MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro and On-Device AI

MediaTek’s Dimensity 9600 Pro points toward larger AI models on phones. Explore performance, power, privacy, and cloud trade-offs.

MediaTek Dimensity 9600 Pro and On-Device AI

MediaTek just unveiled the Dimensity 9600 Pro, a 2nm smartphone chip built with TSMC technology that can support AI models as large as 30 billion parameters directly on a phone. With faster AI prompt processing, lower power use, better privacy, and less dependence on cloud data centers, this chip could transform premium smartphones—and put serious pressure on Qualcomm.

Source: Reuters, September 15, 2026. Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee; editing by Eduardo Baptista and Kirsten Donovan. Discovered through AI Weekly.

What to watch

Model size alone does not tell users how well a phone handles a particular task. Memory, battery life, response time, and application design also matter. Processing on a device can reduce cloud dependence, but privacy still depends on how the surrounding app handles and shares information.

Watch and listen

Watch the YouTube Short above or listen to the full episode on Spotify.

This New 2nm Phone Chip Runs 30B AI Models—and Qualcomm Should Be Very Worried Now