HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G vs Samsung Exynos 980

Comparisons 11-03-2021

Well, which chip or processor is better? Full compare data of benchmarks HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G vs Samsung Exynos 980, speed testing of GPUs Mali-G76 MP5 and Mali-G76 MP18.

This performance comparison includes two processors: Kirin 990 5G is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A76) and Exynos 980 is octa-core (Cortex-A77). Both processors went throughpower consumption test and battery life test. A thorough review of all the technical characteristics of the processors, to make it easier to read, is presented in the form of the table.

From the video comparison, you can get the results of joint benchmarking in special test applications like 3DMark, Octane V2, Quadrant, GFXBench, PCMark, WebXPRT 3, Mozilla Kraken, Vellamo, AnTuTu, Geekbench, Neocore, PassMark, even the gaming performance of CPUs in PUBG, Call of Duty: Mobile, Real Racing 3, Sniper 3D, Fortnite, Minecraft Bedrock, Mortal Kombat, Garena Free Fire - The Cobra etc.

After looking at the data these benchmarks and videos, you can already make an informed decision about which SoCs is better to buy Kirin 990 5G or Exynos 980 and which chip is better for gaming: CSR Racing 2, Need for Speed No Limits, Madout2, 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 990 5G

32%

Exynos 980

17%

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

Kirin 990 5G

73%

Exynos 980

72%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

Kirin 990 5G

29%

Exynos 980

16%

Antutu v10, 9

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

	Kirin 990 5G	Exynos 980
Total score	456731	236563
CPU	127884	66232
GPU	173566	89891
MEM	73076	37840
UX	82211	42582

GeekBench 6, 5.2

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

	Kirin 990 5G	Exynos 980
Single-Core	945	487
Multi-Core	3118	1951

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	Kirin 990 5G	Exynos 980
Frequency	2860 MHz	2200 MHz
Cores	8	8
Bit	64	64
Lithography	7 nm	8 nm
Transistors count
Core configuration	2x2.86 GHz ARM Cortex-A76 2x2.36 GHz ARM Cortex-A76 4x1.95 GHz ARM Cortex-A55	2x2.2 GHz Cortex-A77 6x1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A55
Power consumption (TDP)	6 W	9 W
Memory type	LPDDR4x	LPDDR4
Max. Memory	12 Gb	8 Gb
Memory Frequency	1600	1866
Memory bandwidth	31.78
Neural Processor (NPU)	Yes	Yes
L1 cache
L2 cache	512 KB
L3 cache
Instruction set architecture (ISA)	ARMv8-A	ARMv8.2-A

In this comparison block, you should pay attention to the differences in clock speed and the number of cores. Here Kirin 990 5G is 23% better than Exynos 980 in terms of CPU frequency. Also keep in mind that high CPU frequency affects battery life through power consumption.

GPU and Media

GPU	Mali-G76 MP18	Mali-G76 MP5
GPU Frequency	950 MHz	700 MHz
GFloPS	581.14	217
# of Cores	18	4
# of Shader Units
Display	2560 x 1600 pixels	3360 x 1440 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	28.4	27.8
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile)	57.5	30.9
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	59.6	56.9
Call of Duty: Mobile	43.6	37.7
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	50.7	23.4
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	77.2	35.1
Real Racing 3	74.5	71.1
Sniper 3D	131.1	108.1
Need for Speed No Limits	83.4	102.4
Mortal Kombat X	86.4	91
CSR Racing 2	65.6	68.3

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	32 MP	108 MP
Dual Camera resolution		20 MP
Image Signal Processor (ISP)
Video Encoding FPS	60	120
Video Encoding resolution	4K, 2K, FullHD	8K, 4K (Ultra HD), 2K, FullHD
Codec support	H.264, H.265/HEVC	H.264, 10-bit H.265/HEVC, VP9

Networks and Navigation

Modem	21	5G NR Sub, LTE Cat.16 5CA/Cat.18 2CA
Download speed	1400 MBit/s.	2055 MBit/s.
Upload speed	900 MBit/s.	1280 MBit/s.
Navigation	GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou	GPS, Glonass, Beidou
NFC support	Yes	No
5G support	Yes	No

Result:
The number of parameters for which HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G is better: 28
The number of parameters for which Samsung Exynos 980 is better: 11
Please note that you do not need to blindly trust the software comparison of the table. You can watch benchmark video from beginning to end of parallel testing and hear what those who really appreciated the capabilities of both processors think, and also read the test results on the links under the article.

Kirin 990 5G SoC - all data

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

• Kirin 990 5G specs and review.

Exynos 980 SoC - all data

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

• Exynos 980 specs and review.