment on that spec.

General

Family

Dimensity 9000

Segment

Mobile flagship SoC

Release Year

2026

Manufacturer

MediaTek

Core Structure

Cores

Threads

Core Architecture

Cortex-X925 / X4 / A720

Efficiency Core

Performance Core

Frequency

Boost Clock

3.73 GHz

Efficiency-Core Clock

2.4 GHz

Graphics Unit

Integrated Graphics

Immortalis-G925 MC12

Power

Cooling Solution

Device dependent

Platform

Socket

BGA (SoC)

Manufacturing Process

3 nm

Lithography

3 nm

FAQ

The most common questions about this product

What the numbers on the spec sheet actually mean in day-to-day use.

How does the 9500s differ from the Dimensity 9500?

The 9500s is the slightly cut-down version of MediaTek's flagship: same core families and the same 3nm manufacturing, at lower clocks and with a trimmed configuration. In practice it lands close enough that phone makers use it where the full 9500 would push the price up.

Is it a match for Qualcomm's flagship?

On raw benchmarks it is competitive with the previous Snapdragon generation and behind the current Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, particularly under sustained GPU load. What makes it interesting is where it appears: phones costing far less than Snapdragon flagships.

Which phones use it?

Every phone in this catalogue carrying it is listed on this page, so you can compare them directly.

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