MediaTek’s efforts to up its game with the Dimensity series chipsets has been rather successful, as shown with its flagship-tier Dimensity 9400 SoC from a while back. With that in mind though, the company also makes chipsets for upper-midrange phones such as the Dimensity 8000 series – more recently though, MediaTek announced the arrival of the Dimensity 8400 which packs an “All Big Core” design, something that’s rarely seen on most smartphone chips on the market.
As for what’s inside, the Dimensity 8400 has an eight-core Arm Cortex-A725 processor that runs at up to 3.25GHz, and MediaTek claims that this allows for 41% higher multi-core performance versus the Dimensity 8300 from a while back (we’d be disappointed if it didn’t). Additionally, the Dimensity 8400 is supposedly designed for better control when it comes to the CPU’s performance and power curve, with as much as a 44% reduction in peak power use compared to the 8300.
CHECK OUT: Meet MediaTek’s Newest Flagship Smartphone Chip, the Dimensity 9400
For gaming, the 8400 allows for improved gaming experiences thanks to the Arm Mali-G720 GPU inside, with up to 24% higher peak performance and 42% greater power efficiency compared to the 8300. MediaTek adds that the Mali-G720 GPU is designed to work seamlessly with the MediaTek Frame Rate Converter feature for smoother smoother gameplay. There’s also MediaTek’s Adaptive Gaming Technology 3.0 that allows for real-time optimization of game and app performance.
According to MediaTek, the Dimensity 8400’s All Big Core design works in tandem with the MediaTek NPU 880 for accelerated Gen-AI workloads, as well as MediaTek’s very own Dimensity Agentic AI Engine (DAE) which on paper turns traditional AI applications into “agentic” AI applications – this essentially means that developers can create agentic AI apps that can more intelligently adapt and anticipate to individual user needs.
For imaging hardware such as mobile camera support, The 8400 comes with the Imagiq 1080 ISP, allowing it to support sensors of up to 320 megapixels, as well as in-sensor zoom with 100% PDAF. Also included are support for HDR video recording (at different zoom levels) and improved power consumption during 4K video recording. The chip also features a 5G-A modem capable of 3CC-CA carrier aggregation, with peak download speeds of up to 5.17Gbps. There’s also integrated Network Observation System (NOS) technology for smarter switching between 5G and Wi-Fi networks. Other connectivity options include support for Bluetooth 5.4 and WiFi 6E.
Finally, the Dimensity 8400 is also capable of suporting different hardware configurations, including screens with WQHD+ resolutions and refresh rates up to 144Hz, and even offers dual-screen capabilities, for foldable devices. Dr. Yenchi Lee, General Manager of MediaTek’s Wireless Communications Business Unit comments:
“MediaTek is redefining premium smartphone experiences with the Dimensity 8400, unleashing creativity with generative and agentic AI applications and taking mobile gaming even further… Our All Big Core design, which we’ve also integrated into our flagship chips, highlights the impressive performance and efficiency that can go hand-in-hand so consumers don’t have to compromise.”
