MediaTek's new mid-range chip wipes the floor with Exynos 1580

MediaTek Dimensiy 8400 chip has only high-performance CPU cores

The Dimensity 8400 is MediaTek's first mid-range chip to feature high-performance CPU cores exclusively, similar to the Dimensity 9400. Made using TSMC's 4nm process node, it features eight ARM Cortex-A725 CPU cores, one clocked at 3.25GHz, three running at 3GHz, and the rest clocked at 2.1GHz.

MediaTek claims its new chip has 41% faster multi-core performance. It also claims it uses 44% less peak power. It has 2x more L2 cache, 50% more L3 cache, and 25% more system-level cache (SLC).

The Mali-G720 MC7 GPU inside the Dimensity 8400 runs at 1,300MHz, offering more than 2.3 TFLOPS of graphics performance. That is 24% more powerful than the Dimensity 8300. Its display signal processor (DSP) can drive QHD+ resolution screens at a 144Hz refresh rate.

Similar to many flagship processors, the Dimensity 8400 is compatible with quad-channel 16-bit LPDDR5X DRAM and UFS 4.0 storage.

The MediaTek Imagiq 1080 image signal processing (ISP) component inside the Dimensity 8400 is compatible with up to 320MP camera sensors. It can simultaneously capture and process frames from three 32MP camera sensors. It can also record up to 4K 60fps HDR videos from all its cameras.

The MediaTek NPU 880 is 20% faster than the NPU inside the Dimensity 8300. It has an integrated 5G modem with up to 5.17Gbps peak download speeds. Other connectivity features include several GNSS protocols, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4, and USB 3.2 Type-C port.

Dimensity 8400 vs. Exynos 1580

While the Exynos 1580 is a huge leap from the Exynos 1480, its CPU performance is still nowhere close to that of the Dimensity 8400, at least theoretically.

The GPU inside the Dimensity 8400 should be as powerful as the one inside the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. That makes it much more powerful than the GPU inside the Exynos 1580, which is only as powerful as the Snapdragon 888.

If Samsung wants to be competitive in the mid-range segment, it will have to do much better next year, possibly with the Exynos 1680.