Home > Smartphone processors comparison > Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Dimensity 8500 – what's better?

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Dimensity 8500

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
VS
Dimensity 8500
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
Dimensity 8500

We compared two 8-core processors: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (with Adreno 750 graphics) and MediaTek Dimensity 8500 (Mali-G720 MP8). Here you will find the pros and cons of each chip, technical specs, and comprehensive tests in benchmarks, like AnTuTu and Geekbench.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Benchmarks
  4. AnTuTu v11
  5. GeekBench 6
  6. Specs
  7. Comments (10)

Review

General comparison of performance, power consumption, and other indicators
CPU Performance
Single and multi-core processor tests
Gaming Performance
GPU performance in games and OpenCL/Vulkan
Battery life
Efficiency of battery consumption
NanoReview Score
Overall chip score

Key Differences

Main differences and advantages of each chip
Pros of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
  • Has 6 MB larger L3 cache size than the Dimensity 8500
  • Shows better (up to 11%) AnTuTu 11 score – 2345K vs 2120K
Pros of MediaTek Dimensity 8500
  • Higher GPU frequency (~51%)

Benchmarks

Performance tests in popular benchmarks
SoC:
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
vs
Dimensity 8500

AnTuTu 11

The AnTuTu Benchmark measures CPU, GPU, RAM, and I/O performance in different scenarios
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 +11%
2345563
Dimensity 8500
2120347
CPU 700525 649177
GPU 805478 633638
Memory 296043 376271
UX 543517 461261
Total score 2345563 2120347
Samples [443 tests] [81 tests]
Submit your AnTuTu result

GeekBench 6

The GeekBench test shows raw single-threaded and multithreaded CPU performance
Single-Core Score
Multi-Core Score
Asset compression 256.8 MB/sec 279.9 MB/sec
HTML 5 Browser 190.9 pages/sec 201 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 209.1 Mpixels/sec 223.5 Mpixels/sec
Image detection 168.6 images/sec 136.2 images/sec
HDR 208.6 Mpixels/sec 224 Mpixels/sec
Background blur 24 images/sec 24.3 images/sec
Photo processing 63.6 images/sec 70.7 images/sec
Ray tracing 7.27 Mpixels/sec 7.64 Mpixels/sec
Samples 139 tests 18 tests
Compute Score (GPU)
Background blur 26.9 images/sec 20.3 images/sec
Face detection 13.2 images/sec 10.3 images/sec
Horizon detection 0.7 Gpixels/sec 0.56 Gpixels/sec
Edge detection 0.61 Gpixels/sec 0.62 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian blur 0.98 Gpixels/sec 0.8 Gpixels/sec
Feature matching 0.18 Gpixels/sec 0.2 Gpixels/sec
Stereo matching 43.4 Gpixels/sec 46.4 Gpixels/sec
Particle physics 3083.6 FPS 2219.4 FPS
API OpenCL OpenCL
Samples 90 tests 17 tests

3DMark

A cross-platform benchmark that assesses graphics performance in Vulkan (Metal)
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Score 1652 -
Stability 79% -
Graphics test 12 FPS -
3DMark Solar Bay
Score 8190 -
Stability 72% -
Graphics test 31 FPS -
Section 1 36 FPS -
Section 2 31 FPS -
Section 3 26 FPS -
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Score 4676 4058
Stability - 77%
Graphics test 27 FPS -

PCMark 3.0

Benchmark for evaluating overall system performance in everyday workloads
PCMark 3.0
Web score 16536 -
Video editing score 7905 -
Data manipulation score 14260 -
Photo editing score 31248 -
Writing score 19168 -
Phones tested 41 models -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-27 -> AeonAnTuTu 122370620
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-27 (ArtemPat)AnTuTu 122617867
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-26 (Eon)Geekbench 7 CPU1896 / 6424
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-25 (gertjan28)Geekbench 7 GPU9730
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-25 (gertjan28)Geekbench 7 CPU1824 / 6030
Add View all (600)
MediaTek Dimensity 8500
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-27 (Litegrey)AnTuTu 122216950
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-27 (Bipper)AnTuTu 122325053
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-25 (Zarko)AnTuTu 122369277
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-24 -> NexxG96AnTuTu 122231936
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-24 -> NexxG96AnTuTu 112108794
Add View all (120)

Specifications

Full list of technical specifications of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Dimensity 8500

CPU

Architecture 1x 3.3 GHz – Cortex-X4
3x 3.15 GHz – Cortex-A720
2x 2.96 GHz – Cortex-A720
2x 2.27 GHz – Cortex-A520		 1x 3.4 GHz – Cortex-A725
3x 3.2 GHz – Cortex-A725
4x 2.2 GHz – Cortex-A725
Cores 8 8
Frequency 3300 MHz 3400 MHz
Instruction set ARMv9.2-A ARMv9.2-A
L2 cache 1 MB 1 MB
L3 cache 12 MB 6 MB
Process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
TDP (Sustained Power Limit) 8 W 6 W
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC

Graphics

GPU name Adreno 750 Mali-G720 MP8
Architecture Adreno 700 Valhall 5th gen
GPU frequency 903-1000 MHz 1508 MHz
Pipelines 6 8
Shading units 256 128
Total shaders 1536 1024
FLOPS 2774 Gigaflops 3088.4 Gigaflops
Vulkan version 1.3 1.3
OpenCL version 2.0 3.0
DirectX version 12.1 12

AI Accelerator

Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon MediaTek NPU 880

Memory

Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory frequency 4800 MHz 4800 MHz
Bus 4x 16 Bit 4x 16 Bit
Max bandwidth 76.8 Gb/s 76.8 Gb/s
Max size 24 GB 24 GB

Multimedia (ISP)

Storage type UFS 4.0, UFS 4.1 UFS 4.0, UFS 4.1
Max display resolution 3840 x 2160 2960 x 1440
Max camera resolution 1x 200MP 1x 320MP, 3x 32MP
Video capture 8K at 30FPS, 4K at 120FPS 4K at 60FPS
Video playback 8K at 60FPS, 4K at 120FPS 4K at 60FPS
Video codecs - H.264
- H.265
- AV1
- VP8
- VP9		 - H.264
- H.265
- AV1
- VP9
Audio codecs - AAC
- AIFF
- CAF
- MP3
- MP4
- WAV		 - AAC LC
- FLAC
- HE-AACv1
- HE-AACv2
- MP3

Connectivity

Modem Snapdragon X75 -
4G support LTE Cat. 24 -
5G support Yes Yes
Download speed Up to 10000 Mbps Up to 5170 Mbps
Upload speed Up to 3500 Mbps -
Wi-Fi 7 6
Bluetooth 5.4 6.0
Navigation GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC

Info

Announced October 2023 January 2026
Class Flagship Mid range
Model number SM8650-AB, SM8650-AC MT6899Z_A/TZA
Official page Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 official site MediaTek Dimensity 8500 official site
Successor - Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 -
Further details
Notes on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3:
    - Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy has a 100 MHz higher CPU and GPU clock speed. It has a higher GPU performance rate of up to 3072 Gigaflops.

Cast your vote

So, which SoC would you choose?
313 (65.2%)
167 (34.8%)
Total votes: 480

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4. MediaTek Dimensity 8500 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 (15)
5. MediaTek Dimensity 8500 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 (4)
6. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs MediaTek Dimensity 8400 (12)
7. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Google Tensor G4 (19)
8. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs MediaTek Dimensity 9300 (155)
9. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (Gen 4) (79)
10. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 (19)
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Comments

Please give your opinion on the comparison of Dimensity 8500 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, or ask any questions
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Avatar
Snapdragon for Galaxy April 7, 2026 at 05:52 AM
I heard the Dimensity 8000 series cheats in benchmarks and give inflated numbers but fail in real world use, is this true?, I've never used a Dimensity chip before.. have only known Snapdragon my whole life
+6 Reply
Avatar
DungTroc April 22, 2026 at 04:24 PM
That's pretty right, a lot of newer DM8000 series have surprisingly high benchmark scores but in real use, due to using too much overclocked Cores (Cortex-A725 extra overclocked) it gets pretty badly in heat and power pulling, example is the Poco X8 Pro, it Could pull up to 8-9w on max usage which is WILD
+7 Reply
Avatar
Abdou June 28, 2026 at 11:06 PM
It is not true and you cannot cheat in the test. The processor numbers are in front of you, it is comparable to Snapdragon 8 gen. I used to own a Poco X6 pro and now I own a Poco x8 pro and their performance is superb with Dimensity 8300/8500 and with the same quality as last year's flagship (I used to own an S24 Ultra)
+3 Reply
Avatar
Quaton March 23, 2026 at 10:39 AM
SNAP 8 GEN 3 is still better in almost every way
+15 Reply
Avatar
someone out there March 15, 2026 at 06:08 AM
Yup, Snapdragon 8 gen 3 still takes the πŸ‘‘
+11 Reply
Avatar
Cheater March 2, 2026 at 02:57 AM
MediaTek is good in cheating benchmark scores especially with GPU clock speed.
+4 Reply
Avatar
Abdou June 28, 2026 at 11:08 PM
How can they cheat. Look at specs, the cortex-725, ddr5x, ufs 4.1...
+3 Reply
Avatar
Samsung s24 eh February 23, 2026 at 03:11 AM
8 gen 3 is epic till now only these can beat 8 gen 3 others can't even come near to these 8 gen 5 d9400+ 8 elite d9500 8 elite gen 5
+23 Reply
Avatar
user March 10, 2026 at 12:40 PM
fact if must using a dimensity's chip, i will only choose their flagship tier such as 9000 series, never for 8000 and below, what a scam on scores on paper.
+10 Reply
Avatar
RandomAccessMemory February 16, 2026 at 02:58 AM
Snapdragon 8 gen 3 is still good than Dimensity 8500
+32 Reply
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