HiSilicon Kirin 990E vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 865

Comparisons 11-03-2021

So, which processor or chip is better? Detailed comparison data of benchmarks HiSilicon Kirin 990E vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, speed testing of GPUs Adreno 650 and Mali-G76 MP12.

This performance comparison involves two processors: Kirin 990E is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A76) and Snapdragon 865 is octa-core (Kryo 585). Both processors went throughpower consumption test and battery life test. A careful review of all the specifications of the CPUs, so that it can be easier to understand, is made by the table.

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

After reading the results of parallel benchmarks and videos, you can already make an briefed decision about which chip is better to buy Kirin 990E or Snapdragon 865 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%

Snapdragon 865

42%

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

Kirin 990E

75%

Snapdragon 865

73%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

Kirin 990E

29%

Snapdragon 865

39%

Antutu v10, 9

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

	Kirin 990E	Snapdragon 865
Total score	433894	583551
CPU	121487	163401
GPU	164888	221754
MEM	69424	93372
UX	78108	105047

GeekBench 6, 5.2

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

	Kirin 990E	Snapdragon 865
Single-Core	929	934
Multi-Core	3068	3435

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	Kirin 990E	Snapdragon 865
Frequency	2860 MHz	2840 MHz
Cores	8	8
Bit	64	64
Lithography	7 nm	7 nm
Transistors count	10300 millions
Core configuration	2x2.86 GHz ARM Cortex-A76 2x2.36 GHz ARM Cortex-A76 4x1.95 GHz ARM Cortex-A55	8x2.84 GHz Kryo 585
Power consumption (TDP)	6 W	10 W
Memory type	LPDDR4x	4x16bit, LPDDR5
Max. Memory	12 Gb	16 Gb
Memory Frequency	1600	2750
Memory bandwidth	31.78	44
Neural Processor (NPU)	Yes	Yes
L1 cache		512 KB
L2 cache	512 KB	1 MB
L3 cache		4 MB
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 990E is 0% better than Snapdragon 865 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	Adreno 650
GPU Frequency	800 MHz	600 MHz
GFloPS	489.38	989
# of Cores	12
# of Shader Units		512
Display	2560 x 1600 pixels	2840 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	28.6	29.4
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile)	56.3	62.8
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	58.7	58.6
Call of Duty: Mobile	42.3	59.2
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	47.8	49.6
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	77.8	76.5
Real Racing 3	102.7	73.3
Sniper 3D	111.5	111.3
Need for Speed No Limits	93.9	93.8
Mortal Kombat X	67.5	85
CSR Racing 2	64.6	70.3

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	200 MP
Dual Camera resolution		25 MP
Image Signal Processor (ISP)		Qualcomm Spectra 480
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	Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 Modem-RF System 5G
Download speed	2300 MBit/s.	7500 MBit/s.
Upload speed	1250 MBit/s.	3000 MBit/s.
Navigation	GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou	SBAS, NavIC enabled, Galileo, GPS, GNSS, QZSS, Dual frequency GNSS, GLONASS, Beidou
NFC support	Yes	No
5G support	Yes	Yes

Result:
The number of parameters for which HiSilicon Kirin 990E is better: 13
The number of parameters for which Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 is better: 28
Please note that you do not need to blindly trust the software comparison of 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 SoCs think, as well as read the test results at the links below.

Kirin 990E SoC - all data

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

• Kirin 990E specs and review.

Snapdragon 865 SoC - all data

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

• Snapdragon 865 specs and review.