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Snapdragon 712 SoC Review: Initial benchmarks from Qualcomm's latest processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 SoC Review (Image source: Qualcomm)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 SoC Review (Image source: Qualcomm)
A competitor to the Snapdragon 855? We recently reviewed the Mi 9 SE, the first device we have tested with a Snapdragon 712 SoC. Now, we are analysing Qualcomm's new octa-core chip in several benchmarks and comparing the results against the Snapdragon 710, and the flagship-level Snapdragon 855. Read on to find out how the Snapdragon 712 compares and performs.

The Snapdragon 712 (SDM712) is a midrange ARMv8-based SoC Qualcomm announced in January. The Snapdragon 712 succeeds the Snapdragon 710 and can clock up to 2.3 GHz, which is 100 MHz more than its predecessor can. According to Qualcomm, the clock speed bump should deliver up to 10% improved performance.

The SoC integrates a total of 8 processor cores. The Snapdragon 712 has two Cortex-A75 cores that can clock up to 2.3 GHz and six slower Cortex-A55 cores that only reach 1.8 GHz. Qualcomm manufactures the chipset on a 10nm FinFET process, which allows the Snapdragon 712 to run more efficiently than its predecessors built on older processes. The SoC also integrates a Qualcomm Adreno 616 GPU, which is the same graphics core as Qualcomm uses in the Snapdragon 710.

Despite this, the Snapdragon 712 consistently outperforms its predecessor in synthetic benchmarks. However, the SoC does not always achieve Qualcomm’s claim of 10% higher benchmark scores than Snapdragon 710 powered devices. Instead, the gap between the Mi 9 SE and the Nokia 8.1 is often more like 4-6%, while the latter even has a slight edge in PCMark for Android.

Geekbench 4.4
64 Bit Single-Core Score
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
3523 Points
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
2468 Points
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
2430 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
1875 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
1829 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
1799 Points
64 Bit Multi-Core Score
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
10999 Points
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
9182 Points
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
8907 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
5975 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
5856 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
5754 Points
Compute RenderScript Score
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
14369 Points
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
13371 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
7482 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
7282 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
6813 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
6775 Points
AnTuTu v7
Total Score
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
374820 Points
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
263165 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
179353 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
169262 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
159128 Points
CPU
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
127208 Points
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
91388 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
68334 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
65796 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
63606 Points
AnTuTu v6 - Total Score
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
257246 Points
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
234421 Points
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
227026 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
144396 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
137693 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
135848 Points
PCMark for Android
Work 2.0 performance score
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
9035 Points
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
8101 Points
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
7983 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
6887 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
6832 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
6806 Points
Work performance score
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
10985 Points
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
9689 Points
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
9664 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
8414 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
8346 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
8309 Points
BaseMark OS II
System
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
8441 Points
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
6620 Points
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
6506 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
5932 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
5681 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
5603 Points
Overall
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
4595 Points
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
3852 Points
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
3838 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
2906 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
2735 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
2731 Points

The Mi 9 SE does score around 13% more than the Lenovo Z5 Pro in AnTuTu v7 though, so Qualcomm has not been entirely misleading. Overall, the Snapdragon 712 averaged approximately 5.6% higher benchmark scores than the Snapdragon 710, which is unimpressive. This difference equates to a negligible difference real-world difference too, to the extent that you probably will not notice any performance improvements in daily use.

Unsurprisingly, the Snapdragon 712 cannot trouble the Snapdragon 855 in synthetic benchmarks. It does come within 10% of some Snapdragon 845 powered smartphones in certain benchmarks though. Typically, the two Snapdragon 800 series SoCs offer between 30% and 50% more power than the Snapdragon 712.

But, how does Qualcomm’s new midrange SoC performance in application-based browser benchmarks?

WebXPRT 3 - Overall
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
108 Points
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
83 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
72 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
72 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
71 Points
Octane V2 - Total Score
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
24534 Points
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
15086 Points
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
14514 Points
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
13562 Points
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
12717 Points
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
12209 Points
Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total
Lenovo Z5 Pro
Adreno 616, SD 710, 128 GB eMMC Flash
3177 ms *
Nokia 8.1
Adreno 616, SD 710, 64 GB eMMC Flash
3035 ms *
Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
Adreno 616, SD 712, 128 GB UFS 2.0 Flash
2912 ms *
Xiaomi Mi 8
Adreno 630, SD 845, 128 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
2818 ms *
Xiaomi Poco F1
Adreno 630, SD 845, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
2714 ms *
Xiaomi Mi 9
Adreno 640, SD 855, 64 GB UFS 2.1 Flash
1873 ms *

* ... smaller is better

Perhaps expectedly, it is more of the same story. The Snapdragon 712 edges the Snapdragon 710 by around 4% to 10% in Octane V2 and Mozilla Kraken 1.1. The opposite is the case in WebXPRT 3 though, where the Mi 9 SE is tied with the Snapdragon 710 powered Nokia 8.1 and Lenovo Z5 Pro.

In short, the Snapdragon 712 offers better overall performance than the Snapdragon 710, albeit marginally. This should help smartphones equipped with the Snapdragon 712 perform slightly better in games and in everyday use, although synthetic benchmarks amplify this difference. Make sure to check out our Mi 9 SE review for power consumption tests if you have not already.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > Snapdragon 712 SoC Review: Initial benchmarks from Qualcomm's latest processor
Marcus Herbrich, 2019-05- 9 (Update: 2019-05- 9)