Snapdragon 870 vs Dimensity 1200 Comparison: Which One is Better?

Qualcomm released an improved Snapdragon 865+ processor dubbed the Snapdragon 870 together with the flagship Snapdragon 888. And MediaTek released their flagship processors as Dimensity 1100 and Dimensity 1200. So Snapdragon 870 and Dimensity 1200 are both processors just under the flagship 5G processor from both their respective brands. So how do both of these flagship-level processors fair against each other? Let’s take a look at it.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 vs MediaTek Dimensity 1200

Manufacturing process:

The Snapdragon 870 continued on the 7nm manufacturing process from last year, while MediaTek went for a smaller 6nm manufacturing process with the MediaTek Dimensity 1200. This means the Dimensity chip will be slightly more power-efficient than the Qualcomm counterpart.

CPU:

Both the processors mentioned here come with a 1+3+4 architecture for their cores. There is one prime core, three performance cores and four power-efficient cores. The Snapdragon 870 has 1 Cortex-A77 core clocked at 3.2GHz, 3 Cortex-A77 cores clocked at 2.42GHz, and 4 Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. On the other hand, with the MediaTek Dimensity 1200, we get 1 Cortex-A78 core clocked at 3.0 GHz, 3 Cortex-A78  cores clocked at 2.6GHz and 4 Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0GHz. The Cortex-A78 core is said to be 20% better than the Cortex-A77 core which means that the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 will be better than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 in terms of processing power.

GPU:

The Snapdragon 870 features the Adreno 650 GPU which is the same we saw on the Snapdragon 865+ from last year. And the Dimensity 1200 features the ARM Mali-G77 MC9 as its GPU which is the same as what we got with the MediaTek Dimensity 1000+. MediaTek claims an 18% boost in terms of graphics performance as compared to the Dimensity 1000+ and they achieved it possibly by increasing by boosting the clock speed. However, the Adreno 650 is significantly better than the Mali-G77. So we can expect the GPU on the Snapdragon 870 to perform better than the one found on the Dimensity 1200, even though it was boosted by 18% by the company.

ISP:

The Spectra 480 ISP found in the Snapdragon 870 has support for 200MP photos, 8K video recording, and HEIF video capture. On the other hand, MediaTek’s Imaqiq Camera HDR-ISP also has support for 200MP photos, but it misses out on 8K recording. Instead, we get 4K HDR video recording with a 40% greater dynamic range. It also has support for bokeh video, multi-person AI-segmentation, and AI-Panorama Night Shot.

AI Engine:

For handling AI tasks, the Snapdragon 870 comes equipped with the Hexagon 698 which boasts 15 TOPS. MediaTek did not reveal anything about the number of operations that the APU 3.0 AI engine performs. This is the same AI engine we got with the Dimensity 1000+ and in benchmarks, in the past, this AI engine proved to be better than the Hexagon 698 inside the Snapdragon 865+ from last year. So we can expect that the Domensity 1200 is better than the Snapdragon 870 in handling AI tasks.

Connectivity:

The Snapdragon X55 modem found with the Snapdragon 870 has support for both mmWave and sub 6GHz spectrums as well as SA and NSA networks. But the modem cannot support true dual SIM 5G functionality. The Helio M70 wth the Dimensity 1200 on the other hand supports only sub-6GHz with 5G-CA (carrier aggregation) across TDD/FDD. But it has support for true dual 5G SIM.

The Snapdragon 870 supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, NavIC, Beidou, and GLONASS. The Dimensity 1200 has support for Dual-band for GNSS, GPS, NavIC, Beidou, Galileo, and QZSS. It also has support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2.

Screen support:

The Snapdragon 870 is capable of QHD+ at 144Hz and 4K at 60Hz. The Dimensity 1200 on the other hand supports QHD+ at 90Hz and FHD+ at 168Hz.

Which One is Better?

All in all, both these processors offer great performance with one processor going ahead of the other in certain aspects. If gaming is your priority, go for a device with Snapdragon 870 with a better GPU. And raw performance is something that matters to you then go for a device the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 which has four Cortex-A78 cores. Overall though, the difference between both of these mobile processors is quite minimal and you will be happy with a phone that has one of these processors.