Our mobile chipset guide: The 2017 edition

07 February 2017
Some of you may know your Kirins and your Snapdragons, but others end up frustrated how to gauge the performance of a chipset inside the phone of their dreams based on the number of cores or the clock rate. This is where this article steps in. It's a guide to modern day mobile chipsets. It's meant as a long-term reference resource that you can always get back to when you are unsure which is which.

Sort by:

  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • PBP
  • 10 Feb 2017

L337, 08 Feb 2017Oh, and a fan war broke out in the comments. Well, they haven't learned from the stupidity that was the console wars.

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • IV8
    • 10 Feb 2017

    consumersmartphone, 09 Feb 2017lol with Nokia 6 price people can get SD650 or SD625 which ... moreYeah.. You can get the SD625/SD650 chipset with that price..
    Aaand you also get:
    1. Regular lame quality 13MP camera instead of 16MP PDAF great quality NOKIA camera
    2. 2GB RAM instead of 4GB RAM
    3. 16GB internal storage instead of 64GB storage
    4. No fingerprint instead of fast and accurate NOKIA fingerprint
    5. Regular dull LCD instead of NOKIA's ClearBlack LCD
    6. Regular timid speaker instead of NOKIA's Dolby stereo speakers
    7. Cheap plastic body instead of double anodized aluminum unibody
    And most importantly,
    8. Cheap China quality instead of NOKIA's legendary built quality

    Buying a smartphone is about the whole package instead of just the SOC..

    If you want to spend all your money on SOC in disregard everything else by all means please do so.. Because all you do all day is just benchmark benchmark and benchmark

    If people like me who use the phone for imaging, socializing and a few casual game then I'd better off spending on camera and storage and SD430 is enough for me

      • g
      • gab
      • v0q
      • 09 Feb 2017

      AnonD-643002, 09 Feb 2017Just as I thought, Snapdragon 430 is shitwell, it is a 4xx series, and snapdragon 4xx are for budget phones..except for the 415. that's like a 615 for some reason.

        • D
        • AnonD-643002
        • 6pJ
        • 09 Feb 2017

        So, Snapdragon 430 is shit, right? I have a phone which has SD430 ;_;

          • A
          • A-man
          • fC%
          • 09 Feb 2017

          Well.. I've been following GSMArena since 2005. During initial few years, I didn't leave a single article unread as I am an avid tech freak. But over the time my visits reduced as I got busier.

          Today I noticed this article on homepage and decided to take a look and I got hooked. I have to say, the fineness and simplicity in it has same good old charm. Gsmarena hasn't changed in a decade for good. Reading this made me feel same passion and love for technology I had years ago. Plus it familiarised me with newer technologies and naming conventions used today. I'm a geek again. Thanks so much. Keep up with these articles and make them the highlights in a dedicated section. GSMArena is the Wikipedia of Mobile world. :-)

            • D
            • AnonD-308035
            • yQJ
            • 09 Feb 2017

            Hello friends I have to ask you something ..does putting more ram and higher processing power really helps a device run smooth? Does os optimization is not necessary? We see many pc running on 2gb ram and run smooth. Putting more ram and higher processing speed affect battery life in long run. Just for curiosity I ask. Sorry for my bad english .

              Amazing guide, it should be done long time ago, at least now all major chipset are listed so anyone can compare their phone by processing power. Please you must add apple A chipset too! Even they are ahead of Android by mile(single core) but it would be nice to compare them all

                • D
                • AnonD-51189
                • 6uK
                • 09 Feb 2017

                where are the Nvidia k1 and X1 chipsets ???

                  • J
                  • Jimmy
                  • GXp
                  • 09 Feb 2017

                  Very useful article. Looking for more articles like this in future.

                    Commendable effort in putting this together. Looking forward to more such comparative pieces...

                    However...

                    Why use Geekbench 3 multi core scores? It makes it really misleading as it reflects the best case scenario with ALL the cores operating at full throttle. In real life such a scenario is pretty rare if at all.

                    One example is the fact that Snapdragon 625 rates higher than the Snapdragon 652/650 despite the following:

                    CPU: 4 or 2 A72 cores as opposed to only A53 cores - Big difference in single threaded performance which affects real life usability in a big way

                    GPU: Adreno 510 as opposed to Adreno 505 - 20-30% better in GPU based benches.

                    Memory: Dual Channel memory/More bandwidth as opposed to SIngle channel memory/Half the bandwidth or thereabouts.

                    Now, despite ALL those factors, the SD 625 scores higher than SD 652/650 in Geekbench 3 multicore!! The only aspect in which it is superior is the fabrication process which is 14nm finfet, which means I will grant you better battery performance for the 625.

                    Many more such examples. Using a better/more reflective benchmark will make this article even better than what it is and give more accurate results.



                      • D
                      • AnonD-643002
                      • 6pJ
                      • 09 Feb 2017

                      Anonymous, 08 Feb 2017yesJust as I thought, Snapdragon 430 is shit

                        • A
                        • Ahmad Kabir
                        • 6Px
                        • 09 Feb 2017

                        I was looking for an article of this sort for a long time and didn't find one.
                        Brilliant article this! Keep up the good work GSMarena!

                          • s
                          • salman
                          • g30
                          • 09 Feb 2017

                          I have never ever read such dekailed & comprehensive information on chipset.

                            • c
                            • consumersmartphone
                            • K5u
                            • 09 Feb 2017

                            Anonymous, 09 Feb 2017LOL at you.. I was trying to correct the perception of peop... morelol with Nokia 6 price people can get SD650 or SD625 which more faster, smooth, extremely efficient, higher status.

                              • n
                              • niklabs
                              • a03
                              • 09 Feb 2017

                              AnonD-197217, 09 Feb 2017i was actually talking about soc, but if you want to compa... moreStop recommending Umi phones, they're trash! Fake batteries, numerous hardware issues after only few weeks of use.

                                • n
                                • niklabs
                                • a03
                                • 09 Feb 2017

                                Tooluka, 08 Feb 2017Octa-core A53 SoCs from different vendors seem to rank very... moreExactly.

                                  • U
                                  • Umer
                                  • f{b
                                  • 09 Feb 2017

                                  Excellent Work!
                                  I am interested in SoC and studied qualcomm, exynos and other pages from Wikipedia and this article was much informative for me.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • gN$
                                    • 09 Feb 2017

                                    Lot of it flew past my head

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • Nnx
                                      • 09 Feb 2017

                                      Definitely enjoyed reading this article. Something new and different.

                                        • W
                                        • Wzq
                                        • m2{
                                        • 09 Feb 2017

                                        Good writeup but missing a section about Apple's designs, their characteristics, history and current lineup. That would have made the article complete.