Snapdragon 875, 775G benchmark scores impress

Benchmark tests are used in an attempt to compare different devices or components used on different handsets in an objective manner. The idea is to determine which phone, processor, etc. is better without relying on opinions. Benchmark sites are mostly followed by phone enthusiasts and we've never seen a phone manufacturer brag to the public about their AnTuTu score and comparing it to a rival device.

According to a tweet from a Weibo based blogger under the name Digital Chat Station, a recent Antutu benchmark test reportedly revealed that an unnamed device running the  upcoming Snapdragon 875 chipset produced a score of 740,000. That tally is approximately 28% higher than the 600,000 score rung up by phones running the Snapdragon 865+; the latter is the current top-of-the-line Snapdragon chipset and will most likely remain so until the end of the year. The estimated 28% higher AnTuTu score for the Snapdragon 875 would seem to fit in line with the higher performance expected from 5nm chipsets compared to chips made using the 7nm node. The Snapdragon 875 will use Samsung's 5nm EUV manufacturing process which allows for a larger number of transistors to fit inside a square mm. As a result, the new chip will be more powerful and energy-efficient than the Snapdragon 865 and 865+ which are both manufactured using the 7nm process node.

Besides the flagship Snapdragon 875, Qualcomm is also expected to release the Snapdragon 775G early next year and the gaming-centered chip averaged an impressive 530,000 in AnTuTu tests. That is a whopping 67% hike from the average 316,534 AnTuTu score received by this year's Snapdragon 765G. Even more interesting, the Snapdragon 775G's alleged score is only 8% lower than what the Snapdragon 865 received on AnTuTu.

Next month, we expect to see Qualcomm introduce the Snapdragon 875 and Snapdragon 765G during the Qualcomm Snapdragon Tech Summit 2020. At that event, Xiaomi is tipped to introduce the Xiaomi Mi 11 and Mi 11 Pro. Both of those handsets will be among the first to employ the new 5nm chipsets produced by Qualcomm. There is also speculation that the Nokia 10 PureView, HMD Global's newest Nokia flagship, will also have the Snapdragon 875 under the hood.

The first smartphones powered by a 5nm chip are the Apple iPhone 12 Series which sport the A14 Bionic. This component carries 11.8 billion transistors compared to the 8.5 billion found inside the A13 Bionic. Apple also has deployed the A14 Bionic inside the new fourth-generation iPad Air. A 5nm chip can also be found inside the Huawei Mate 40 line; these handsets are powered by the 5nm Kirin 9000. Designed by Huawei's HiSilicon chip division and produced by TSMC (the largest independent foundry in the world), the U.S. Commerce Department made a change to U.S. export rules in May that prevent foundries using American technology from shipping cutting-edge chips to Huawei without a license. As a result, the Chinese manufacturer was cut-off from shipments of its most powerful integrated circuits starting in the middle of September. Out of an order of 15 million Kirin 9000 chips placed by Huawei with TSMC, only 8.8 million chips were sent.

We look forward to seeing Qualcomm introduce its new chips next month. The top-of-the-line Snapdragon 875 is rumored to include an octa-core architecture featuring the ARM Cortex-X1 core, three Cortex-A78 cores, and four Cortex-A55 cores. Back in September, tipster Roland Quandt gave us an idea of what to expect from the Snapdragon 765G in a tweet. He sees the IC manufactured using Samsung's 6nm process node and able to support displays with a 120Hz refresh rate, 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage.