Samsung Exynos 9825 vs HiSilicon Kirin 990 vs HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G

Samsung Exynos 9825

The Samsung Exynos 9 9825 is a mobile SoC for smartphones and tablets. It was announced in the Samsung Note 10 line in August 2019. The processor integrates three clusters of processor cores with different architectures. Two big Samsung custom M4 cores clock up to 2.73 GHz and deliver peak performance. Two additional ARM Cortex-A75 are also for performance tasks and clock at up to 2.4 GHz (up from 2.3 GHz in the 9820). Finally, four small and power efficient ARM-Cortex A55 cores clock at up to 1.9 GHz are in the third cluster. The different clusters can run simultaneously thanks to DinamIQ.

The integrated LTE modem supports LTE-Advanced Pro Cat.20 (8CA 2 Gbps download, 3CA 316 Mbps upload). The integrated graphics card is a ARM Mali G76MP12 with 12 cores. Thanks to higher clock rates, the G76 is now a bit faster compared to the Exynos 9820.

The performance of the CPU part is positioned in the high end segment for smartphone processors. Due to the slight changes in clock rates, it is very comparable to the older Eynos 9 9820. Maybe in longer load phases, the improved 7nm process helps to maintain clock speeds a bit better. The direct competitor Snapdragon 855 can be left behind in single-core benchmarks like Geekbench and operates on par in multi-core benchmarks.

The SoC is produced at Samsung in the new 7nm LPP (with EUV) process that should improve power efficiency compared to the Exynos 9820.

HiSilicon Kirin 990

The HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G is an ARM based high-end octa-core SoC for smartphones and tablets, which was introduced with the Huawei Mate 30 Pro in late 2019. It integrates eight CPU cores in three clusters. The performance cluster contains two Cortex-A76 cores with up to 2.86 GHz, the balanced cluster contains also two Cortex-A76 cores but with only up to 2.09 GHz and finally the power saving cluster contains four small ARM Cortex-A55 cores with up to 1.86 GHz. Furthermore, the SoC integrates a neural processor (1 + 1 cores) for AI tasks and a ARM Mali-G76 MP16 GPU clcoked at up to 600 MHz. Compared to the 5G version, the 4G Kirin 990 integrates a fast 4G modem and is slightly lower clocked (2 of the 3 clusters and the GPU).

The Kirin 990 is produced in the modern 7nm process at TSMC.

HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G

The HiSilicon Kirin 990 5G is an ARM based high-end octa-core SoC for smartphones and tablets, which was introduced with the Huawei Mate 30 Pro in late 2019. It integrates eight CPU cores in three clusters. The performance cluster contains two Cortex-A76 cores with up to 2.86 GHz, the balanced cluster contains also two Cortex-A76 cores but with only up to 2.36 GHz and finally the power saving cluster contains four small ARM Cortex-A55 cores with up to 1.95 GHz. Furthermore, the SoC integrates a neural processor (2 + 1 cores) for AI tasks and a ARM Mali-G76 MP16 GPU clocked at up to 700 MHz. Compared to the 4G version, the 5G Kirin 990 integrates a Balong 5G modem and is slightly higher clocked (2 of the 3 clusters and the GPU).

The Kirin 990 5G is produced in the modern 7nm (7FF+ with EUV) process at TSMC, the 4G version is still produced in the slightly older 7nm process as the Kirin 980.