3.6 Million on AnTuTu: How Redmi and MediaTek Just Redefined 'Mid-Range' Performance

MediaTek has effectively blurred the line between cellular connectivity and local networking with the announcement of the Dimensity 9500s. While the chipset is positioned as a "sub-flagship" alternative to the top-tier Dimensity 9500, the headline feature is a proprietary Bluetooth advancement that claims to support direct phone-to-phone connections at distances of up to five kilometers. If validated in real-world testing, this technology bypasses the need for cellular towers entirely for local communication, posing a direct challenge to existing satellite SOS features and proprietary walkie-talkie modes found in ruggedized devices.

High-End Silicon on a Budget

The categorization of this chip as "sub-flagship" is largely semantic. Built on TSMC’s second-generation 3nm manufacturing process, the 9500s utilizes an aggressive CPU architecture that rivals top-tier competitors. The octa-core layout is led by a massive Cortex-X925 prime core clocked at 3.73GHz, supported by three Cortex-X4 performance cores at 3.30GHz and four Cortex-A720 efficiency cores at 2.0GHz. Packing over 29 billion transistors, this density suggests that MediaTek is no longer binning lower-quality silicon for this segment but is instead offering a slightly down-clocked version of its premier engine.

Graphics and AI Compression

For gamers, the heavy lifting is managed by the Immortalis-G925 GPU, which retains hardware-level ray-tracing support from its more expensive sibling. To feed this performance, MediaTek has implemented a 19MB CPU cache and a 10MB system cache, paired with "super memory compression technology." The company claims this compression algorithm improves app launch speeds by up to 44 percent, a metric likely achieved by keeping more compressed data resident in the RAM rather than swapping to storage.

The Multimedia Engine

The 9500s does not compromise on the Image Signal Processor (ISP). It integrates a semantic segmentation video engine capable of recognizing distinct objects in a frame—sky, skin, foliage—and processing them individually in real-time. This powers the chip's ability to record 8K HDR video with Dolby Vision encoding. Connectivity is handled by a 5G Release 17 modem supporting four-carrier aggregation (4CC-CA) for theoretical download peaks of 7Gbps, alongside Wi-Fi 7 compatibility reaching 6.5Gbps.

Performance Validation: The Redmi Turbo 5 Max

The first vehicle for this silicon will be the Redmi Turbo 5 Max. Early lab testing indicates the device has shattered expectations with an AnTuTu benchmark score of 3,612,095. For context, this score places a "mid-range" handset well above many $1,000 flagships from the previous generation. It signals that Xiaomi’s sub-brand is continuing its strategy of prioritizing raw horsepower over build materials, likely targeting the sub-$500 market.

The Daily Tech Lens Verdict

The release of the Dimensity 9500s confirms that the hardware gap between a $1,000 phone and a $500 phone has effectively closed. If the Redmi Turbo 5 Max launches globally at a price point near $450, it will offer the best price-to-performance ratio in the Android ecosystem for 2026. However, we remain skeptical about the "5km Bluetooth" claim until we can test it; physics dictates that such range usually requires Line-of-Sight (LOS) and low data rates, making it more useful for text bursts than voice calls.