A Snapdragon 865 specs leak prompts Galaxy S11 chipsets comparison
Samsung's processor foundries missed one production cycle of the flagship Snapdragon 8-series processor but their new and superior extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography has won the hearts of Qualcomm's management for Snapdragon 865.
We are comparing the currently known Exynos 990 specs and features below for your viewing pleasure. For reference, we included the current Snapdragon 855 that is in most 2019 Android flagships already.
Since we are expecting the 865, together with Samsung's newly-announced Exynos 990, to be done on the second-gen 7nm EUV process that Apple's processor maker is yet to master, there is every chance that those two top-shelf chipset will land in Samsung's high-end Galaxy S11 series in the spring.
As if to corroborate that notion, Snapdragon 865 specs have leaked out, and they tip performance gains in comparison with Snapdragon 855+ that are commensurate with the move from the first generation of the 7nm process to Samsung's second-gen lithography.
The Galaxy S11 will eventually thus have a chipset that is 20% faster than the fastest Android chips at the moment, with the corresponding graphics subsystem gains. Here is a quick comparison table with all the known Snapdragon 865 features against the Exynos 990 and some other notables.
Snapdragon 865 and 855+ vs Exynos 990 vs Apple A13 specs comparison
We are comparing the currently known Exynos 990 specs and features below for your viewing pleasure. For reference, we included the current Snapdragon 855 that is in most 2019 Android flagships already.
| Exynos 990 (Galaxy S11) | Snapdragon 865 (Galaxy S11) | Snapdragon 855+ | Apple A13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production process | 7nm EUV | 7nm EUV | 7nm (TSMC FF) | 7nm (TSMC N7P) |
| Processor cores | 2x Exynos M5 2x Cortex A76 4x Cortex A55 | 1x 2.84GHz A77 3x 2.42GHz A77 4x 1.8GHz A55 | 1x Kryo 485 Gold (custom Cortex-A76) @ 2.96GHz 3x Kryo 485 Gold (custom Cortex-A76) @ 2.42GHz 4x Kryo 485 Silver (custom Cortex-A55) @ 1.80GHz | 2x Lightning @2.66GHz 4x Thunder @1.7GHz |
| GPU | Mali-G77 MP11 | Adreno 650 at 587MHz | Adreno 640 | Apple custom quad-core |
| Modem | Exynos 5123 (Category 24) Downloads up to 7.3Gbps (mmWave), 5.1Gbps (sub-6GHz), or 3Gbps (4G LTE), 8xCA Uploads: up to 422 Mbps | X55 5G modem add-on up to 7 Gbps over 5G, and 2.5 Gbps download speeds on LTE | Snapdragon X24 LTE (Category 20) Downloads: up to 2Gbps, 7xCA Uploads: up to 316Mbps X50 5G modem add-on | Intel XMM7660 (Category 19) Downloads: up to 1.6Gbps, 7xCA Uploads: up to 225Mbps |
| AI co-processor | Yes, dual-core NPU | Yes | Yes | Yes, octa-core Neural Engine |
| Video encode | 4K HDR at 150fps 8K HDR at 30fps | 8K HDR | 4K HDR10+ | 4K HDR at 60fps |
| Misc. | UFS 3.0 storage support for up to 2.9GB/s speeds LPDDR5 memory support Single-camera up to 108MP 120Hz display refresh rate | LPDDR5 memory support | 4K HDR Bokeh Video 8K 360 VR video playback Always-on noise cancellation Dual-frequency GPS | Computational photography Machine learning capable of 1 trillion operations per second |
As you can see, there is nothing groundbreaking compared to Snapdragon 855+ when it comes to raw power, but the added value of today's chipsets is not the clock speeds - they are high enough as it is - but rather the accompanying features and especially the modem integration.
If the rumor that Galaxy S11 series will have five models if we count those with and without 5G as separate handsets pans out, this means that, while Qualcomm's X55 modem supports anything from 5G down to 2G, it will still be an add-on rather than an integrated affair.
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