Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy vs Apple A18
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy
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The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen. 3 for Galaxy (SM8650) mobile platform is a high end SoC for Android-based smartphones and tablets. Compared to the normal SD8 Gen3, the "for Galaxy" variant offers a 90 MHz higher clocked prime core and a higher clocked GPU.
The cryo-CPU is based on ARM's v9.2 architecture and consists of three clusters: The first includes a fast prime core (ARM Cortex-X4) with up to 3.39 GHz. The second consists of three power cores with up to 3.2 GHz and two additional cores clocking at up to 3.0 GHz (all Cortex-A720). The efficiency cluster consists of two power-saving cores (Cortex-A520) that operate at up to 2.3 GHz. The SoC uses the integrated Adreno 750 for graphics acceleration.
Compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen. 2 for Galaxy, Qualcomm promises a 25 percent higher GPU clock rate, whose power consumption is said to have been reduced by 25 percent at the same time. Similarly, the CPU's performance is announced to be now a whopping 30 per cent faster and requires 20 per cent less power.
A special focus is also placed on machine learning (AI). The integrated Hexagon NPU is 98% faster than its predecessor and promises a 40% improvement in efficiency. Qualcomm's AI engine is the first to support multimodal generative AI models, including LLM, LVM and ASR, and can process up to 10 trillion parameters directly on the SoC. Image manipulation is said to be possible within fractions of a second. In addition, the NPU of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is also capable of INT4 and Meta Llama 2.
Also back on board is Snapdragon Sight, Qualcomm's brand for camera functions. In addition to Ultra HDR, Dolby HDR is also supported for photos. Photos can now be enhanced by generative AI models and with the Video Magic Eraser (ArcSoft), unwanted people and objects can also be removed from videos. In addition, the ISP is able to distinguish real photos from AI-generated content. This is again a triple ISP (Image Signal Processor), which works with 18 bits and up to 12 layers.
The integrated Snapdragon X75 Modem-RF 5G system allows simultaneous transfers of 5G-mmWave and 5G-Sub6, enabling data rates of up to 10 GBit/s in download and up to 3.5 GBit/s in upload. In addition, the modem is able to support all known 5G bands worldwide. Qualcomm's FastConnect 7800 is once again responsible for local communication, which can handle Bluetooth 5.4 with LE Audio and Wi-Fi 7, among other things.
The SoC is manufactured by TSMC in a 4 nm process.
Apple A18
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The Apple A18 is a powerful smartphone processor and formal successor to the A16. This new member of the Apple A processor series debuted in September 2024 alongside the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus; it features 2 performance cores and 4 efficient cores along with a 35 TOPS NPU and the 5-core A18 GPU.
The chip is normally paired with 8 GB of RAM. It is said to be in large part based on the v9.2A ARM microarchitecture for near-Apple M4 IPC. 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, various satellite navigation systems and NFC are all supported here.
The more expensive A18 Pro SoC has the same 2 P-cores and 4 E-cores running at slightly higher clock speeds; its graphics adapter is on the other hand significantly faster than what the A18 has. Another crucial little detail is that USB 3.x support is either missing, or disabled somehow on the A18 for USB 2.0 speeds only whereas the A18 Pro has no such issue.
Performance
Multi-threaded benchmarks put it in the same ballpark as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and the Dimensity 9300. As expected from Apple, the A-series processor delivers breathtaking single-thread performance that just about matches the significantly more power-hungry Apple M3 chip. This suggests the P-cores can almost hit the 4 GHz mark when required.
Graphics
Like any modern graphics adapter, the 5-core A18 GPU is RT-enabled. It delivers benchmark scores that are most comparable to the G715 MP11 and the G615 MP6.
Power consumption
It appears the chip is able to briefly consume up to about 9 W when under high load, with average sustained power consumption figures hovering around 3-4 W.
The pretty modern TSMC N3E manufacturing process makes the A-series chip very power-efficient, as of late 2024.
| Model | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy | Apple A18 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Codename | Cortex-X4 / A720 / A720 / A520 (Kryo) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 | Apple Apple A-Series | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series: Apple A-Series |
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| Clock | 2300 - 3390 MHz | <=3800 MHz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| L3 Cache | 8 MB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cores / Threads | 8 / 8 1 x 3.4 GHz ARM Cortex-X4 3 x 3.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A720 2 x 3.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A720 2 x 2.3 GHz ARM Cortex-A520 | 6 / 6 2 x Apple A18 P-Core 4 x 4.0 GHz Apple A18 E-Core | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technology | 4 nm | 3 nm | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Features | Adreno GPU, Spectra ISP, Hexagon, X70 5G Modem, FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7, LPDDR5x 4800 MHz Memory Controller | 16-core Neural Engine, USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| iGPU | Qualcomm Adreno 750 ( - 1000 MHz) | Apple A18 GPU | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Architecture | ARM v9 | ARM | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announced | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer | www.qualcomm.com | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| L2 Cache | 4 MB | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| TDP Turbo PL2 | 9 Watt |
Benchmarks
Average Benchmarks Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy → 100% n=11
Average Benchmarks Apple A18 → 113% n=11
- Average benchmark values for this graphics card* Smaller numbers mean a higher performance
1 This benchmark is not used for the average calculation
