Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 8930AB vs MediaTek MT8163 V/B 1.3 GHz vs HiSilicon Kirin 659

Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 8930AB

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 8930AB is a high clocked dual-core ARM based SoC for smartphones. It integrates two Krait 300 CPU cores clocked at max. 1.7 GHz (the MSM8930 offers only Krait 200 cores at 1.2 GHz) and an Adreno 305 GPU. The whole chip is produced in 28nm LP at TSMC.

MediaTek MT8163 V/B 1.3 GHz

The MediaTek MT8163 V/B is an ARM based entry-level to mid-range SoC for (Android based) tablets. It offers four ARM Cortex-A53 processor cores (quad-core) that are clocked with up to 1.3 GHz. Furthermore, an ARM Mali-T720 MP2 graphics card clocked at 520 MHz, a DDR3x32 1600Mbps memory controller, Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11 b/g/n, GPS and FM are integrated in the SoC.

The similar named MediaTek MT8163 V/A is the faster version, with a CPU clock o up to 1.5 GHz and GPU of up to 600 MHz.

The performance is situated in the entry level of 2015 and often similar to the Kirin 910T (see benchmark below).

HiSilicon Kirin 659

The HiSilicon Kirin 659 is an ARM-based octa-core SoC for mid-range smartphones and tablets. It was announced mid 2017 and features eight ARM Cortex-A53 cores. Four cores can be clocked with up to 1.7 GHz (power saving cores) and four with up to 2.36 GHz (performance cores). The difference to the older Kirin 650 and Kirin 655 SoCs is the higher clock speed of the performance cores (2.35 versus 2.1 and 2.0 GHz). The slightly older Kirin 658 is very similar. The 659 is in our benchmarks around 4% faster than the 658 and offers a better LTE radio (Cat. 13).

Furthermore, a ARM Mali-T830 MP2 graphics card (at >=900 MHz), a 64-Bit LPDDR3 memory controller and a dual-sim capable LTE Cat. 6 (max. 300 MBit/s and GSM, WCDMA, UMTS, HSPA+) radio are integrated in the SoC. The processor performance can be compared with the older Kirin 930 and therefore sufficient for daily usage as browsing and non demanding apps. High-end SoCs with Cortex-A57 or A72 cores however should be noticeably faster. The SoC is produced in a modern 16nm FinFET process and is therefore very power efficient.