For buyers looking at upper-midrange performance phones, the current comparison between Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 and Dimensity 8500 Ultra points to a clear practical gap. Qualcomm’s chip comes out ahead where it matters most for many users: single-core responsiveness, graphics performance, and sustained gaming stability.
That difference shows up even before looking at the full feature list. The two processors are aimed at performance-focused devices, but the benchmark results suggest that Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 is the stronger choice for raw speed, while Dimensity 8500 Ultra remains competitive in a few narrower areas.
Benchmark results favor Qualcomm
In Geekbench, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 posted 2,047 in single-core and 6,620 in multi-core. Dimensity 8500 Ultra followed with 1,603 in single-core and 6,411 in multi-core, which means the biggest gap appears in single-threaded work.
The single-core lead reaches 27 percent for Snapdragon 8s Gen 4. The multi-core difference is much smaller at around 3 percent, so workloads that rely on many CPU cores do not separate the two chips as sharply.
AnTuTu shows a similar pattern
The same trend appears in AnTuTu v11. Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 scored 2,326,902 overall, while Dimensity 8500 Ultra reached 2,110,684.
Breaking the numbers down further, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 recorded 682,606 in CPU and 811,300 in GPU. Dimensity 8500 Ultra posted 601,843 in CPU and 655,088 in GPU, although it did lead in UX with 483,004 versus 458,059 on the Qualcomm chip.
Memory performance was nearly identical. Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 scored 374,937, while Dimensity 8500 Ultra came in at 370,749.
Gaming stress tests widen the gap
In 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 again stayed ahead with a high score of 4,470, a low score of 3,542, and stability of 79.24 percent. Dimensity 8500 Ultra reached a high score of 4,162, a low score of 3,056, and stability of 73.43 percent.
Those results indicate that Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 handles long gaming sessions more consistently. The GPU numbers also align with the AnTuTu results, where Adreno 825 stands above Mali-G720 MP8.
Different CPU approaches, different outcomes
Both chipsets use TSMC’s 4nm process and an octa-core layout, but their CPU designs are not the same. Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 combines 1x Cortex-X4 at 3.2GHz, 3x Cortex-A720 at 3.0GHz, 2x Cortex-A720 at 2.8GHz, and 2x Cortex-A720 at 2.02GHz.
Dimensity 8500 Ultra takes an all-big-core approach with 1x Cortex-A725 at 3.4GHz, 3x Cortex-A725 at 3.2GHz, and 4x Cortex-A725 at 2.2GHz. Even with a higher peak clock on paper, the Cortex-X4 in Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 gives Qualcomm an advantage in single-core performance, which matches the benchmark results.
Graphics, AI, and camera features also differ
On the graphics side, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 uses Adreno 825 with ray tracing, Snapdragon Elite Gaming, sliced GPU architecture, Qualcomm Adaptive Performance Engine, and Adreno Frame Motion Engine 2.0. Dimensity 8500 Ultra uses Mali-G720 MP8 with ray tracing and HyperEngine Gaming Technology, with support aimed at smooth play up to 120 FPS and smarter power efficiency.
For AI, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 carries Qualcomm Hexagon NPU with shared memory that is twice as large and AI performance that is 44 percent faster than its predecessor. It also supports on-device LLM and LVM processing, while Dimensity 8500 Ultra includes MediaTek NPU 880 with diffusion transformer support, NeuroPilot compression, and on-device LLM and LVM capability.
Camera support follows a similar split. Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 features Qualcomm Spectra ISP 18-bit with Triple AI ISP, support for a single camera up to 320MP, triple cameras at 36MP with zero shutter lag, real-time semantic segmentation up to 250 layers, and 4K 60fps video.
Dimensity 8500 Ultra uses Imagiq 1080 ISP with support for a single camera up to 320MP, triple cameras at 32MP with zero shutter lag, semantic segmentation, and 4K 60fps video.
Connectivity remains one area where MediaTek has an edge
Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 comes with Snapdragon X75 5G modem, offering download speeds up to 4.2Gbps, along with Wi-Fi 7 at a peak speed of 5.8Gbps and Bluetooth 6.0. Dimensity 8500 Ultra offers 5G download speeds up to 5.17Gbps, but its wireless features are limited to Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4.
Both chipsets support LPDDR5X up to 4.8GHz. Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 supports UFS 4.0, while Dimensity 8500 Ultra supports UFS 4 + MCQ.
With the numbers placed side by side, Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 looks better suited for stronger peak performance and more stable gaming behavior. Dimensity 8500 Ultra still stays relevant through its all-big-core design and faster 5G download speed, but the benchmark and graphics results keep Qualcomm in front overall.
Source: www.gizmochina.com
