Despite being nearly three years old, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has recently seen a surge in popularity due to rising memory and chip production costs.
MediaTek's Dimensity 8400 has emerged as a strong alternative for high-end devices. Both chips deliver excellent performance and efficiency, but each has distinct advantages.
>>> OnePlus Nord 6 vs OnePlus 13R: Which OnePlus Phone Offers Better Value?
Spec Sheet Comparison
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 was announced in October 2023, while the Dimensity 8400 arrived in December 2024.
Both are built on TSMC's 4nm process.
The Snapdragon chip features a 1+3+2+2 CPU core configuration: one Cortex-X4 at 3.3 GHz, three Cortex-A720 at 3.15 GHz, two Cortex-A720 at 2.96 GHz, and two Cortex-A520 at 2.27 GHz.
The Dimensity 8400 uses an all-big-core 1+3+4 design: one Cortex-A725 at 3.25 GHz, three Cortex-A725 at 3 GHz, and four Cortex-A725 at 2.1 GHz.
For graphics, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 packs an Adreno 750 GPU with ray tracing support and Snapdragon Elite Gaming features.
The Dimensity 8400 uses a Mali-G720 MC7 GPU with ray tracing and MediaTek HyperEngine Adaptive Gaming Technology 3.0.
Memory support includes LPDDR5x up to 4.8 GHz on Snapdragon and up to 4.2 GHz on Dimensity.
Both support UFS 4.0 storage, with Dimensity adding MCQC technology.
>>> Nubia Neo 5 Max unveiled with 7.5-inch display, shoulder triggers, Dimensity 7100
Benchmark Scores
Tests were conducted on the iQOO 12 (Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) and iQOO Z10 Turbo (Dimensity 8400).
In Geekbench 6, the Snapdragon chip scored 2216 single-core and 6781 multi-core, while the Dimensity scored 1629 and 6492 respectively.
The Snapdragon leads by 36% in single-core performance.
On AnTuTu v11, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 achieved 2,332,791 points, 14% higher than the Dimensity 8400's 2,031,886.
The GPU score difference is significant: 818,651 vs 645,958, a 26% lead for Snapdragon.
CPU scores are close (643,123 vs 624,883), while memory and UX also favor Snapdragon.
Key Differences
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3's Cortex-X4 prime core and higher clock speeds give it an edge in single-core tasks.
Its Adreno 750 GPU offers more shading units and higher FLOPS than the Mali-G720, delivering smoother gaming performance.
