Galaxy Tab S12 series? Samsung app reveals Dimensity 9500 device is coming (APK teardown)

Samsung used MediaTek chips in its high-end Galaxy Tab S10 and Galaxy Tab S11 families, bucking a long-standing trend of using Snapdragon processors in its flagship Android tablets. Now, new evidence suggests this trend will continue with Samsung’s upcoming flagship tablets.

We dug into Samsung’s AI core app and found references to the MediaTek Dimensity 9500 processor in one of the app files. The file doesn’t explicitly call it the Dimensity 9500, but instead uses the MT6993 model number.

The AI Core app also lists several AI-related features associated with the chipset, as seen below:

These features ostensibly refer to AI-generated wallpapers, image expansion, and generative editing. It’s not immediately clear what the harmonization feature refers to, but it could be a nod to image harmonization. This technique adjusts lighting, colors, and contrast to ensure that subjects in a composite image more realistically fit into the scene.

Otherwise, the code doesn’t actually mention a device. All it really tells us is that Samsung plans to use the Dimensity 9500 in an upcoming product. Nevertheless, recent history shows that Samsung used flagship Dimensity silicon in its last two generations of high-end Galaxy Tabs, so it stands to reason that the new chip will appear in the Galaxy Tab S12 series.

We’re happy to see that this could be the case, as the Dimensity 9500 in particular is a powerful piece of silicon. Our own testing found that it doesn’t quite match up to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 on the CPU front. Furthermore, some niche apps, like cutting-edge emulators, run better on Snapdragon chips. However, our testing also found that the Dimensity 9500 delivered better gaming performance and lower temperatures under sustained load.