MediaTek Dimensity 8200-Ultra vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 865

MediaTek Dimensity 8200-Ultra

The MediaTek Dimensity 8200-Ultra is a upper mid-range ARM-based SoC (system-on-a-chip) that is manufactured using the modern 4 nm process. It was specially designed for use in Android smartphones and is in the upper class in terms of performance. It supports all current mobile communication standards, including 5G SA. 

The CPU works with a total of eight cores, which are divided into two clusters. In the first cluster, an ARM Cortex-A78 power core clocked at 3.1 GHz is joined by three further ARM Cortex-A78 power cores clocked at 3 GHz. In the second cluster, four ARM Cortex-A55 power cores operate at 2.0 GHz. LPDDR5 RAM can be used as RAM and UFS 3.1 is supported as internal memory. 

In terms of connectivity, dual 5G with a theoretical peak download speed of up to 4.7 GBit/s is available, as well as WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

The Mediatek Dimensity 8200-Ultra is a variant of the otherwise identical Mediatek Dimensity 8200 that has been specially customised for Xiaomi and features improvements to the camera ISP. An Imagiq 785 image processor is responsible for processing the camera data. Video recordings are supported with up to 4K at 60 fps. The CPU part of the older Dimensity 8100 is very similar and offers the same CPU and GPU cores.

The integrated ARM Mali-G610 MC6 graphics unit can power displays with a resolution of up to 2,960 x 1,440 pixels (WQHD+) and a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. With Full HD+, even up to 180 Hz is possible.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 865

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Mobile Platform is a high-end smartphone and tablet SoC that Qualcomm announced in December 2019. The SoC integrates a fast ‘Prime Core’ that clocks up to 2.84 GHz and three further fast ARM Cortex-A77 performance cores, which can reach up to 2.42 GHz. These are complemented by four power-saving ARM Cortex-A55 cores that clock up to a maximum of 1.8 GHz. The difference to the older Snapdragon 855 is the switch from Cortex-A76 to the faster Cortex-A77 architecture. The clock speeds stay the same. 

Therefore, the Snapdragon 865 takes the top spot in mobile processors for Android based systems. In some multi-core workloads, the SD865 can even perform on par with the Apple A13 SoC. Single thread, however is still a strong suit of the Apple SoCs.

Compared to the previous generations, the Snapdragon 865 does not integrate an LTE modem anymore, but has to be paired with the new X55 5G modem, that also supports LTE Cat 24/22. The Wi-Fi module however is still integrated and called FastConnect 6800 with support for Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) and 8x8 MU-MIMU and 60 GHz 802.11ay with up to 10 Gbps. Bluetooth 5.1 is also supported including aptX Adaptive.

The integrated GPU is now called Adreno 650 and should offer 20% more performance than the Adreno 640 in the Snapdragon 855.

The on board Hexagon 698 DSP now offers an improved KI performance of up to 15 TOPS (up from 7 TOPS in the 855) and still uses a combination of CPU, GPU, HVX and Tensor cores. The Spectra 480 ISP is now also significantly faster. The integrated Computer Vision Engine (CV-ISP) now supports Dolby Vision, 8K videos and 200 megapixel photos.

The built-in memory controller now supports LPDDR5 with up to 2,750 MHz and LPDDR4X with 2,133 MHz.

The Snapdragon 865 is manufactured at TSMC in the new improved 7nm process (N7P, DUV-based). The process offers a 7% higher performance or 10% less power consumption compared to the old N7 process.