Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm — MediaTek launched the Dimensity 9600 Pro on Sept. 15, 2026 in Hsinchu, Taiwan, becoming the first company to announce a smartphone system-on-chip built on the 2nm process node. The chip is fabricated on TSMC’s N2P enhanced nanosheet, gate-all-around process and integrates 33 billion transistors. MediaTek’s internal benchmarks put the new silicon 17% ahead of its predecessor in single-core work, 15% ahead in multi-core work, and 61% lower in multi-core power consumption than the Dimensity 9500 it replaces.
Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm CPU drops efficiency cores for an all-big-core layout
The Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm uses an unusual 2+3+3 layout that abandons efficiency cores entirely. The configuration pairs two Arm C2-Ultra cores running at 4.55 GHz with three Arm C2-Pro cores at 4.35 GHz and three more Arm C2-Pro cores at 3.10 GHz. Combined cache totals 34.5 MB. MediaTek is betting that 2nm-class power budgets make a separate efficiency cluster unnecessary for typical smartphone workloads, allowing every thread to land on a high-performance core.
Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm pairs LPDDR6 memory with UFS 5.0 storage
Memory and storage subsystems also step up a generation on the Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm. The chipset supports LPDDR6, delivering 33% higher bandwidth than LPDDR5X, and UFS 5.0 storage, which doubles the sequential read and write rates of UFS 4.0. Together those upgrades raise the ceiling for on-device AI models, high-resolution video pipelines, and large game assets, where bandwidth has historically throttled flagship phones more than raw CPU frequency.
Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm runs a 30 billion-parameter LLM on device
The dual-NPU design inside the Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm pairs the NPU 1090 with a second-generation Super Efficient NPU for always-on tasks. MediaTek rates the NPU 1090 at 51% higher LLM prefill performance and 55% higher token generation efficiency per watt than the prior generation, with double the INT4 compute. The Super Efficient NPU draws 40% less power for background AI. Combined, the two NPUs support on-device Mixture-of-Experts language models up to 30 billion parameters, a class MediaTek says matches frontier cloud models in capability. The Mali G2-Ultra NX GPU enables up to 185 frames per second in supported games through MediaTek’s HyperEngine tuning.
Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm ships first in Oppo and Vivo flagships
Oppo has confirmed the Find X10 Pro Max for a China launch on Sept. 22, 2026, with Vivo’s X500 Pro also slated to use the chip. The Imagiq 1290 image signal processor on the Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm supports 4K240 ultra-slow-motion capture and 4K120 cinematic log video. On Geekbench 7, MediaTek’s chip posts a single-core score of 3,242, compared with 3,582 for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, leaving a 10% gap to its nearest competitor. Qualcomm is expected to respond at the Snapdragon Summit in Maui between Sept. 22 and 24 with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro, also built on TSMC’s N2P process at roughly $33,000 per wafer. A sibling part, the Dimensity 9600M, uses the older TSMC N3P 3nm node rather than the 2nm process that defines the flagship.
The Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm arrives as the first smartphone SoC to reach the 2nm manufacturing tier, pairing that node with on-device AI capability, faster memory, and faster storage than any prior MediaTek flagship. Whether the all-big-core CPU design and dual-NPU pairing translate into measurable gains in shipping phones will become clearer once the Oppo Find X10 Pro Max reaches reviewers next week.
Beyond the handset market, the Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm is also shaping up as a reference design for MediaTek’s Kompanio and Genio automotive platforms, with the company confirming in its Sept. 15 launch deck that a derivative designated the CT-X2 will sample to tier-one suppliers in Q1 2027. The automotive part retains the 2+3+3 core layout and dual-NPU pairing but adds functional-safety features targeting ISO 26262 ASIL-B, a category MediaTek’s senior vice president of marketing Finbarr Moynihan described as “the natural second life for a 2nm smartphone die.” That strategy mirrors Qualcomm’s long-running practice of reusing Snapdragon silicon in digital cockpit designs and could help amortize the roughly $280 die cost that analysts at TrendForce attribute to N2P wafers in their Sept. 9 note. On the regulatory side, the Dimensity 9600 Pro 2nm has cleared China’s State Administration for Radio Regulation certification under model identifier MT6899, a filing dated Aug. 28, 2026 that lists 5G NR sub-6, NR-mmWave band n258, and Wi-Fi 8 connectivity. With Oppo’s Sept. 22 launch now four days away and Vivo’s X500 Pro widely tipped for an Oct. 7 announcement, the first wave of independent benchmarks should land within the next 30 days, setting the tone for whether MediaTek’s lead at the 2nm node holds through the holiday quarter.