MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro: 2nm chip and on-device AI models up to 30 billion parameters announced

On September 15, MediaTek introduced its flagship Dimensity 9600 Pro chip. The company calls it the first announced platform built on a 2nm process node and promises a noticeable performance boost with lower power consumption — primarily for the AI features that run directly on the smartphone. The first devices with this chip are expected in the current quarter.

The processor uses a 2+3+3 layout of "big" cores: two C2-Ultra at up to 4.55 GHz, three C2-Pro at 4.35 GHz, and three more C2-Pro at 3.1 GHz. By the company's calculations, single-core performance rose by up to 17%, multi-core by up to 15%, and power consumption in multi-core tasks fell by 61% compared with the previous generation.

Two neural processors handle on-device AI. The power-efficient second-generation NPU uses 40% less energy in always-on scenarios, while the NPU 1090 speeds up prefill for language models by 51% and delivers 55% more tokens per watt. The chip supports models of up to 30 billion parameters and, for the first time in the lineup, gets LPDDR6 memory, UFS 5.0 storage, and a 34.5 MB cache.

The G2-Ultra NX graphics promises up to 27% higher peak performance, 24% lower power consumption at peak, and 18% faster ray tracing, plus gaming at up to 185 frames per second. Image processing is handled by the Imagiq 1290 ISP: it supports 4K240 ultra-slow-motion capture, 4K60 AI True Color Tone and 4K120 log modes, as well as 17EV.

Alongside the flagship, the Dimensity 9600M was announced — a more affordable chip with the same AI technologies and task-scheduling engine, designed to bring flagship capabilities to more smartphones.

An important caveat: MediaTek states all the performance figures above based on test results from demonstration devices in its own laboratories.

Image: Raimond Spekking CC BY-SA 4.0 · License