MediaTek and Qualcomm Unveil 3nm APs, Samsung’s Counterattack Amid TSMC Dominance

Dimensity 9500 and Next-Generation Snapdragon
China Joins the Race, Accelerating Global Competition
Samsung Seeks Revival with Exynos Series

The global mobile application processor (AP) market is entering a fierce new phase as MediaTek and Qualcomm simultaneously launch new products built on TSMC’s 3nm process. Adding to the momentum, China’s Xiaomi has rolled out its first self-developed 3nm chip, accelerating diversification in the market. Against this backdrop, Samsung Electronics is betting on the world’s first 2nm Exynos 2600 as its comeback weapon, but whether it can secure stable yields will be the critical test of survival.

Race to Capture the Next-Generation Market

According to industry sources on September 17, MediaTek will officially unveil its next-generation mobile AP, the Dimensity 9500, on the 22nd. Around the same time, Qualcomm will host its annual “Snapdragon Summit 2025,” introducing the fifth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite. These chips are expected to compete head-to-head with Apple’s upcoming A19 Pro and Samsung’s Exynos 2600 for dominance in the premium smartphone segment over the next year. Samsung is widely expected to reveal the Exynos 2600 later this year or in early 2026, shaping the global AP market into a three-way battle.

The Dimensity 9500 significantly boosts hardware performance, built on ARM’s latest Lumex platform with C1-series cores and a 12-core GPU. Its CPU configuration includes one ultra-high-performance 4.21GHz core, three 3.50GHz high-performance cores, and four 2.7GHz efficiency cores, paired with a 100 TOPS-class NPU. It supports LPDDR5X memory at 10,667 Mbps and UFS 4.1 storage. Connectivity extends to 5G, Wi-Fi 7, and Bluetooth 6.0, with priority adoption by Chinese brands Oppo and Vivo.

Qualcomm’s fifth-generation Snapdragon 8 Elite touts its proprietary Orion CPU architecture and an improved Adreno GPU. Core speeds reach up to 4.6GHz—or 4.7GHz in a Galaxy-optimized version. The Xiaomi 17 series will be the first to adopt it, with speculation that it could also power the Galaxy S26 Ultra. Benchmark results place it ahead of rivals, with a single-core score of 3,393, multi-core at 11,515, and an AnTuTu score of 4.2 million.

The fact that both new chips are manufactured on TSMC’s 3nm process is a decisive factor. Beyond sheer performance, the competition hinges on which company secures access to advanced production capacity. Counterpoint Research projects TSMC to command 87 percent of sub-5nm AP manufacturing this year, noting that “Apple, Qualcomm, and MediaTek are highly likely to rely on TSMC for their 2nm products next year as well.” That leaves Samsung, preparing its 2nm Exynos 2600 as the world’s first of its kind, at a disadvantage in initial volumes.

Xiaomi Launches China’s First 3nm AP

Chinese players are further complicating Samsung’s challenge. In May, Xiaomi officially released its first 3nm AP, the XRING 01, marking its entry into the global market. This achievement makes Xiaomi the fourth company worldwide—after Apple, Samsung, and Huawei—to commercialize its own mobile chip. The launch also marks a comeback, following the failure of its first attempt, the Surge S1, in 2017. Industry observers interpret Xiaomi’s move not merely as a new product launch but as evidence that China’s semiconductor self-reliance strategy is gaining traction.

The XRING 01 is fabricated on TSMC’s 3nm process. Xiaomi leveraged the fact that U.S. export restrictions focus primarily on AI chips, leaving consumer-grade mobile chips less affected, to secure access to advanced technology. The chip is reportedly built on ARM architecture with either eight- or ten-core tri-cluster CPUs, including the latest Cortex-X925 core and Immortalis-G925 GPU. Some analysts have suggested its performance surpasses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, signaling China’s first true entry into the global premium chipset race.

Xiaomi’s determination is also evident in the project’s scale. Local reports indicate that over 1,000 engineers worked on the XRING 01, including senior executives recruited from Qualcomm. The company completed tape-out of the 3nm chipset as early as last year. Contrary to speculation that Xiaomi might rely on MediaTek or UniSOC modems, it instead pursued independent CPU and GPU design, underscoring its ambition to establish itself as a true chip developer.

This bold move has significant implications for the broader market. Should the share of homegrown APs in Chinese smartphones increase in line with Beijing’s push for technological self-sufficiency, the global ecosystem will face new disruptions beyond the existing Apple-Qualcomm-Samsung triad. With cost competitiveness and the vast Chinese domestic market as leverage, Xiaomi’s strategy could challenge Qualcomm’s dominance while intensifying pressure on Samsung to deliver a successful 2nm Exynos 2600.

Samsung’s Critical Test: Stable Yields

Attention now turns to whether Samsung can achieve stable yields with its 2nm Exynos 2600. Sources indicate that mass production will begin at the end of this month, with the chip slated for inclusion in the Galaxy S26 series early next year. As the first mobile processor built on a 2nm gate-all-around (GAA) process, developed by Samsung Foundry, the Exynos 2600 carries symbolic weight. Yet uncertainty persists over whether yields can reach the industry benchmark of 60 percent. Some even speculate that failure could force Samsung to exit the AP business altogether.

Samsung remains confident, touting the Exynos 2600’s strong performance gains. Geekbench tests showed a single-core score of 3,309 and multi-core at 11,256—roughly a 35 percent improvement over the Exynos 2500. A new Heat Path Block (HPB) solution was introduced for better energy efficiency and thermal control, enhancing stability. If these results hold in real-world use, many in the industry believe Samsung could significantly narrow its long-standing performance gap with Qualcomm.

The return of Exynos in the Galaxy lineup is also strategically significant. Due to issues with heat and yields, Samsung used only Qualcomm chips in the Galaxy S23 and S25. Reintroducing its in-house chip in the S26 after two years would mark a comeback, with cost savings as an added benefit. In the first half of this year, Samsung’s MX (Mobile Experience) division spent about $5.77 billion on AP components, up 29 percent year-over-year—most of it paid to Qualcomm. Using its own chips would therefore restore design competitiveness while cutting costs.

In this context, the fate of the Exynos 2600 will directly shape the trajectory of Samsung’s broader semiconductor business. Stable mass production would restore trust in its System LSI and Foundry divisions, bolstered by recent contract wins for Tesla AI chips and Apple image sensors. Conversely, if yield issues persist, Samsung’s AP business will once again hit a wall. That is why the 2nm Exynos 2600 is widely viewed as the decisive trial for the future of Samsung’s system semiconductor operations.