Unleashing the Future: A Peek into the AI-Empowered Phones of Tomorrow with MediaTek's Dimensity 9400
'Understanding the Role of 'Agentic' AI in MediaTek's Latest Dimensity Premium Mobile Processor'
In a bold move, MediaTek, the popular chipmaker, is shedding light on the future of smartphone technology. Emulating Elmo's exuberance, they're asking, "Ready to dive into the world of 'agentic?'" Let's decode this buzzword and see what it means for MediaTek's groundbreaking 3nm chip, the Dimensity 9400.
'Agentic' refers to AI Agents, essentially multiple AI models collaborating to accomplish a task. An example might be having an AI chatbot call your mom and wish her a happy birthday for you. Various AI models would create the message, find your mom's number, and initiate the call using AI-driven speech.
This term is buzzing among tech elites, but the "agentic" revolution can't materialize without the underlying technology. The Dimensity 9400 is MediaTek's first commercial chip this year, promising support for AI agents that will supercharge your phone's AI assistants. It boasts a 80% improvement in large language model (LLM) performance compared to the Dimensity 9300 and twice the capacity for AI art generation with a new neural processor.
On the other side of the coin, there's the "Dimensity Agentic AI Engine" designed to streamline the development of AI-centric apps for developers. MediaTek claims its chips can handle around 50 tokens per second for AI computations, outperforming the current Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3's 20 tokens per second, but the latter is rumored to reveal Gen 4 later this month. Unfortunately, leaks from tech sites like SmartPrix and WCCFTech lack comparisons between both chips' NPUs.
The Dimensity 9400 boasts an "All Big Core" design with a single ARM cortex-X925 running at 3.62 GHz, accompanied by three Cortex-X4 and four Cortex-A720 cores. It promises a 35% improvement in single-core performance and a 28% boost in multi-core performance compared to the 9300. It also boasts a 100% increase in L2 cache and a 50% amp in L3 cache compared to the Dimensity 9300. Plus, it supports a 12-core ARM Immortalis-G925 GPU with enhanced ray tracing capabilities.
Additionally, the chip supports LPDDR5X memory at 10.7 GBps for improved power efficiency. It's even compatible with the foldable Huawei Mate XT, although, so far, it appears to be the only "tri-fold" smartphone in the market.
Initially associated with brands like Vivo, Oppo, and Redmi, the Dimensity 9300 and 9300+ have expanded to support the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra and S10. However, OnePlus opted for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 instead of the Dimensity 9000 for the OnePlus Pad 2. With U.S. lawmakers unlikely to change their stance on international chipmakers anytime soon, MediaTek's chips may still be scarce in the U.S. market.
Despite this, the race to optimize chips for AI assistants isn't limited to U.S. chipmakers. With Google's Gemini already gaining ground on Android and Apple Intelligence preparing for a comprehensive iOS overhaul, the stage is set for the word "agentic" to become ubiquitous by 2025 and beyond.
However, the million-dollar question for 2025 is whether agentic AI will function as advertised. While we've seen AI models capable of handling complex tasks, these are often performed off-device. For on-device AI, we've seen a more intricate assistant system that has the potential to mislead. The real challenge lies in having AI capable of crossing apps and performing tasks without accidentally sending a message that will require an apology.
Update 10/9/2024 at 9:35 a.m.: This post was updated to correct MediaTek's main base of operations.
- MediaTek's Dimensity 9400, the pioneering 3nm chip, is paving the way for the future of smartphone technology by supporting AI agents, revolutionizing the performance of AI assistants on phones.
- The AI Agents, a prime example of the 'agentic' buzzword, are multiple AI models collaborating to accomplish tasks, such as making a birthday call using AI-driven speech.
- In 2024, MediaTek hopes to outperform Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with its Dimensity 9400, boasting 50 tokens per second for AI computations.
- By 2025, with the growth of 'agentic' AI, the term will likely become ubiquitous in the tech world, impacting not just MediaTek, but also Google's Gemini and Apple Intelligence as they implement comprehensive AI overhauls in Android and iOS, respectively.