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Originally posted back in October with leaked Geekbench results for the Snapdragon 865, we now know the full specification of Qualcomm’s flagship chipset for 2020.
This was the last chipset to be announced and we have had the Apple A13 Bionic, Huawei Kirin 990, and the MediaTek Dimensity 1000 in recent months.
Specification
Most of the specification comes as no surprise, the new Qualcomm SD865 bumps up the CPU to use a custom version of the Arm Coretex A77 for four of its cores then he A55 for the smaller cores laid out like 1x3x4 similar to last year.
Things bring Qualcomm in line with the Samsung Exynos 990 and Mediatek MediaTek Dimensity 1000 leaving the Kirin 990 behind using the A76 CPU.
Similarily the GPU has been bumped up to the Adreno 650, other brands use the Mali-based GPU with the Exynos 990 and Mediatek having Mali G77 while the Kirin 990 5 is on the Mali-G76.
Comparing Apple is a little harder, they have their own bespoke CPU/GPU using a hexacore design with 2 lightning cores running at 2.65 GHz and 4x Thunder efficiency cores. On paper, this doesn’t look impressive, but as you will see below, Apple dominates with Geekbench.
All the chipsets are using the 7nm fabrication process, and you can see a more details comparison table further down.
Snapdragon 865 Geekbench Benchmarks
Out of the 7 posted results, the average single core speed is 4034 and 12100 for multi-core. However, Ice universe, has claimed that the chipset will push up to 4250 on a single core and 13300. This seems to make sense as Qualcomm has clearly managed to optimise it over previous months and will continue to do so up until release.
Geekbench Benchmark Comparisons
Personally, I think flagship chipsets are so good it doesn’t really matter which one you choose, and I think this is applicable to most people. Some power users using specific apps may notice the difference but it won’t be huge. That being said, we all love a comparison.
If we assume the 4250/13300 result is true from Ice Universe then the below graph shows the results of the SD865 versus the current cream of the crop from other companies, and the percentage difference in relation to the SD865.
| Single Core | Multi Core | Single Difference | Multi Difference | |
| Snapdragon 865 | 4250 | 13300 | N/a | N/a |
| Snapdragon 855 Plus | 3623 | 11367 | 17% | 17% |
| Huawei Kirin 990 5G | 3851 | 12636 | 10% | 5% |
| Samsung Exynos 9825 | 4466 | 10387 | -4.80% | 28% |
| Apple A13 Bionic | 5472 | 13769 | -22% | -3.40% |
My thoughts
I will admit the title is a little clickbaity, looking at the comments on Twitter about the leaked information from Ice Universe, it is just people bickering about the A13 and Samsung 9820 being faster.
There is obviously a lot more to a chipset than a synthetic benchmark, real-world performance is very different. Even if the A13 is a better chipset overall, it is on a completely different platform so I don’t really see the need to compare. Then if we want to nitpick about things, Apple doesn’t have 5G nor will they for a while, and the Samsung 9820 is notoriously inefficient compared to the SD855 to the point that most people I know prefer the Snapdragon 855 variant of the Samsung Galaxy S10.
The Kirin 990 5G is also an interesting comparison, with it using the A76 architecture it doesn’t fare so well on the Geekbench benchmarks, but if you look at AI benchmarks, the Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G scores more than double the Snapdragon 855 Plus on the Asus ROG Phone II.
Specification Comparison Table
| Snapdragon 865 | Apple A13 Bionic | Kirin 990 5G | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process | TSMC 7nm (N7P) | TSMS 7nm+ | TSMS 7NM+ EUV |
| CPU | 1x Cortex A77 @ 2.84GHz 1x512KB pL2 | Dual-cluster hexa-core (2x Lightning cores @2.65 GHz | Tri-cluster octa-core (2 x Cortex-A76 cores @2.86GHz |
| 3x Cortex A77 @ 2.42GHz 3x256KB pL2 | 4x Thunder efficiency cores) | 2x Cortex-A76 cores @2.36GHz | |
| 4x Cortex A55 @ 1.80GHz 4x128KB pL2 | 4x Cortex-A55 cores @1.95GHz) | ||
| GPU | Adreno 650 @ ? MHz | Apple-designed quad-core | Mali-G76MP16, 700MHz |
| NPU | Hexagon 698 15 TOPS AI (Total CPU+GPU+HVX+Tensor) | octa-core Neural Engine | 2 + 1 Da Vinci (three cores) |
| RAM | 4x 16-bit CH @ 2133MHz LPDDR4X / 33.4GB/s or @ 2750MHz LPDDR5 / 44.0GB/s 3MB system level cache | LPDDR4X | LPPDDR4X |
| ISP | Dual 14-bit Spectra 480 ISP 1x 200MP or 64MP with ZSL or 2x 25MP with ZSL 4K video & 64MP burst capture | Apple-designed ISP | ISP 5.0 |
| Modem | none (Paired with external X55 only) | LTE | Integrated Balong 5G |
| (LTE Category 24/22) DL = 2500 Mbps 7x20MHz CA, 1024-QAM UL = 316 Mbps 3x20MHz CA, 256-QAM | D/L Speed 2.3 Gbps | ||
| (5G NR Sub-6 + mmWave) DL = 7000 Mbps UL = 3000 Mbps | U/L Speed 1.25 Gbps | ||
| Transistor | 8.5 billion | 10.3 billion | |
| Geekbench | Single-Core: 4,034 (rumour/leak) | Single-Core: 5,415 | Single-Core: 3851 |
| Multi-Core: 12100(rumour/leak) | Multi-Core: 11,294 | Multi-Core: 12636 | |
| Antutu | ? | 549,717 | 457,357 |
[Originally posted 13-October-2019]
[Updated 05-December-2019 with accurate specifications of the new SD865]
I am James, a UK-based tech enthusiast and the Editor and Owner of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Passionate about all things technology, my expertise spans from computers and networking to mobile, wearables, and smart home devices.
As a fitness fanatic who loves running and cycling, I also have a keen interest in fitness-related technology, and I take every opportunity to cover this niche on my blog. My diverse interests allow me to bring a unique perspective to tech blogging, merging lifestyle, fitness, and the latest tech trends.
In my academic pursuits, I earned a BSc in Information Systems Design from UCLAN, before advancing my learning with a Master’s Degree in Computing. This advanced study also included Cisco CCNA accreditation, further demonstrating my commitment to understanding and staying ahead of the technology curve.
I’m proud to share that Vuelio has consistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of the top technology blogs in the UK. With my dedication to technology and drive to share my insights, I aim to continue providing my readers with engaging and informative content.
