Samsung Exynos 9609 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 636

Samsung Exynos 9609

The Samsung Exynos 9609 (or Exynos 7 Series 9609) is a mid-range SoC for Android based smartphones and tablets. It integrates 8 processor cores in two clusters (big.LITTLE concept). Four ARM Cortex A73 cores at up to 2.2 GHz for demanding tasks and four ARM Cortex A53 at up to 1.6 GHz for power efficiency. Compared to the older Exynos 9610, the 9609 offers 100 MHz less clock speed for both clusters.

The integrated LTE modem supports 4G at up to 600 Mbps download and 150 Mbps upload. Furthermore, 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 are also integrated in the chip.

The on-board ARM Mali-G72 MP3 graphics card offers three clusters and support for Vulkan, DirectX 12 and OpenGL ES 3.2.

The Exynos 9609 is manufactured in the modern 10nm FinFET process and therefore relatively power efficient and also suited for smaller smartphones.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 660

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 (SD660) is a fast mid-range ARM-based SoC largely found on Android tablets and smartphones. Announced in mid 2017, the SD660 is the successor to the Snapdragon 625. It features 8 Kryo 260 cores (custom design, 64-Bit capable) that are divided in two clusters. A fast cluster of four cores with up to 2.2 GHz and a power saving efficiency cluster with up to 1.8 GHz. Both clusters can also used together.

In addition to the 8 CPU cores, the SoC integrates a mid range Adreno 512 GPU with a LPDDR4 memory controller (dual-channel 1866 MHz)  and supports Wi-Fi (802.11ac + MIMO, max. 867 Mbps), Bluetooth 5, and LTE (X12 LTE modem with up to 600 Mbps download and 150 Mbps upload).

Performance

In Benchmarks of the Oppo R11, the CPU part of the Snapdragon SD660 performs between former high end Socs like the Snapdragon 821 in the Pixel XL and the Snapdragon 835. The graphics performance is however much lower, as the Adreno 512 is only a slight upgrade of the older Adreno 510 (due to the higher clock speed).

CPU

The Snapdragon 660 is based on a similar concept as ARM's big.LITTLE, which combines a low power CPU cluster (2x Kyro clocked at up to 1.8 GHz) and a performance CPU cluster (2x Kyro clocked at up to 2.2 GHz). The clock speed of each cluster can be individually adjusted (but not per core) and the lowest clock speed is 310 MHz (unverified).

Power Consumption

Thanks to the new 14 nm process, the energy efficiency has been improved noticeably compared to its 20 nm predecessors.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 636

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 (SDM636) is a mid-range octa-core SoC with eight custom Kryo 260 cores at up to 1.8 GHz, an Adreno 509 GPU, a LPDDR4-2666 memory controller (1333 MHz) and a X12 LTE (Cat 12/13, 300 Mbps down, 150 Mbps up) modem. Furthermore, the chip supports 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0. It is manufactured in 14nm FinFet. Qualcomm states a 40% faster performance compared to the old Snapdragon 630 (8x ARM Cortex-A53).