MediaTek Dimensity 2000 leak shows a slight edge over Snapdragon 888

With Google jumping on the mobile chipset bandwagon and OPPO reportedly following closely, Qualcomm is probably feeling some heat as new challengers try to infringe on its territory. Of course, the tech company has already been unseated for a few consecutive quarters by MediaTek, and the latter might be poised to make its biggest attempt yet. Early information about its upcoming Dimensity 2000 5G processor is starting to sound promising and, at the very least, could give the Snapdragon 888 some stiff competition next year.

For years, Qualcomm has remained the number one provider of mobile SoCs (systems-on-chip) for smartphones, at least on the Android side of the world. It was virtually unchallenged until MediaTek started nibbling away at its pie last year, beating it with sheer shipment numbers. Of course, Qualcomm arguably still has the lead in profits and popularity, not to mention the variety of companies that put its processors inside their phones on all tiers.

MediaTek's Dimensity processors have helped the company gain a stronger footing in the 5G market, but few would consider them enough to take on Qualcomm's top flagships. That could be changing with the Dimensity 2000, at least as far as raw CPU frequencies are concerned. Based on this pair of leaks from Digital Chat Station, MediaTek's upcoming premium chip might give the Snapdragon 888 a run for its money.

Both the Snapdragon 888 that will be made by Samsung and the Dimensity 2000 from TSMC will be 4nm chips with a similar Cortex-X2 "super large" core running at the same 3.0GHz speed. The difference will be in the other cores that, while the same, will be clocked at different frequencies. In this particular case, the Dimensity 2000 will have three large cores at 2.85GHz and four small cores at 1.8GHz, slightly than the Snapdragon 888's 2.5GHz and 1.79GHz, respectively.

Of course, those figures don't directly translate to actual device performance, and there are still a lot of factors to take into account to even begin considering a winner between the two. Even if the Dimensity 2000 just performs just as well as the Snapdragon 888, that's still a huge win for MediaTek. That will especially be the case if it can price its chips a lot lower and entice more brands to use it for their premium devices.