The flagship mobile processor from every company is now moving its way towards 5G. It’s evident because 5G is the next big thing that is going to cover the entire planet in terms of connectivity. There is a lot of potential in the 5G sector and by riding on this wave of opportunity, companies like MediaTek, which is kind of an underestimated SoC brand, can emerge as a whole new hero in the SoC sector. It looks like the company is taking this tech seriously as a result of which, the MediaTek Dimensity series has been born with MediaTek Dimensity 1000 being the first-ever 5G enabled processor in this series.
But it’s not unique to have 5G connectivity in a mobile processor. Flagship mobile processors from the rest of the companies are also there to compete against each other. Some of the famous names in this sector are Snapdragon 865, Snapdragon 855, and the Kirin 990 5G. All these processors come under the flagship category and are also have 5G connectivity. Some have integrated 5G Modem which some have support for external 5G Modem to receive and transmit 5G signals.
Since so many of the 5G processors are there, it’s a bit confusing to get an idea about which processor is good in which section. So here we have compared all these four processors i.e. MediaTek Dimensity 1000 VS Snapdragon 865 VS Snapdragon 855 VS Kirin 990 5G is the topic which we are going to cover in this post. So, let’s get started.
Recommended: Snapdragon 865 vs 855 / plus vs Apple A13 Bionic vs Kirin 990 5G – Antutu-Geekbench benchmark scores
Table of Contents
MediaTek Dimensity 1000 vs Snapdragon 865 vs 855 vs Kirin 990 5G Specs Comparison
CPU
Starting with the manufacturing process. All the processors have the 7nm fabrication process, which is a pretty common and pleasant thing to have for better power efficiency. But there is a difference in the type of 7nm fabrication. The Snapdragon 855 and Dimensity 1000 have normal 7nm LPP nodes whereas in the Snapdragon 865 and Kirin 990 5G there is the EUV (Extreme Ultraviolet) version of 7nm fabrication. The new EUV fabrication is a bit latest and improved power efficiency.
Talking about the cores, Dimensity 1000 has a dual cluster (eight cores divided into two parts) design whereas the rest of the three comes with a tri cluster design (eight cores divided into three parts). There are four Cortex-A77 cores at 2.6GHz for heavy tasks and four Cortex-A55 cores at 2.0GHz for normal tasks. In Snapdragon 855 there is one prime Cortex-A76 core in the first cluster, three Cortex-A76 cores in the second cluster and four Cortex-A55 cores in the third cluster with a clock speed of 2.84GHz, 2.42GHz, and 1.8GHz respectively.
The Kirin 990 5G includes two prime Cortex-A76 cores at 2.86GHz, two Cortex-A76 medium cores at 2.36GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores at 1.95 GHz. Whereas the Snapdragon 865 has one prime Cortex-A77 core at 2.84Ghz, three Cortex-A77 cores at 2.42GHz and four Cortex-A55 cores at 1.8GHz. Only the Snapdragon 865 and Dimensity 1000 are having Cortex-A77 based cores, but the cores’ configuration of Dimensity is a bit old because it just has dual cluster design. The tri cluster design is something that provides a better distribution of tasks while multitasking.
Also Read: MediaTek Dimensity 1000L vs Snapdragon 765G vs Exynos 980 – AnTuTu-Geekbench Scores
GPU
The MediaTek Dimensity 1000 uses the new generation of ARM Mali GPUs. It has the Mali-G77 MC9 GPU, which is nine core GPU an comes with HyperEngine 2.0 Gaming which is a software-based gaming enhancement feature. The Snapdragon 855 and 865 uses the Adreno 640 and 650 GPUs from Qualcomm with a clock speed of 585MHz and 587MHz respectively. Qualcomm claims a 25% boost in performance with the new Adreno 650 GPU in comparison to its predecessor Adreno 640. Both the Snapdragon chips come with the Qualcomm Elite Gaming feature which is a software-based gaming enhancement solution from Qualcomm.
At last, the kirin 990 5G has the ARM Mali-G76 MP16 GPU which is a 16-core GPU and works at a speed of 600MHz. Huawei always prefers to have a GPU with a higher number of cores with less power consuming structure. The Kirin 990 5G’s GPU supports the company’s Kirin Gaming+ 2.0, which is the company’s software solution for gaming enhancements.
The clock speeds of Adreno 640 and 650 are almost the same whereas the Kirin 990 5G’s Mali G-76 MP16 GPU which was touted to have a clock speed of 700MHz was, later on, corrected to be 600MHz which is still more than Qualcomm’s in this comparison. Coming to the GPU of Dimensity 1000, then the company has not revealed anything about the frequency. As per our knowledge, the new G77 series is a pretty impressive thing to have would provide you with excellent gaming experience.
Read More: Apple A13 Bionic vs A12 vs Kirin 990 5G vs Snapdragon 855 Plus – Antutu-Geekbench benchmark scores
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI in smartphones is a mandatory thing nowadays, and the SoC manufacturing companies know this very well. Tech giants like Qualcomm and Kirin are in this field for a long time, but MediaTek is also doing a tremendously excellent job. The Snapdragon 865 has the Hexagon 698 DSP which is the successor of Hexagon 690 DSP, used in Snapdragon 855. Dimensity 1000 has its APU3.0 design, and the Kirin 990 5G has the Da Vinci architecture in its NPU, which has two big+ 1little core for better efficiency and power during the execution of AI tasks.
The MediaTek Dimensity 1000 is capable of doing 4.5 Trillion Operations Per Second (TOPS) which 7 TOPS in SD855, and 15 TOPS in SD 865. However, there is no info about the speed if Kirin 990 5G’s AI performance. Currently, in the AI benchmarks chart, Dimensity 1000 is on the top position with a score of 56,158. Below Diemnsity, the kirin 990 5G holds the seat with 52,403 points. The Snapdragon 855 with 20,554 is in the lowest position. As of now, the Snapdragon 865 powered smartphone is not available; that’s why this processor is not available for the AI benchmark test. But we believe that it will top the chart.
Camera & Optics
The most important that affects this section is the ISP (Image Signal Processor). It explains how capable and fast the processor is to capture and processor the captured picture or video. In Dimenaity 1000 there is the world’s first 5-core ISP which supports up to the 80-megapixel single camera or 32+16-megapixel dual-camera arrangement. The Snapdragon 855 uses the Spectra 380 ISP which can have up to 192-megapixel single-camera (no ZSL & MFNR) and up to 48-megapixel (no ZSL). In the dual-camera arrangement, it can have 22-megapixel dual-cameras.
The Snapdragon 865 comes with Spectra 490 ISP in which you can go up to 200-megapixel instead of 192-megapixel and also 64-megapixel instead of 48-megapixel in comparison to its predecessor. In the dual-camera arrangement, it can have a max of 25-megapixel dual cameras. The Kirin 990 5G comes with the ISP 5.0, which is 15% better than the one in Kirin 980, its predecessor. Huawei doesn’t talk about the exact camera resolution support so we can’t say anything about this.
There is no mentioning from the company for the support of HDR10 and 10+ content’s encoding and decoding in the Kirin 990 5G and Dimensity 1000. But the Snapdragon 865 and 855 both have support for HDR10 and 10+.
Related: Snapdragon 855 vs 845 vs Snapdragon 730 vs 730G – Antutu-Geekbench Benchmark Scores
Memory & Display
All the Processors support LPDDR4x type RAMs except the Snapdragon 865 which also has support for the LPDDR5 category of RAM. Snapdragon 855 and Kirin 990 5G supports RAM frequency of 2133MHz whereas Dimensity 1000 and Snapdragon 865 supports 1866MHz and 2750MHz, respectively. All four processors support UFS3.0 type onboard storage.
Snapdragon 865 supports 144Hz display refresh rate, which is 120Hz in Dimensity 1000. Snapdragon 855 has no mention about the display refresh rates but as of Asus ROG Phone 2 we can say that it can have up to 120Hz of refresh rate. As far as Kirin 990 5G is concerned, there is no information about that because there is only one smartphone powered with this SoC, i.e. Huawei Mate 30 5G which has 90Hz refresh rate.
AnTuTu-Geekbench Benchmark Scores
AnTuTu Scores
Here we have compared the AnTuTu v8 scores of all the four processors. The Snapdragon 865 has been the top performer with a score of 5,45,354 points. MediaTek Dimensity 1000 is on the second position with 5,11,363 points after that Kirin 990 5G with 4,63,254 points and at the end the Snapdragon 855 with 4,40,300 points.
Geekbench Scores
The Geekbench v5 scores of MediaTek Dimensity 1000 are not yet available due to the unavailability of any smartphone or dummy device. But talking about the rest of the processors, the Snapdragon 865 has scored 928 in Single-Core scores and 3,433 in the Multi-Core test. With a slightly less score, the Kirin 990 5G is in the second position. It has scored 769 points in Single-Core testing and 3,083 in Multi-Core testing. Talking about the Snapdragon 855, it has 732 Single-Core scores and 2,578 Multi-Core scores.
Connectivity
Only the MediaTek Dimensity 1000 and Kirin 990 5G has integrated 5G modem. The Dimensity 1000 can have a max. 5G download speed of 4.7Gbps and max. 5G upload speed of 1.28Gbps. MediaTek had not provided any details about the 4G speeds, but it does support 5G connectivity as well. The Kirin 990 5G has the Balong 5G modem which also supports 4G and 5G. It can go up to 2.3Gbps in download and 1.25Gbps in upload speed in 5G connectivity.
The Snapdragon 855 and 865 do support 5G connectivity, but for that, they require a separate 5G modem. The Snapdragon 855 uses the company’s X50 5G modem which provides 5Gbps of download speed. Whereas the Snapdragon 865 uses X55 5G modem which offers 7.5gbps for download speed and 2.5Gbps of upload speed. For 4G connectivity, both these processors have integrated LTE modems. The Snapdragon 855 has an X24 LTE Modem with 1.2Gbps of download speed and 316Mbps of upload speed. The Snapdragon 865’s 4Gmodem provides 3Gbps of download speed and 316Mbps of upload speed.
Exynos 9825 vs 9820 vs Snapdragon 855 vs Kirin 990 – Antutu, Geekbench Benchmark Scores
Conclusion – Which One Is Better?
It is a pretty surprising thing that the MediaTek Dimensity 1000 has scored more than Kirin 990 5G in AnTuTu v8 benchmarking. Maybe its four Cortex-A77 cores worked better than four Cortex-A76 core od Kirin 990 5G. We were not expecting this because the cores of Kirin 990 are clocked at a higher frequency. The Snapdragon 855, being at the lowest position is nothing surprising because all the competing processors are newer than SD 855 and had been made with keeping the performance of Snapdragon 855 in mind. The Snapdragon 865 is the overall winner of this comparison. The Cortex-A77 cores with high frequency have made the CPU of SD 865, the most powerful one in this comparison.
The gaming performance of the Dimensity is also going to be celebrated as there is a G77 series’ GPU from ARM. The Kirin 990 5G’s 16-core GPU is also a great performer, but the Adreno 650 in the Snapdragon 865 is expected to provide the best gaming performance. The Snapdragon 855 is also a capable SoC for gaming but as if this comparison has the least performing GPU.
The AI section is where the Dimensity 1000 is currently domination as there is no official device to test the AI benchmarks of the SD 865. But we believe that whenever it is benchmarked, it’ll be at the top position. The Kirin 990 5G with the Da Vinci architecture in the NPU, has secured the third position and at the end, the SD 855 comes with the Hexagon 690 DSP. As of daily life usage, the Snapdragon 855 is also more than enough, but since the tech industry requires new things with every successor, hence we are reaching at the stage where we don’t need this much power.
The connectivity is also a criterion to be considered as all the four processors are made to hit the 5G market. The Snapdragon competitors are the one who doesn’t come with integrated 5G modem, which in theory, could lead to less power-efficient 5G connectivity because of using an external 5G modem. But the Dimensity 1000 and Kirin 990 5G has integrated 5G modems. But the connectivity speeds of Kirin 990 5G are significantly lower as compared to Dimensity 1000. Whereas the Snapdragon 855 and 865 are just dominating the connectivity section.
You May Also Like: Snapdragon 765G vs 730G vs MediaTek Helio G90T – Antutu-Geekbench Benchmark Scores
Well, that was our comparison between the four of the most popular flagship 5G mobile SoC. We are hoping that it will help you in clearing your doubts. Comment below if we have left anything or if you want to ask anything. We will surely reply to that. That’s it for today and keep reading on tme.net.
