MediaTek's all-new Dimensity 8100 mobile SoC scores are higher in some benchmark results than Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The report comes a couple of months after Geekbench 5 scores for the Dimensity 9000 showed that it was outpacing the Snapdragon flagship in both multi-threaded and single-threaded workloads. However, the Qualcomm chip still managed to outscore the MediaTek silicon in terms of their GPU prowess in an AnTuTu benchmark late last year.
While most flagship phones from top brands ship with Qualcomm chips, MediaTek processors are typically found in mid-range and entry-level Android smartphones. However, if the new benchmark results are anything to go by, Mediatek has been bridging the gap with Qualcomm reasonably quickly. It won't be a significant surprise if MediaTek chips find their way to more premium devices sooner rather than later.
MediaTek launched the Dimensity 8000 and 8100 this week, and now Geekbench results suggest that the latter trades blows with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in terms of performance. While the Dimensity 8100 edges out the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in the multi-core index, it loses handsomely to the Qualcomm chip in the single-core test. The MediaTek chip scored 3923 in the multi-core test and 969 in the single-core test on Geekbench 5, while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 notched up 3752 on the multi-core index and 1231 on the single-core test. What's even more impressive about the Dimensity 8100 is that it is far more power-efficient than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. According to a tweet by tipster Ome #Suriya$, while the Mediatek chip draws only 6.9W and 2.4W during the multi-core and single-core tests, the Qualcomm chip consumes 11.2W and 4.3W in the multi-core and single-core benchmarks, respectively.
Does Qualcomm Need To Worry?
While the Dimensity 8100 scores do not blow the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 out of the water, they are an indication that MediaTek is getting better at what it does. Qualcomm cannot afford to rest on its laurels if it wants to remain dominant in the coming years. That said, it will be interesting to see if the rumored 'Plus' version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 will get the better of the Dimensity 8100 in the multi-core CPU benchmarks, given that it will be manufactured by TSMC's superior 4nm process as opposed to Samsung's 4nm process used for the first-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
Interestingly, the device running the Dimensity 8100 on the Geekbench 5 index is listed as the Realme RMX3562, which is believed to be the upcoming GT Neo 3. For those wondering about Realme, it is a sister company of OnePlus and has already announced plans to enter the U.S. market in 2022. As for the Geekbench listing, it suggests that the CPU cores in the Dimensity 8100 will be clocked at a peak frequency of 2.85GHz, while the 4x efficiency cores will be clocked at a maximum of 2.00GHz. The Dimensity 8100 will also have the Mali-G610 MC6 GPU, although there's no new information about that since Geekbench is a CPU benchmark tool.
Source: Geekbench 5, Ome #Suriya$/Twitter