HiSilicon Kirin 960 vs Unisoc SC9863A

Comparisons   11-03-2021
   So, which processor or chip is better? Detailed compare data of benchmarks HiSilicon Kirin 960 vs Unisoc SC9863A, speed testing of GPUs IMG8322 and Mali-G71 MP8.
   This performance comparison includes two processors: Kirin 960 is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A72) and SC9863A is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A55). Both processors went throughpower consumption test and battery life test. A thorough review of all the specifications of the chipsets, so that it can be easier to understand, is summarized in the table.
   From the comparison video, you can get the results of joint benchmarking in synthetic type tests such as PassMark, Vellamo, Mozilla Kraken, Octane V2, AnTuTu, 3DMark, WebXPRT 3, Neocore, PCMark, GFXBench, GeekBench 6, 5, Quadrant, and how good the CPUs are in games Fortnite, Mortal Kombat, Minecraft Bedrock, Sniper 3D, Garena Free Fire - The Cobra, PUBG, Real Racing 3, Call of Duty: Mobile etc.
   After reading the results of joint benchmarks and videos, you already be able to know which CPU is better to buy Kirin 960 or SC9863A 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

SC9863A

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

Kirin 960

50%

SC9863A

31%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

Kirin 960

SC9863A

Antutu v10, 9

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

	Kirin 960	SC9863A
Total score	95769	73522
CPU	26819	20588
GPU	36393	27947
MEM	15324	11762
UX	17247	13228

GeekBench 6, 5.2

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

	Kirin 960	SC9863A
Single-Core	247	190
Multi-Core	1115	856

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	Kirin 960	SC9863A
Frequency	2400 MHz	1600 MHz
Cores	8	8
Bit	64	64
Lithography	16 nm	28 nm
Transistors count
Core configuration	4x2.4 GHz ARM Cortex-A72 4x1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A53	4x1.6 GHz ARM Cortex-A55 4x1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A55
Power consumption (TDP)	5 W	5 W
Memory type	LPDDR4x	LPDDR3
Max. Memory	4 Gb	4 Gb
Memory Frequency	1600	933
Memory bandwidth	28.8	24
Neural Processor (NPU)	No	No
L1 cache	64 KB	256 KB
L2 cache	4 MB	512 KB
L3 cache		8 MB
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 33% better than SC9863A 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	IMG8322
GPU Frequency	1037 MHz	510 MHz
GFloPS	282	146.2
# of Cores	8	128
# of Shader Units
Display	2560 x 1600 pixels	2160 x 1080 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	15.9
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	36.9	26.9
Call of Duty: Mobile	23.8	17.3
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	18.5	12.4
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	22.5	16.2
Real Racing 3	46.1	40.4
Sniper 3D	81.2	43
Need for Speed No Limits	51.7	37.7
Mortal Kombat X	59	43
CSR Racing 2	40.6	32.3

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	16 MP
Dual Camera resolution		16 MP
Image Signal Processor (ISP)
Video Encoding FPS	30	30
Video Encoding resolution	FullHD	FullHD
Codec support	H.264	H.264/AVC, H.265/HEVC

Networks and Navigation

Modem		LTE-4
Download speed	600 MBit/s.	150 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: 31
The number of parameters for which Unisoc SC9863A is better: 4
Please note that you do not need to blindly trust the automatic comparison on the table. It is better to just watch the full benchmark video of joint testing and listen to what those who really appreciated the capabilities of both chips 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.

SC9863A SoC - all data

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

• SC9863A specs and review.