HiSilicon Kirin 950 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 benchmark which processor is better

Kirin 950 vs Snapdragon 820 MSM8996

Comparisons   11-03-2021
   So, which processor or chip is better? Full comparison data of benchmarks HiSilicon Kirin 950 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996, speed examination of GPUs Mali-T880 MP4 and Adreno 530.
   This performance comparison includes two processors: Kirin 950 is octa-core (ARM Cortex-A72) and Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 is quad-core (Kryo 280). Both processors went through battery life test and power consumption test. A step-by-step analysis of all the specifications of the processors, so that it can be easier to understand, is presented in the form of the table.
   From the comparison video, you can get the results of parallel benchmarking in software tests like Vellamo, Mozilla Kraken, 3DMark, GFXBench, WebXPRT 3, Geekbench, PCMark, Octane V2, AnTuTu 8, Quadrant, Neocore, PassMark, and how good the CPUs are in games PUBG, Garena Free Fire - The Cobra, Fortnite, Minecraft Bedrock, Mortal Kombat, Call of Duty: Mobile, Real Racing 3, Sniper 3D etc.
   After looking at the data of parallel benchmarks and videos, you already be able to know which processors is better to buy Kirin 950 or Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 and which chip is better for gaming: Asphalt 9, Need for Speed No Limits, CSR Racing 2, 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 950

Snapdragon 820 MSM8996

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

Kirin 950

48%

Snapdragon 820 MSM8996

52%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

Kirin 950

Snapdragon 820 MSM8996

Antutu v10, 9

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

	Kirin 950	Snapdragon 820 MSM8996
Total score	100285	125956
CPU	28073	35262
GPU	38102	47872
MEM	16044	20152
UX	18046	22681

GeekBench 6, 5.2

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

	Kirin 950	Snapdragon 820 MSM8996
Single-Core	265	257
Multi-Core	902	1133

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	Kirin 950	Snapdragon 820 MSM8996
Frequency	2300 MHz	2200 MHz
Cores	8	4
Bit	64	64
Lithography	16 nm	14 nm
Transistors count
Core configuration	4x2.3 GHz ARM Cortex-A72 4x1.8 GHz ARM Cortex-A53	4x2.2 GHz Kryo 280
Power consumption (TDP)	5 W	11 W
Memory type	LPDDR4x	LPDDR4x (Dual Channel)
Max. Memory	4 Gb	8 Gb
Memory Frequency	1600	1866
Memory bandwidth	25.6	29.8
Neural Processor (NPU)	No	No
L1 cache
L2 cache
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 950 is 4% better than Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 in terms of CPU frequency. Another difference is that Kirin 950 has -4 more core than Snapdragon 820 MSM8996. Also keep in mind that high CPU frequency affects battery life through power consumption.

GPU and Media

GPU	Mali-T880 MP4	Adreno 530
GPU Frequency	900 MHz	624 MHz
GFloPS	122.31	497.98
# of Cores	4
# of Shader Units		256
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		25.2
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile)	22.3	48.8
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	38.7	52.5
Call of Duty: Mobile	25.5	27.1
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	19.1	44.3
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	24.3	63.7
Real Racing 3	48.4	105
Sniper 3D	61.9	84
Need for Speed No Limits	54.2	84
Mortal Kombat X	61.9	68.3
CSR Racing 2	42.6	57.8

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

Networks and Navigation

Modem		Qualcomm Snapdragon X12 LTE modem
Download speed	300 MBit/s.	600 MBit/s.
Upload speed	50 MBit/s.	150 MBit/s.
Navigation	GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou
NFC support	No	No
5G support	Yes	No

Result:
The number of parameters for which HiSilicon Kirin 950 is better: 7
The number of parameters for which Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 is better: 29
You need to know that you should not sightlessly trust the software comparison of the table. You can watch benchmark video from beginning to end of parallel comparison and listen to what those who really appreciated the capabilities of both CPUs think, as well as read the test results at the links below.

Kirin 950 SoC - all data

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

• Kirin 950 specs and review.

Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 SoC - all data

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

• Snapdragon 820 MSM8996 specs and review.