MediaTek and Qualcomm were recently in a heated argument over who was powering the most phones in the US in Q4 2021, and regardless of who was right, one thing is clear: MediaTek is making strides, and that could make the big chipmakers out there very nervous. And judging by the Geekbench 5 scores of the MediaTek Dimensity 9000 posted on Twitter by well-known leaker Ice Universe, they're right to be worried.
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The Dimensity 9000, announced in November 2021, will be MediaTek's most powerful chip yet. It's built on TSMC's 4nm process, which apparently gives it an advantage over the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and Samsung Exynos 2200, both of which are based on Samsung's 4nm process. It also uses Arm's new v9 architecture.
We haven't seen a phone powered by the Dimensity 9000 yet, but that could change soon, as Oppo's Find X5 Pro Dimensity Edition will go on sale later this month in China and Xiaomi has confirmed that the Redmi K50 Pro Plus will be equipped with the Dimensity 9000.
See also: MediaTek announces the Dimensity 9000 processor
To give us an idea of the chip's performance, leaker Ice Universe shared its Geekbench scores. It's apparently a Xiaomi device, possibly the Redmi K50 Pro Plus, and it managed to score 1,309 points in the single-core test and 4,546 points in the multi-core test.
In comparison, the Exynos 2200-powered Galaxy S22 Ultra scored 1,157 and 3,307 in the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively. The Google Tensor-fueled Pixel 6 Pro scored 1,042 and 2,832 in the same test.
The only chip that continues to be ahead of the Dimensity 9000 is Apple's A15 Bionic. The iPhone 13 Pro Max, which features the chip, scored 1,734 and 4,818 in single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.

Granted, benchmark scores may not necessarily be indicative of real-world performance, but they can be a good starting point for a quick comparison. Otherwise, there's also the issue of fixed performance and fake benchmarks, but let's not go there.
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So, based on these raw numbers alone, the Dimensity 9000 could soon become an “OEM favorite.” It’s also apparently cheaper than Qualcomm’s premium Snapdragon 8-series processors, which are usually the best choice for Android vendors.
Ice Universe hinted that the Dimensity 9000 phones will cost around $500, which would make them much more affordable than most of the best Android phones of 2022.
Information source: phonearena.com
