Xiaomi is well-known to adopt the latest Qualcomm chipsets in its range of smartphones and the Redmi K20, which recently launched in China and is coming to India soon, is the world’s first device to be powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 chipset. This is the latest addition to Qualcomm’s mid-range 700-series chipsets and is said to offer us a major punch over its predecessors.
We’ve already taken an in-depth look at the benchmark score of the Snapdragon 730 and this chipset did look really promising, so we decided to now pit it against the Snapdragon 845 to see how they both stack up against each other. We’re comparing the Snapdragon 730 SoC inside the Redmi K20 against the Snapdragon 845 SoC inside Poco F1 and the OnePlus 6T, both of which are running MIUI 10, so the user experience shouldn’t really be much different.
Hence, let’s see how the benchmark scores of the Snapdragon 730 and Snapdragon 845 compare:
Snapdragon 730 vs Snapdragon 845: Specifications
Before we take a look at the comparison between the benchmark scores of these two chipsets, here’s a quick peek at the internal specifications of the Snapdragon 730 and Snapdragon 845:
| Snapdragon 730 | Snapdragon 845 | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Cores | octa-core Qualcomm Kryo 470 | octa-core Qualcomm Kryo 385 |
| CPU Architecture | 64-bit, 8nm | 64-bit, 10nm |
| CPU Clock Speed | up to 2.2GHz | up to 2.8GHz |
| GPU | Adreno 618 | Adreno 630 |
| ISP | Spectra 350 | Spectra 280 |
| DSP | Hexagon 688 | Hexagon 685 |
| Modem | Snapdragon X15 LTE | Snapdragon X20 LTE |
| Wi-Fi Support | Wi-Fi 802.11ad | Wi-Fi 802.11ax-ready |
You can see in the table above that octa-core Snapdragon 730 sports the latest Kryo 470 cores (2 performance and 6 efficiency cores), set at a lower clock speed, as compared to the Kryo 385 cores (4 performance and 4 efficiency cores) incorporated in the Snapdragon 845. The Adreno 630 GPU packed in the latter is more powerful than the Adreno 618 GPU inside the former.
The Snapdragon 730 chipset is packing the latest Spectra 350 ISP as compared to the Spectra 280 found inside the Snapdragon 845, which means the former should offer a wider and enhanced set of camera features than the flagship chipset.
So, let’s not waste any more time and take a look at the benchmark score comparison between the Snapdragon 730 and Snapdragon 845:
Snapdragon 730 vs Snapdragon 845: Benchmarks
Geekbench 4
We started off with the Geekbench 4 results and they came as a surprise to everyone at first. I mean, the Kryo 470 cores in the Snapdragon 730 are clocked at lower frequency, but they’re more powerful and efficient as compared to the Kryo 385 cores you’ll find in Snapdragon 845. And with a single-core score of 2534 and multi-core score of 7001, we thought that was the case against the Poco F1. However, the Poco F1 Geekbench scores seem to have lowered (device has slowed a little) over time, so we also picked the Snapdragon 845-backed OnePlus 6T.
You can see in the screenshot below that it obviously beat the Snapdragon 730 SoC by a huge margin. Its multi-core score typically sits in the upper 9000s, but it can sometimes roam around the 10,000+ mark as well. You can see the same in the screenshots below:
Well, even though the Snapdragon 730 SoC is not able to top the Snapdragon 845 chipset in the OnePlus 6T, it still seems capable enough to be able to provide users a high-end performance in the mid-range segment. And I’m already excited for more phone makers to adopt this new chipset, as well as its gaming-centric alternative – the Snapdragon 730G chipset.
AnTuTu Benchmark
Well, the AnTuTu benchmark score of the Snapdragon 730 lands in the 215,000 range, which I find is pretty good for a mid-range chipset of the 700-series, but it’s still much lower than the flagship Snapdragon 845. This is expected because AnTuTu not just takes into account the chipset’s CPU performance but also your GPU, memory. and user experience as well. It counts all of the essential parameters and that impacts the overall standing of the chipset.
Snapdragon 845 obviously has a more powerful Adreno 630 GPU as compared to the Adreno 618 GPU aboard the Snapdragon 730, which is also evident from the AnTuTu benchmark score screenshots attached above. The GPU score of the Snapdragon 845 (i.e 126210) is more than double than that of the Snapdragon 730 (i.e 58510), but it doesn’t mean the latter is any less capable of being able to run your favorite games.
PUBG Mobile runs on high graphics by default on the Redmi K20, which powered by the Snapdragon 730 chipset and I’ve faced no lags or tearing in the gameplay. We’ll test out the Redmi K20 more rigorously over the coming days and will let you all know about its overall performance.
AITuTu
Finally, I also decided to introduce the AITuTu benchmark into the mix to test whether a difference in AI processing capabilities on both the chipsets is found or not. And well, the results are right in front of you. While the AI engine on the Snapdragon 730 is a 4th-gen one, coupled with a newer Hexagon 688 DSP, as compared to the Snapdragon 845 which comes backed by a third-gen AI engine and Hexagon 685 DSP, the AITuTu benchmark scores for both the chipsets come out to be the same.
So, from the myriad of aforementioned benchmark scores, one can easily conclude that Snapdragon 730 packed in the Redmi K20 is no lacking chipset. Instead, it’s one of the most powerful mid-range chipsets to ever be released by Qualcomm, such that it could soon rule the mid-range segment. We can see it being adopted by more phone makers, with open arms, in the coming months, so stay tuned for more information on this quite powerful chipset.
Until then, let us know whether you think it can replace the Snapdragon 845 in the mid-range sub-Rs 20,000 segment that’s currently dominated by Poco F1. Comments your opinions down below.
