Snapdragon 855 vs 845 vs Exynos 9820 vs Apple A12 specs and features comparison
Qualcomm has now detailed the last piece in the Galaxy S10 chipset puzzle - its next-gen Snapdragon 855 processor. Samsung already announced its own Exynos 9820 that will likely make a cameo there, too. We are pitting the two S10 system chips against their rivals from the second half of 2018, knowing fully well that these are the processors which will be tiding us over at least until the next fall.
It's been a familiar refrain for years now - the US gets a Snapdragon-equipped Galaxy S line flagship, because... Qualcomm patents, but also Verizon and Sprint's legacy CDMA voice networks. The rest of the world, however, usually basks in the battery life efficiency coming with Samsung's homebrew Exynos line of processors, and often the added benefit of a better audio processor.
Next year, however, will be different, and not only because Snapdragon 855 may be the first with a 5G modem tacked on. Back in October 2017, Samsung touted its 8nm process as "production ready" only, and word through the grapevine put such chips on the conveyor belts in H2 2018. Well, we are getting to the tail end of that timeframe but the 9820 is now a reality, and there is a very strong possibility that the S10 may come powered by precisely the 8nm Exynos 9820, or a Snapdragon 855 done with the superior 7nm process.
Galaxy S10's Snapdragon 855 vs Exynos 9820 specs and features
We are comparing the currently known Snapdragon 855 and 9820 specs and features below for your viewing pleasure, and throwing in Apple's A12 juggernaut, plus Huawei's latest Kirin 980, as found in the Mate 20 series. For reference, we are starting with the current Snapdragon 845 that is in most 2018 Android flagships already.
| Snapdragon 845 | Snapdragon 855 | Exynos 9820 | Kirin 980 | Apple A12 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production node | 10nm (TSMC FF) | 7nm (TSMC FF) | 8nm LPP (Samsung) | 7nm (TSMC FF) | 7nm (TSMC FF) |
| Processor cores | 4x Kryo 385 @ 2.8GHz (custom Cortex-A75) 4x custom Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz | 1x Kryo 485 Gold (custom Cortex-A76) @ 2.84GHz 3x Kryo 485 Gold (custom Cortex-A76) @ 2.42GHz 4x Kryo 485 Silver (custom Cortex-A55) @ 1.80GHz | 2x Exynos M4 + 2x Cortex A75 + 4x Cortex A55 | 2x Cortex-A76 @ 2.6GHz + 2x Cortex-A76 @ 1.92GHz + 4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz | 2.49 GHz hexa-core (2x Vortex + 4x Tempest) |
| GPU | Adreno 630 @ 710MHz | Adreno 640 | Mali-G76 MP12 | Mali-G76 MP10 @ 750MHz | Apple custom quad-core |
| Modem | Snapdragon X20 LTE (Category 18) Downloads: up to 2Gbps 5x carrier aggregation (CA) Uploads: up to 150 Mbps | Snapdragon X24 LTE (Category 20) Downloads: up to 2Gbps 7xCA Uploads: up to 316Mbps X50 5G modem add-on | Shannon LTE (Category 20) Downloads up to 2Gbps 8xCA Uploads: up to 360 Mbps | LTE Category 21 Downloads: up to 1.7Gbps 5xCA Uploads: up to 200Mbps | Intel XMM7560 (download: Cat 18, up to 1200 Mbit/s) |
| AI co-processor | Yes | Yes | Yes, dual-core NPU | Yes, dual-core NPU | Yes, octa-core "Next-generation Neural Engine" |
| Video encode | 4K HDR at 60fps | 4K HDR10+ | 4K HDR at 150fps 8K HDR at 30fps | 4K at 30fps | 4K HDR at 60fps |
| Misc. | Dual SIM/standby, dual VoLTE support Quick Charge 4/4+ | Computational photography 4K HDR Bokeh Video 8K 360 VR video playback Always-on noise cancelation Dual-frequency GPS | Computational photography UFS 3.0 storage support for up to 2.9GB/s speeds | L1 + L5 dual frequency GPS SuperCharge 2.0 (45W fast charging) | LTE Dual SIM support Computational photography |
As mentioned, Exynos 9820 is done with Samsung's 8nm LPP process which is more of an extension to the existing 10nm LPP in phones like the Galaxy S9, rather than Samsung's 7nm node. The advanced 7nm EUV process of Samsung is still not ready or cost-effective for mass production, it seems.
You can preview the boost to expect with Snapdragon 855 in the AnTuTu score comparisons with the 845 and 9820 below, and the Geekbench database returns similar differences. We can't wait to pit the two Galaxy S10 versions against each other and see who comes out on top.
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