MediaTek’s upcoming Dimensity 8500 chip is poised to set a new standard for mid-range and sub-flagship smartphones with its powerful performance, significantly boosted GPU, and efficient manufacturing process. According to reliable leaks, the Dimensity 8500 is expected to surpass 2 million points on the popular AnTuTu benchmark, a remarkable leap from its predecessor, the Dimensity 8400, which scores around 1.6 million. This performance boost largely comes from an enhanced Mali-G720 GPU, touted to be significantly more powerful, while the CPU architecture remains similar.
Manufactured using TSMC’s advanced 4nm process, the Dimensity 8500 offers an optimal balance between performance and power efficiency. Although the CPU cores are not radically changed, the major GPU upgrade enables the chipset to bring near-flagship level gaming and graphical capabilities to more affordable smartphones.
The anticipated first commercial device featuring this chipset is the Xiaomi Redmi Turbo 5, expected to debut either late 2025 or early 2026. Globally, the same chipset may be seen in the Poco X8 Pro, rumored to be a rebranded variant of the Redmi Turbo 5. Besides Xiaomi’s brands, numerous other manufacturers including Honor, Realme, Vivo, iQOO, Oppo, and OnePlus are reported to plan the inclusion of the Dimensity 8500 in upcoming phones, signaling widespread adoption.
Additional design improvements include shifting from traditional plastic frames to metal middle frames in devices using this chipset, elevating build quality in the mid-range segment.
In the market, the Dimensity 8500 will face competition from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 sub-flagship level processor, which also promises flagship-class performance.