We are pretty much aware as to how powerful Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 980 is — from raw performance to its dual-NPU feature for better AI capabilities. But with Samsung’s latest flagship SoC getting unveiled — the Exynos 9820, how does it compare against Huawei’s best?
Table of Contents
Kirin 980 vs Exynos 9820 Specs Comparison – CPU, GPU, AI
| Specs | Kirin 980 | Exynos 9820 |
| Process (node) | 7nm | 8nm |
| CPU | 2x Cortex-A76 @ 2.6GHz + 2x Cortex-A76 @ 1.92GHz + 4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz | 2x Exynos M4 + 2x Cortex A75 + 4x Cortex A55 |
| GPU | Mali-G76 MP10 @ 750MHz | Mali-G76 MP12 |
| RAM | LPDDR4X @ 2133MHz | LPDDR4X |
| NPU | Dual-NPU | Single NPU |
| Image Signal Proceesor (ISP) | Dual ISP
Rear: 40MP |
Dual ISP
Rear: 22MP |
| Bluetooth | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Charging | SuperCharge 2.0 40W | Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge, Fast Wireless Charging (Qi & PMA) |
| Modem | LTE Cat 21 1.4Gbps (DL) / 200Mbps (UL) |
LTE-Advanced Pro Cat.20 8CA 2Gbps (DL) / Cat.20 3CA 316Mbps (UL) |
| Video Recording | 4k@30fps | 8K@30fps, 4K@150fps – 10-bit |
| Display | 4K UHD | WQUXGA (3840×2400), 4K UHD (4096×2160) |
| Storage | UFS 3.0? | UFS 3.0, 2,1 |
| Others | Hi1103 WiFi chip supports 1732Mbps with Wi-Fi and, Multi-gigabit Wi-Fi ac/b/g/n with MU-MIMO | Samsung Knox, DRAM encryption, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac |
8nm over 7nm process
Samsung didn’t ride the trend for some reason as the Exynos 9820 is based on 8nm process instead of the 7nm. Basically, the smaller the process node the better the efficiency of the SoC. Nevertheless, the Korean-giant baked in a few interesting features in which we could expect on the upcoming Galaxy S10 and possibly the Note 10.
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Dedicated AI Arrives
Samsung looks to improve battery efficiency with its new tri-cluster setup for its CPU. It’s now the same as the Kirin 980’s setup as well but the GPU might favor the Exynos 9820 here with its latest Mali-G76 MP12.
For the AI trend, it’s the first time Samsung is including an integrated NPU to its chipset boasting seven times faster than its predecesor when it comes to AI computation. Even then, Kirin 980 already has dual-NPU in tow.
SuperCharge 2.0 Still Reigns
Huawei’s flagship SoC continues to take the lead with its whopping SuperCharge 2.0 at 40W whereas Samsung settles for its Adaptive Fast Charging. Unfortunately, the company didn’t indicate how fast it goes from zero to full.
No 5G
Interestingly, the Exynos 9820 isn’t coming with 5G modem. Instead, we’re seeing a refresh from its previous one with the LTE-A Pro Cat.20 that provide up to 2Gbps download speed and 316Mbps upload speed. In other words, expect the Galaxy S10 to provide faster internet experience compared to the Mate 20 Pro.
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Videos are about to get crisper
Camera-wise, Samsung isn’t playing around this time. We can expect their next flagship to support up to 8K @ 30fps video recording complete with 10-bit wide range color support. But let’s be real, it’s all about the number of sensors. Well, we are glad to report that it supports up to five sensors similar to the LG V40.
Apart from the things we’ve mentioned, we’re pretty much left in the dark until we see the Galaxy S10 unveiled next year at Mobile World Congress. As of right now, it’s a close ball between the two but camera-wise, the Exynos 9820 looks to go away with a win.
