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.

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  • D
  • AnonD-560664
  • 3qC
  • 08 Feb 2017

What's the point of all this if it doesn't try to benchmark power usage, arguably the most important metric of all?

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • 3SL
    • 08 Feb 2017

    AnonD-197217, 08 Feb 2017this is really funny, everybody knows when you want future ... moreyou are talking sh*t. If you have slow CPU, it will be slow in future. If you have fast CPU, it will be still ok in future. And OS don't need much RAM, it's more like OS are better optimized so they use less RAM. Marshmallow on my M4 Aqua used half the RAM of Lollipop

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 001
      • 08 Feb 2017

      if android benefits from more cores (there are many articles that shows apps using more and more cores) how can you say single core performance is better?

        • ?
        • Anonymous
        • 3SL
        • 08 Feb 2017

        AnonD-643002, 08 Feb 2017Hello guys. I have a question, I bought a Lenovo K6 note (a... moreyes

          • L
          • Like a G6 :v
          • K3e
          • 08 Feb 2017

          Anonymous, 08 Feb 2017Look at the s7 and s7 edje battery life and say that again How many hours do you think S7/S7 Edge will last you on a single charge? 98 hours? Come and say that again :v lol

            • D
            • AnonD-214858
            • fuZ
            • 08 Feb 2017

            AnonD-197217, 08 Feb 2017I myself is a fan of mediatek. I believe Mediatek focuse... moredid you put mediatek and efficiency in one sentence? just check gsmarena battery benchmarks you will see how mediatek bad mediatek is in efficiency

              • W
              • Watcher
              • s0M
              • 08 Feb 2017

              Thanks GSMArena, nice article. Keep up the good work.
              Please cover GPU, memory, camera modules...

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

                Hello guys. I have a question, I bought a Lenovo K6 note (as it's cheap). It has an octa-core 1.4GHz processor with Snapdragon 430 chipset, 3GB ram and Adreno 505,with 32GB internal storage. Is it bad? Please answer, guys.

                  • D
                  • AnonD-167536
                  • sXw
                  • 08 Feb 2017

                  Right, and where is the nVidia Tegra K1 here?

                    • D
                    • AnonD-308035
                    • JFx
                    • 08 Feb 2017

                    Processing speed + battery efficiency = ???

                      • k
                      • knowerknows
                      • nmP
                      • 08 Feb 2017

                      AnonD-197217, 08 Feb 2017It's funny how people started comment war about which one i... moreI agree.
                      For that usage I would say something on the 14nm process like Exynos 7880 or Snapdragon 625 will be the best simply because of energy efficiency. In fact I would go as far as to say Snapdragon 625 is better than Snapdragon 810, 808, 820, 821 and likely will be also better than 835. Simply because it runs cool and sips power and is powerful enough for most tasks (except probably VR and heaviest 3D games).

                        I think this is a good idea.

                        That said, better write caveat, disclaimer and excuses clearly because there'll always be people who nitpick the methodology (e.g. what benchmark to use)

                          • D
                          • AnonD-197217
                          • Ki3
                          • 08 Feb 2017

                          It's funny how people started comment war about which one is the better SoC, benchmarks scores etc, while they use it all mostly for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Chatting and Watching Youtube...

                            • D
                            • AnonD-197217
                            • Ki3
                            • 08 Feb 2017

                            AnonD-39937, 08 Feb 2017You are right about the fact that Snapdragon 625/652 is mor... morethis is really funny, everybody knows when you want future proof, you get more RAM, not CPU. And of top of that, majority of people buying SD 820 phones are not because it is
                            future proof, it's because they want to be on the top of the line. Without actually knowing what to do with it.

                            In reality, people with SD 820 will get 835 in no time, just because they want and can, compared to people who has 652 upgrading to 660.

                              • L
                              • L337
                              • LcH
                              • 08 Feb 2017

                              Oh, and a fan war broke out in the comments.

                                • L
                                • L337
                                • LcH
                                • 08 Feb 2017

                                I think these articles are a very good idea. When I had to choose a phone, I had to look at ridiculous counts of benchmarks (that could or could not) contradict each other. This has been (and will be) EXTREMELY helpful! I would love to see this type of stuff whenever you can.
                                Oh

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 3SL
                                  • 08 Feb 2017

                                  Anonymous, 08 Feb 2017It would be harder for them to retest all the older devices... morebut there is a chart for each one at Geekbench webpage

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-39937
                                    • ajP
                                    • 08 Feb 2017

                                    Nyx, 08 Feb 2017Though I understand how time consuming it would be to inclu... moreIt's hard to do a GPU article... It's irrelevant without considering the phones, like in this one... GPU performance is tied up to the resolution of the device... Just think... Oneplus 3 has the same GPU as Samsung Galaxy S7 Snapdragon edition... but the real life performance is very different, Oneplus 3 has to push 1080x1920=2MP and S7 has to push 1440x2560=3.6MP, so in games Oneplus 3 will have better framerate...or the fact that Kirin 950's GPU is weaker than the one in S7, but having a 1080p screen, Huawei P9 has nearly the same performance

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • 3SL
                                      • 08 Feb 2017

                                      Anonymous, 08 Feb 2017Shows how good the SD430 in NOKIA 6 is.. Better than SD801no, just no

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • 3SL
                                        • 08 Feb 2017

                                        Anonanoymoususes, 08 Feb 2017higher is better .... more core more ram more pixel more m... morelol, this is the complete opposite of reality