Snapdragon 720G vs Helio G90T: Which One is the Better Processor?

Realme is launching smartphones like it is on a mission to launch almost two to three smartphones every month. The company recently launched two new smartphones, dubbed Realme 6 and Realme 6 Pro. Both of them are in the budget segment and come with two of the mid-range chipsets, Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G (Realme 6 Pro) and MediaTek Helio G90T (Realme 6). We have already seen Helio G90T on Redmi Note 8 Pro, which delivers better performance than its rivals. Recently, Xiaomi also launched a 720G-powered Redmi Note 9 Pro and Note 9 Pro Max smartphones in India. Both of these are quite capable processors, and to determine which is a better phone to buy in terms of processing power, let’s compare both of them.

Snapdragon 720G vs Helio G90T Comparison

CPU and Manufacturing Process

The Helio G90T is built on an older 12nm process, while the Snapdragon 720G is built on a much better 8nm process. This makes the 720G much more efficient than G90T by a big margin, as 4 nm is too big a difference in terms of the manufacturing process. Coming to the CPU, the G90T is an octa-core processor with two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.05 GHz and six power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz. Comparatively, in terms of numbers, the Snapdragon 720G does better with two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.3 GHz but pulls back with the Cortex-A55 cores by clocking them @ 1.6 GHz.

In terms of real-life usage, the difference between both of them won’t be much evident. It will only be during high-performance tasks like video encoding when the Snapdragon 720G will pull ahead of the G90T with a faster speed. The 720G offers a 7.2 percent CPU performance increase in the Antutu benchmark test compared to the Helio G90T.

GPU

In the Snapdragon 720G, we see the Adreno 618. Adreno 618 performs 15% slower than the GPU found in the Snapdragon 730G. In comparison, the G90T has the Mali-G76 3EEMC4 GPU, which is clocked at 800MHz. Back when the G90T was launched, it was compared with the 730G in terms of gaming, and it was concluded that the G90T was much ahead of the 730G’s GPU. This just means that G90T’s GPU will completely blow Snapdragon 720G’s GPU out of the water. The difference between the processors in terms of gaming will be a significant gap. In the Antutu test, Helio G90T delivers a 13.87 percent GPU performance increase compared to 720G.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

MediaTek didn’t give much thought to AI when they developed the G90T. There is no specific optimization made for AI, and there is no dedicated APU in the G90T. At the same time, the Snapdragon 720G comes with flagship-grade Hexagon 692 DSP. It has Qualcomm’s All-ways aware technology and even has a dedicated neural processing SDK. So, it is quite obvious that Qualcomm wins the battle in this department as there is nothing on offer from G90T regarding AI.

Camera & Optics

The Helio G90T comes with their very own 3X ISP, which supports a single camera of 64MP @ 22.4fps or a 48MP single camera @ 30fps. On the other hand, the Snapdragon 720G comes with the Spectra 350L ISP, which has support for a single 36MP camera with capability of shooting at 192MP. Regarding video recording, both of them max out with 4K at 30 fps. However, these are just numbers, and how a manufacturer optimizes software will determine how well the processor uses the maximum it has to offer in this department.

Connectivity

The Snapdragon 720G’s X15 LTE modem provides a download speed of 800 MBps and an upload speed of 150 Mbps. In contrast, the G90T’s modem provides a download speed of 600 Mbps and an upload speed of 150 Mbps. The difference isn’t much here, but where the 720G pulls ahead is the support. The 720G supports Wi-Fi 6 and NavIC, while the G90T is still stuck at Wi-Fi 5 with no support for NavIC.

Benchmarks

The Snapdragon 720G-powered Realme 6 Pro scored a single-core score of 571 points and a multi-core score of 1676 points in Geekbench v5.1. Helio G90T-powered Realme 6, on the other hand, shows a single-core score of 489 points and a multi-core score of 1660 points. There is not much separating the both of them here.

24x7techie YouTube channel ran Antutu tests multiple times. We see Helio G90T has a 1.35 percent advantage in the overall Antutu score when compared to the Snapdragon 720G. You can watch the video below:

Which One is the Better Processor?

If raw CPU performance and gaming are a priority, then the lower-priced Realme 6 with the Helio G90T will be a better choice. But suppose someone is looking for overall better performance with better efficiency, better connectivity, and better support, along with somewhat similar CPU and gaming performance. In that case, Realme 6 Pro is the device to get. The only reason why G90T could be preferred over the Snapdragon 720G is better gaming performance.

• Editor’s Pick: Realme 6 vs Realme 6 Pro: What’s the Difference?