Huawei Mate 20 Pro review

Kirin 980 powers the Mate 20 series

Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro are the first smartphones to utilize HiSicon's latest Kirin 980 chip. This is the first chipset in an Android phone built on the 7nm manufacturing process and it's promising plenty of power and efficiency gains over its predecessor and other 10nm chipsets.

The Kirin 980 uses an 8-core CPU design with 2x high-performance Cortex-A76 cores running at 2.6GHz and 2x Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 1.92GHz and 4x power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores that go up to 1.8GHz. The processor makes use of ARM's DynamIQ architecture, which is the evolution of big.LITTLE and allows any subset of cores (or all together) to work simultaneously depending on the workload.

Kirin 980 SoC has a Mali-G76 MP10 (ten-core) GPU, which was announced back in May 2018, and offers tremendous performance and efficiency gains compared to its predecessor Mali-G72 in the Kirin 970. According to the press release, the GPU outperforms the previous generation by 46% and improves the power efficiency nearly twice. It can also take advantage of the new clock-boosting technology that recognizes when a demanding game is running and provides optimal gaming performance.

EMUI 9 supports GPU Turbo 2.0, which is supported by six games in total for the time being. It allows all those games to run smoothly and steady at 60 fps at full resolution. GPU Turbo 2.0 is new, but Huawei is also working with game developers to enable it in even more popular games though we won't be holding our breath.

Huawei points out that the Kirin 980 outperforms the 10nm chips by 20% and it's 40% more power efficient overall.

The 7nm manufacturing process isn't its only claim to fame. The chipset is also the first to support 2133MHz LPDDR4X memory and incorporates a dedicated dual NPU chip. Huawei calls the latter "Dual-Brain Power" and can help recognize up to 4,500 images per minute, which is around 120% faster than last year's single NPU chip on the Kirin 970 SoC.

Other notable features include 6.9 billion transistors crammed inside a 1cm² die (1.6 times more than its predecessor), 1.4Gbps Cat 21 LTE modem and blazing fast WiFi speeds of up to 1,732Mbps peak download/upload speeds.

Finally, the chipset comes with a new Image Signal Processor, which delivers a 46% increase in data throughput and better multi-camera support. It promises an improved HDR color reproduction, Multi-pass noise reduction that removes artifacts without hurting with the image details and better motion tracking.

And now it's time to run some tests.

Benchmarks

Quite expectedly we start off with some GeekBench torture on the CPU. The Mate 20 Pro easily comes on top of the whole Android pile, when it comes to multi-core performance. It is bested only by Apple's most current. The Kirin 980 multi-core CPU performance also enjoys 40% improvement over the Kirin 970.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS
  11472
• Apple iPhone XR
  11437
• Apple iPhone XS Max
  11432
• Apple iPhone X
  10215
• Huawei Mate 20
  9793
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  9712
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  9026
• OnePlus 6
  9011
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  9003
• HTC U12+
  9001
• Razer Phone 2
  8923
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  8883
• LG G7 ThinQ
  8865
• Sony Xperia XZ3
  8607
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  8494
• Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
  8349
• Google Pixel 3
  8146
• Google Pixel 3 XL
  8088
• Oppo Find X
  8018
• Huawei Mate 10 Pro
  6783
• Huawei P20
  6722
• Huawei P20 Pro
  6679
• Huawei Mate 10
  6625
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  5574

Its single-core result came just short of the Mongoose cores of the Galaxy Note9. The Apple cores are lightyears ahead as usual, but that's hardly relevant for the Android market, isn't it?

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS
  4823
• Apple iPhone XR
  4818
• Apple iPhone XS Max
  4777
• Apple iPhone X
  4256
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  3771
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  3642
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  3291
• Huawei Mate 20
  3284
• Sony Xperia XZ3
  2486
• HTC U12+
  2456
• OnePlus 6
  2450
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  2438
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  2431
• Razer Phone 2
  2424
• LG G7 ThinQ
  2395
• Google Pixel 3
  2377
• Google Pixel 3 XL
  2363
• Oppo Find X
  2322
• Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
  2199
• Huawei P20 Pro
  1907
• Huawei Mate 10 Pro
  1902
• Huawei P20
  1897
• Huawei Mate 10
  1882
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  1595

So, the Kirin 980 once again introduces the fastest mobile processor intended for Android smartphones.

The Kirin 980 chipset has Mali-G76 10-core GPU in charge of graphics. The performance, while an improvement over the previous Kirin 970, was not that impressive.

In terms of sheer power the Mate 20 Pro is almost as fast as the Snapdragon 845, but almost. If we are to dig into numbers, the Adreno 630 is still 12% faster than the Mali inside the Kirin 980.

It is still a major improvement over the Kirin 970 of course and just as Huawei promised, the new GPU is over 40% faster than the old one.

And just so you know, Apple's latest GPU is of another universe, obviously.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  99
• Apple iPhone XS
  98
• Apple iPhone XR
  97
• Apple iPhone X
  65
• Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
  61
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  60
• HTC U12+
  60
• Oppo Find X
  60
• OnePlus 6
  58
• Google Pixel 3
  57
• LG G7 ThinQ
  57
• Sony Xperia XZ3
  56
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  53
• Huawei Mate 20
  53
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  53
• Razer Phone 2
  51
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  47
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  45
• Google Pixel 3 XL
  44
• Huawei P20 Pro
  40
• Huawei Mate 10
  38
• Huawei Mate 10 Pro
  38
• Huawei P20
  36
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  14

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS
  60
• Apple iPhone XS Max
  60
• Apple iPhone XR
  60
• Apple iPhone X
  37
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  35
• OnePlus 6
  35
• Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
  35
• Oppo Find X
  35
• Google Pixel 3
  35
• LG G7 ThinQ
  35
• Razer Phone 2
  35
• Sony Xperia XZ3
  35
• HTC U12+
  35
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  33
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  29
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  28
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  28
• Huawei Mate 20
  28
• Google Pixel 3 XL
  28
• Huawei P20
  23
• Huawei P20 Pro
  23
• Huawei Mate 10 Pro
  22
• Huawei Mate 10
  21
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  7.6

There are quite a few Android flagships to run on 1080p screens and this gives them a big edge over the 1440p crop where the Mate 20 Pro falls in. While the Mate 20 Pro does pretty well, it's nothing impressive really.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XR
  60
• Apple iPhone XS Max
  60
• Apple iPhone XS
  60
• Google Pixel 3
  55
• OnePlus 6
  55
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  53
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  50
• Oppo Find X
  50
• Apple iPhone X
  49
• Huawei Mate 20
  47
• Huawei P20
  39
• Huawei P20 Pro
  37
• Huawei Mate 10 Pro
  35
• Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
  34
• HTC U12+
  33
• Razer Phone 2
  33
• Sony Xperia XZ3
  31
• LG G7 ThinQ
  30
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  27
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  25
• Google Pixel 3 XL
  24
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  24
• Huawei Mate 10
  23
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  13

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XR
  58
• Apple iPhone XS
  47
• Apple iPhone XS Max
  47
• Google Pixel 3
  33
• OnePlus 6
  33
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  33
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  31
• Apple iPhone X
  28
• Oppo Find X
  28
• Huawei Mate 20
  28
• Huawei P20
  23
• Razer Phone 2
  22
• Huawei Mate 10 Pro
  21
• Huawei P20 Pro
  21
• Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
  20
• HTC U12+
  20
• Sony Xperia XZ3
  19
• LG G7 ThinQ
  18
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  17
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  14
• Huawei Mate 10
  13
• Google Pixel 3 XL
  12
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  6.7

Still, the GPUs of Kirin chipsets were always miles behind the competition for years, so the fact that the Mate 20 Pro can now trade blows with the best out there is a win in itself.

The compound AnTuTu benchmark brought a lot of reasons for Huawei to smile as the Mate 20 Pro beats almost any other Android flagship out there.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  353210
• Apple iPhone XS
  346379
• Oppo Find X
  291218
• Razer Phone 2
  285051
• Sony Xperia XZ3
  284555
• Huawei Mate 20
  273913
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  273913
• Xiaomi Pocophone F1
  265314
• OnePlus 6
  264200
• Samsung Galaxy S9+ (Snapdragon)
  264044
• HTC U12+
  263696
• LG G7 ThinQ
  259393
• Google Pixel 3 XL
  258244
• Samsung Galaxy Note9
  248823
• Samsung Galaxy S9+
  246660
• Google Pixel 3
  233699
• Apple iPhone X
  233100
• Xiaomi Mi 8
  217298
• Huawei Mate 10
  214037
• Huawei P20 Pro
  209884
• Huawei P20
  206906
• Huawei Mate 20 Lite
  136583

Huawei Mate 20 Pro and its Kirin 980 are worthy of a flagship status as far as performance is concerned. The chip offers the fastest processor on the Android market, as usual, while its GPU punch is close to what the most current Adreno by Qualcomm can do.

And while the Mali-G76 MP10 isn't the fastest GPU available, it is among the fastest - something we couldn't say for any previous Kirin chipset. Then there is GPU Turbo 2, and if a game is compatible with it, it will deliver smooth and consistent 60fps performance.

The Kirin 980 is manufactured by the high-end 7nm process, but if you expected it not to heat up - you'd be wrong. The chip does release a reasonable amount of heat and the Mate 20 Pro does have a few spots that get hot under pressure. The phone won't go as hot as the previous Mates though. Some throttling may occur after running consecutive benchmark tests but only then.

Huawei has delivered an all-around great chip once again with class-leading processor and competitive graphics core. It has better thermal control and less throttling than the previous Kirin 970, too. Overall, we think Huawei has done an excellent job this year.