What you need to know
- MediaTek's Dimensity 9600 Pro is the company's first 2nm flagship chipset, promising better performance and efficiency.
- The new 2+3+3 All Big Core CPU delivers up to 17% faster single-core performance while using significantly less power.
- MediaTek's upgraded NPU supports on-device AI models with up to 30 billion parameters while improving AI power efficiency.
MediaTek has officially taken the wraps off its latest flagship smartphone chipset, called the Dimensity 9600 Pro. And it's the company's first flagship chip built on a 2nm process.
The new flagship smartphone season is almost upon us, and chipset makers have started unveiling their next generation of processors. Qualcomm is set to announce its next flagship Snapdragon chipsets later this month, but MediaTek has beaten it to the punch by unveiling its first 2nm chipset.
Called the Dimensity 9600 Pro, MediaTek says its new chipset combines flagship performance and power efficiency with advanced agentic AI experiences. The chip features a 2+3+3 All Big Core CPU design, which MediaTek says delivers an impressive 61% reduction in multi-core power consumption.
The architecture consists of two C2 Ultra cores clocked at up to 4.55GHz, three C2 Pro cores running at up to 4.35GHz, and another three C2 Pro cores clocked at up to 3.1GHz. MediaTek says single-core performance has improved by up to 17%, while multi-core performance is up to 15% higher than the previous generation, all while consuming less power.
Of course, there's also a big focus on agentic AI experiences. MediaTek says the chipset's new dual-NPU architecture and Agentic AI Engine are designed to power the next generation of on-device AI. Its second-generation Super Efficient NPU reportedly reduces AI power consumption by up to 40%, while delivering 51% higher LLM prefill performance and 55% higher token generation per watt.
The Dimensity 9600 Pro can also support AI models with up to 30 billion parameters directly on the device, which should allow more complex AI tasks to run without constantly relying on the cloud.
There's also a larger 34.5MB cache, alongside support for LPDDR6 memory and UFS 5.0 storage for the first time. MediaTek says its new Scheduling Engine can intelligently allocate computing power and memory resources between hardware and software, allowing multiple apps to continue running smoothly in the background while using fewer resources.
Gaming is getting a significant upgrade as well. The new G2-Ultra NX GPU delivers up to 27% higher peak performance while consuming 24% less power. MediaTek says the GPU can deliver what it calls console-grade gaming on-device at up to 185fps.
For cameras, there's a new Imagiq 1290 ISP, which MediaTek says will enable more advanced computational photography and content creation features on upcoming smartphones.
There aren't any smartphones powered by the Dimensity 9600 Pro just yet, but we shouldn't have to wait long before the first devices arrive. Apple's 2nm A20 Pro has already launched inside the iPhone 18 Pro series, while Qualcomm is expected to reveal its answer at Snapdragon Summit later this month.
