HiSilicon Kirin 960 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 636

Comparisons 11-03-2021

Well, which processor or chip is better? Detailed data of speed tests and benchmarks HiSilicon Kirin 960 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 636, compare of GPUs Mali-G71 MP8 and Adreno 509.

This performance comparison includes two processors: Kirin 960 is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A72) and Snapdragon 636 is octa-core (Kryo 260). Both processors went through battery life test and power consumption test. A thorough review of all the specifications, to make it easier to read, is summarized in the table.

From the video comparison, you can get the results of joint benchmarking in synthetic type tests like Mozilla Kraken, AnTuTu 8, GeekBench 6, 5, 3DMark, WebXPRT 3, Quadrant, Vellamo, PCMark, GFXBench, PassMark, Octane V2, Neocore, and how good the SoCs are in games Minecraft Bedrock, Garena Free Fire - The Cobra, Fortnite, Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty: Mobile, Sniper 3D, PUBG, Real Racing 3 etc.

After looking at the data of joint benchmarks and videos, you can already make an briefed decision about which processors is better to buy Kirin 960 or Snapdragon 636 and which chip is better for gaming: Asphalt 9, Madout2, Need for Speed No Limits, CSR Racing 2.

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

Snapdragon 636

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

Kirin 960

50%

Snapdragon 636

57%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

Kirin 960

Snapdragon 636

Antutu v10, 9

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

	Kirin 960	Snapdragon 636
Total score	95769	98787
CPU	26819	27664
GPU	36393	37543
MEM	15324	15797
UX	17247	17777

GeekBench 6, 5.2

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

	Kirin 960	Snapdragon 636
Single-Core	247	255
Multi-Core	1115	1150

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	Kirin 960	Snapdragon 636
Frequency	2400 MHz	1800 MHz
Cores	8	8
Bit	64	64
Lithography	16 nm	14 nm
Transistors count
Core configuration	4x2.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A72 4x1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A53	8x1.8 GHz Kryo 260
Power consumption (TDP)	5 W	9 W
Memory type	LPDDR4x	LPDDR4x (Dual Channel)
Max. Memory	4 Gb	8 Gb
Memory Frequency	1600	1333
Memory bandwidth	28.8
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 960 is 25% better than Snapdragon 636 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	Adreno 509
GPU Frequency	1037 MHz	850 MHz
GFloPS	282	178
# of Cores	8
# of Shader Units		128
Display	2560 x 1600 pixels	3840 x 2160 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	21.8
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	36.9	37.1
Call of Duty: Mobile	23.8	24.1
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	18.5	18.5
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	22.5	23.2
Real Racing 3	46.1	74.2
Sniper 3D	81.2	48.2
Need for Speed No Limits	51.7	44.5
Mortal Kombat X	59	59.4
CSR Racing 2	40.6	40.8

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	24 MP
Dual Camera resolution		16 MP
Image Signal Processor (ISP)		Qualcomm Spectra 160
Video Encoding FPS	30	30
Video Encoding resolution	FullHD	4K (Ultra HD), 2K, FullHD
Codec support	H.264	H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC, VP9

Networks and Navigation

Modem		Qualcomm Snapdragon X12 LTE modem
Download speed	600 MBit/s.	600 MBit/s.
Upload speed	150 MBit/s.	150 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: 12
The number of parameters for which Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 is better: 22
You need to know that you should not blindly trust the software comparison on the table. It is better to just watch the full benchmark video of joint comparison and hear what those who really appreciated the capabilities of both chipsets think, as well as read the test results at the links below.

Kirin 960 SoC - all data

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

• Kirin 960 specs and review.

Snapdragon 636 SoC - all data

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

• Snapdragon 636 specs and review.