The dark satanic rumour mill has manufactured a hell-on-earth yarn claiming the firm has not decided whether it wants to mirror Qualcomm’s plan to launch both Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro next year. The high price of TSMC’s 2nm node may twist MediaTek’s arm.
Repeater 002 chirped on Weibo that several smartphone makers plan to release four models in September and October with branding that looks suspiciously like the Fruity Cargo Cult Apple’s naming schemes. This matters less than the tipster’s claim that MediaTek is dithering about rolling out a weaker Dimensity 9600 sibling with a slower GPU and support capped at LPDDR5X rather than LPDDR6.
San Diego’s Qualcomm has already shoved the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 into the world as the tame brother of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. Rumours say next year’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 line will split further with the Pro variant hoarding LPDDR6 and UFS 5.0 along with a burlier GPU. MediaTek has no name ready for any cut-down Dimensity 9600 variant because it has not yet made up its mind.
A recent post from Repeater 002 hinted that rivals are drafting multiple chip sizes and dual chip layouts while grumbling about the obscene cost of 2nm silicon.
One of MediaTek’s sharpest tricks is price. Its Dimensity 9500 came in around 50 per cent cheaper than Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, even though both used TSMC’s 3nm N3P process. That made manufacturers grin as they pocketed the savings.
But the Fruity Cargo Cult Apple is reportedly gobbling more than half of TSMC’s first 2nm batch for its A20 and A20 Pro, which leaves MediaTek and Qualcomm shoved onto the slightly tweaked 2nm N2P line. That upgrade will almost certainly command a higher price.
This twist means the Dimensity 9600 could cost so much to build that MediaTek may feel obliged to ship a watered-down edition. The upside is that such a variant would still carry the core flagship bits at lower clock speeds, which would save MediaTek from having to bankroll a new SoC.
Since this is rumour fodder, the usual pinch of salt applies as we wait for firmer details.
