Apple A16 Bionic vs MediaTek Dimensity 8500
Across 12 measured categories, the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 comes out ahead.
I put the Apple A16 Bionic and the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 side by side to see how they really compare. On graphics, the Apple A16 Bionic runs the Apple A16 GPU while the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 runs the Arm Mali-G720 MC8. Below I go through the CPU, GPU, memory and connectivity, then the benchmark scores, so you can work out which one is the better fit for you.
Where each chip wins
Apple A16 Bionic
3 advantages
-
55% faster Geekbench single-core score
2,686 vs 1,728
-
60 MHz higher CPU clock
3460 MHz vs 3400 MHz
-
Larger L3 cache
24 MB vs 6 MB
MediaTek Dimensity 8500
6 advantages
-
48% higher AnTuTu score
24.08 Lakhs vs 16.28 Lakhs
-
3% faster Geekbench multi-core score
6,762 vs 6,562
-
Newer CPU architecture
ARMv9.2-A vs ARMv8.6-A
-
Higher GPU FLOPS
2662.4 GFLOPS vs 1.789 TFLOPS
-
Newer memory type
LPDDR5X vs LPDDR5
-
1,600 MHz higher RAM speed
4800 MHz vs 3200 MHz
Benchmark charts
AnTuTu v11 Total
Geekbench Single-Core
Geekbench Multi-Core
Specifications Comparison
Here is how the Apple A16 Bionic and the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 compare across every spec. In each row, the stronger value is highlighted so the differences are easy to spot.
| Launch Date | September 2022 | January 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset Class | Flagship | Upper Mid-range |
| Manufacturer | Apple | MediaTek |
| Model Number | APL1W10 | MT6899 |
| Total Cores | 6 | 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Core Configuration | 2x 3.46 GHz Everest Performance cores 4x 2.02 GHz Sawtooth Efficiency cores |
1x 3.40 GHz - Cortex-A725 3x 3.20 GHz - Cortex-A725 4x 2.20 GHz - Cortex-A725 |
| Max Frequency | 3460 MHz | 3400 MHz |
| Instruction Set | ARMv8.6-A | ARMv9.2-A |
| Process Node | 4 nm | 4nm |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| L2 Cache | 16 MB | - |
| L3 Cache | 24 MB | 6 MB |
| TDP | 8 W | - |
| GPU Name | Apple A16 GPU | Arm Mali-G720 MC8 |
|---|---|---|
| GPU Frequency | 1398 MHz | 1300 MHz |
| Shading Units | 128 | 128 |
| FLOPS | 1.789 TFLOPS | 2662.4 GFLOPS |
| Ray Tracing Support | No | Yes |
| NPU | Neural Engine | MediaTek NPU 880 |
| API Support | Metal 3, Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0 | OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0, Vulkan 1.3 |
| RAM Type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5X |
|---|---|---|
| RAM Frequency | 3200 MHz | 4800 MHz |
| Memory Bus | 4x 16-bit | 4x 16-bit |
| Max Bandwidth | 51.2 GB/s | 76.8 GB/s |
| Max RAM Size | 6 GB | 24 GB |
| Storage Type | NVMe | UFS 4.0 |
| Camera Support | 48 MP | 320MP |
|---|---|---|
| Video Capture | 4K at 60FPS, 8K at 30FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Max Display Resolution | 2796 x 1290 | WQHD+ |
| Video Playback | 4K at 60FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video Codecs | H.264, H.265/HEVC, VP8, VP9, ProRes, Motion JPEG | H.264, H.265, AV1, VP9 |
| Audio Codecs | AAC, AAX, AAX+, AC-3, E-AC-3, MP3, MP4, WAV, AIFF, CAF | AAC LC, FLAC, HE-AACv1, HE-AACv2, MP3 |
| Modem | Qualcomm Snapdragon X65 | - |
|---|---|---|
| Network Support | 5G | 5G |
| Download Speed | 7.5 Gbps | 5.17 Gbps |
| Upload Speed | 3.5 Gbps | 1.25 Gbps |
| Wi-Fi | 6E | 6E |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 6.0 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS | NavIC, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| Official page | - | Visit |
|---|
Benchmark results
| Total | 16,28,011 | 24,07,614 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 5,40,612 | 7,09,591 |
| GPU | 3,34,126 | 7,62,021 |
| Memory | 2,11,032 | 4,09,017 |
| UX | 5,42,241 | 5,26,985 |
| Single-Core | 2,686 | 1,728 |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Core | 6,562 | 6,762 |
Overall Score
Each category scored out of 100.
| Category | Apple A16 Bionic | MediaTek Dimensity 8500 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Score |
|
|
| GPU Score |
|
|
| Memory Score |
|
|
| Total Score |
|
|
Discussion