HiSilicon Kirin 990E vs Apple A12X Bionic

Comparisons 11-03-2021

So, which processor or chip is better? Full data of speed tests and benchmarks HiSilicon Kirin 990E vs Apple A12X Bionic, compare of GPUs Mali-G76 MP12 and Apple A12X Bionic.

This performance comparison involves two processors: Kirin 990E is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A76) and A12X Bionic is octa-core (Vortex). Both processors went throughpower consumption test and battery life test. A careful 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 AnTuTu, GeekBench 6, 5, Mozilla Kraken, Neocore, Vellamo, PCMark, GFXBench, Quadrant, WebXPRT 3, PassMark, 3DMark, Octane V2, and how good the SoCs are in games Garena Free Fire - The Cobra, Sniper 3D, Call of Duty: Mobile, Real Racing 3, Minecraft Bedrock, Fortnite, PUBG, Mortal Kombat etc.

After looking at the data of parallel benchmarks and videos, you can already make an briefed decision about which chipset is better to buy Kirin 990E or A12X Bionic and which chip is better for gaming: Need for Speed No Limits, CSR Racing 2, Asphalt 9, Madout2.

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 990E

31%

A12X Bionic

48%

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

Kirin 990E

75%

A12X Bionic

76%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

Kirin 990E

29%

A12X Bionic

46%

Antutu v10, 9

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

	Kirin 990E	A12X Bionic
Total score	433894	673441
CPU	121487	188568
GPU	164888	255916
MEM	69424	107748
UX	78108	121209

GeekBench 6, 5.2

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

	Kirin 990E	A12X Bionic
Single-Core	929	1152
Multi-Core	3068	4435

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	Kirin 990E	A12X Bionic
Frequency	2860 MHz	2490 MHz
Cores	8	8
Bit	64	64
Lithography	7 nm	7 nm
Transistors count	10300 millions	10000 millions
Core configuration	2x2.86 GHz ARM Cortex-A76 2x2.36 GHz ARM Cortex-A76 4x1.95 GHz ARM Cortex-A55	4x2.49GHz Vortex 4x1.6 GHz Tempest
Power consumption (TDP)	6 W	6 W
Memory type	LPDDR4x	LPDDR4X
Max. Memory	12 Gb	16 Gb
Memory Frequency	1600	2133
Memory bandwidth	31.78	42
Neural Processor (NPU)	Yes	Yes
L1 cache		48 KB
L2 cache	512 KB	4 MB
L3 cache		8 MB
Instruction set architecture (ISA)	ARMv8-A	ARMv8.4-A

In this comparison block, you should pay attention to the differences in clock speed and the number of cores. Here Kirin 990E is 12% better than A12X Bionic 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 MP12	Apple A12X Bionic
GPU Frequency	800 MHz	2500 MHz
GFloPS	489.38	1360
# of Cores	12	7
# of Shader Units
Display	2560 x 1600 pixels	2732 x 2048 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	28.6	26.6
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile)	56.3	79.8
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	58.7	48.9
Call of Duty: Mobile	42.3	44.1
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	47.8	68.1
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	77.8	99.3
Real Racing 3	102.7	85.6
Sniper 3D	111.5	63.6
Need for Speed No Limits	93.9	78.2
Mortal Kombat X	67.5	56.2
CSR Racing 2	64.6	63.6

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	12 MP
Dual Camera resolution		12 MP
Image Signal Processor (ISP)		Apple ISP
Video Encoding FPS	60	960
Video Encoding resolution	4K, 2K, FullHD	4K (Ultra HD), 2K, FullHD
Codec support	H.264, H.265/HEVC	Dolby Vision, H.265 (HEVC), HDR10+, HLG, HDR10, H.264 (AVC), VP8, VP9

Networks and Navigation

Modem	5G NR	Intel XMM 7560 LTE
Download speed	2300 MBit/s.	1000 MBit/s.
Upload speed	1250 MBit/s.	350 MBit/s.
Navigation	GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou	Galileo, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou
NFC support	Yes	Yes
5G support	Yes	No

Result:
The number of parameters for which HiSilicon Kirin 990E is better: 16
The number of parameters for which Apple A12X Bionic is better: 23
You need to know that you should not sightlessly trust the software comparison on the table. You can watch benchmark video from beginning to end of joint testing and listen to what people say who really appreciated the capabilities of both chips Kirin 990E and A12X Bionic, and also read the test results on the links under the article.

Kirin 990E SoC - all data

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

• Kirin 990E specs and review.

A12X Bionic SoC - all data

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

• A12X Bionic specs and review.