Snapdragon 820 Beats Apple A9 in AnTuTu’s Top-10 Performance Smartphone Chips
This year, we’ve already seen some brand new smartphone launches that are ready to take the crown for 2016. Most flagship devices that you will see this year will feature Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 820 chipset. Meanwhile, Apple launched the iPhone 6s late last year with the A9 chipset. Consumers are already spoilt for choice with the number of new, beautifully crafted smartphones but what they really want to know is which chipset takes the cake when it comes to performance.
AnTuTu updated its list of Top-10 performance smartphone chips and it appears that the Snapdragon 820 chip beats all, taking first spot in both performance and GPU tests. The Snapdragon 820 scores 136,383, which is close to 4000 higher than that of Apple A9, while Samsung’s Exynos 8890 chip comes in at third with 129,865. Note that these scores are based on averages and actual running results will be different.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820-powered smartphones include Samsung Galaxy S7, LeEco Max Pro, Xiaomi Mi5, LG G5, Sony Xperia X Performance, among others.
In GPU performance as well, the Snapdragon 820 chipset rules the lot, scoring an impressive 55098 which is miles ahead of Apple A9’s 39104. The Exynos 8890, again, comes in at third with a score of 37545. Over the past few years, smartphone makers have been paying a lot of importance to GPU performance. After all, mobile gaming is a huge market of its own and has slowly become an important aspect when consumers consider purchasing a smartphone.
The Snapdragon 820 chip currently has the highest-performing GPU (Adreno 530). While Apple’s A9 (PowerVR GT7600) and Samsung’s Exynos 8890 (Mali-T880 MP12) battle for the second place, HiSilicon Kirin 950 (Mali-T880 MP4) doesn’t fare too well and stays low alongside Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (Adreno418) and Snapdragon 652 (Adreno510).
It’s also important to note that the GPU directly relates to screen resolution. Since most phones these days offer 1080p, and 2K resolution, it requires a powerful GPU to allow users to get the most experience out of their smartphone’s display. But GPU and CPU alone aren’t enough to tell you about how a smartphone will perform.
In hand use is the best way to judge what the phone offers the user. Apple may have scored low with the A9 chip, but it still gives a terrific performance. Similarly, the Exynos 8890 also performs impressively, which is probably why Samsung may launch both it and Snapdragon 820 variants in the Indian market when the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge launch tomorrow.
