MediaTek Dimensity 820 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro MSM8960T

MediaTek Dimensity 820

The Mediatek Dimensity 820 is a fast mid-range SoC with an integrated 5G modem. It includes four fast ARM Cortex-A76 cores at up to 2.6 GHz and four power efficient Cortex-A55 cores at up to 2 GHz (Octa-Core with Heterogeneous Multi-Processing). Furthermore, the chip integrates a 5 core ARM Mali-G57 MC5 GPU, a Wi-fi 5 modem, a LPDDR4x memory controller, a AI processing unit (APU 3.0) and video de- and encoding. The Dimensity 820 is manufactured in the modern 7nm process and should be very power efficient.

Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro MSM8960T

The Qualcomm MSM8960T (Snapdragon S4 Pro) is a fast ARM SoC, which is mainly used in smartphones. It integrates a Krait-based dual-core processor and an Adreno 320 graphics card. Furthermore it features an integrated LPDDR2 memory controller (dual channel, max. 500 MHz) as well as various radio standards including LTE. The chip is fabricated at TSMC in a 28nm LP process.

Unlike older Qualcomm SoCs, which are still based on slower Scorpion cores, the MSM8960T uses the modern Krait architecture. The Krait design is significantly faster than the Cortex-A5, Cortex-A7 and Cortex-A9 architecture from ARM and just behind the high-end Cortex-A15. The two cores are clocked at 1.7 GHz and offer a performance, which is even above some older quad-cores like Nvidia's Tegra 3 or the Samsung Exynos 4412.

The Adreno 320 graphics card is the same as found in the Snapdragon 600 and one of the fastest mobile GPUs in mid-2013. The GPU is clocked at 400 MHz and offers enough performance for demanding games and high resolution screens.

Since the MSM8960T only has two CPU cores, the power consumption should be somewhat below quad-cores like the Snapdragon 600. The chip can therefore be used in compact smartphones with a smaller battery.