Taiwanese fabless semiconductor manufacturer MediaTek is reportedly undecided on whether to adopt a dual-product launch strategy similar to Qualcomm for its flagship chipset, the Dimensity 9600, which it plans to release next year.

Mediatek may switch to a dual chipset

The company is currently only working on the Dimensity 9600 and has successfully completed the design phase of its first 2nm chipset. However, information from leaked sources suggests that TSMC’s high wafer costs in 2nm production may convince MediaTek to adopt this dual-chipset strategy.

Qualcomm is expected to launch two different variants next year: the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 Pro. If MediaTek adopts this strategy, it’s predicted that a less powerful version of the Dimensity 9600 will have a slower GPU and be limited to LPDDR5X RAM support instead of the LPDDR6 found in the top model.

Qualcomm previously released the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, a less powerful sibling of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, but MediaTek has yet to name its trimmed-down version of the Dimensity 9600.

The Weibo source that shared this leak also reports that various smartphone companies are planning to release four different models (including standard, Pro, and Pro Max variants) next year, similar to Apple’s naming scheme.

The main factor behind MediaTek’s hesitation to switch to a dual-chip strategy is said to be costs. A significant strength of MediaTek is its competitive pricing, as seen with the Dimensity 9500; this allows manufacturers to achieve higher profits with lower chipset costs.

News that TSMC has allocated more than half of its 2nm capacity to Apple’s A20 and A20 Pro chips is pushing both MediaTek and Qualcomm towards the potentially more expensive, improved 2nm ‘N2P’ manufacturing process.

This could further increase MediaTek’s cost of producing the Dimensity 9600, potentially forcing the Taiwanese company to develop a lower-spec version.