MediaTek Dimensity 9600M Launches as a Refreshed Dimensity 9500

MediaTek unveiled the Dimensity 9600M alongside its more powerful Dimensity 9600 Pro. The new chip will be used in the standard Vivo X500, while the Vivo X500 Pro and Pro Max will utilize the Dimensity 9600 Pro. This makes the 9600M the more budget-friendly option in MediaTek’s latest lineup.

Although branded as part of the Dimensity 9600 series, MediaTek claims the Dimensity 9600M retains much of the hardware from last year's Dimensity 9500. The chip is built on TSMC’s 3nm N3P process, identical to the 9500. Its CPU features one C1-Ultra core at 4.21GHz, three C1-Premium cores at 3.5GHz, and four C1-Pro cores at 2.7GHz.

The GPU stays the same as the previous chip, and the NPU is unchanged at the hardware level, utilizing the same APU 990 with compute-in-memory efficiency core. Memory support remains LPDDR5X at 10,667MHz, and storage uses four-lane UFS 4.1.

The imaging hardware remains the same as the Dimensity 9500, supporting sensors up to 320MP, 8K video at 60fps, 4K at 120fps with electronic image stabilization, and 4K at 60fps cinematic recording. MediaTek’s Imagiq-based imaging pipeline continues to be used.

One of the main enhancements is the shift to Dimensity Scheduling Engine 3.0, replacing the second-gen scheduler in the Dimensity 9500. This new system aims to optimize CPU, GPU, and memory resource management. MediaTek also claims the Dimensity 9600M can handle gaming at up to 185fps with neural network rendering, though the frame interpolation hardware remains unchanged, still using MRFC 3.0.

The software side sees most of the significant updates, with the NPU now supporting Gemini Nano 4 and Qwen 3.5 Omni 4B, and a new camera agent that offers photography suggestions based on the user’s activity. Overall, the Dimensity 9600M is essentially an updated version of the Dimensity 9500, with changes focused on the scheduling system, minor clock-speed tweaks, and added AI features, while the core components remain largely the same.