Last year, Qualcomm unveiled 2020’s flagship chipset named Snapdragon 865. Additionally, we also got an update from Qualcomm for their flagship processor, which is the Snapdragon 865 Plus. Now Qualcomm has launched their next-gen processor during its annual tech summit. The latest 5G flagship chipset is dubbed as Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. The chipset name was earlier rumoured as Snapdragon 875. Qualcomm’s senior vice president Alex Katouzian said in the tech summit event that the number 8 has represented their premium tier for over a decade and the next-gen Snapdragon chipset is the epitome of premium. So how of an upgrade will that be in comparison to the predecessor Snapdragon 865? Let’s take a look at it in this article.
Snapdragon 888 vs Snapdragon 865 Comparison
Manufacturing process:
The Snapdragon 865 is built on TSMC’s 7nm (N7P) manufacturing process but this year Qualcomm’s 888 Chipset has used the most advanced 5nm (5LPE) process technology from Samsung. The small size will result in more number of transistors and higher power efficiency. This means that the Snapdragon 888 is definitely more power-efficient than the Snapdragon 865.
CPU:
Qualcomm 865 uses a tri-cluster design with an octa-core setup. That remained the same with the Snapdragon 888 too but there is a change in terms of the cores used. The Snapdragon 865 uses one Cortex-A77 high-performance Prime Core at 2.84 GHz, three Cortex-A77 gold cores at 2.42 GHz, and 4x Cortex-A55 silver power-efficient cores at 1.80 GHz. On the other hand, the Snapdragon 888 comes with one Cortex-X1 super core (Kryo 680 Prime CPU) at 2.84 GHz, three Cortex A78 gold cores (Kryo 680 Performance CPUs) at 2.42 GHz, and four Cortex-A55 silver cores (Kryo 680 Efficiency CPUs) at 1.80 GHz. We can see that Snapdragon 888’s cores’ clock speed is the same as Snapdragon 865’s cores frequency.
However, we will see a CPU performance boost as Arm says the Cortex-A78 can offer 20% more power than the Cortex-A77. Also, the Cortex-X1 super powerful core will reportedly offer up to 23% improvements in terms of performance over the Cortex-A78. This is quite a lot for a mobile processor.
Qualcomm claims that the Kryo 680 CPU offers a 25% performance boost over the Snapdragon 865 chipset. Power efficiency has increased by 25%.
GPU:
The Snapdragon 865 comes with the GPU Adreno 650 while the newer generation Snapdragon 888 packs the Adreno 660. The latest GPU provides 35% faster rendering performance and 20% better power efficiency than the Adreno 650 used in the Snapdragon 865. We also see 3rd generation of Snapdragon Elite Gaming in Snapdragon 888 which delivers a significant upgrade in Adreno GPU performance.
Camera and Image Processing:
The Snapdragon 865 comes with the Spectra 480 ISP which has support for a single camera of up to 200MP, and a dual camera of up to 25MP. They have support for HDR video along with 4K 30fps recording. The Snapdragon 888 goes up a notch with the Spectra 580 ISP with the same support for a single camera of 200MP, but dual camera support is 64MP. Both SoCs support 4K video capture at 120 FPS. In terms of AI, we see a definite improvement in image processing. Qualcomm said that the next Generation Spectra ISP enables 2.7 gigapixels per second (120 photos at 12MP resolution) which is up to 35% faster than the previous generation.
5G Modem:
The Snapdragon 865 uses the X50 external modem which gives support for 5G connectivity in a single slot and 2G/3G/4G connectivity in the second slot. The Snapdragon 888 comes with a 5nm X60 external modem that supports 5G connectivity in a single slot and 2G/3G/4G/5G connectivity in the second slot. That means the Snapdragon 888 has dual 5G SIM support. The X60 modem also brings improvements for 5G carrier aggregation across the sub-6GHz and mmWave. The Snapdragon 865 has a download speed of 7Gbps and an upload speed of 3Gbps. On the other hand, Snapdragon 888 arrives with a download speed of 7.5Gbps and an upload speed of 3Gbps.
AI Engine:
Snapdragon 888 packs a sixth-generation Qualcomm AI Engine with an improved Hexagon 780 Processor, a new AI software and an enhanced Sensing Hub. It offers 26 TOPS (Tera operations per second) which is the highest AI engine TOPS in any mobile device. On the other hand, with Snapdragon 865 we got only 15 TOPS.
Benchmark:
Antutu: Recently, Qualcomm SD888-powered prototype device has spotted on the Antutu benchmarking platform which shows the overall Antutu score of Snapdragon 888 is 847868 points. The current highest Antutu score of Snapdragon 865 powered iQOO 5 Pro is 663752 points. So Snapdragon 888 will likely deliver 27% better performance than its predecessor 865.
Geekbench: Early Geekbench score of Snapdragon 888 powered Vivo device has also surfaced online that reveals Snapdragon 888 offers 24.5% better points in single-core test and 6.5% higher points in multi-core test than predecessor 865.
