In the world of premium smartphone chips, the battle between MediaTek’s Dimensity 8400 Ultra and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is heating up. Both chips promise exceptional performance, but which one truly stands out? With powerful CPUs, advanced GPUs, and cutting-edge features, we dive into the benchmark scores and performance comparisons to see how these two heavyweights stack up in real-world usage.

MediaTek Dimensity 8400 Ultra vs Snapdragon 8s Gen 3: A Benchmark Battle for Performance Supremacy

Let’s slip into the cavernous engine rooms of mobile silicon and unmask what makes the Dimensity 8400 Ultra and Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 tick, in a table that’s less snooze and more “aha.”

That quartet of benchmark visuals gives us a scenic overview—but let’s get nerdy by matching the specs side by side:

Feature	Dimensity 8400 Ultra	Snapdragon 8s Gen 3
CPU Configuration	8 × Cortex‑A725 (1 @3.25 GHz, 3 @3.0 GHz, 4 @2.1 GHz)	1 × Cortex-X4 @3.0 GHz, 4 × Cortex-A720 @2.8 GHz, 3 × Cortex-A520 @2.0 GHz
Process Node	TSMC 4 nm	TSMC 4 nm
L3 Cache	~6 MB	~8 MB
GPU	Mali-G720 MP7, ~896 shaders, ~2329 GFLOPS	Adreno 735, ~1689 GFLOPS
Memory & Storage	LPDDR5X (4266 MHz), UFS 4.0, ~68.2 GB/s bandwidth	LPDDR5X (4200 MHz), UFS 4.0, ~67.2 GB/s
AI NPU	MediaTek NPU 880	Hexagon NPU
Connectivity	5G up to ~5170 Mbps, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 6.0	5G up to ~6500 Mbps down, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
Benchmarks	AnTuTu ~1.79M, Geekbench 6: ~1639 (single), ~6500 (multi), 3DMark Wild Life Extreme: ~4086	AnTuTu ~1.65M, Geekbench 6: ~2048 (single), ~5684 (multi), 3DMark: ~3161
Real-World Notes	May throttle faster in warmer environments	More stable thermal behavior
Ideal Use Cases	Multithreaded workloads, multitasking, multitonic gaming scenes	Day-to-day single-threaded snappiness, advanced gaming, top-tier Wi-Fi/5G connectivity

What’s the vibe here?

The Dimensity 8400 Ultra leans into raw parallel muscle—like a fleet of buff A725 cores doing synchronized push-ups. It dominates multi-core benchmarks and GPU compute firepower. But hey, in the thermal triathlon, it might get winded and throttle under relentless heat .

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 bets on a pick-and-shovel approach: a punishing Cortex‑X4 core for snappy single-core tasks, supported by efficient sidekicks and a chunkier L3 cache for those smooth everyday scrolls and gaming wins. Plus, it delivers Wi‑Fi 7 and heftier 5G, meaning less buffering when you’re on a mobile TikTok sprint.

CPU Comparison

Both chips are built with TSMC’s 4nm process, but there is a significant difference between their CPU architectures. The Dimensity 8400-Ultra has four Cortex-A725 cores — one runs at 3.25GHz, three at 3GHz, and the rest at 2.1GHz. Instead, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 has one Cortex-X4 core (3GHz), four Cortex-A720 cores (2.8GHz), and three Cortex-A520 cores (2GHz).

It is more powerful than the Cortex-A725 but runs at a slower clock speed than the Cortex-X4 in the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3. But the Dimensity 8400-Ultra’s seven other cores are more efficient and faster than the app cores in the Snapdragon chip.

GPU and Other Comparisons

The Dimensity 8400-Ultra packs a Mali-G720 MP7 GPU, while the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 has an Adreno 735 GPU. Some benchmarks, listed below, provide a more accurate view of the performance disparities. Both SoCs have on-device AI capabilities, with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 featuring a Hexagon NPU while MediaTek has its NPU 980 in the Dimensity 8400-Ultra. They also offer LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0 support, albeit with some differences in connectivity.

While the Dimensity 8400-Ultra features support for Wi-Fi 6, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 packs the newer Wi-Fi 7. Bluetooth support varies too, going up to v5. Gen 3 and v6 with Dimensity 8400-Ultra. In terms of peak download speeds, the Dimensity 8400-Ultra maxes out at 5.1Gbps, while the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 reaches 6.5Gbps. Camera support also varies, with the Snapdragon chip supporting up to 200MP and the Dimensity 8400-Ultra backing 320MP.

Benchmark Comparison

In benchmark tests, the Dimensity 8400-Ultra outperforms the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 in the AnTuTu benchmark, scoring 1.79 million points compared to 1.65 million points for the Snapdragon chip.

In Geekbench 6, the Dimensity 8400 Ultra lags behind in single-core performance but excels in multi-core performance, with scores of 1,639 (single-core) and 6,500 (multi-core) compared to the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3’s 2,048 (single-core) and 5,684 (multi-core). In the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme test, the Dimensity 8400 Ultra scored 4,086 points, surpassing the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, which scored 3,161 points.

This is the perfect place to flex that critical thinking brain: decide what kind of silicon workout you want. If you’re juggling massive tabs, editing video on the go, or just like the raw numerical glory of multi-core benchmarks—Dimensity is your champ. But if you crave single-core swagger, premium connectivity, and thermal chill vibes—Snapdragon holds your crown.

FAQs

What’s the difference between Dimensity 8400 Ultra and Snapdragon 8s Gen 3?

The Dimensity 8400 Ultra has all Cortex-A725 cores and leads in multi-core performance, while the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 has a Cortex-X4 core and excels in single-core tasks.