The hot new MediaTek Dimensity 9300 has a huge problem

As has been rumored since the beginning of the summer, rising chipmaker, MediaTek’s got a hot new flagship chipset in the works. Which aims to narrow the gap between its top-of-range offerings and industry standard bearer Qualcomm’s leading Snapdragon 8 series.

Unfortunately for the Taiwanese firm, word among those in the know is that the upcoming Dimensity 9300’s hotness is not limited to mere literary flourish. The unconventionally-designed model is said to literally be running too hot to operate at its advertised frequencies. This has the potential of generating some uncomfortable conversations between MediaTek and its OEM customers, the latter of whom have been promised performance that may not be achievable within acceptable thermal ranges.

Why is the Dimensity 9300 running so hot?

Apparently the problem stems from the silicon maker’s ambitious design choices with regard to ARM core distribution on the octa-core wafer: whereas most modern ARM-based chips contain a mix of fast and slow cores to throttle back the power (and thus the heat) during less intensive computing tasks, the Dimensity 9300 can most accurately be said to eschew the slow cores completely in favor of a mix that includes only fast and very fast (four each of Cortex-A720 and Cortex-X4, respectively).

While the envelope-pushing, four-nanometer design — previously reported by Weibo leaker Digital Chat Station — has been generating early buzz, it’s also allegedly causing headaches for phone manufacturers trying to unbottle that potential performance without singeing users’ hands in the process.

So now, as the chip’s rumored October launch approaches and partners scramble to finalize their plans around it, MediaTek reportedly finds itself in an unenviable bind. It can either dial back the speed somewhat significantly in order to meet stringent OEM thermal requirements — deflating much of the buzz-making and thus earnings-generating performance of D9300 — or it can try to move customers over to its more tried-and-true (but less exciting) solutions. Alternatively, it could watch them walk away altogether, a last-ditch maneuver that would be sure to cause production delays as well as leaving a sour taste in the mouths of everyone involved.