Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison





Major smartphone SoC designers have now detailed their next-generation designs, which will power smartphones throughout 2019.
Let's see the detailed comparison between the flagship level chipsets Snapdragon 855 and Kirin 980.


CPU And GPU

Snapdragon 855 features four Kyro 485 Silver high-efficiency cores operating at 1.8 GHz along with three high-performance Kyro 485 Gold operating at 2.42 GHz and another higher-performance Kyro 485 Gold core operating at 2.84 GHz. The Snapdragon 855 integrates the Adreno 640 GPU Burst Frequency upto 585MHz with vulkan 1.1 API support (vulkan 1.1 graphics driver uses 20% less power than open GL ES and integardes enhanced developer tools to improve gaming and battery life). API Support:-OpenCL 2.0 Full, DirectX 12, OpenGL ES 3.2, VUlkan 1.1.

[SoCTech Comparison#3] Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison


Kirin 980 features 2 ARM Cortex-A76 high-performance cores (2.6GHz), 2 ARM Cortex-A76 high-efficiency cores (1.92GHz), and 4 Cortex-A55 extreme-efficiency cores (1.8GHz). Huawei states that the Cortex-A76 cores are 75% more powerful and 58% more power-efficient compared to Cortex-A75 cores. The Mali-G76MP10 (10-core, 720MHz) integrated into the Kirin 980 offers 46% greater graphical processing power and 178% improved power efficiency. The company also claims that the gaming performance is overall 22% better than the competition. API Support:- DirectX12 OpenCL 1.2 OpenGL ES 3.2 OpenVG 1.1 Vulkan1.0
[SoCTech Comparison#3] Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison


Antutu Score

Snapdragon 855 Antutu Score

[SoCTech Comparison#3] Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison


Kirin 980 Antutu Score

[SoCTech Comparison#3] Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison


Connectivity
Snapdragon 855 Features X24 with LTE Peak Download speed upto 2 Gbps(7x20 MHz carrier aggregation upto 256-QAM And 4x4 MIMO on 2 Aggregated carriers). And LTE Peak Upload speed upto 316 Mbps (3x20 MHz carrier aggregation upto 256-QAM). It Packs the world’s first Wi-Fi6 11ax-ready mobile solution, with features like 8×8 sounding to serve more devices efficiently, the latest security with WPA3, and up to 67% better power efficiency. What’s more, it’s also 60Ghz Wi-Fi-capable, with the 802.11ay-based platform taking Wi-Fi speeds up to 10Gbps as well as even lower latency.

[SoCTech Comparison#3] Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison

Kirin 980 supoort Cat.21 modem with a peak theoretical download speed of 1.4 Gbps which is achieved by a triple carrier aggregation and 4x4 MIMO (4x4 MIMO + 256QAM 3CC CA = 1.2 Gbps, 2x2 MIMI + 256QAM + 1CC = 200 Mbps). And Upload speed upto 200 Mbps .(2x2 MIMO, 256-QAM, 1x20MHz CA). The chip can also be combined with the 5G baseband Balong 5G01. The SoC's integrated WiFi theoretically creates 1.733 Gbps through a 2x2-160 MHz setup.
[SoCTech Comparison#3] Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison

Camera
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Comes with Spectra 380 image signal processor, can handle a single camera sensor upto 192MP, Dual camera upto 22MP with Zero shutter lag and hybrid autofocus and front camera upto 48MP, support for full HDR10+ video recording.The new ISP also brings improved hardware acceleration for VP9 video and for the HEVC based HEIF image formatwhich can be 50% smaller than older image formats and brings expanded functionality.its new modular ISP design brings a newfound flexibility to the imaging pipeline, opening up the potential for different processing methods for both RAW and YUV pixel domains. CodecSupport:H.265(HEVC) H.264 (AVC), HLG, HDR10, HDR10+, VP8, VP9.

[SoCTech Comparison#3] Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison


The Kirin 980 uses Huawei-developed ISP 4.0, improving the pixel throughput by 46% able support higher resolution camera streams. A first for HiSilicon is the introduction of a 10-bit pipeline for HDR capture. The new ISP is able to now use “multi-pass noise reduction”, which sound much like the multi-frame noise reduction features introduced in the Snapdragon 845 couple of year ago, where noise reduction is not perform on a spatial pixel basis, but on a temporal inter-frame basis, resulting in sharper noise-free images without the side-effect of blurring. There’s also a new video encoding pipeline which promises “33% shorter delay” between captures.
[SoCTech Comparison#3] Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison


Charging And Battery Efficient
Snapdragon 855 supports Qualcomm® Quick Charge™ 4+ technology, Accoeding to Qualcomm Quick charge 4+ is 30% more efficient, 15% faster and upto 3 cooler as compared to other version. It is Fabricated on TSMC's 7nm Process.
[SoCTech Comparison#3] Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison

Kirin 980 supports Latest Super Charge 2.0 which offers a 40W fast charging system. According to company it can juice up 4,200mAh battery upto 70% under 30 minutes. And it is also Fabricated on TSMC's 7nm Process.
[SoCTech Comparison#3] Snapdragon 855 V/s Kirin 980 : Detailed Comparison

Table Comparison
Snapdragon

855
Kirin 980
CPU
1x Cortex A76 @ 2.84GHz


3x Cortex-A76 @ 2.42GHz


4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz
2x Cortex-A76 @ 2.6GHz


2x Cortex-A76 @ 1.92GHz


4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz
Process
7nm FinFET
7nm FinFET
GPU
Adreno 640
Mali-G76 MP10
Modem
X24 LTE 2000 Mbps down 316 Mbps up
Cat 21 LTE modem

1400 Mbps down

200 Mbps up
Memory
UFS 3.0
UFS 2.1
Video Capture
4K UHD, HDR @60fps
4K @30 fps
Video Playback
8K UHD, 360 degree, up to 120fps

10-bit, H.265 and VP9 video decoder
4K @60fps



Conclusion
In Terms of our comparison, it certainly isnt conclusive to judge through an on-paper comparison. However CPU, GPU, Modem, Camera ISP seems to be better on Snapdragon 855 makes it more powerful chip as compared to Kirin 980.