Apple A16 Bionic vs MediaTek Dimensity 9500
Across 12 measured categories, the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 comes out ahead.
I put the Apple A16 Bionic and the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 side by side to see how they really compare. On graphics, the Apple A16 Bionic runs the Apple A16 GPU while the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 runs the Arm Mali-G1 Ultra MC12. 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
1 advantage
-
Larger L3 cache
24 MB vs 16 MB
MediaTek Dimensity 9500
9 advantages
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116% higher AnTuTu score
35.20 Lakhs vs 16.28 Lakhs
-
57% faster Geekbench multi-core score
10,280 vs 6,562
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30% faster Geekbench single-core score
3,488 vs 2,686
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750 MHz higher CPU clock
4210 MHz vs 3460 MHz
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Newer CPU architecture
ARMv9.3-A vs ARMv8.6-A
-
1 nm smaller semiconductor size
3 nm vs 4 nm
-
Higher GPU FLOPS
5271.5 GFLOPS vs 1.789 TFLOPS
-
Newer memory type
LPDDR5X vs LPDDR5
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2,133 MHz higher RAM speed
5333 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 9500 compare across every spec. In each row, the stronger value is highlighted so the differences are easy to spot.
| Launch Date | September 2022 | September 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset Class | Flagship | Flagship |
| Manufacturer | Apple | MediaTek |
| Model Number | APL1W10 | MT6993 |
| Total Cores | 6 | 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Core Configuration | 2x 3.46 GHz Everest Performance cores 4x 2.02 GHz Sawtooth Efficiency cores |
1x 4.21 GHz - C1-Ultra 3x 3.50 GHz - C1-Premium 4x 2.70 GHz - C1-Pro |
| Max Frequency | 3460 MHz | 4210 MHz |
| Instruction Set | ARMv8.6-A | ARMv9.3-A |
| Process Node | 4 nm | 3 nm |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| L2 Cache | 16 MB | 2 MB |
| L3 Cache | 24 MB | 16 MB |
| TDP | 8 W | - |
| GPU Name | Apple A16 GPU | Arm Mali-G1 Ultra MC12 |
|---|---|---|
| GPU Frequency | 1398 MHz | 1716 MHz |
| Shading Units | 128 | 128 |
| FLOPS | 1.789 TFLOPS | 5271.5 GFLOPS |
| Ray Tracing Support | No | Yes |
| NPU | Neural Engine | MediaTek NPU 990 |
| API Support | Metal 3, Vulkan 1.3, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0 | Vulkan 1.4, OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.0 |
| RAM Type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5X |
|---|---|---|
| RAM Frequency | 3200 MHz | 5333 MHz |
| Memory Bus | 4x 16-bit | 4x16-bit |
| Max Bandwidth | 51.2 GB/s | 85.3 GB/s |
| Max RAM Size | 6 GB | 24 GB |
| Storage Type | NVMe | UFS 4.1 |
| Camera Support | 48 MP | 320 MP |
|---|---|---|
| Video Capture | 4K at 60FPS, 8K at 30FPS | 8K at 60FPS, 4K at 120FPS |
| Max Display Resolution | 2796 x 1290 | 4K |
| Video Playback | 4K at 60FPS | 8K at 60FPS, 4K at 120FPS |
| Video Codecs | H.264, H.265/HEVC, VP8, VP9, ProRes, Motion JPEG | HEVC, AVC, VP9, AV1 |
| Audio Codecs | AAC, AAX, AAX+, AC-3, E-AC-3, MP3, MP4, WAV, AIFF, CAF | AAC LC, FLAC, HE-AACv1, HE-AACv2, and MP3 |
| Modem | Qualcomm Snapdragon X65 | - |
|---|---|---|
| Network Support | 5G | 5G |
| Download Speed | 7.5 Gbps | 10.7 Gbps |
| Upload Speed | 3.5 Gbps | 3.5 Gbps |
| Wi-Fi | 6E | 7 |
| 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 | 35,19,907 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 5,40,612 | 1,08,387 |
| GPU | 3,34,126 | 13,61,440 |
| Memory | 2,11,032 | 3,58,001 |
| UX | 5,42,241 | 7,82,079 |
| Single-Core | 2,686 | 3,488 |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Core | 6,562 | 10,280 |
Overall Score
Each category scored out of 100.
| Category | Apple A16 Bionic | MediaTek Dimensity 9500 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Score |
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| GPU Score |
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| Memory Score |
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| Total Score |
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Discussion