Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225 vs MediaTek MT8389

Comparisons   11-03-2021
   Well, which processor or chip is better? Full data of speed tests and benchmarks Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225 vs MediaTek MT8389, compare of GPUs PowerVR SGX544 and Adreno 203.
   This performance comparison includes two processors: Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225 is single-core (ARM Cortex-A5) and MT8389 is quad-core (ARM Cortex-A7). Both processors went through battery life test and power consumption test. A step-by-step analysis of all the technical characteristics of the processors, to make it easier to understand, is made by the table.
   From the comparison video, you can get the results of parallel benchmarking in synthetic type tests such as AnTuTu, GFXBench, Neocore, 3DMark, Vellamo, Quadrant, PCMark, Octane V2, PassMark, Mozilla Kraken, Geekbench, WebXPRT 3, even the gaming performance of SoCs in PUBG, Mortal Kombat, Fortnite, Call of Duty: Mobile, Minecraft Bedrock, Real Racing 3, Garena Free Fire - The Cobra, Sniper 3D etc.
   After reading the results of parallel benchmarks and videos, you already be able to figure out which processors is better to buy Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225 or MT8389 and which chip is better for gaming: Asphalt 9, Madout2, CSR Racing 2, Need for Speed No Limits.

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

Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225

MT8389

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

Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225

-54%

MT8389

-3%

Gaming performance
Which CPU is better for gaming

Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225

MT8389

Antutu v10, 9

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

	Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225	MT8389
Total score	17324	22270
CPU	4859	6234
GPU	6585	8457
MEM	2774	3558
UX	3128	4018

GeekBench 6, 5.2

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

	Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225	MT8389
Single-Core	60	59
Multi-Core	211	272

Comparison of specifications

CPU and Memory

	Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225	MT8389
Frequency	1000 MHz	1500 MHz
Cores	1	4
Bit	32	32
Lithography	65 nm	28 nm
Transistors count
Core configuration	1x1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A5	4x1.5 GHz ARM Cortex-A7
Power consumption (TDP)	4 W	7 W
Memory type	LPDDR2	LPDDR3
Max. Memory	0.5 Gb	1 Gb
Memory Frequency	333	667
Memory bandwidth	6	4
Neural Processor (NPU)	No	No
L1 cache	128 KB	32 KB
L2 cache	2 MB	1 MB
L3 cache	1 MB	1 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 MT8389 is 33% better than Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225 in terms of CPU frequency. Another difference is that Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225 has 3 more core than MT8389. Also keep in mind that high CPU frequency affects battery life through power consumption.

GPU and Media

GPU	Adreno 203	PowerVR SGX544
GPU Frequency	245 MHz	300 MHz
GFloPS	7.8	9.6
# of Cores		1
# of Shader Units	16
Display	854 x 480 pixels	1280 x 800 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	4.5	4.7
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG Mobile)	13.2	16.1
Garena Free Fire - The Cobra	7.4	10.4
Call of Duty: Mobile	7.2	9.1
Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5 Mobile)	10.4	13.6
Minecraft: Pocket Edition	16.6	21.7
Real Racing 3	9.3	20.8
Sniper 3D	11.8	22.9
Need for Speed No Limits	10.4	12.5
Mortal Kombat X	9.6	15.1
CSR Racing 2	8.9	12.5

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.
Due to the low performance of the processors, the results of the gaming tests are calculated by analogy with other more powerful CPUs from the site database. We recommend that you better study the results of the Antutu v10, 9 and GeekBench 6, 5.2 becnmarks.

Cameras

Camera resolution	5 MP	8 MP
Image Signal Processor (ISP)
Video Encoding FPS	30	30
Video Encoding resolution	HD	FullHD
Codec support	H.264	H.264

Networks and Navigation

Modem
Upload speed
Navigation		GPS, Galileo, Glonass, Beidou
NFC support	No	No
5G support	Yes	No

Result:
The number of parameters for which Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225 is better: 6
The number of parameters for which MediaTek MT8389 is better: 30
Please note that you do not need to sightlessly trust the software comparison of the table. It is better to just watch the full benchmark video of parallel comparison and listen to what those who really appreciated the capabilities of both processors think, and also read the test results on the links under the article.

Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225 SoC - all data

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

• Snapdragon S4 Play MSM8225 specs and review.

MT8389 SoC - all data

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

• MT8389 specs and review.