A novel but correct move of the Galaxy Tab S10 series

The Galaxy Tab S10 series currently includes two models Plus and Ultra. Instead of following the familiar Snapdragon path, Samsung has turned to solutions from MediaTek.

This is the first time Samsung has used MediaTek chips on high-end S-series tablet models. Previous rumors suggested that Samsung could use MediaTek chips for the Galaxy Tab S10 series in certain markets, but in fact the company has equipped MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ everywhere.

MediaTek is no longer the faded name it used to be

First, let’s go back to the mobile technology landscape more than a decade ago in 2013. At that time, the most talked about Android smartphone was the Samsung Galaxy S4. The device has the top Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor or the Exynos 5 Octa chipset that Samsung recently developed.

There are also other competitors trying to gain market share in this fertile space, such as Intel and NVIDIA, fighting fiercely with their Baytrail and Tegra product lines.

And quietly followed by MediaTek: considered a name only for use in low-cost phones, with significantly slower clock speeds (sometimes even half that). Practically every company comes up with catchy names to market their processors, but MediaTek has chosen to maintain the boring “MTxxxx” naming convention. From there, people assumed they were cheap options for use in unbranded products.

The story remained more or less the same in the following years, when MediaTek finally decided to focus on the low-cost Helio processor line. At that time, it may have been a wise business move because there was nothing that helped the company be able to compete with Qualcomm in the high-end market. If any device needs the cheapest processor available, then go with MediaTek.

Back in the race with Dimensity

MediaTek was still a name associated with affordable products, until four years ago when MediaTek launched the Dimensity line. This chip line is MediaTek’s return announcement to compete with the industry leader – Snapdragon. The first products launched are the Dimensity 800 and 1000 chips, targeting high-end devices. The 800 has four Arm Cortex A76 cores and four A55 cores, which combine to form an eight-core architecture. Then, the company launched Dimensity 800U, which is an overclocked version of the 800.

It was aimed squarely at the Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 series, and Chinese manufacturers immediately joined the test. The first brands to apply are realme, ZTE, HONOR, Huawei, Redmi, OPPO, Vivo and Motorola, among others.

When comparing benchmark scores between Dimensity 800U and Snapdragon 765G, Dimensity 800U actually outperformed in many tests. This is shocking to those who believe that Qualcomm is invincible. The 865 flagship chip line had no competitors at the time, but the near-high-end market was gradually slipping out of Qualcomm’s hands.

At the end of 2021, MediaTek released the Dimensity 9000, their first true flagship chipset in years. During its initial launch, this chip only appeared on a few devices in the Chinese market.

According to a MediaTek representative, no company wants to be the first to jump into a new chipset series, other than Asus, which has used the chip on the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate gaming smartphone. Dimensity 9000+ (upgraded version launched in 2022) turned out to be one of the best chips released two years ago, on par with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1.

Since then, Dimensity has established itself as a real contender in the near-premium to high-end space. By 2023, MediaTek continues to launch the latest version of the high-end chip line, 9300, and the upgraded version 9300+ released in Q2 2024 has been used by Samsung on the two latest flagship tablet models.

Dimensity 9300+ surpasses Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in AnTuTu performance rankings

The Galaxy Tab S9 series uses Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and as usual, Samsung chose Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 from Qualcomm, but in a surprising move switched to MediaTek’s most advanced version, Dimensity 9300+.

Samsung says that it has worked closely with MediaTek to optimize Dimensity 9300+ for Galaxy AI which is trending today. However, it is unclear whether MediaTek edited the chip’s specifications or not.

The standard specifications of Dimensity 9300+ are as follows:

• 1x Cortex-X4 CPU core up to 3.4 GHz.
• 3x Cortex-X4 CPU cores up to 2.85 GHz.
• 4x Cortex-X4 CPU cores up to 2.0 GHz.
• 18MB L3 + SLC cache.
• The 12-core Immortalis-G720 GPU supports ray tracing.
• MediaTek HyperEngine NOS (Network Observation System – Network management system to save energy and mobile data while gaming.
• Manufactured by TSMC on a 4nm process

With these numbers, the Dimensity 9300+ is showing an impressive performance against Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the AnTuTu performance rankings. In the top 10 list in May (after the launch of the 9300+) published by this evaluation tool, Vivo X100s with MediaTek’s most powerful chip ranked first, achieving an average score of 2,105,621.

While Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 devices performed well in AnTuTu’s March and April lists, we saw it beaten by a Dimensity 9300 device, the Oppo Find X7. This phone achieved an average score of 2,094,598, taking second place in the list of most powerful smartphones.

Scores will change over time and the number of devices tested. In more recent global statistics, the ZTE Nubia Red Magic 9s Pro Plus with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 leads with 2,369,542 points and the Vivo X100s is second. with a tight score of 2,305,267. Of course, the numbers are for reference only and actual usage experience is the most important, but this also shows that Dimensity 9300+ is a very formidable chip, able to compete with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. .

In terms of power, Samsung compared the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra with the Tab S9 Ultra and the company claims the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ chip delivers 18% faster CPU speed, 28% improved GPU and improved NPU performance. 14%. Samsung also said it has adopted a 1.48 times larger vapor chamber heatsink for effective cooling.

In general, MediaTek today is no longer a shadow of its past and the Dimensity line is almost on par with the most high-end names from Qualcomm. It is still not possible to confirm which is the better chip, but at least switching to the Dimensity 9300+ chip has proven that Samsung is agile and not conservative, just following one line of chips.

Samsung has previously used MediaTek chips for the company’s mid-range smartphones, but with the first use of MediaTek on flagship tablets, this will probably be the brand’s transition to phones in the future. More advanced?

Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra and Galaxy Tab S10+ will officially open for sale in the Vietnamese market from October 3, with two color versions: Moonstone Gray and Platinum Silver. Price of Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra from 30,990,000 VND and Galaxy Tab S10+ from 25,990,000 VND.