Qualcomm unveiled its latest flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 888, a couple of weeks ago. This chipset will power most of the premium Android phones that launch in 2021. Unlike last year, where the company invited us to check out the might of Snapdragon 865 in Hawaii, this year’s event was organized online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means we were unable to get our hands on a prototype (or reference design) unit powered by the Snapdragon 888 this year. Worry not though, the folks at Qualcomm have shared with us the benchmark scores for Snapdragon 888 today.
The Snapdragon 888, for those who missed the launch, is Qualcomm’s first-ever 5nm chipset. It comprises the new Kryo 680 CPU and Adreno 660 GPU. The chipset follows the 1+3+4 architecture – just like its predecessor and is the first to include an ARM Cortex-X1 core. It includes four high-efficiency ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at up to 1.8GHz, three high-performance ARM Cortex-A78 cores clocked at up to 2.4GHz, and one extreme performance ARM Cortex-X1 core clocked at up to 2.84GHz.
Snapdragon 888 Benchmark Results
Now, Qualcomm themselves shared the Snapdragon 888 benchmark scores with the media as “due to the current environment, third-party device reviewers were unable to have hands-on access to the latest premium-tier Snapdragon reference design,” as per an official statement. “Therefore, Qualcomm Technologies has collated the results across select industry benchmarks testing system, CPU, GPU, and AI use cases,” the company added.
To benchmark the Snapdragon 888 5G, Qualcomm used a reference design whose specs it shared with us. The prototype, similar to the one from last year (pictured above), packs a 6.65-inch Full-HD+ display with a 120Hz refresh rate, 12GB DDR5 RAM, 512GB storage, a 3,780mAh battery pack, and a USB Type-C port.
Snapdragon 888 vs Apple A14 Bionic
Now, we had already compared the Snapdragon 888 and Apple A14 Bionic chipset on paper. Both of these 5nm chipsets are 5G-enabled and pretty powerful. But, if you are someone who believes in numbers, here’s how the Snapdragon 888 and A14 Bionic’s benchmark scores compare:
Note: We’re comparing benchmark scores of the Snapdragon 888 reference design against the A14 Bionic on the iPhone 12 mini that we have at the Beebom office.
AnTuTu Benchmark
First up, we have the AnTuTu benchmark and you can clearly see that Snapdragon 888 has a massive 100,000 point lead over the A14 Bionic. While the CPU scores are rather comparable, you can see that the Adreno 660 is more powerful than Apple’s custom 4-core GPU. Snapdragon 888 chipset scores 740,847 points on the AnTuTu benchmark as compared to A14 Bionic’s 634,118 points. You can see the results attached below:
Geekbench
As for the Geekbench score, Apple’s A14 Bionic aboard the iPhone 12 mini smokes the Snapdragon 888 reference design unit. The former scores higher on both the single, as well as multi-core, results as compared to the latter. This is merely a reference design though and official devices will most likely be more optimized.
Apart from the Geekbench and AnTuTu benchmark scores, Qualcomm also shared a myriad of other synthetic benchmark results. The company ran the tests three times and then compiled the average scores, which you see below:
Qualcomm, in its official release, mentions that benchmark results may vary between commercial flagships and the reference design. As per the rumors, Xiaomi might be the first to unveil the Snapdragon 888-laden Mi 11 series. Samsung’s Galaxy S21 series will be next in line and might arrive on the expected January 14 launch date.
We have also compiled an extensive list of smartphones that will be powered by the Snapdragon 888 5G next year. Do check it out and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
