Best Smartphone Chipset: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs A15 Bionic vs Exynos 2100

Qualcomm has officially revealed its next flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. They built it on a new architecture and has a powerful new Cortex-X2 core. We recently evaluated the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs A15 Bionic vs Exynos 2100. And found out how the best smartphone chipset and see the latest Snapdragon processor stacks up against the competition in the Android arena. In this post, we thoroughly examined the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Apple A15 Bionic, and Samsung Exynos 2100. We’ve spoken about CPU performance, benchmark figures, GPU and AI specifics, and more. You may easily differentiate with the table below and go to a section of your choosing to read in detail. Let us now go on to the comparison of the best smartphone chipset.

Comparison of Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs A15 Bionic vs Exynos 2100

CPU 

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 

• It is based on a new Armv9 architecture and created on Samsung’s 4nm production node. 
• It features ARM’s most powerful Cortex-X2 core, clocked at 3.0GHz. In addition, three additional A710 cores clocked at 2.5GHz are included for balanced workloads.
• For low-powered activities, four revised A510 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. 
• This octa-core configuration (1+3+4) has basically remained the same in the smartphone SoC industry.

Apple’s A15 Bionic 

• It has six cores in total.
• Two high-performance cores clocked at 3.2GHz and four energy-efficient cores clocked at 1.82GHz. 
• The A15 Bionic is constructed using TSMC’s 5nm technology. It is a generation behind Samsung’s 4nm production process used in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. 
• We heard the forthcoming A-series processor would use 3nm manufacturing technology. Then Apple will overtake Qualcomm and Samsung next year.

Samsung Exynos 2100 

• It uses the Snapdragon chip’s octa-core architecture. 
• Though It is a year old, it employs older ARM processors and a 5nm manufacturing technique. 
• The Exynos 2100 has a Cortex-X1 core running at 2.9GHz, three A78 cores running at 2.8GHz, and four A55 cores running at 2.2GHz. 
• It is a generation behind the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. But the next-generation Exynos 2200 chip will be more of a head-to-head comparison for the best smartphone chipset. 

Benchmarks

We don’t yet have official benchmark data for the new Snapdragon chip to compare Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs A15 Bionic vs Exynos 2100. But we attempted to calculate the score using Qualcomm’s estimates. 

Credit: Beebom

The single-core Cortex-X2 is 16% more powerful and 20% quicker than its predecessor. 

The heavy-duty Cortex-X2 core clearly runs behind the high-performance A15 Bionic core. Qualcomm has narrowed the gap on Apple in multi-threaded workloads. 

Finally, the Exynos 2100 lags well behind the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and the A15 Bionic. So, it is a clear battle of Qualcomm vs Apple.

GPU comparison of Best Smartphone Chipset

Qualcomm claims that its Adreno GPU on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has been increased by 30%. But it does not make any direct comparisons to Apple or other competing chipsets. 

Apple said that the A15 Bionic’s 5-core GPU (4-core on lower-end iPhone 13 models) is 50% quicker than the competition. Even with the 30% gain in raw GPU performance on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, Qualcomm is still a long way behind Apple.

In gaming features, Qualcomm has introduced a slew of new ones. Snapdragon Elite Gaming, a specialized Frame Motion Engine, HDR gaming, Volumetric Rendering, and other features are included in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. It has also collaborated with Unity and Unreal Engine to improve gaming performance.

For the Exynos 2100, the 14-core Mali-G78 GPU is no match for the A15 Bionic or Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 GPUs. 

ISP

All three CPUs can provide ISP. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has a new 18-bit ISP. It can capture 3.2 Gigapixels per second. Also, it can capture 8K HDR films and 64MP images. 

The ISP has a specific engine for producing bokeh in films, which is something to look forward to. Android phones will compete with Apple’s Cinematic mode for the first time. And, for pro users, Qualcomm has added the option to shoot in 18-bit RAW, which is fantastic!

With the A15 Bionic’s ISP, Apple created it from the ground up. The ISP is fairly powerful since it can do Photographic Style in real-time. Also, computational photography with support for 4K HDR Dolby Vision, and Cinematic Mode. 

Apple-made ISP supports ProRes RAW footage at 4K 30FPS. Overall, Apple’s ISP is innovative and more powerful in the competition of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs A15 Bionic vs Exynos 2100.

The Samsung-designed ISP has a dual-camera system that can take up to 200MP photos and two 32MP images. 

So, in terms of hardware, we can’t tell if one has a better ISP than the other.

AI and Machine Learning 

In a comparison of AI and ML capabilities across the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, A15 Bionic, and Exynos 2100, Qualcomm continues to dominate the field. They improved its Hexacore DSP to a 7th-generation AI engine. It provides a 4x increase while using 1.7x less power. It has a TOPS number of 27 trillion operations per second.

Apple’s 16-core Neural Engine has a TOPS performance of up to 15.8. And the Exynos 2100 may reach up to 26 TOPS. 

Note the TOPS figure has essentially become obsolete to measure the best smartphone chipset. The Google Tensor has a lower TOPS rating but features some of the greatest AI and ML capabilities. 

Modem and Wireless Technology

This year, Qualcomm improved its X60 modem in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 to the Snapdragon X65 modem. The integrated modem is expected to provide download speeds of up to 10Gbps. It supports 5G in the mmWave and sub-6GHz bands and Carrier Aggregation. You also get the Qualcomm FastConnect 6900 subsystem from last year. It includes Wi-Fi 6, 6E, and Bluetooth 5.2. Bluetooth LE is also onboard for low-consumption audio features.

Moving on to the A15 Bionic, they equipped it with Qualcomm’s last-generation X60 modem. It provides a throughput of 7.5Gbps. Furthermore, it supports both 5G channels, including the premium mmWave and sub-6GHz bands. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 are also available for communication. 

Finally, for the Exynos 2100, Samsung has created its own 5G modem. The modem can reach speeds of up to 7.3Gbps and support the mmWave and sub-6GHz bands. You also have Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2, exactly as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

Who wins the mobile processor war of Best Smartphone Chipset: Snapdragon vs Bionic vs Exynos?

That concludes our detailed analysis of the best smartphone chipset: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 versus A15 Bionic vs Exynos 2100. Many people in the Android community have been waiting for a flagship processor that can go head-to-head with Apple’s A-series CPUs. However, it seems like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is still a generation behind, particularly in the GPU sector. The Exynos 2100 is a year-old processor. So, we should wait for the Exynos 2200 to be released before making an informed decision.