With 2019, the smartphone market is getting hot on the brand new flashy SoCs coming out. While Apple’s A12 Bionic is already quite ahead of the competition, the Snapdragon 855, Kirin 980 and the Exynos 9820 are the three new SoCs in the market that seemed to have caught up.
In this article, we take a more in-depth look at the four SoCs.
Fabrication process
Except for Samsung, every manufacturer has moved on to a 7nm manufacturing process. The 7nm process allows for greater efficiency and better performance. Samsung uses its 8nm LPP process for manufacturing the Exynos 9820
Basically, the smaller the fabrication process, the more transistors you can fit in, hence better performance.
Also read: Snapdragon 855 vs A12 Bionic
CPU
While Snapdragon decided to go for an Octa-Core chipset, Apple is still using a dual cluster hexacore CPU. Huawei and Samsung are using octa-core CPUs as well.
The significant difference is that Huawei uses stock Cortex A-76 cores, while Samsung uses its homegrown Moongoose CPU cores.
Out of the bunch, Snapdragon’s implementation seems most efficient as the one higher clocked Kyro 485 Core can achieve maximum speed where single-threaded performance is necessary.
Also read: Apple A13 Bionic vs Snapdragon 855 Plus vs Kirin 990 5G
GPU and Storage
In terms of graphics, the A12 Bionic wins hands down. The Snapdragon 855 comes close with its Adreno 640 GPU. Samsung and Huawei are third and fourth, respectively.
Camera
When it comes to the camera, Snapdragon wins. It can record 4k 60 FPS video in HDR10+ format. You can even record real-time 4k portrait videos.
Apple comes second, Samsung third, and Huawei is the weakest of the bunch.
Connectivity
Snapdragon and Apple have the fastest LTE modems on board. They both are 5G compatible and support multi-gigabit download speeds.
Surprisingly, in Bluetooth connectivity, Apple is the weakest, with support for only the AAC codec. Snapdragon wins the WiFi department.
Charging
The Kirin 980 wins out this one, with support for 40W charging by Huawei’s SuperCharge. Apple and Snapdragon come in a close second, with Samsung still stuck at 18W Adaptive FastCharge and Quick Charge 2.0+.
| Category | Snapdragon 855 | A12 Bionic | Kirin 980 | Exynos 9820 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manufacturing Process | 7nm | 7nm | 7nm | 8nm LPP |
| CPU | 1x Kryo 485 Gold @ 2.84GHz + 3x Kryo 485 Gold @ 2.42GHz + 4x Kryo 485 Silver @ 1.8GHz | 2x Vortex @ 2.5GHz + 4x Tempest @ 1.6GHz | 2x Cortex-A76 @ 2.6GHz + 2x Cortex-A76 @ 1.92GHz + 4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz | 2x Exynos M4 Mongoose + 2x Exynos M4 Mongoose + 4x Cortex-A55 |
| GPU | Adreno 640 | Apple Quad-Core GPU | Mali-G76 MP10 | Mali-G76 MP12 |
| RAM | 4x 16-Bit LPDDR4X @ 1866MHz | Single-Channel 64-Bit LPDDR4X @ 2133MHz | 4x 16-Bit LPDDR4X @ 2133MHz | Single-Channel 64-Bit LPDDR4X |
| Storage | UFS 3.0, UFS 2.1, eMMC 5.1 | NVMe | UFS 2.1 | UFS 3.0/UFS 2.1 |
| ISP/Camera | Computer Vision Dual-14-Bit Spectra 380 ISP; dual-20MP Camera or Single 32MP Camera; 4K 60fps Video Recording, 4K HDR10+ Video Recording, 4K HDR10 Portrait Video Recording, 720p 480fps | 12MP+12MP Dual-Camera Support; 4K 60fps Video Recording, 1080p 240fps Slow-Motion Video Recording; Depth Engine, Portrait Mode, Smart HDR Multi-Frame Image Stacking | ISP 4.0 with Triple-Camera Support, 4K 30fps Video Recording; Multi-Frame Image Stacking, Portrait Mode | 16+16MP Dual-Camera, 22MP Single Front Camera, 22MP Single Rear Camera; 8K 30fps Video Recording or 4K 150fps Video Recording with 10-Bit HEVC, H.264, VP9 |
| DSP/NPU | Hexagon 690 | Second-Generation Octa-Core Neural Engine | Dedicated Dual-Core HiAI NPU | Integrated NPU |
| Location | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, Dual Frequency GNSS | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS, iBeacon Microlocator | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, Dual-Frequency GNSS | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, GNSS |
| WiFi | Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac/ad/ay, Wi-Fi ax-Ready, Peak Speed: 10Gbps | Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac | Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac | Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.0, aptX, aptX HD, Qualcomm TrueWireless, Qualcomm Aqstic | Bluetooth 5.0, AAC | Bluetooth 5.0, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC | Bluetooth 5.0, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC |
| NFC | NFC Supported | NFC Supported | NFC Supported | NFC Supported |
| Modem | Integrated X24 LTE (2Gbps DL, 316Mbps UL), 5G Support | Intel 7560 4G LTE Modem, 4×4 MIMO | Integrated Hi1103 4G LTE Modem (1.4Gbps DL, 200Mbps UL) | Integrated Shannon Cat. 20 4G LTE Modem (2Gbps, 316Mbps UL), 5G support |
| Charging | Quick Charge 4+ (18W) | USB-PD (15W+) | Huawei SuperCharge (40W) | Adaptive Fast Charge (18W) / Quick Charge 2.0 (18W) |
Looks like Kirin is the one to beat now. 980 already beat out A12 and SD855 even if it says different on paper. And now 985 is coming out. Better shape up Apple and Qualcomm.
“Looks like Kirin is the one to beat now” LMAO. The one to beat in what? charging? Kirin was never the best choice. Its straight out the worst processor among flagship phones. Just stating facts.