Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs MediaTek Dimensity 8500
Across 12 measured categories, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 comes out ahead.
I put the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and the MediaTek Dimensity 8500 side by side to see how they really compare. On graphics, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 runs the Adreno 750 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
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
3 advantages
-
25% faster Geekbench single-core score
2,162 vs 1,728
-
Larger L3 cache
12 MB vs 6 MB
-
Higher GPU FLOPS
3584 GFLOPS vs 2662.4 GFLOPS
MediaTek Dimensity 8500
2 advantages
-
2% higher AnTuTu score
24.08 Lakhs vs 23.68 Lakhs
-
2% faster Geekbench multi-core score
6,762 vs 6,626
Benchmark charts
AnTuTu v11 Total
Geekbench Single-Core
Geekbench Multi-Core
Specifications Comparison
Here is how the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 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 | October 2023 | January 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset Class | Flagship | Upper Mid-range |
| Manufacturer | Qualcomm | MediaTek |
| Model Number | SM8650-AB, SM8650-AC | MT6899 |
| Total Cores | 8 | 8 |
|---|---|---|
| Core Configuration | 1x 3.3 GHz - Cortex X4 3x 3.15 GHz - Cortex A720 2x 2.96 GHz - Cortex A720 2x 2.27 GHz - Cortex A520 |
1x 3.40 GHz - Cortex-A725 3x 3.20 GHz - Cortex-A725 4x 2.20 GHz - Cortex-A725 |
| Max Frequency | 3400 MHz | 3400 MHz |
| Instruction Set | ARMv9.2-A | ARMv9.2-A |
| Process Node | TSMC 4 nm | 4nm |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
| L2 Cache | 1 MB | - |
| L3 Cache | 12 MB | 6 MB |
| TDP | 8 W | - |
| GPU Name | Adreno 750 | Arm Mali-G720 MC8 |
|---|---|---|
| GPU Frequency | 903 MHz - 1000 MHz | 1300 MHz |
| Shading Units | 1536 | 128 |
| FLOPS | 3584 GFLOPS | 2662.4 GFLOPS |
| Ray Tracing Support | Yes | Yes |
| NPU | Hexagon NPU | MediaTek NPU 880 |
| API Support | Vulkan 1.3, OpenCL 2.0, OpenGL ES 3.2 | OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 3.0, Vulkan 1.3 |
| RAM Type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
|---|---|---|
| RAM Frequency | 4800 MHz | 4800 MHz |
| Memory Bus | 4x16-bit | 4x 16-bit |
| Max Bandwidth | 76.8 GB/s | 76.8 GB/s |
| Max RAM Size | 24 GB | 24 GB |
| Storage Type | UFS 4.0 | UFS 4.0 |
| Camera Support | 200 MP | 320MP |
|---|---|---|
| Video Capture | 8K at 30FPS, 4K at 120FPS, 720p at 960FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Max Display Resolution | 4K | WQHD+ |
| Video Playback | 8K at 60FPS, 4K at 120FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video Codecs | H.264, H.265, AV1, VP8, VP9 | H.264, H.265, AV1, VP9 |
| Audio Codecs | AAC, AIFF, CAF, MP3, MP4, WAV | AAC LC, FLAC, HE-AACv1, HE-AACv2, MP3 |
| Modem | Snapdragon X75 5G | - |
|---|---|---|
| Network Support | 5G | 5G |
| Download Speed | 10 Gbps | 5.17 Gbps |
| Upload Speed | Up to 3.5 Gbps | 1.25 Gbps |
| Wi-Fi | 7 | 6E |
| Bluetooth | 5.4 | 6.0 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS, NavIC | NavIC, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| Official page | Visit | Visit |
|---|
Benchmark results
| Total | 23,68,420 | 24,07,614 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 6,52,232 | 7,09,591 |
| GPU | 8,24,065 | 7,62,021 |
| Memory | 3,30,935 | 4,09,017 |
| UX | 5,61,188 | 5,26,985 |
| Single-Core | 2,162 | 1,728 |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Core | 6,626 | 6,762 |
Overall Score
Each category scored out of 100.
| Category | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | MediaTek Dimensity 8500 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Score |
|
|
| GPU Score |
|
|
| Memory Score |
|
|
| Total Score |
|
|
Related comparisons
- 1 Snapdragon 8 Elite vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
- 2 Exynos 2600 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
- 3 Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Apple A18 Pro
- 4 Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs MediaTek Dimensity 9000
- 5 Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Google Tensor G4
- 6 MediaTek Dimensity 9500 vs MediaTek Dimensity 8500
- 7 Snapdragon 8 Elite vs MediaTek Dimensity 8500
- 8 Apple A19 Pro vs MediaTek Dimensity 8500
- 9 MediaTek Dimensity 8500 vs Google Tensor G4
- 10 MediaTek Dimensity 8500 vs Samsung Exynos 2400
Discussion