Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Dimensity 8300 Ultra: How Much Faster Is the Flagship Chip?

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and MediaTek Dimensity 8300 Ultra belong to different classes. Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is designed for flagship smartphones, while Dimensity 8300 Ultra is intended for more affordable upper-midrange models. Both are manufactured using TSMC’s 4nm process, but they differ significantly in CPU and especially GPU performance.

The main question is how large Snapdragon’s advantage is in CPU and graphics performance, and whether it is noticeable beyond benchmarks.

Main Differences

Snapdragon’s main CPU advantage is related to its more modern cores. One Cortex-X4 core and five Cortex-A720 cores deliver significantly higher performance in demanding CPU workloads, while the Dimensity 8300 Ultra uses four Cortex-A715 cores and four Cortex-A510 cores.

In the interface, browser, and everyday apps, the difference is much smaller than in benchmarks. Snapdragon’s advantage is more pronounced in demanding calculations, games, and sustained workloads.

CPU and System Performance

Cooling, firmware, and the smartphone’s power limits have a noticeable effect on the results.

In Geekbench 6, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 confidently outperforms Dimensity 8300 Ultra in all the selected devices. In the single-threaded test, the difference is approximately 45-60%, while Snapdragon is also clearly ahead in the multi-threaded test.

AnTuTu results vary more from one smartphone to another. Redmi K70E clearly outperforms POCO X6 Pro and Xiaomi 14T with the same Dimensity 8300 Ultra. Therefore, a single AnTuTu result cannot be applied to all smartphones with the same SoC.

The AnTuTu 11 scores in this table also cannot be directly compared with the AnTuTu 10 results in the general specifications table below on the page.

Graphics and 3DMark

The gap in graphics performance is even larger. Adreno 750 is significantly more powerful than Mali-G615 MC6, which is especially clear in demanding 3DMark tests.

Redmi K70E posts the best result among the selected Dimensity 8300 Ultra models, but it still falls noticeably behind Snapdragon in Solar Bay.

Wild Life Extreme shows an even more obvious gap: ROG Phone 8 Pro scores around 5205 points, compared with approximately 2770 for Redmi K70E.

Mali-G615 MC6 can handle modern mobile games, but Adreno 750 allows for higher FPS and graphics settings. FPS stability still depends on the cooling of the specific smartphone.

Another advantage of Snapdragon is emulation. Third-party drivers are available for Adreno, and they can improve compatibility and performance in some emulators.

Camera, Video, and Connectivity

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 supports a broader range of camera and video-recording features. In smartphones where the manufacturer has implemented this capability, recording at up to 8K is available. Dimensity 8300 Ultra is limited to recording at up to 4K60.

Camera quality depends not only on the SoC, but also on the sensor, optics, and image-processing algorithms. Therefore, a more powerful ISP does not by itself guarantee better image quality.

Snapdragon also offers broader connectivity capabilities. Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 works with the Snapdragon X75 modem and supports Wi-Fi 7. Dimensity 8300 offers 5G with download speeds of up to 5.17 Gbps and Wi-Fi 6E. In terms of connectivity specifications, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is also ahead.

What the Comparison Shows

In terms of performance, Dimensity 8300 Ultra is noticeably closer to flagship SoCs than typical midrange chips. POCO X6 Pro, Redmi K70E, and Xiaomi 14T perform quickly in everyday apps and are suitable for demanding games.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is noticeably faster in demanding workloads. Its advantage is especially pronounced in graphics, single-threaded performance, and extended gaming sessions.

Conclusion

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is noticeably faster than Dimensity 8300 Ultra. In the selected smartphones, it outperforms Dimensity by approximately 45-60% in Geekbench 6 Single, while in demanding graphics tests, individual Adreno 750 models can nearly double the scores of devices with Mali-G615 MC6.

The difference is smaller in everyday apps. Dimensity 8300 Ultra remains a fast chip for upper-midrange smartphones, while Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s advantages are more apparent in demanding games, emulation, sustained workloads, video recording, and wireless interfaces.