Samsung Galaxy Note10+: first Exynos 9825 benchmarks

The Exynos 9825 is the industry’s first chipset built on a 7nm Extreme UltraViolet (EUV) process. Its predecessor, the 8nm Exynos 9820, as well as TSMC’s 7nm offerings are built on Deep UltraViolet (DUV) process, but that has run out of steam.

In the future, foundries will use EUV to drop below 7nm – 5nm chips are already on their roadmaps. So, Samsung Galaxy Note10+’s is just a proving ground for the new technology and is only a minor improvement over the 9820 chip inside the Galaxy S10+.

Samsung claims that it has raised the clock speed of the GPU, but doesn’t say how much. The CPU clock speeds were published, but very little has changed. Here’s a quick comparison:

We should note that we’re using a pre-production Galaxy Note10+ - the phone is still on pre-order and retail units are still a week away from consumers’ hands. Whether or not there’s a software update between now and then remains to be seen.

Also note that the benchmark was run in the Performance mode, although unlike the Huawei performance mode this doesn't give you any boosts that you don't get in everyday use. So, let’s start with the CPU. The Samsung-designed M4 Cheetah cores are as close as Android gets to Apple’s industry-leading single core performance.

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  4777
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  4522
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  4466
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  3402
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  3323

With all eight cores running, the Exynos loses out to the Snapdragon 855. Interestingly, the Galaxy S10+ outscored the Galaxy Note10+ in both tests, despite multiple reruns. We’ll investigate further in our review – is this because of software, cooling or something else?

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  11432
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  10943
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  10387
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  10014
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  9751

The graphics test show the expected results – the Galaxy Note10+ is slightly faster than the S10+. 3DMark’s tests show the biggest improvement over the Galaxy S10+ and the gain isn't limited to the new graphics API.

3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7 Pro
  6093
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  5287
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  4632
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  4315

3DMark SSE Vulkan

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7 Pro
  4833
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  4763
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  4295
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  4231

In most tests, however, the improvement is marginal and changes from benchmark to benchmark. We’re yet to test a Snapdragon 855 Plus-powered phone – Qualcomm also promises a GPU boost with a minor CPU overclock. In either case, Apple’s massive lead in GPU performance remains unchallenged.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  99
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  69
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  68
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  68
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  56

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  60
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  43
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  42
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  41
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  33

Aztek Vulkan Normal (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS Max
  67
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  40
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
  40
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  40

This is just a preliminary look at the performance of the Samsung Galaxy Note10+. We’ll do more extensive testing for the review, so stay tuned for that. For now at least, it looks like EUV will be a big deal next year and not so much this year.