MediaTek’s next flagship chip already has a Snapdragon problem

MediaTek’s next flagship processor is already trailing Qualcomm in an early CPU showdown. Geekbench 7 results put MediaTek’s MT6995, expected to launch as the Dimensity 9600 Pro, behind Qualcomm’s SM8975, which is tipped to become the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, in both single-core and multi-core performance.

The MediaTek chip scored 3,242 in single-core and 11,132 in multi-core testing. Qualcomm’s upcoming flagship reached 3,582 and 12,247, giving it roughly a 10% lead in both tests.

Neither chip is shipping in retail phones yet, so this is still an early signal rather than a verdict on the next generation of Android flagships.

How big is the early gap

What stands out is that Qualcomm leads in both tests by a similar margin. That makes the result harder to dismiss as one unusually strong score.

Geekbench still measures only part of the performance picture. It tells us little about how these chips will behave during longer workloads, where power limits and heat can change the result.

For raw CPU performance, though, Qualcomm currently has the stronger showing. That’s notable given how MediaTek has been closing the flagship performance gap in recent generations.

Why the Snapdragon result needs context

Qualcomm’s result comes with one important caveat. The benchmark appears to come from Qualcomm reference hardware rather than a finished commercial phone, so the setup may not match what buyers eventually get.

There’s uncertainty on the MediaTek side too. Geekbench identifies the chip as MT6995 inside an OPPO device, but it doesn’t confirm the final retail model or how close the hardware is to its eventual launch configuration.

Pre-release Geekbench results can reflect different clock speeds and tuning before retail hardware arrives. The gap is still worth watching, but there’s room for both sides to move once final phones start shipping.

What should we take from this

MediaTek isn’t suddenly out of the race. Its next flagship chip is posting strong numbers on its own, but Qualcomm has set the higher bar in this early comparison.

If that advantage survives into retail hardware, MediaTek will enter the next flagship cycle chasing Qualcomm on CPU performance.

The real comparison starts when both chips are inside finished phones running final software. Until then, Qualcomm has the early lead, but this race is far from settled.