Hello everyone, this post is mainly aimed at talking about the latest releases of processors from the Mediatek and Qualcomm brands, better known for their Snapdragon processors, and it all arose from a debate with the launch of the new Redmi K70 in its different versions, especially focusing a little on its Ultra version. This cell phone has the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ as its brain (CPU) and the Immortalis-G720 as its heart (GPU).
In this discussion, a person told me that the processor is garbage just because it is Mediatek and that its stability was deplorable over time in use and I started to think: Should Mediatek really be considered the best just because it is Mediatek?
I want to touch on a couple of points and read your comments on the matter.
Innovation: First of all, we are at a point where processors and computing equipment have little to innovate, we see that they try to release new processors for new cell phones that really only take a minimal step year after year or that really only focus on power. Currently, the latest SD 8 Gen 3 leading version has tremendous capacity and compatibility with practically the latest technologies on the market, its heart (GPU) is the Adreno 1000MHz graphics. Probably its best exponent is the Nubia z60 ultra leading version, but let’s see how innovative it really is, just more raw power and graphics. On the other hand, Mediatek has something that Apple has just placed in its A18 bionic and it is a section focused on local AI processing or as they call it, Generative AI Flagship Engine. And what does that have to do with whether a cell phone from 4 years ago can already perform AI tasks? Well, these processors have cores focused on processing AI locally, and you’ll see that the Pixel 9 probably has the brand of being the greatest exponent of AI on the market, but its chips do not have the capacity to work with AI locally beyond digital image processing, so they require handling multimedia content or tasks on your computer through “the cloud.”
Mediatek promises to differentiate itself by this management of technology quickly, safely and without the need for a cloud or the internet to perform the tasks you require. Will it be true?
I do want to mention though that being newer, the Dimensity has a window of opportunity in terms of compatibility with memory technology, allowing for higher clock speeds and power.
Price: Previously we thought that top-of-the-range processors could only come with top-of-the-range devices. But what has changed?
Today we have examples like those already mentioned that in my country you can buy for an approximate price of between 7-8k USD and it is starting to become possible to buy a top-of-the-range cell phone at an affordable price with good features. Ok, but what about those of us who don’t have that much money? Here things get interesting and I start thinking a lot about SD mainly, they have their ranges like Intel and AMD, the SD 6, 7 and 8 with their respective generations however I have been a little disappointed to see that if it is not an 8 without the S, your equipment will remain in a mid-range no matter what, you will not be able to play at its maximum or perform heavy tasks without seeing that at some point it will get stuck and just to give an example, the SD 7 Gen 3 which is the next range of the SD 8 and more current, will give you a performance almost equal to an SD 888 but compatible with bluetooth 5.4 and Wifi 7 and they have equipment of 350 USD. Is it really worth it?
I better go for an old high-end that has the SD 8 Gen 1, right? On the part of Mediatek, the thing is not very different unless you see that there are devices with the MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra, MediaTek Dimensity 8200 Ultra, MediaTek Dimensity 7200 processor that gives you the same potential and performance as the SD 7 range and they come in cell phones between 200-300 USD, some of these are the Redmi Note 13 Pro +, Poco x6 Pro, infinix GT 20 pro, Nothing Phone 2a, Do you notice a pattern?
Performance: I don’t want to touch on the subject of benchmarks too much, not because it takes away its validity, but because I really think there are many factors that can involve a cell phone with more numbers than another, processors are microchips that are designed at a microscopic level, a single rail wider by one micron, would involve that specific chip being able to give a slightly higher number than another in its same family.
If anyone wants to be guided by numbers, I leave you a link to the Antutu rankings, which is outdated with the release of the Dimensity 9300 Ultra
https://nanoreview.net/en/phone-list/antutu-rating
And also to the 3Dmark ranking
https://benchmarks.ul.com/compare/best-smartphones
The last case being the most interesting because you will notice that… Indeed, Mediatek is at the top… What is happening?
It must also be taken into account that the fact that a cell phone has better performance than another also has a lot to do with the manufacturer. Why does the Vivo X100s Pro give worse results than the Vivo iQOO Neo9s Pro if both have the Dimensity 9300+? Why does the ZTE Nubia Red Magic 9 Pro have better results than the Asus ROG Phone 8 / 8 Pro?
Because each manufacturer is responsible for placing software compatible with the equipment, improving the design of its equipment to allow better disipation in the cell phone, integrating internal vapor chambers or fans, we do not know. That is why I do not like the graphics, the reality is that in the top of the range we will find that none of these devices will suffer and in the mid-range, most likely we will not have problems for daily tasks and not so demanding games, both brands have good representatives in their field, so is mediatek really bad or is it just a renegade with a bad reputation?
Temperature: I’m going to get a little more technical on this one, as I mentioned, microchips are built in bulk, using large machines at microscopic levels, this is known as construction technology or architecture.
In mobile processors, chips are currently built using a 4 nanometer (nm) architecture. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, which means that each transistor or, colloquially, “rail” or “line” of communication in these processors is 4 times one billionth of a meter. The transistor must allow the proper transfer of electrical energy between the different parts of an electrical circuit to allow the correct handling of information between the components that are connected to the processor, so your cell phone is sending constant electrical currents from the processor to the other components and back.
Electric current equals temperature increase and temperature increase equals alteration of metallic components, in this case, transistors, which will make their capacity to decrease the mobility of electrical energy decrease and lose stability. Is this exclusive to Mediatek or SD 8? No, this even happens in computer processors. Cell phone manufacturers rack their brains year after year so that your cell phone does not burn up just from use, they are trying to put super computers in your pocket, the best the processor can do is protect itself after a lot of use by reducing its clock speed, cutting fluidity in the other components, so, at this point I can only say, do you want more power? You’re going to have to endure more heat. If they were to change the transistors for ones with better heating voltage, cell phones would increase their costs even more and that does not suit us hahaha there is no winner here, AMD, Intel, Mediatek, Qualcomm, Unisoc, Exynos and Tensor will follow the same line, the only one who loses is the user.
Compatibility: Here I must mention that this is where we are going to have one of the factors why many people blindly go for Qualcomm processors, it is almost certain that in terms of compatibility, having an SD ensures you have better performance when it comes to applications. You can have a super powerful Mediatek and not get the most out of the device by putting the games at their maximum power because the game does not have the same support for an SD as for a Dimensity.
And I know that this is a reality, but is it really a reason not to buy a great device like the Vivo x100 Ultra? I think not and above all, because it has been seen that although a little later, the maintenance is always given to the games and apps so that they are compatible in every way with the Dimensity processors and this is not the fault of the manufacturer since they give you a cell phone with all the complete functions and fully functional. This is a matter of developing the apps themselves, as there were not so many devices with these processors before, it was not necessary to optimize them or enable extra functions, but that has been changing and I would not be surprised if more apps were available at their full power with the following Mediatek processors, we will see it in the next reviews of the Redmi K70 and others. Point for Qualcomm, but it is not enough for a K.O. from my perspective.
**Personal conclusion**
I think Mediatek is doing a great job and this has made more and more companies have equipment with their processors, for its part Snapdragon is working on new innovations, catching up with AI and taking care of the construction of its chips.
Which one is the best for me? Easy, I have always said it and my opinion regarding cell phones, computers, processors and so on is the same.
For me the best is the one that is able to offer you the best for less cost. That is important to me and not because there are no people who want or can pay the cost of an s24 Ultra, an iPhone 16 pro Max etc. But because we see that there are devices like the Vivo x100 Ultra, Nubia z60 ultra leading version, Realme GT6, Meizu 21 Pro that come and tell the big manufacturers that their equipment is not worth the cost at which they sell it to you.
But well, that’s my perspective, I hope I’ve resolved some doubts if you’ve ever thought about this and generated more for some of you hahaha
I hope you liked the post, I did it in English because I’m interested in knowing what the English-speaking community thinks y también a los que hablamos español, leo comentarios en ambos idiomas jajaja
Greetings
