Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 APQ8016 vs Mediatek MT8321 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 (MSM8917)

Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 APQ8016

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (APQ8016) is a ARM based mid-range SoC for tablets and smartphones (mostly Android based). It was announced in Dec. 2013 and was the first 64-Bit SoC by Qualcomm. It integrates four ARM Cortex-A53 (quad-core) processor cores, a Adreno 306 graphics card, a 64 Bit LPDDR2/3 memory controller and WLAN, Bluetooth, and UMTS/LTE radio. Compared to the MSM8916, the APQ8016 lacks the integrated cellular radio (3G, 4G, LTE) and is usually clocked lower (1.2 vs 1.4 GHz).

Mediatek MT8321

The Mediatek MT8321 is a low-cost ARM SoC (System on a Chip) mainly used in smartphones. It is most likely manufactured in 28 nm and integrates a quad-core Cortex-A7 processor and a ARM Mali-400 MP2. The CPU cores are clocked at up to 1.3 GHz while the GPU is clocked at up to 500 MHz. Furthermore, the chip includes a EDGE / HSPA+ / WDCDMA radio and 802.11 b/g/n WiFi. The integrated single channel memory controller supports LPDDR3 RAM.

Performance

Since the Cortex-A7 architecture is somewhat slower than a Krait or Cortex-A9 design at the same clock speeds, the performance of the MT8121 is just below Nvidia's Tegra 3 or the Samsung Exynos 4412. The PowerVR SGX 544 is also just a low-cost solution not designed for ultra-high resolution displays or very demanding games.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 (MSM8917)

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 (8917) is an ARM-based entry level SoC for tablets and smartphones (mostly Android based). It was announced in February 2016 and integrates four 64-Bit Cortex-A53 CPU cores (quad-core) that clock with up to 1.4 GHz. Furthermore, there is a Adreno 308 graphics card, a LPDDR3 memory controller (max. 667 MHz) and wireless radios for WiFi and 4G/LTE included in the chip.

The Cortex-A53 is the successor of the entry level Cortex-A7 CPU cores. The A53 is now capable of 64 Bit (ARMv8-ISA) and adressing more than 4 GB RAM. According to ARM the performance per MHz is a lot better and even surpasses a Cortex-A9 core.

The integrated Adreno 308 ist the integrated graphics card that supports OpenGL ES 3.0.

The integrated wireless radios support WiFi 802.11ac Wave 2, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS/GLONASS/Baidou, 2G, 3G and 4G (LTE Cat.4) standards. Futhermore, the SoC is able to decode 1080p videos in H.265 (encode only in H.264) and cameras with up to 13 MP.

The power consumption of the chip is ranging in the lower range, and therefore it is also suited for smaller smartphones. It is manufactured in 28 nm LP at TSMC.