The Dimensity 9200, the new high-end mobile chip from MediaTek, is the first to manage Wi-Fi 7. Intended for Android smartphones, it is above all more powerful than its competitors, and even Apple models…
Apart from a few specialists, few people know about MediaTek. However, this Taiwanese company is not really a young shoot: created in 1997, it has been designing specialized chips for years that can be found in smartphones and tablets as well as in audio-video players, televisions, routers, GPS receivers and other connected objects. Efficient circuits and, above all, cheap, which earned the company a somewhat “low-end” image. This is particularly the case in the field of mobile telephony where manufacturers generally prefer to use models signed by the American Qualcomm – in particular the famous Snapdragon – to equip their mid-range and high-end smartphones.
Only then, nothing is fixed in the pitiless universe of digital technology and semiconductors. And after years in the shadows, MediaTek has begun to rise above the ranks with its Helio range, more “modern” chips that have begun to really appeal to phone manufacturers by offering an excellent performance-power-consumption-price combination. To the point that they are now found on many mid-range smartphones on par with Qualcomm chips. But that was just the start. Because with its Dimensity family, MediaTek has entered another dimension. And its brand new Dimensity 9200 chip even surpasses all the competition, that of Qualcomm, of course, but also that of Apple. To the point of being able to seriously shake up, even transform, the market for smartphones… and laptops!
Dimensity 9200: the first mobile chip with Wi-Fi 7
Let’s say it clearly: the Dimensity 9200 combines the best that is done today in the world of SoCs – system on a chip or system on a chip, in French. This all-in-one circuit naturally combines a calculation unit (CPU), a graphics unit (GPU), a capture and image processing management module for photo and video and a connection management module . And, precisely, in the communication chapter, MediaTek takes the competition by surprise because in addition to “millimeter” 5G, essential for the future, the Dimensity 9200 manages Wi-Fi 7, the brand new wireless connection standard, which promises a speed of up to 6.5 Gbit/s. It is even the first SoC compatible with this technology, which will soon replace Wi-Fi 6. A serious asset for enjoying very high speed Internet!
In addition, it also manages the new Bluetooth 5.3 standard, which supports very high definition audio – up to 24 bits at 192 kHz –, thus promising very high sound quality. It is even compatible with Bluetooth LE Audio, this new standard exploiting the LC3 codec – which allows better quality with a lower bit rate – and authorizing Auracast, the new name for Broadcast Audio, this technology which makes it possible to send audio from one source (a smartphone, for example) to multiple compatible devices (speakers, headphones, headphones, amps, etc.). Again, these are serious arguments, especially for music lovers and audiophiles.
That’s not all. The Dimensity 9200 also includes a unit dedicated to video games, with its HyperEngine 6.0, a rendering engine that manages the famous ray tracing – for ultra realistic lighting effects – and even motion blur reduction. Even better, the GPU part supports very high definition display while ensuring very high refresh rates – Full HD+ at 240 Hz and WQHD up to 144 Hz! Clearly, we are approaching what the latest generation graphics cards for PCs offer…
The CPU section is obviously not left out. Exploiting the big.LITTLE model of the ARM hybrid architecture, already widely used on other SoCs but also on the latest Intel processors for PCs, it exploits a very high performance Cortex X3 core clocked at 3.0 GHz, three high performance cores Cortex A715 clocked at 2.85 GHz and four low-power Cortex A510 cores at 1.80 GHz. An original hybrid architecture, which promises both high power – for greedy calculations – and high energy efficiency – for less demanding tasks – in order to optimize power consumption and therefore autonomy.
Dimensity 9200: the most powerful mobile chip of the moment?
This concentrate of technologies, MediaTek was able to achieve it by relying on the know-how of TSMC, the world’s leading specialist in the manufacture of semiconductors, which works for giants such as Apple, AMD and even Intel, and which is the currently alone in mastering the most complex processes. Better still, the Dimensity 9200 benefits from 4 nm technology engraving, where Apple must be “satisfied” with the 5 nm improve for the A16 Bionic, its latest mobile chip on board the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. Ditto for current SoCs in the Android world, whether from Qualcomm or Samsung.
Beyond this technological feat, which will only interest electronics enthusiasts, it should just be remembered that this ultra-fine engraving simply makes it possible to increase the density of elementary components of the integrated circuit – the transistors – while lowering consumption. electric. It is thus possible to fit more transistors and therefore calculation units or memory cells in the same silicon wafer – this is moreover the reason why all manufacturers seek to constantly improve the fineness of engraving, synonymous with optimization.
In practice, this abundance of figures and technical characteristics pursues only one goal: to offer better performance while lowering energy consumption – a crucial point today. And if it is still too early to measure the real qualities of the Dimensity 9200 in the smartphones that it will animate – we will have to wait for the arrival of the first models, at the beginning of 2023 –, the first tests carried out with AnTutu, the reference benchmark tool in the mobile world, already give a pretty good idea of the capabilities of “super chip”. The new MediaTek champion would thus obtain a score of 1,266,000 points – 26% more than the Dimensity 9000, credited on average with some 1,000,000 points. It’s also much better than Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, Qualcomm’s currently most powerful chip, which scores around 1,117,000 points on high-end smartphones using it.
But, above all, and this is the most important, the Dimensity 9200 also exceeds the famous Apple M1, credited with “only” 1,251,000 points in AnTutu. Admittedly, the difference is small. But when we know that the M1 was the subject of a bombshell in the processor world when it was released at the end of 2021, literally crushing the traditional Intel chips that equipped Macs until then, the perspective changes radically. Because even if these first results are to be confirmed with more extensive tests, we can imagine the potential of the new MediaTek chip in smartphones and tablets as well as in computers.
SoC on PC: the solution of the future
In fact, for several years now, several players – Microsoft and Qualcomm in the lead – have been promising portable PCs equipped with high-performance mobile SoCs, both in terms of computing power and autonomy. Unfortunately, the first achievements did not convince: the fault does not lie with the chip used – special Snapdragons – but rather with Microsoft, which, despite its promises, has not yet succeeded in adapting Windows correctly to the ARM architecture of these chips. However, the example of Apple with macOS and its M1 and M2 proves that not only is the mutation feasible but, in addition, it is largely a winner. Mirtosoft just needs to get down to work seriously to finally offer a version of Windows 11 that is really optimized for this type of chip. This would allow PC manufacturers to design powerful and autonomous ultra-portable computers, even ultra-compact and energy-efficient desktop computers. Apple has even proven that by intelligently combining several M1s – as in the Mac Studio – it is possible to produce ultra-powerful machines capable of satisfying creators and gamers alike. And without having to use huge energy-guzzling graphics cards like the brand new GeForce RTX 4000 which are real power sinks…
In short, the Dimensity 9200 is not content to just put MediaTek on the front of the stage with the promise of even more efficient smartphones: this gifted SoC above all suggests a new generation of PCs, both efficient, economical and fully connected with the latest communication standards. However, it will not be the only one on the market to prefigure this development: Qualcomm must present this week the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, its very high-end new generation chip, which should also break records with its share of promises…