Snapdragon 888 vs Snapdragon 865: What’s the Difference?

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 its next-gen processor during its annual tech summit. The latest 5G flagship chipset is dubbed Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. The chipset name was earlier rumored 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 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 supports 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), up to 35% faster than the previous generation.

5G Modem:

The Snapdragon 865 uses the X50 external modem, which supports 5G connectivity in a single slot and 2G/3G/4G connectivity in the second slot. The Snapdragon 888 has 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 improves 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, new AI software, and an enhanced Sensing Hub. It offers 26 TOPS (Tera operations per second), the highest AI engine TOPS in any mobile device. On the other hand, with Snapdragon 865, we got only 15 TOPS.

Benchmark:

Antutu: Recently, a Qualcomm SD888-powered prototype device was spotted on the Antutu benchmarking platform, which shows the overall Antutu score of Snapdragon 888 is 847868 points. The current highest Antutu score of the Snapdragon 865-powered iQOO 5 Pro is 663752 points. So, Snapdragon 888 will likely deliver 27% better performance than its predecessor 865.

Geekbench: The Early Geekbench score of the Snapdragon 888 powered Vivo device has also surfaced online, showing that the Snapdragon 888 offers 24.5% better points in single-core test and 6.5% higher points in multi-core test than its predecessor 865.