ARM Mali-T880 MP4 vs Qualcomm Adreno 540

ARM Mali-T880 MP4

The ARM Mali-T880 MP4 is a mobile graphics solution that can be found in ARM SoCs like the HiSilicon Kirin 950. The chip is available since Q1/2016 and supports OpenGL ES 3.1, OpenCL 1.2 and DirectX 11.2 (FL 11_2). The Mali-T880 can be built with 1 to 16 clusters, where the MP4 version features 4 clusters/cores.

The MP4 version that is used in the HiSilicon /Huawei SoC is clocked with up to 900 MHz and performs similar to a Adreno 420 (Snapdragon 805) and PowerVR GX6450 (Apple A8). However, the Mali-T760 MP8 in the Samsung Exynos 7420 pulls ahead thanks to its 8 clusters. Still, the Mali-T880MP4 offers enough power for demanding Android games in Full HD.

Thanks to the 16nm process in the Kirin 950, the Mali-T880 can be used in smartphones like the Huawei Mate 8.

Qualcomm Adreno 540

The Qualcomm Adreno 540 is an integrated graphics card in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC for smartphones. It was introduced in early 2017 and can be found in high-end Android smartphones. 

The integrated GPU is based on the optimized architecture of the Adreno 530, but features clearly improved clock speeds (710 versus 624 MHz according to Anandtech) and better thermal stability. This is also thanks to the new 10 nm process the Snapdragon 835 is produced in. In the reference smartphone from Qualcomm, the Adreno 540 is able to beat or perform at a similar level as the fastest smartphone graphics cards on the market (e.g. the ARM Mali-T880MP12, ARM Mali-G71MP8 or Apple A10 GPU). Therefore, it should be perfectly suited for demanding 3D gaming and also mobile VR and 4K displays.