This year, MediaTek first released its high-end chip Dimensity 9400, while Qualcomm followed a few days later, but that didn't stop Qualcomm from becoming the center of attention. This is evident from the fact that Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite has garnered significant interest from Chinese mobile phone makers. With the launch of Snapdragon 8 Elite, it has proven to be superior to MediaTek's offering!

In terms of performance, Snapdragon 8 Elite surpasses MediaTek's Dimensity 9400 in both single-core and multi-core benchmarks, with scores of 3242 and 10521, respectively, compared to Dimensity 9400's 2920 and 9000.

It is evident that Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite, which utilizes a fully self-developed core architecture, has made significant progress in performance this year. This also proves that Apple's technical engineers are indeed one step ahead of ARM in chip architecture research and development - the founders of Qualcomm's acquired nuvia company came from Apple's A-series processor team.

There were concerns in the industry that Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite, due to its ultra-high frequency, might lead to excessive power consumption, even recreating the overheating issues seen with the Snapdragon 810 and Snapdragon 888. However, test data shows that despite having a much higher frequency than Dimensity 9400, Snapdragon 8 Elite actually consumes less power.

According to test results, while Dimensity 9400 consumes less power than Snapdragon 8 Elite at lower performance levels (below 2000 points), once the processor's performance exceeds 2500 points, Snapdragon 8 Elite consumes about one-third less power than Dimensity 9400. Even at higher frequencies, Snapdragon 8 Elite's power consumption remains lower, highlighting Apple's superior control over performance and power consumption compared to ARM.

Due to Snapdragon 8 Elite's outstanding performance, domestic mobile phone makers have shown immense admiration for Qualcomm. With the exception of one domestic brand, all other domestic mobile phone brands attended the Snapdragon 8 Elite launch event and expressed their intention to launch flagship phones equipped with Snapdragon 8 Elite as soon as possible.

The reason for domestic mobile phone makers' admiration of Snapdragon 8 Elite lies in its single-core performance, which surpasses Apple's A18 processor and is only slightly lower than the A18 Pro, while its multi-core performance exceeds that of the A18 Pro. This is the closest Qualcomm's chip has come to Apple in terms of single-core performance, giving domestic mobile phone makers more confidence to challenge Apple.

Apple has long dominated the high-end mobile phone market, frustrating many domestic mobile phone brands. With Snapdragon 8 Elite's exceptional performance, domestic mobile phone makers naturally hope to launch a new round of challenges, aiming to capture more market share in the high-end segment. MediaTek, on the other hand, is clearly unable to shoulder such a responsibility, leaving domestic mobile phone makers to embrace Qualcomm with enthusiasm.

Another factor driving domestic mobile phone makers towards Qualcomm is the need for patent licenses to enter international markets. With the exception of a few domestic brands, most rely on Qualcomm's patent licenses to sell their phones overseas. Many domestic mobile phone brands sell half or even 70% of their shipments in overseas markets, where their phones are mostly powered by Qualcomm chips.

All of these factors have driven domestic mobile phone makers to actively seek out Qualcomm. Facing this dependence, Qualcomm has taken advantage, raising the price of Snapdragon 8 Elite by 20% this year. It is reported that the chip's selling price has reached over RMB 1,700, which is comparable to the price of domestic mid-range mobile phones. However, domestic mobile phone makers have no choice but to accept this increase.

While Snapdragon 8 Elite's performance is indeed impressive, the competition between domestic mobile phones and Apple is far from easy. Apple's iPhone 16 this year offers more features at the same price, starting at RMB 5,999. Due to the price increase of Snapdragon 8 Elite, domestic mobile phone makers have had to raise the prices of their new flagship phones to over RMB 4,000. Meanwhile, Apple has further reduced prices for the Singles' Day promotion, making it uncertain whether domestic mobile phones can successfully compete with Apple.