TL;DR
MediaTek launched the flagship Dimensity 9600 Pro on September 15, 2026: a TSMC 2nm chip with a 2+3+3 all-big-core CPU and a dual-NPU design supporting on-device LLMs up to 30B parameters. The company says first phones will launch this quarter.
Event overview
MediaTek announced the Dimensity 9600 series flagship 5G agentic AI chips — Dimensity 9600 Pro and Dimensity 9600M — on September 15, 2026. According to MediaTek's official press release, the Dimensity 9600 Pro is built on TSMC's 2nm process, and MediaTek says it is the first company to announce reaching this process threshold. The company describes simultaneous gains in performance and power efficiency for agentic AI, gaming, imaging and compute.
Key facts
- Process: TSMC 2nm; IT Home reported from the launch event that the chip has over 33 billion transistors.
- CPU: 2+3+3 all-big-core design — two C2-Ultra ultra-cores up to 4.55GHz, three C2-Pro cores at 4.35GHz and three C2-Pro cores at 3.1GHz; up to 17% higher single-core and 15% higher multi-core performance versus the previous generation, with a 61% reduction in multi-core power consumption (MediaTek lab data).
- Cache and memory: L2 cache up 21% versus the previous generation; 34.5MB total L2+L3+system cache; first support for LPDDR6 memory and UFS 5.0 storage.
- AI: dual-NPU architecture (super-performance plus super-efficient); NPU 1090 delivers 51% higher LLM prefill performance and 55% higher token generation per watt, supporting on-device models up to 30B parameters; always-on AI power down 40%.
- GPU and gaming: G2-Ultra NX GPU with up to 27% higher peak performance, 24% lower power at peak and 18% faster raytracing, up to 185fps; first hardware-based OMM raytracing.
- Imaging: Imagiq 1290 ISP with 60fps motion capture, 17EV dynamic range and 4K240 ultra-slow-motion video.
- Availability: first smartphones powered by Dimensity 9600 Pro and 9600M are expected to launch this quarter (Q4 2026).
Official sources
- MediaTek press release (September 15, 2026): MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro Sets New Standard for Flagship Smartphone Chips
- IT Home (September 15, 2026): MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro launch coverage