HiSilicon Kirin 960 vs HiSilicon Kirin 955

Comparisons 11-03-2021

Well, which chip or processor is better? Detailed comparison data of benchmarks HiSilicon Kirin 960 vs HiSilicon Kirin 955, speed examination of GPUs Mali-T880 MP4 and Mali-G71 MP8.

This performance comparison involves two processors: Kirin 960 is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A72) and Kirin 955 is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A72). Both processors went through battery life test and power consumption test. A thorough review of all the technical characteristics of the CPUs, so that it can be easier to understand, is presented in the form of the table.

From the comparison video, you can get the results of joint benchmarking in special test applications such as GeekBench 6, 5, WebXPRT 3, Mozilla Kraken, PassMark, GFXBench, Octane V2, Quadrant, Vellamo, Neocore, PCMark, 3DMark, AnTuTu, and how good the CPUs are in games Garena Free Fire - The Cobra, Minecraft Bedrock, Sniper 3D, PUBG, Call of Duty: Mobile, Mortal Kombat, Fortnite, Real Racing 3 etc.

After reading the results of all benchmarks and videos, you already be able to know which CPU is better to buy Kirin 960 or Kirin 955 and which chip is better for gaming: Madout2, Need for Speed No Limits, CSR Racing 2, Asphalt 9.

Summary benchmark results

As a percentage of the maximum value based on a sample from the entire base of all processors
CPU Benchmark
Based on Antutu and Geekbench score

Kirin 960

Kirin 955

Battery life test
Power Consumption efficiency (how quickly the processor reduces the battery charge)

Kirin 960

50%

Kirin 955

49%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

Kirin 960

Kirin 955

Antutu v10, 9

Antutu benchmark separately tests the performance of the CPU, GPU, and memory speed

	Kirin 960	Kirin 955
Total score	95769	102680
CPU	26819	28750
GPU	36393	39011
MEM	15324	16436
UX	17247	18491

GeekBench 6, 5.2

This benchmark shows Multi-threaded and Single-threaded processor performance

	Kirin 960	Kirin 955
Single-Core	247	271
Multi-Core	1115	924

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	Kirin 960	Kirin 955
Frequency	2400 MHz	2500 MHz
Cores	8	8
Bit	64	64
Lithography	16 nm	16 nm
Transistors count
Core configuration	4x2.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A72 4x1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A53	4x2.5 GHz ARM Cortex-A72 4x1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A53
Power consumption (TDP)	5 W	5 W
Memory type	LPDDR4x	LPDDR4x
Max. Memory	4 Gb	4 Gb
Memory Frequency	1600	1600
Memory bandwidth	28.8	25.6
Neural Processor (NPU)	No	No
L1 cache	64 KB
L2 cache	4 MB
L3 cache
Instruction set architecture (ISA)	ARMv8-A	ARMv8-A

In this comparison block, you should pay attention to the differences in clock speed and the number of cores. Here Kirin 955 is 4% better than Kirin 960 in terms of CPU frequency. Also keep in mind that high CPU frequency affects battery life through power consumption.

GPU and Media

GPU	Mali-G71 MP8	Mali-T880 MP4
GPU Frequency	1037 MHz	900 MHz
GFloPS	282	122.31
# of Cores	8	4
# of Shader Units
Display	2560 x 1600 pixels	2560 x 1600 pixels

The frequency of the GPU does not always directly indicate its performance. To fully evaluate all the capabilities of a graphics chip, you should take into account the number of Shader Units and Cores, as well as how many GFlops it has.

Gaming benchmark

Fortnite Mobile
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile)	21.1	23.8
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	36.9	39.4
Call of Duty: Mobile	23.8	26.6
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	18.5	19.9
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	22.5	25.8
Real Racing 3	46.1	69
Sniper 3D	81.2	51.2
Need for Speed No Limits	51.7	63
Mortal Kombat X	59	63
CSR Racing 2	40.6	47.3

The numbers in this table indicate the maximum FPS that was received on the device with the corresponding processor. Depending on the configuration of the gadget and graphics quality settings (Ultra, Medium, Normal), the results may differ quite significantly. We recommend that you better study the results of the Antutu v10, 9 and GeekBench 6, 5.2 becnmarks.

Cameras

Camera resolution	20 MP	20 MP
Image Signal Processor (ISP)
Video Encoding FPS	30	30
Video Encoding resolution	FullHD	FullHD
Codec support	H.264	H.264

Networks and Navigation

Modem
Download speed	600 MBit/s.	300 MBit/s.
Upload speed	150 MBit/s.	50 MBit/s.
Navigation	GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou	GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou
NFC support	No	No
5G support	Yes	No

Result:
The number of parameters for which HiSilicon Kirin 960 is better: 11
The number of parameters for which HiSilicon Kirin 955 is better: 16
Please note that you do not need to sightlessly trust the automatic comparison on the table. You can watch benchmark video from beginning to end of joint testing and hear what those who really appreciated the capabilities of both SoCs think, and also read the test results on the links under the article.

Kirin 960 SoC - all data

• Devices lists
• Benchmarks
• PUBG mobile
• Fortnite Mobile
• GeekBench 6, 5 mobile
• Antutu v10
• 3DMark

• Kirin 960 specs and review.

Kirin 955 SoC - all data

• Devices lists
• Benchmarks
• PUBG mobile
• Fortnite Mobile
• GeekBench 6, 5 mobile
• Antutu v10
• 3DMark

• Kirin 955 specs and review.