Galaxy S21's Snapdragon 888 vs Exynos 2100 features and performance
Cool naming, eh? Qualcomm announced the 888 at its Snapdragon Tech Summit keynote back in December, paving the way for an onslaught of Samsung, LG, OnePlus, Sony, and other flagships phones with it as soon as January, starting with the Galaxy S21.
Samsung, on the other hand, just detailed the Exynos 2100 with a dedicated unveiling event for the first time, sporting Cortex-X1 cores with peak 2.9GHz frequency, 5G integration, and a modern 5nm EUV production method. Obviously, Samsung is pretty proud with what it has done this time around, so hopefully the dreaded Snapdragon vs Exynos model controversy can be put to pasture once and for all.
Snapdragon 888 vs Exynos 2100 vs Snapdragon 865 vs Apple A14 specs and features
All new Snapdragon 888 features
- 5G modem integration (longer battery life)
- 5nm Qualcomm X60 modem
- 6th generation AI engine on a new Hexagon processor
- Fastest Adreno GPU graphics rendering on a Snapdragon ever
- 35% faster image processor (120 pictures per second at 12MP)
All new Exynos 2100 features
- 5nm Samsung Extreme Ultra-Violet litography
- 5G modem integration (longer battery life)
- New NPU AI engine, up to 26 trillion operations per second
- Up to 200MP single camera sensor support, up to six cameras in total
- 40% faster image processor
To top it all off, the 5nm production process of the X60 modem and the integrated Exynos 2100 modem means huge gains in battery life in your phone's 5G mode, something the iPhone 12 series badly needed at one point, as standalone 5G modems are battery hogs compared to integrated solutions like in Qualcomm's own Snapdragon 7-series midrangers like the one powering the Pixel 5.
| Snapdragon 888 | Snapdragon 865+ | Exynos 2100 | Apple A14 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production process | Samsung 5nm EUV | TSMC 7nm N7P | Samsung 5nm EUV | TSMC 5nm |
| Processor cores | 1x Cortex-X1@2.84GHz 3x Cortex-A78@2.42GHz 4x Cortex-A55@1.80GHz | 1x Kryo 585 (custom A77) @3.1GHz 3x Kryo 585 @2.42GHz 4x @1.8GHz | Exynos X1@2.9GHz 3x Cortex-A78@2.8GHz 4x Cortex-A55@2.2GHz | 2x Firestorm@2.99GHz 4x Icestorm@1.7GHz |
| GPU | Adreno 660 @ 800MHz | Adreno 650 at 645MHz | ARM Mali-G78 | Apple custom quad-core |
| Modem | X60 5G modem (integrated) up to 7.5 Gbps over 5G, and 3 Gbps download speeds on LTE | Qualcomm X55 5G modem (add-on) | Exynos 5123 (Category 24) Downloads up to 7.3Gbps (mmWave), 5.1Gbps (sub-6GHz), or 3Gbps (4G LTE), 8xCA Uploads: up to 422 Mbps | Qualcomm X55 5G modem (add-on) |
| AI co-processor | Yes, Hexagon 780 | Yes, Hexagon 698 | Yes, tri-core NPU, up to 26 TOPS | Yes, octa-core Neural Engine, up to 11 TOPS |
| Video encode | 8K HDR at 60fps 4K HDR at 120fps | 8K HDR at 30fps 4K HDR at 120fps | 8K HDR at 60fps 4K HDR at 120fps | 4K HDR at 120fps |
| Features support | QHD+ @144Hz or 4K@60Hz display refresh Triple 14-bit Spectra 580 ISP, up to 200MP sensor 4K computational HDR, low-light capture architecture Qualcomm FastConnect 6900: Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-fi 6E (up to 3.6GBps) | QHD+ @144Hz or 4K@60Hz display refresh up to 200MP single or 2x64MP dual camera up to 16GB DDR5 Qualcomm FastConnect 6900: Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-fi 6E | UFS 3.1 storage support for up to 2.9GB/s speeds Single-camera up to 200MP up to 16 GB DDR5 Variable 120Hz display refresh rate | Computational photography Dolby Vision encoding and decoding Machine learning capable of 11 trillion operations per second |
Galaxy S21, Plus and Ultra Snapdragon vs Exynos benchmark performance comparison
As you can see, the single-core Geekbench scores are roughly the same, while the Exynos 2100 multi-core scores excel but the difference could very well be due to the average clock speeds, as the Exynos cores have worked on higher frequencies during the benchmark test.
| Galaxy S21 | Galaxy S21+ | Galaxy S21 Ultra | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Snapdragon 888 single-core | 1075 | 1074 | 1104 |
| Exynos 2100 single-core | n/a | 1058 | 1088 |
| Snapdragon 888 multi-core | 2916 | 2964 | 2913 |
| Exynos 2100 multi-core | n/a | 3401 | 3475 |
The Exynos 2100 vs Snapdragon 888 vs Apple A14 test, on the other hand, reveals an expected advantage for Apple's chipset, again likely due to the much higher, nearly 3GHz clock frequency the test is carried out at.
S21 Ultra Snapdragon vs Exynos benchmark scores
Last but not least, the all-important Snapdragon 865 vs Snapdragon 888 comparison, as found in the Galaxy S20 Ultra and S21 Ultra, respectively, reveal a hearty per-core advantage for the S21 Ultra at a similar clock speed which bodes well for the new phone's performance compared to its predecessor.
Related phones
- Display 6.2 inches 2400 x 1080 pixels
- Camera 12 MP (Triple camera) 10 MP front
- Hardware Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 8GB RAM
- Storage 128GB, not expandable
- Battery 4000 mAh
- OS Android 11 Samsung One UI
- Display 6.8 inches 3200 x 1440 pixels
- Camera 108 MP (Quad camera) 40 MP front
- Hardware Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 12GB RAM
- Storage 128GB, not expandable
- Battery 5000 mAh
- OS Android 11 Samsung One UI
