Unannounced MediaTek flagship chips have turned up for sale on a Chinese secondhand marketplace, and at a surprisingly low price.
The same Xianyu seller who previously listed engineering samples of Qualcomm’s next-gen Snapdragon chipset is now offering units marked MT6993Z and MT6995Z. The first one is confirmed as the Dimensity 9500. The second is widely speculated to be a new high-end Dimensity chip, possibly the Dimensity 9600 Pro, based on how MediaTek usually numbers its parts. They were listed at just 200 yuan (about $30) each, with free shipping if you bought two or more. The listing has already been taken down.
Photos from the post show several loose BGA packages in a sealed bag that was hand-labeled with the two part numbers, plus close-ups of the individual chips. The seller called them unencrypted engineering-grade samples from teardown stock, said they were in good condition, and suggested they could be used for motherboard repair or expansion work.
Looking at the package sizes in the images, the suspected Dimensity 9600 Pro seems roughly the same size as the Dimensity 9500 (around 140 mm²). That would put it close to Qualcomm’s rumored next flagship die size of about 134 mm², closing some of the gap we’ve seen in previous generations. A larger die could mean a higher bill-of-materials cost for MediaTek, though the company has always priced its chips more competitively.
The packaging looks like a traditional FCPoP design, similar to the last generation. How it will compare thermally with whatever more optimized packaging Qualcomm is expected to use is still an open question. The silkscreen markings on the chips don’t give away much extra. MediaTek appears to have changed its usual encoding style.
It’s worth stressing that all of this comes from an unverified marketplace listing. While MT6993Z is independently confirmed as the Dimensity 9500, the connection between MT6995Z and a Dimensity 9600-series chip hasn’t been officially verified. Still, the fact that these samples are showing up at all suggests MediaTek’s next flagship silicon is moving through the engineering stages.
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