Snapdragon 888 vs A14 Bionic: tests and benchmarks
VS
Snapdragon 888
A14 Bionic
We compared the 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 (Adreno 660) with the older 6-core Apple A14 Bionic (Apple GPU) SoC. Here you will find the pros and cons of each chip, technical specs, and comprehensive tests in benchmarks, like AnTuTu and Geekbench.
- Review
- Differences
- Benchmarks
- AnTuTu v9
- GeekBench 5
- Gaming
- Specs
- Comments (28)
Review
General comparison of performance, power consumption, and other indicators
CPU Performance
Single and multi-core processor tests
Snapdragon 888
77
A14 Bionic
87
Gaming Performance
GPU performance in games and OpenCL/Vulcan
Snapdragon 888
81
A14 Bionic
75
Battery life
Efficiency of battery consumption
Snapdragon 888
94
A14 Bionic
96
NanoReview Score
Overall chip score
Snapdragon 888
83
A14 Bionic
85
Key Differences
Main differences and advantages of each chip
Pros of Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
- Has 2 more cores
- Supports 20% higher memory bandwidth (51.
2 against 42.7 GB/s)
- Shows better (up to 12%) AnTuTu 9 score – 803K vs 718K
Pros of Apple A14 Bionic
- 9% higher CPU clock speed (3100 vs 2840 MHz)
- Better instruction set architecture
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Benchmarks
Performance tests in popular benchmarks
SoC:
Snapdragon 888
vs
A14 Bionic
AnTuTu 9
The AnTuTu Benchmark measures CPU, GPU, RAM, and I/O performance in different scenarios
Snapdragon 888
+12%
803988
A14 Bionic
718349
| CPU | 211249 | 202575 |
| GPU | 304417 | 273954 |
| Memory | 139986 | 115865 |
| UX | 152836 | 129781 |
| Total score | 803988 | 718349 |
AnTuTu results from iOS and Android are not directly comparable! They won’t affect NanoReview scores.
Submit your AnTuTu result
GeekBench 5
The GeekBench test shows raw single-threaded and multithreaded CPU performance
Single-Core Score
Snapdragon 888
1122
A14 Bionic
+41%
1585
Multi-Core Score
Snapdragon 888
3665
A14 Bionic
+12%
4110
| Image compression | 177.1 Mpixels/s | 171.5 Mpixels/s |
| Face detection | 26.5 images/s | 33.6 images/s |
| Speech recognition | 67.7 words/s | 94.8 words/s |
| Machine learning | 59.9 images/s | 93.1 images/s |
| Camera shooting | 37.5 images/s | 38.7 images/s |
| HTML 5 | 3.96 Mnodes/s | 4. 5 Mnodes/s |
| SQLite | 1060 Krows/s | 1060 Krows/s |
3DMark
A cross-platform benchmark that assesses graphics performance in Vulkan (Metal)
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Snapdragon 888
5113
A14 Bionic
+49%
7610
| Stability | 91% | 77% |
| Graphics test | 30 FPS | 45 FPS |
| Score | 5113 | 7610 |
Gaming
Table of average FPS and graphics settings in mobile games
| PUBG Mobile | 83 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | 60 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Fortnite | 26 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Shadowgun Legends | 89 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| World of Tanks Blitz | 112 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Genshin Impact | 58 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | 60 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Device | Asus Zenfone 8 1080 x 2400 |
— |
We provide average results.
FPS may differ, depending on game version, OS and other factors.
Specifications
Full list of technical specifications of Snapdragon 888 and A14 Bionic
| Architecture | 1x 2.84 GHz – Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1) 3x 2.42 GHz – Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78) 4x 1.8 GHz – Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55) |
2x 3.1 GHz – Firestorm 4x 1.8 GHz – Icestorm |
| Cores | 8 | 6 |
| Frequency | 2840 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv8.4-A | ARMv8.5-A |
| L1 cache | 512 KB | — |
| L2 cache | 1 MB | 8 MB |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | — |
| Process | 5 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Transistor count | — | 11. 8 billion |
| TDP | 10 W | 6 W |
Graphics
| GPU name | Adreno 660 | Apple GPU |
| Architecture | Adreno 600 | — |
| GPU frequency | 840 MHz | — |
| Execution units | 2 | 4 |
| Shading units | 512 | — |
| FLOPS | 1720 Gigaflops | — |
| Vulkan version | 1.1 | — |
| OpenCL version | 2.0 | — |
| DirectX version | 12 | — |
Memory
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory frequency | 3200 MHz | — |
| Bus | 4x 16 Bit | — |
| Max bandwidth | 51. 2 Gbit/s |
42.7 Gbit/s |
| Max size | 24 GB | 6 GB |
Multimedia (ISP)
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon 780 | Neural Engine |
| Storage type | UFS 3.0, UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Max display resolution | 3840 x 2160 | 2732 x 2048 |
| Max camera resolution | 1x 200MP, 2x 25MP | — |
| Video capture | 8K at 30FPS, 4K at 120FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video playback | 8K at 30FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video codecs | H.264, H.265, VP8, VP9 | H.264, H.265, Motion JPEG |
| Audio codecs | AAC, AIFF, CAF, MP3, MP4, WAV | AAC, AIFF, CAF, MP3, MP4, WAV, AC-3, E-AC-3, AAX, AAX+ |
Connectivity
| Modem | X60 | — |
| 4G support | LTE Cat. 22 |
LTE Cat. 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
| Download speed | Up to 2500 Mbps | — |
| Upload speed | Up to 316 Mbps | — |
| Wi-Fi | 6 | 6 |
| Bluetooth | 5.2 | 5.0 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
| Announced | December 2020 | September 2020 |
| Class | Flagship | Flagship |
| Model number | SM8350 | APL1W01 |
| Official page | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 official site | — |
Cast your vote
So, which SoC would you choose?
Snapdragon 888
18194 (5.
1%)
A14 Bionic
335989 (94.9%)
Total votes: 354183
Related Comparisons
1.
A15 Bionic and Snapdragon 888
2.
Google Tensor and Snapdragon 888
3.
Exynos 2100 and Snapdragon 888
4.
Dimensity 1050 and Snapdragon 888
5.
A15 Bionic and A14 Bionic
6.
A12X Bionic and A14 Bionic
Compare other chipsets (140+)
Apple A14 Bionic vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 888: What is the difference?
86points
Apple A14 Bionic
81points
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Comparison winner
vs
57 facts in comparison
Apple A14 Bionic
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Why is Apple A14 Bionic better than Qualcomm Snapdragon 888?
- Uses HMP?
- Has AES?
- 2160MHz faster GPU turbo speed?
3000MHzvs840MHz - 4W lower TDP?
6Wvs10W - 1.
65x higher single-core Geekbench 5 result?
1592vs966 - 35.13% higher multi-core Geekbench 5 result?
4112vs3043
Why is Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 better than Apple A14 Bionic?
- 29.1% faster CPU speed?
1 x 2.84GHz & 3 x 2.42GHz & 4 x 1.8GHzvs2 x 3.1GHz & 4 x 1.8GHz - 2 more CPU threads?
8vs6 - 0.2 newer version of OpenGL ES?
3.2vs3 - 1 Higher version of DDR memory supported?
5vs4
Which are the most popular comparisons?
Apple A14 Bionic
vs
Apple A15 Bionic
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
vs
MediaTek Dimensity 8100
Apple A14 Bionic
vs
Apple A13 Bionic
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
vs
MediaTek Dimensity 1200
Apple A14 Bionic
vs
Apple A10X Fusion
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
vs
MediaTek Dimensity 8100 Max
Apple A14 Bionic
vs
Apple A12X Bionic
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
vs
MediaTek Dimensity 920
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vs
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
vs
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
Apple A14 Bionic
vs
Qualcomm Snapdragon 860
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
vs
MediaTek Dimensity 1300
Apple A14 Bionic
vs
Apple A12Z Bionic
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
vs
Samsung Exynos 2100
Apple A14 Bionic
vs
Qualcomm Snapdragon 865
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
vs
MediaTek Kompanio 1300T
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
vs
Google Tensor
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
vs
Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
Price comparison
User reviews
Overall Rating
Apple A14 Bionic
2 User reviews
Apple A14 Bionic
10.
0/10
2 User reviews
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
15 User reviews
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
9.1/10
15 User reviews
Features
Gaming
10.0/10
2 votes
9.0/10
15 votes
Performance
10.0/10
2 votes
9.2/10
15 votes
Performance
CPU speed
2 x 3.1GHz & 4 x 1.8GHz
1 x 2.84GHz & 3 x 2.42GHz & 4 x 1.8GHz
The CPU speed indicates how many processing cycles per second can be executed by a CPU, considering all of its cores (processing units). It is calculated by adding the clock rates of each core or, in the case of multi-core processors employing different microarchitectures, of each group of cores.
CPU threads
More threads result in faster performance and better multitasking.
Uses big.LITTLE technology
✔Apple A14 Bionic
✔Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Using big.
LITTLE technology, a chip can switch between two sets of processor cores to maximize performance and battery life. For example, when playing a game the more powerful cores will be used to increase performance, whereas checking email will use the less powerful cores to maximize battery life.
Uses HMP
✔Apple A14 Bionic
✖Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) is a more advanced version of big.LITTLE technology. In this setup, a processor can utilize all cores at the same time, or just a single core for low-intensity tasks. This can provide powerful performance or increased battery life respectively.
turbo clock speed
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
When the CPU is running below its limitations, it can boost to a higher clock speed in order to give increased performance.
L2 cache
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
A larger L2 cache results in faster CPU and system-wide performance.
L1 cache
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
A larger L1 cache results in faster CPU and system-wide performance.
clock multiplier
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
The clock multiplier controls the speed of the CPU.
L3 cache
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
A larger L3 cache results in faster CPU and system-wide performance.
Memory
RAM speed
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
3200MHz
It can support faster memory, which will give quicker system performance.
DDR memory version
DDR (Double Data Rate) memory is the most common type of RAM. Newer versions of DDR memory support higher maximum speeds and are more energy-efficient.
maximum memory amount
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
The maximum amount of memory (RAM) supported.
maximum memory bandwidth
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
51.2GB/s
This is the maximum rate that data can be read from or stored into memory.
memory channels
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
More memory channels increases the speed of data transfer between the memory and the CPU.
eMMC version
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
A higher version of eMMC allows faster memory interfaces, having a positive effect on the performance of a device.
For example, when transferring files from your computer to the internal storage over USB.
Supports ECC memory
✖Apple A14 Bionic
✖Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Error-correcting code memory can detect and correct data corruption. It is used when is it essential to avoid corruption, such as scientific computing or when running a server.
Features
Has integrated LTE
✔Apple A14 Bionic
✔Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
The system on a chip (SoC) has an integrated LTE cellular chip. LTE is capable of downloading at faster speeds than older, 3G technology.
download speed
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
7500MBits/s
The download speed is a measurement of the internet connection bandwidth, representing the maximum data transfer rate at which a device can access online content.
upload speed
Unknown.
Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
3000MBits/s
The upload speed is a measurement of the internet connection bandwidth, representing the maximum data transfer rate at which a device can send information to a server or another device.
Has TrustZone
✔Apple A14 Bionic
✔Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
A technology integrated into the processor to secure the device for use with features such as mobile payments and streaming video using digital rights management (DRM).
uses multithreading
✖Apple A14 Bionic
✖Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Multithreading technology (such as Intel’s Hyperthreading or AMD’s Simultaneous Multithreading) provides increased performance by splitting each of the processor’s physical cores into virtual cores, also known as threads. This way, each core can run two instruction streams at once.
Has NX bit
✔Apple A14 Bionic
✔Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
NX bit helps protect the computer from malicious attacks.
bits executed at a time
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
NEON provides acceleration for media processing, such as listening to MP3s.
Has AES
✔Apple A14 Bionic
✖Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
AES is used to speed up encryption and decryption.
VFP version
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
Vector Floating-Point (VFP) is used by the processor to deliver increased performance in areas such as digital imaging.
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 result (single)
Geekbench 5 is a cross-platform benchmark that measures a processor’s single-core performance. (Source: Primate Labs, 2023)
Geekbench 5 result (multi)
Geekbench 5 is a cross-platform benchmark that measures a processor’s multi-core performance.
(Source: Primate Labs, 2023)
PassMark result
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
This benchmark measures the performance of the CPU using multiple threads.
PassMark result (single)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
This benchmark measures the performance of the CPU using a single thread.
PassMark result (overclocked)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Apple A14 Bionic)
Unknown. Help us by suggesting a value. (Qualcomm Snapdragon 888)
This benchmark measures the performance of the CPU when it is overclocked.
Price comparison
Which are the best mobile chipsets?
Snapdragon 888 vs A14 Bionic:
benchmarks and specs
VS
Snapdragon 888
A14 Bionic
We compared the 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 (Adreno 660) with its older rival, the 6-core Apple A14 Bionic (Apple GPU).
See the table of characteristics, the advantages of each of the chips, as well as the results of testing benchmarks AnTuTu and Geekbench.
- Overview
- Differences
- Benchmarks
- AnTuTu v9
- GeekBench 5
- Games
- Features
- Comments (9)
Overview
Comparison of performance and energy consumption scores (from 1 to 100)
CPU performance
CPU speed
Snapdragon 888
77
A14 Bionic
87
Gaming performance
Main differences
List of the main advantages of each of the processors
Benefits of Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
- Has 2 more cores
- 20% higher memory bandwidth (51.2 vs. 42.7 Gbps)
- Scores (12%) higher in AnTuTu 9 – 803K vs 7012K
Benefits of Apple A14 Bionic
- 9% higher CPU frequency (3100 vs.
2840 MHz) - Better instruction set architecture
Benchmark tests
Test results in Geekbench, AnTuTu and other benchmarks
Chip:
Snapdragon 888
vs
A14 Bionic
AnTuTu 9
AnTuTu Benchmark measures the speed of CPU, GPU, memory and other system components
Snapdragon 888
+12%
803988
A14 Bionic
718349
| CPU | 211249 | 202575 |
| GPU | 304417 | 273954 |
| Memory | 139986 | 115865 |
| UX | 152836 | 129781 |
| Total score | 803988 | 718349 |
AnTuTu results obtained on different platforms are incompatible with each other! These data are not taken into account in the final grade.
Add your AnTuTu test result
GeekBench 5
GeekBench shows single-threaded and multi-threaded CPU performance
Single-Core Score
Snapdragon 888
1122
A14 Bionic
+41%
1585
Multi-Core Score
Snapdragon 888
3665
A14 Bionic
+12%
4110
| Image compression | 177.1Mpixels/s | 171.5 Mpixels/s |
| Face detection | 26.5 images/s | 33.6 images/s |
| Speech recognition | 67.7 words/s | 94.8 words/s |
| Machine learning | 59.9 images/s | 93.1 images/s |
| Camera shooting | 37.5 images/s | 38.7 images/s |
| HTML 5 | 3.96 Mnodes/s | 4.5 Mnodes/s |
| SQLite | 1060 Krows/s | 1060 Krows/s |
3DMark
Cross-platform benchmark that evaluates graphics performance in Vulkan (Metal).
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Snapdragon 888
5113
A14 Bionic
+49%
7610
| Stability | 91% | 77% |
| Graphics test | 30 FPS | 45 FPS |
| Score | 5113 | 7610 |
Games
Average FPS and graphics settings in mobile games
| PUBG Mobile | 83 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | 60 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Fortnite | 26 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Shadowgun Legends | 89 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| World of Tanks Blitz | 112 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Genshin Impact | 58 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | 60 FPS [Ultra] |
— |
| Smartphone | Asus Zenfone 8 1080 x 2400 |
— |
FPS may vary based on game version, operating system, and other variables.
Specifications
Snapdragon 888 and A14 Bionic performance comparison chart
CPU
| Architecture | 1x 2.84 GHz — Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1) 3x 2.42 GHz — Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78) 4x 1.8 GHz — Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55) |
2x 3.1 GHz — Firestorm 4x 1.8 GHz — Icestorm |
| Number of cores | 8 | 6 |
| Frequency | 2840 MHz | 3100 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv8.4-A | ARMv8.5-A |
| L1 cache | 512 KB | — |
| L2 cache | 1 MB | 8 MB |
| L3 cache | 4 MB | — |
| Process | 5 nm | 5 nm |
| Number of transistors | — | 11.8 billion |
| TDP | 10 W | 6W |
GPU
| GPU | Adreno 660 | Apple GPU |
| Architecture | Adreno 600 | — |
| GPU frequency | 840 MHz | — |
| Computer units | 2 | 4 |
| Shader units | 512 | — |
| FLOPS | 1720 Gflops | — |
| Vulcan version | 1. 1 |
— |
| OpenCL Version | 2.0 | — |
| DirectX Version | 12 | — |
RAM
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory frequency | 3200 MHz | — |
| Tire | 4x 16 Bit | — |
| Capacity | Up to 51.2 Gbps | Up to 42.7 Gbps |
| Volume | Up to 24 GB | Up to 6 GB |
Multimedia (ISP)
| Neural processor | Hexagon 780 | Neural Engine |
| Accumulator type | UFS 3.0, UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Max. display resolution | 3840 x 2160 | 2732 x 2048 |
| Max. camera resolution | 1x 200MP, 2x 25MP | — |
| Video recording | 8K@30FPS, 4K@120FPS | 4K @ 60FPS |
| Video playback | 8K@30FPS | 4K @ 60FPS |
| Codec support | H. 264, H.265, VP8, VP9 |
H.264, H.265, Motion JPEG |
| Audio | AAC, AIFF, CAF, MP3, MP4, WAV | AAC, AIFF, CAF, MP3, MP4, WAV, AC-3, E-AC-3, AAX, AAX+ |
Communications and networks
| Modem | X60 | — |
| 4G support | LTE Cat. 22 | LTE Cat. 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
| Download speed | Up to 2500 Mbps | — |
| Download speed | Up to 316 Mbps | — |
| WiFi | 6 | 6 |
| Bluetooth | 5.2 | 5.0 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
General information
| Announcement date | December 2020 | September 2020 |
| Grade | Flagship | Flagship |
| Model number | SM8350 | APL1W01 |
| Official site | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 website | — |
Poll
Smartphone on which of the chips would you prefer?
Snapdragon 888
18194 (5.
1%)
A14 Bionic
335989 (94.9%)
Total votes: 354183
Competitive comparisons
1.
A15 Bionic vs Snapdragon 888
2.
Google Tensor vs Snapdragon 888
3.
Exynos 2100 vs Snapdragon 888
4.
Dimensity 1050 vs Snapdragon 888
5.
A15 Bionic vs A14 Bionic
6.
A12X Bionic vs A14 Bionic
Compare other SoCs (140+)
Battle of Silicon • Oki Doki
After a long cycle of smartphone releases, it’s time for a new silicon to hit the market. When Apple finished releasing the iPhone, we got a good idea of what the new A14 Bionic could do. As for Android, Qualcomm has just announced the new Snapdragon 888 processor that will be used in flagship Android devices in 2021. So, with two long-time sworn rivals, it’s time to compare the capabilities of both processors.
In this regard, let’s go ahead and compare Snapdragon 888 and A14 Bionic side by side.
Snapdragon 888 vs A14 Bionic: Detailed comparison
Here we have mentioned all the topics we covered in this Snapdragon 888 vs A14 Bionic comparison. You can click on the link below to easily navigate to the relevant section. In case you’re interested in our Snapdragon 865 vs A13 Bionic comparison from last year, read our linked article.
Compare Snapdragon 888 vs A14 Bionic
Snapdragon 888A14 Bionic CPUKryo 680, Octa-core CPU 1x 2.84GHz Hexa-Core CPU Cores (Cortex-X1)
3x 2.4 GHz (Cortex A78)
4x 1.8 GHz (Cortex A55) 2x 3 GHz (Firestorm)
4x 1.8 GHz (Icestorm) 6th Gen AI Machine Learning Processor and AI Accelerator with Hexagon 780 DSP 16-core ISPSpectra 580 Neural Processor Apple Designed Image Processor Camera Capabilities Up to 200 MP; Triple camera 28 MP with zero
Shutter lag; Triple 14-bit ISP Video capability 8K @ 30 FPS, 4K HDR Dolby @ 60FPS, 720p @ 960FPS4K HDR Dolby @ 60FPS Quick Charge 5 Charging (100W+) Quick Charge ModemQualcomm X60 5G Modem 7.
5Gbps Peak Download 3Gbps Peak UploadQualcomm X55 5Gbps Peak Upload 3Gbps Peak Upload Support WiFiWi-Fi 6E-readyWi- Fi 6-ready BluetoothBluetooth 5.2Bluetooth 5.0
Starting with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, unlike the last few years, Qualcomm has made some significant changes to the processor architecture this year. It comes with an 8-core Kryo 680 processor developed on a 5nm process with a new ARM Cortex-X1 core under the hood. In case you don’t know, ARM has developed a new high-performance processor core called Cortex-X1 to compete with Apple’s A-series chips. Qualcomm is the first chipmaker to implement this design in its mobile SoCs. The Cortex-X1 is called Prime core and runs at 2.84GHz.
Programs for Windows, mobile applications, games — EVERYTHING is FREE, in our closed telegram channel — Subscribe 🙂 frequency of 1.8 GHz. While the new Cortex-X1 and A78 cores are great news, it’s sad to see Qualcomm still using the three-year-old A55 core on its flagship SoC. The A55 hasn’t received any updates in the past three years, and its energy efficiency numbers are ahead of Apple’s A-series chips in 2020.
Overall, Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 888 delivered 25% better CPU performance year-on-year and didn’t share any numbers on the new CPU’s power consumption, except that it’s «incredible.» It is clear that the Kryo 680 processor on the Snapdragon 888 did not bring the revolutionary changes that many of us were waiting for.
Talking about the Apple A14 Bionic, unlike the Snapdragon 888 octa-core processor, it is equipped with a six-core ARM-based processor designed by Apple. Built on TSMC’s 5nm manufacturing process, the A14 Bionic retains the same 2+4 big.LITTLE CPU architecture. However, it replaced last year’s Lightning and Thunder cores with 2 high performance Firestorm Big cores and 4 energy efficient Icestorm Little cores.
Firestorm cores can clock up to 3GHz in single-threaded scenarios, and Icestorm cores can clock up to 1.8GHz. When either of the two cores is active, it can keep the processor clocked at 2.89 GHz, which is not surprising.
By comparison, the A14 Bionic is about 17% faster than last year’s A13 chip, but it still maintains a healthy 25% higher performance than the latest Snapdragon 888 SoC.
The main reason for this jump in performance is that Apple is constantly improving its energy efficient cores and not just focusing on performance. Icestorm cores are now 4x faster and 3x more power efficient than the legacy Qualcomm A55 core. It’s not just about clock speeds, as Snapdragon 865+ already hit 3.1GHz last year, and this time Snapdragon 888+ could have that peak frequency.
Basically, if Qualcomm is to close the generation gap with Apple’s A-series chips, it needs to start working on power-efficient cores. For now, the A14 Bionic remains the reigning king in terms of CPU for at least a generation.
As far as the GPU goes, the Snapdragon 888 seems to have kicked the ball out of the park. The Snapdragon 888 is powered by the new Adreno 660 GPU, which is said to be 35% faster than last year’s Snapdragon 865.
At the same time, it is 20% more power efficient compared to last year’s processor. As a result, you can now have stable gaming performance at high refresh rates. The Snapdragongon 865 provided support for 144Hz display panels, but it was unable to support high refresh rate games for longer, as we saw playing Fortnite and PUBG at 9 speeds.0 fps on OnePlus phones.
However, with the Adreno 660 and improved Snapdragon Elite Gaming, you can play games at high refresh rates for much longer without getting excessively hot. It also comes with features such as Variable Rate Shading, HDR Gaming, and Game Quick Touch to improve rendering performance and reduce touch lag during gameplay.
Speaking of Apple’s specially designed quad-core GPU, it showed a 20% improvement over last year’s A13 Bionic, which sounds pretty gradual. However, if we take into account the Geekbench scores, then the A14 (12571) beats the powerful A12Z (11665) and A13 Bionic (7308) with honor. In terms of comparison with the Snapdragon 888, the A14 Bionic GPU is still more than a generation ahead, although Qualcomm managed to deliver 35% YoY growth.
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In conclusion, while the Snapdragon 888 GPU has undoubtedly improved a lot, it still lags behind Apple’s internal GPU. Apple seems to be moving at breakneck speed in terms of silicon design, be it CPU or GPU. It will be interesting to see how and when Qualcomm closes this performance gap in the coming years.
As you can see from Qualcomm’s track record, ISP is one area where it shines and shines brightly. With Spectra 580 ISP in Snapdragon 888, it has made a generational leap with 35% performance increase and triple ISP architecture. It can shoot 2.7 gigapixels per second without worry. In addition, the new Spectra 580 ISP can capture up to 200 megapixels and three photos simultaneously at 28 megapixels each. Not to mention that it can take 120 burst photos in just one second. This means that you will be able to take a much better picture on your Android device while you are on the move.
Next, the Spectra 580 ISP can record 4K HDR video from all three cameras at the same time, which is crazy.
The best part is that it can perform three HDR computations per second and create HDR snapshots for the device to create an image stack. All this is possible thanks to parallel processing through triple ISPs. With triple parallelism, you can also seamlessly switch between wide-angle and telephoto.
Finally, Qualcomm has introduced a new low-light architecture that captures bright photos in near-darkness (0.1 lux). In fact, night mode will be even better on Android smartphones thanks to the Spectra 580 ISP on the Snapdragon 888.
As for Apple’s ISP on the A14 Bionic, the company didn’t go into much detail about its architecture. However, he stated that the new ISP could capture «unprecedented detail, texture, and minimal noise.» While the iPhone is the undisputed king of video capture, it’s good to see that Qualcomm is doing a great job of improving image and video capture on Android devices. We’ll have to wait and see how Android OEMs implement Qualcomm’s hardware to improve image quality.
AI and ML is another area where Qualcomm has a huge advantage over Apple. The Snapdragon 888 features a 6th generation AI accelerator with Hexagon 780 DSP under the hood. It can handle 26 TOPS (trillion operations per second), which is amazing to say the least.
In your opinion, the 16-core neural engine on the A14 Bionic can only do 11 TOPS, while last year’s Snapdragon 865 was capable of 16 TOPS. Basically, the Snapdragon 888 is at least two generations ahead of Apple’s A-series chips when it comes to AI and ML operations.
When it comes to modems and other wireless technologies, Qualcomm is already a leader in this segment. In fact, with the iPhone 12, Apple turned to Qualcomm for wireless connectivity. The Snapdragon 888 features the new X60 modem, which supports 5G and is integrated right into the SoC itself. Unlike last year when the modem was discrete, this year Qualcomm managed to fit it in with the rest of the SoC, which should keep the cost down and improve battery efficiency.
In terms of numbers, it supports up to 7.5Gbps downloads and 3Gbps uploads.
The X60 modem is unique in that it now supports 5G carrier aggregation across FDD and TDD spectrums, which was not available on last year’s X55 modem. In addition, you have support for mmWave and sub-6 GHz with MIMO; compatible with NSA, SA, TDD and FDD modes. Finally, it provides support for the latest WiFi 6E (6GHz WiFi), Bluetooth 5.2, and NavIC support.
A Qualcomm X55 modem was found in a disassembled iPhone 12 / Source: iFixit
Speaking of the A14 modem, it uses the latest generation Snapdragon X55 modem, which brings 5G capability to the iPhone 12 series. As you guessed correctly, this is a discrete modem, integrated separately into the motherboard. The download and upload speed is similar to the X60 modem and supports features such as MIMO, carrier aggregation, and others. In addition, there is support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. In tandem with a Qualcomm modem on the iPhone 12 series, you’ll get a much better wireless experience.