Benchmark test shows impressive score for Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, close to the Apple M3

Qualcomm's current flagship application processor (AP), the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, is a powerful chipset that is powering phones such as the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and all three Galaxy S24 models in the U.S. and China. Later this year, probably in October, we should see Qualcomm unveil the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and it will debut Qualcomm's own Oryon CPU cores, replacing the Cortex cores previously obtained from Arm Holdings.

We recently told you that an engineering sample of the chip delivered an outstanding graphics performance. The device running the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset was able to play Genshin Impact for 45 minutes at a 1080p resolution. The frame rate stayed steady at the 60fps that the game is capped at.

This is the first ever benchmark for Snapdragon 8 Gen 4! pic.twitter.com/a67YWtvDdP

— Nguyen Phi Hung (@negativeonehero) January 28, 2024

According to X subscriber @negativeonehero (via Wccftech), a Geekbench 6 benchmark test resulted in a single-core score of 2845 and an impressive multi-core score of 10628. That compares with the 7249 multi-core score tallied by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 running the Galaxy S24 Ultra and the 7281 multi-core score recently rung up by the A17 Pro SoC powering my iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The current rumor has Qualcomm taking a page out of MediaTek's book and eschewing the low power efficiency cores for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. The chip, with the appropriate codename "Sun," is expected to feature two big "Phoenix" cores and six medium "Phoenix" cores. 

MediaTek's Dimensity 9300 AP features four Cortex-X4 prime CPU cores and four Cortex-A720 performance CPU cores. The lack of efficiency cores led many to worry about the chip overheating and it is currently powering the Vivo X100 series. The Dimensity 9400, expected later this year, is rumored to have a configuration made up of three prime Cortex-X5 cores and five Cortex performance cores.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will be built by TSMC using its enhanced 3nm process node. The Geekbench multi-core score was within a hair of the Apple M3 chip's multi-core score of 10762 powering the MacBook Pro. The 3,133,570 AnTuTu score delivered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is also a score high enough to get phone enthusiasts excited at the possibilities for the Galaxy S25 Ultra next year.