Die shot of Kirin 980 shows off the chip's floor plan, two different Cortex-A76 designs

07 November 2018
The 980 has two pairs of A76 cores that have been optimized to run at different clock speeds - 2.6GHz and 1.92GHz.

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  • Anonymous
  • 4QP
  • 09 Nov 2018

Gusta, 09 Nov 2018I just say about Meizu is move to Snapdragon. I didn't say ... moreI get what got are saying now though. And it's true.

But your words implied that the exynos was weak too. And not only had the GPU been just as strong or stronger in cases, but the whole soc is usually a lot more efficient with exynos. 9810 it's an exception. They changed for a whole new wide design that is powerful yet way more power hungry at times unfortunately. Also they held back on gpu... even though it's very powerful and close enough. Probably to put the money and focus on CPU. And more GPU power would have been more heat and power consumption.

And actually even years ago not only were mediatech chips cheaper but they were more efficient than snapdragon. They didn't start off with that big boost but they throttled significantly less. In the last couple years Qualcomm finally started really picking up the longevity and efficiency side of things very well. It's really good to see how they've done that. But now people complain because they benchmark scores are not increasing significantly every year in single core. They don't realize that's better for them.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • 4QP
    • 09 Nov 2018

    dude111, 09 Nov 2018A faster GPU will use less power than a slower one when ren... moreYou can't simply say a faster one uses less power. That is not directly related. Want do you think you understand these things when you clearly don't???

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      • Gusta
      • Ki@
      • 09 Nov 2018

      Anonymous, 08 Nov 2018As well as the GPU in the s1, s2, note2, note4, s6, and in ... moreI'm sorry. I didn't say Exynos is bad. I just say Meizu ditched the Mediatek n Exynos especially for their flagship.

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        • Gusta
        • Ki@
        • 09 Nov 2018

        Anonymous, 08 Nov 2018You do realize you can't compare kirin GPU to exynos right?... moreI just say about Meizu is move to Snapdragon. I didn't say Exynos is bad. The point of why Meizu ditched the Mediatek is how powerfull and efficient SD845 even compare to Exynos 9810 Octa for flagship level. Meizu is struggle because they use Mediatek for their flagship before and the GPU is far from Snapdragon. No one will buy flagship grade with "toooooo far" GPU perfomance from Apple SoC. It's about pride as I said before that people buy flagship is for perfomance and style.

          Anonymous, 08 Nov 2018Smartphone GPU race is different than PC GPU race.. In smar... moreA faster GPU will use less power than a slower one when rendering the same game.
          The A12 for example, use less than 21% of the GPU vs 52% on the A11.

            O S, 07 Nov 2018Huawei crippled Kirin980 GPU (probably to save cost on sili... moreThanks for increase my knowledge!

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • 4QP
              • 08 Nov 2018

              Gusta, 08 Nov 2018Lol.. Funny comment again.. Lol.. Do u know why quite bi... moreAs well as the GPU in the s1, s2, note2, note4, s6, and in some cases the s8 on the exynos side were superior. Either in brute force or longevity and efficiency.
              Though in the s1 it was powervr.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • 4QP
                • 08 Nov 2018

                Gusta, 08 Nov 2018Lol.. Funny comment again.. Lol.. Do u know why quite bi... moreYou do realize you can't compare kirin GPU to exynos right? Did you even use your brain before commenting??

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                  • Gusta
                  • Ki@
                  • 08 Nov 2018

                  Qwerty2018, 08 Nov 2018it is more funny to see comments like yours, LOL... Seems ... moreLol.. Funny comment again.. Lol..

                  Do u know why quite big brand like Meizu is down on the market share a few years before? Because they are use Mediatek n Exynos! Now they are switching to Snapdragon! Do you think Meizu is stupid on their decision? Lol!

                  Just look the benchmark of "NEW" Kirin 980 vs "OLD" SD845 on the Mate 20 Pro review! Yes the Kirin is faster on CPU but not on GPU. Dont forget that only Qualcomm that hasn't launched 7nm SoC yet! Only Huawei n Apple did. Once the successor of SD845 launch, it will kick Kirin 980 especially on GPU. The CPU maybe the same as Kirin 980 or just a little bit faster.

                  So dont say people buy high end phone for efficiency! It's a big NO! Because 10nm SoC is already efficient morever the 7nm. No flagship phone nowadays has GsmArena battery rating below 65hrs. They want PERFOMANCE and STYLE becuase they already know how efficient the current flagship SoC and also the battery capacity matter.

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                    • S Yu
                    • wkc
                    • 08 Nov 2018

                    Anonymous, 08 Nov 2018You sir are not so smart.. Mediatek not sold well? Mediatek... moreYou on the other hand may be too "smart" for your own good.
                    Both the performance and efficiency of past Kirin models failed to surpass the competition, and all benchmarks are representative to some degree of real life workloads, that's their design target after all.
                    Give me ONE significant industry presence, besides Huawei right after they got caught cheating their 970 benchmarks, who claims that benchmarks are useless.
                    As for Kirin's subpar performance I have this for you:
                    https://images.anandtech.com/doci/13453/SPECeff-small_575px.png

                      • Q
                      • Qwerty2018
                      • sED
                      • 08 Nov 2018

                      Anonymous, 08 Nov 2018Funny thing but Adreno is an anagram of Radeon. :)it is more funny to see comments like yours, LOL...
                      Seems u don't look up the history of how 'Adreno' become QC exclusive GPU...
                      Adreno was the 'mobile' GPU division of ATI, which was not selling well; then QC offered ATI to buy its Adreno division, including ALL its patents, which was approved; Adreno have been included in EVERY QC SoC since then and became well-known since Android Era, specifically since QC introduced premium 'Scorpion' SoC

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • IV8
                        • 08 Nov 2018

                        Gusta, 08 Nov 2018Lol. You must be Huawei fans.. Do you know why Mediatek... moreYou sir are not so smart.. Mediatek not sold well? Mediatek is one of the biggest SoC supplier LOL.. Kirin CPU has always been faster than the Snapdragons since 950 vs SD821.. And the trend will continue with 980 vs SD855.. Only Snapdragon still leads in graphic department.. What I meant to say was if you have $500 to spend on a chipset - would you rather have a faster cpu that will affect overall day to day responsiveness OR would you rather splurge that on a slower cpu albeit with a faster gpu BUT only benefit in benchmarks? The faster gpu give no additional benefit in day to day usage and even in games.. Because the games are designed to suit all kinds of SoC.. So Having a high-mid range graphics is enough.. More will be wasted performance and battery life.. Be smart.. Kirin is smart.. Kudos to Huawei for being smart..

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                          • Gusta
                          • 6c4
                          • 08 Nov 2018

                          Anonymous, 08 Nov 2018Smartphone GPU race is different than PC GPU race.. In smar... moreLol. You must be Huawei fans..

                          Do you know why Mediatek Chipset are not sold well? Because of its low GPU perfomance compare to others! In modern SoC, all of them are quite power efficient because of low size manufacturing process. All below 14nm are quite well. Not like the older phone which require 2-3 charger a day. Of course 7nm of Kirin 980 is efficient. But remember the 10nm of SD845 is not power hungry and new 7nm Snapsragon is on the way 2-3 months. Yes new Kirin will also on the way. But that will be arround next year and will be compare with the new Apple SoC also which is launch arround the same time.

                          People buy high end phone is for perfomance and style. If wanna power efficient phone and bigger battery, they will buy the lower position such as mid low, mid, mid end phone. As u have known thad mid class phones have bigger battery.

                            Shame, their latest chip can't even complete with the already old 845 chip, they are years behind

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • IV8
                              • 08 Nov 2018

                              Smartphone GPU race is different than PC GPU race.. In smartphone efficiency is king.. With limited smartphone resolution AND lower refresh rate AND most games designed for midrange graphics anyway - Mali G72/76 or Adreno 630/540/530 or A12/A11/A10 won't feel any difference in speed when playing games.. The only difference is found in benchmark scores.. And more importantly battery life.. Being the fastest but sacrificing battery life for just benchmark scores is not very smart.. Huawei is very smart to realise this.. Hence the reserved Mali G76 with just 10 cores to maximise battery life while providing the maximum fps possible in games

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                                • Anonymous
                                • t7x
                                • 08 Nov 2018

                                Funny thing but Adreno is an anagram of Radeon. :)

                                  Dolanescu, 07 Nov 2018Qualcomm has the Andreno design/ technology from ATI/AMD...... moreThough extremely behind Apple

                                    Peter-B, 07 Nov 2018Funny thing, Adreno used to be the mobile Radeon division, ... moreIs that why I've heard that there hasn't been any Radeon GPUs in awhile?

                                      Anonymous, 07 Nov 2018Best android chipset, qualcomm have fallen behindSeeing as how this was made to catch up to the 845, give it a few months

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 6u7
                                        • 07 Nov 2018

                                        Kirin 980 along with optimization is killing in performance in real life and this is showing in all speed tests. Benchmarks have gotten outdated and can't measure performance fully.

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