MediaTek Dimensity 8300 vs Snapdragon 8s Gen 3

Let's put two flagship Killers, the Dimensity 8300 and the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 to the test. Which of these two high end SoCs is the best for you?

Jun 21, 2024, 11:15 AM

The high-end SoC department has started to become really populated these days with SoCs. It is from this region that we're going to have two very good SoCs go up against each other. This is the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 vs Dimensity 8300.

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a flagship killer SoC from Qualcomm. This SoC was announced in March of 2024 and it is easily one of the best-performing SoCs in the world right now. The main reason for this is that it is a watered-down Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 variant. Due to its incredible performance, a lot of smartphone OEMs have picked up it straight away. It can be found on phones like the Realme GT6, Poco F6, Honor 200 Pro, Motorola Edge 50 Ultra, Motorola Moto X50 Ultra, Redmi Turbo 3, Realme GT Neo 6, etc. It is incredibly popular.

The Dimensity 8300 is also a flagship killer as well and it is from the stables of MediaTek. It was announced in November of 2023 and sought to build on the successes of its predecessor, the Dimensity 8200. This SoC was initially a huge hit, appearing on several phones before new SoCs took its shine away. You can find it on the Poco X6 Pro and the Redmi K70E.

Performance of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 Vs. Dimensity 8300

Both of these SoCs are supercharged high-end SoCs with powerful CPU cores. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is the more powerful SoC because it has the better CPU cores (1x 3 GHz – Cortex-X4, 4x 2.8 GHz – Cortex-A720 and 3x 2 GHz – Cortex-A520). The Dimensity 8300 is not as powerful as the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 because its CPU cores are weaker (1x 3.35 GHz – Cortex-A715, 3x 3.2 GHz – Cortex-A715, and 4x 2.2 GHz – Cortex-A510).

This is confirmed when you take a look at benchmark tests for both SoCs. On AnTuTu 10, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 scores a total of 1,527,769, whilst the Dimensity 8300 comes in second at 1,399,884. This means that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 should be able to handle apps, tasks, and games better than the Dimensity 8300.

Gaming on the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 Vs. Dimensity 8300

Gaming is something that everyone expects from their smartphones and both of these SoCs offer it in spades. They're both able to handle most games from native Android titles to emulated games. For games, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is armed with an Adreno 735 whilst the Dimensity 8300 is equipped with Mali G615 MP6.

The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 has a slightly better GPU here as the Adreno 735 is better than the Mali G615 MP6 and it supports Ray Tracing. On AnTuTu v10, the Adreno 735 scores 532,340 whilst the Mali G615 MP6 scores 524,914. On the 3DMark Wild Life test, the Adreno 735 also outperforms the Mali G615 MP6 (11,802 to 10,064). As a result, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 should handle games and other graphics slightly better than the Dimensity 8300.

Memory and storage

Memory (RAM) and storage are crucial for your device's performance. Storage acts as the long-term home for all your files, apps, games, documents, photos, and music. When the CPU and GPU need to process these files, they're retrieved from storage and loaded into RAM, which acts as the working memory. RAM helps the CPU and GPU to carry out their jobs properly.

Both SoCs are tied here in this regard. They both support LPDDR5X RAM running 4200MHz with support for up to 24GB RAM. For storage, they also both support UFS 4.0 which is the fastest UFS storage standard currently (2024). These are all very high-end specifications.

Photography and Videography

For photography, the Dimensity 8300 takes the lead here as it can support cameras of up to 320MP whilst the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 stops at 200MP support. Going all the way up to 320MP is rather overkill as the best smartphone cameras we have are 200MP sensors.

For, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is better as it can record video resolutions of up to 4K at 60fps and play them back at 120fps. The Dimensity can also record 4K videos as well but it can only do so at 60fps.

Connectivity

The Dimensity 8300 ships with a MediaTek T800 modem which supports 4G LTE (Cat 22), 5G (mmWave and Sub-6GHz), WiFi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.4. The Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 which comes with a Snapdragon X70 modem also boasts similar specs such as 4G LTE (Cat 24), 5G (mmWave and Sub-6GHz), WiFi 7, and Bluetooth 5.4. This one is a tie.

Possible battery life

Both SoCs should offer similar battery consumption and heating because they are both built on a 4nm TSMC process. Whilst there is the argument to be made that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 should go easier on the battery and heat less, due to the better optimization than Qualcomm SoCs enjoy. I believe that the Cortex X4 core on the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 will pull a lot of battery, especially when it is engaged in very heavy tasks. This one is also a tie.

Conclusion

This has been a very close contest all the way as both SoCs have been head to head and neck to neck. Except for performance and gaming, these two are inseparable and there would be very little to choose between them. However, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 does offer better CPU cores for performance and a better GPU which supports Ray tracing for gaming. That is more than enough to win me over.

If you're a gamer, I would absolutely recommend the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 but for the rest of us, I'd say go with the slightly less powerful but more affordable Dimensity 8300. Cheers!