Qualcomm's launch of its Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip with custom Oryon CPU cores later this year may face stiff competition with MediaTek's upcoming Dimensity 9400.
According to leaks from Weibo user Digital Chat Station, the Dimensity 9400 boasts the all-new Arm Cortex-X5 CPU core, codenamed BlackHawk.
This new core reportedly outperforms the CPU cores found in both the Apple A17 Pro (powering the iPhone 15 Pro series) and the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in terms of instructions per cycle (IPC) - a key metric for processing power.
It's important to note that a more relevant comparison for the BlackHawk would be against the next-generation Apple CPUs, not the current A17 Pro. Digital Chat Station further suggests the Cortex-X5 delivers "PC-level performance" with improved efficiency.
This isn't the first time we've heard about the Black Hawk's potential. An analyst firm previously predicted it could become the most powerful smartphone CPU ever, surpassing even Apple's offerings. They also claimed it would offer the biggest single-year IPC jump in five years.
However, real-world performance goes beyond just IPC. Factors like benchmark scores, sustained performance, and overall optimization by phone manufacturers also play a crucial role.
Until we see smartphones equipped with the Dimensity 9400 chip, it's difficult to definitively say if the BlackHawk will truly reign supreme.
Samsung's Exynos 2500, expected to power some Galaxy S25 models, is also rumoured to utilize the BlackHawk core, adding another competitor to the mix.
The future of smartphone processing looks exciting, with MediaTek potentially challenging Qualcomm's dominance. We'll have to wait and see how these new chipsets perform in real-world scenarios to determine the ultimate champion.
