Compare phone processors. ARM processor is a mobile processor for smartphones and tablets. For the most expensive smartphones

When choosing a new smartphone, as a rule, we pay attention to several key indicators: screen, processor, camera and appearance. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, but it is this four that interests any more or less advanced consumer. Today we want to focus on the processors of modern smartphones, their hearts, without exaggeration. Indeed, the mobile processor will provide the smartphone with high-quality sound, good pictures, and will endow it with fast charging and an LTE module. But first of all, the user is interested in the performance of the smartphone, so comparing mobile processors is a useful activity before buying a new device. We will discuss this, and we will make it as simple as possible, without going into technical subtleties, in order to really clarify the situation, and not confuse it even more.

To begin with, let's immediately clarify. By the phrase "mobile processor" we mean not just a "pebble", but a full-fledged system-on-a-chip (aka a chipset, aka SoC, aka CPU), which consists of many interconnected components, each of which has its own effect on smartphone processor performance. Also, we must not forget about RAM and optimization inextricably linked with chipsets, which we will also discuss below.

Kernels. Bigger is not better

You can often hear the opinion, they say, your iPhone has only two cores, but my Meise has ten, which means that Meise is cooler! No, not cooler. For many reasons. But now we will focus on the cores. The key indicator here is the clock speed (denoted in GHz), and the higher it is, the faster your smartphone will work. But you will have to pay for the speed with inevitable heating and, as a result, a quick discharge of the battery. To avoid over-discharge, manufacturers began to use clusters in which the cores operate at different clock speeds and, as a result, charge consumption. This technology was called big.LITTLE and is the most common option today. The most important thing that an ordinary consumer should know is that all these cores never work at the same time: during games, benchmarks and other heavy tasks, productive and energy-intensive cores are turned on, and less powerful, but energy-efficient cores cope with simple tasks.

Graphics accelerator

This parameter is of interest, first of all, to gamers, because it is the graphics accelerator that is responsible for 3D graphics, rendering textures in games and high frame rates. The most famous names here are Adreno, Mali and PowerVR. At one time, Tegra and its K1 processor, focused exclusively on games, “fired”. Gamers squealed with delight, but the processor never received new versions.

As for the choice, the rule is simple: if you want advanced graphics, choose an advanced chipset, because the GPU is always tightly tied to the CPU.

Heating and throttling. Less is better

Heating is generally a sore subject for a mobile processor. Not only can it melt the glue and leave yellow spots on the smartphone screen (and this happens, yeah), it also negatively affects the processor itself. To avoid overheating and subsequent damage, the processor forcibly lowers the clock frequency - this is the very throttling. In simple terms, the hotter your smartphone is, the slower it will run. All chipsets are subject to some degree of throttling, but the lower this figure, the better. Ideally, the smartphone shouldn't get too hot at all. The anti-record in this regard was set by the Snapdragon 810, and today it is better to bypass smartphones that are based on it.

Technical process. Less is better

In recent years, information about the technical process by which the chipset is made has appeared more and more often in promotional materials for smartphones. For a techie, it's a matter of talent and grace. It is important for us to know that the smaller the number in front of the cherished nanometers (denoted by nm), the better. For modern flagship solutions, the figure is 10 nm. It is unlikely that this indicator will be decisive when choosing a smartphone, but since manufacturers like to brag about them, we will also mention them.

Bit depth. 64 bits in priority

Again, without getting into the technical jungle, we note that a smartphone with an old, but flagship processor will yield to the new 64-bit midrange in performance. Besides, all new applications are developed with an eye on 64-bit processors, so the choice in favor of the latter is obvious.


Benchmarks and parrots

The most common synthetic benchmarks today are Antutu and Geekbench. However, we do not recommend focusing on dry numbers: firstly, the industry knows cases when specially trained smartphones “deceived” synthetics, demonstrating indicators that are not capable of in real life, and secondly, the performance of smartphone processors is so high today. that it is almost impossible to tell the difference between “fast” and “very fast” with the naked eye. It is much more interesting to check the performance of a smartphone with real tasks: check the smoothness of the interface, run several games, a camera, etc.

Operational and optimization

In fact, these parameters do not directly relate to the SoC, but are inextricably linked with it: a productive processor needs a lot of RAM, otherwise it simply cannot reach its potential. As of today, the optimal amount of RAM is 3-4 GB, and we categorically do not recommend agreeing to less than 2 GB. And what about 6 gigs? - you ask. We answer. Now these are only useless show-offs, but in the future, most likely, everything will change.

As for optimization, Apple users are very fond of talking about it. Indeed, a relatively small lineup and the same type of filling allow the company to achieve the coordinated work of hardware and software. For an android, these are unattainable heights due to the motley filling of smartphones, multiplied by the shells that manufacturers love to put on top of a “naked” android. Therefore, for everything to work smoothly, you have to take not quality, but quantity. Since the user cannot influence this parameter in any way, we recommend that you simply give preference to a clean OS without add-ons.


Finally, some specifics

Now that we've identified the key specs, let's just list the best smartphone processors available today. The undisputed market leader is Qualcomm and their Snapdragon... The manufacturer has solutions for the entry-level, for example, the Snapdragon 430, the mid-price segment (the demanded representative is the Snapdragon 625) and the flagship models, the newest of which as of spring 2017 is the Snapdragon 835 - this is the best that there is on the Android and Windows market. smartphones for today.

Breathes into the back of the leader's head Exynos, made by Samsung. These processors are not very common in the market, because they are installed only on smartphones and tablets of the Korean giant itself and are sometimes found in Meizu, but are not inferior in quality to Snap. The current leader of the line is Exynos 8895.

As for MediaTek, here everything is purely in Chinese: there are a lot of models, they have heaps of cores, but there are problems with real performance. No, we do not want to say that MTK are bad processors, but they are inferior to the solutions of the same Snap. Helio X25 is the flagship of the models on the market.

Processors Intel are well known to desktop users and are often found on Windows tablets. There are also Android smartphones on Intel, but here the potential buyer needs to be careful: due to the use of a different architecture, these chipsets may not support some applications.

Processors Kirin - Huawei's own development and everything is simple here: if you want a smartphone of this particular brand, put up with it. However, Kirin will not let you down: the flagship model numbered 960 works smoothly and is in no way inferior to colleagues in the shop, and even loyally consumes battery power.

Have Apple everything is even simpler: all their processors are denoted in the format An, where n is a number, and the larger it is, the better. Today it is the Apple A9X model.

A dark horse against this background looks like Xiaomi: their Surge S1 is not the most productive and overheating chipset, it is experimental in nature. We don't recommend buying the Xiaomi Mi 5C based on it. And we certainly don't recommend settling for risky Rockchip, Spreadtrum, AllWinner and even more artisanal China. Yes, it will be cheaper, only your joy about this will quickly be replaced by indignation about the disgusting quality of the device.

Comparison of processors

We summarized all the basic characteristics important for the user in a table that will help you choose the right option. This includes the most common chips from well-known manufacturers over the past 2-3 years, which have not yet lost their relevance.

Model GPU Kernels Frequency (GHz) Process technology (nm) release date
Snapdragon 835 Adreno 540
Snapdragon 821 Adreno 530
Snapdragon 820 Adreno 530
Snapdragon 810 Adreno 430
Snapdragon 808 Adreno 418
Snapdragon 650 Adreno 510
Snapdragon 625 Adreno 506
Snapdragon 430 Adreno 505
MT6797T Helio X25 Mali-T880 MP4 1,55+2+2,5
MT6797 Helio X20 Mali-T880 MP4 1,4+1,8+21
MT6757 Pro / Helio P25 Mali T880 MP2
MT6755 (M) / Helio P10 Mali T860 MP2
MT6738 (T) Mali T860 MP2
Kirin 960 Mali-G71 MP8
Kirin 955 Mali-T880 MP4
Kirin 935 Mali-T628 MP4
Exynos 8895 Mail-G71 MP20
Exynos 8890 Mali T880MP12
Exynos 7880 Mali-T830 MP3
Exynos 7870 Mali-T830 MP3
Exynos 7580 Mali-T720 MP2

Another convenient way to compare mobile processors is to use graphs of their performance. In the picture below, you can see the top devices from the Antutu benchmark as of late 2016 early 2017.

soWhen choosing a mobile processor, first of all, we pay attention to the manufacturer (we have listed the most reliable ones above), the clock frequency of the productive cores, the presence of heating. Everything else is technical subtleties that it makes no sense for an ordinary user to delve into (and if you are not an ordinary user, you haven't learned anything new from this text). It is enough to be guided by a simple rule: the flagship models collect all the best here, there are no problems with them (with rare exceptions), they are needed, first of all, by gamers and enthusiasts. For example, Google Daydream is only compatible with advanced processors. Modern "middlings" also cope with applications and games, including three-dimensional ones, without any problems. As for the entry-level, you will have to make compromises here, but it is much better if it is a low-power but reliable chipset from a renowned manufacturer than a makeshift no-name from which you can expect anything.


In the smartphone market, a real race has erupted between manufacturers. In 2018, the reality is that the sales of mobile devices are significantly ahead of laptops. In this regard, it would be logical to take apart the best processors for smartphones.

But first, let's clarify, because to say "processor" in the case of smartphones is not entirely correct. Phones and tablets are currently based on a SoC (System-on-a-Chip) system. It is a crystal, which includes various modules: computing unit, graphics core, communication components (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.), RAM and much more.

You won't be able to go and buy a new processor for your smartphone, if only because they are not on sale. It is also worth considering that the same SoC can work differently on different smartphones, so we based on the results of tests from popular Western sources and benchmark tests and prepared the top 10 best processors in terms of performance at the end of 2018.

Top 10 best processors for smartphones

Note! All prices are for smartphone models with the processors listed below.

10 Helio X30

Deca-core processor
Country: China
Average price: 17,240 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.3

The first ten-core mobile system became one of the most powerful in 2017. X30 is ranked 10th in performance among the best processors for 2018. This was facilitated by a new 10 nanometer process technology. Compared to the previous generation, the "stone" has become 35% more efficient and 50% more energy efficient. There are three clusters on the board. The first has two coresCortex-A73 up to 2.5GHz. The second consists of four Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 2.2 GHz, and the youngest one has four Cortex-A35 cores with a rate of 1.9 GHz. The GPU is PowerVR 7XTP-MP4 at 800 MHz. The solution is capable of decoding 10-bit 4K2K video with HDR10 support.

The introduction of a new technology for managing processor cores called CorePilot 4.0 was a kind of novelty. It can save up to 25% more energy than version 3.0. An intelligent task scheduling system, along with UX Monitoring and SystemPowerAllocator (SPA) power management, helps the architecture perform well in resource-intensive tasks.

9 Snapdragon 710

Budget processor from Qualcomm
Country: China
Average price: 27,766 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.4

The 710 model is an intermediate link between the top 800 series and more budget models. It combines the flagship capabilities in the field of photography, video shooting and provides good artificial intelligence for use at the most optimal price. In addition, increased autonomy due to improved production technology.

This stone is the heir to the bestmid-budget mobile processor Snapdragon 660, released in 2016. The system has eight Kryo 360 cores on the chip, based on the architecture from ARM. Four cores with the index A-75 operate at a frequency of 2.2 GHz, four more - A-55 provide a frequency of 1.7 GHz. In fact, there are cores from Snapdragon 845, but they are understated frequencies in accordance with their category. The Adreno 616 is responsible for graphics output, and is assisted by the Spectra 250 image processor, which supports dual 20-megapixel cameras.

8 Kirin 970

Technological breakthrough from Huawei
Country: China
Average price: 27 990 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.4

Single chip systemThe Kirin 970 is a real revelation from Huawei. A separate neuromorphic processor with its own single-chip system was created to solve the most high-capacity tasks in neural networks, for machine vision and pattern recognition systems. The NPU of the processor delivers up to 25x faster performance over peer systems and 50x better energy efficiency. Thus, performance is increased and heat generation is reduced. In addition, Huawei was given access to the internal stuffing of the NPU, which will allow third-party application developers to optimize their products for this hardware.

Additionally, the presence of a dual signal processor should be highlighted, which allows for motion capture and face detection. Bonded to these features is a four-level hybrid autofocus, improved shooting of moving subjects in low light.

7 SNAPDRAGON 835

People's favorite
Country: China
Average price: 30,790 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.6

This processor is installed on the well-known mobile smartphones Samsung Galaxy S8 and One Plus 5. But unlike Exynos, this model can be easily found on a large number of other Android smartphones, most of which are more affordable than the Korean.

In terms of performance, there are 8 cores (4 cores operating at 2.45 GHz, and 4 cores at 1.9 GHz) and a good graphics accelerator - Adreno 540. Performance in synthetic tests is comparable to Exynos, the difference is about 7%, however, in day to day use, you will hardly notice this difference.

Advantages:

  • Excellent performance
  • Widespread selling
  • Low cost

6 Exynos 8895

Power at an affordable price
Country: Vietnam
Average price: 35 489 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.6

The basis for flagship smartphones, technological know-how from Samsung - this is how this processor can be characterized. Its such frequency can reach 3 GHz, and the model itself will be the first in the Samsung model range, made using a 10 nanometer process technology. 8 cores will be responsible for the performance, effectively working in both single-core and multi-core modes.

Power consumption is extremely low at only 5 watts. It also has the ability to record 4K video at 120 frames per second, which is four times higher than its competitor - the Snapdragon 835 is limited to 4K video at 30 frames per second. One of the downsides is performance limitation due to DirectX 11 support. Despite this, the gem supports Vulkan 1.0. Data transmission is also limited to dual-band 802.11 Wi-Fi. Thus, smartphones based on this mobile processor will be an excellent option for video recording lovers.

5 Snapdragon 845

The most powerful and widely used processor
Country: China
Average price: 21 490 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.7

This processor uses universal computing cores of its own production, and not the reference one from ARM. New 10nm LPP FinFET process technology , allows you to get a larger performance gain, in contrast to the 10 nm LPE FinFET. The best combination of mass production, performance and cost has made the processor the most popular among manufacturers.

It inherited the same eight-core architecture from the 835 model. The configuration here consists of 4 energy-efficient cores with a frequency of up to 1.8 GHz for simple tasks and 4 high-performance powerful cores with a frequency of up to 2.8 GHz, which is higher than the previous generation. In the synthetic Antutu test, it scored 270,461 points, which is higher than the 835. The Adreno 630 mobile video accelerator is one of the most powerful on the market and performs well when working with graphics, providing a high-quality image to the smartphone user.

4 Kirin 980

7 nm process technology
Country: China
Average price: 76 990 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.7

The Kirin 980 is ahead of its time with the best technical innovations, including:

  • An innovative approach to creating the basic architecture of the processor and the latest mobile chipset with a 7 nanometer process technology;
  • Cortex-A76 core architecture;
  • Two neural network modules in a chip;
  • Mali-G76 graphics;
  • Integrated Cat.21 modem with data rates up to 1.4Gbps;
  • Supports RAM format LPDDR4X with a frequency of 2133 MHz.

Thanks to the transition to a 7-PNM technical process, productivity has grown by 20%, and energy savings by 40%. At the same time, the density of placement of transistors increased 1.6 times. There are about 7 billion of them in total. This has a positive effect on performance per core, which increased performance by 75%. Thus, the power of the component is enough to beat even one of the best and most powerful processors to date - the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 in synthetic benchmarks like GeekBench.

3 Exynos 9810

Best processor from Samsung
Country: Vietnam
Average price: 51 490 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.8

New processor fromSamsung takes the degree of interaction between the owner and his device to a new level. Advanced technologies enable the identification of objects or people for quick search or classification of images. There is also the ability to scan the contours of the face to unlock the smartphone. As for the structure, the processor itself belongs to the 3rd and most recent generation in the line. It is characterized by extensive processing capabilities and optimized cache memory. Eight cores are divided into "user" for common tasks and "resource-intensive" for "heavy" processes.

Thus, the processor performs excellently in all tests, demonstrating excellent computing power and smooth operation when running many processes with a minimum of power consumption. In addition, data transmission channels (1.2 Gb / s and 200 Mb / s, respectively) provide comfortable data transfer of any format without loss of quality.

2 A11 Bionic

One of the most powerful chipsets in the world
Country: USA
Average price: 51 990 rubles.
Rating (2019): 4.9

The fifth generation processor is 25% more powerful than the A10 version. It is manufactured using a 10 nm process technology, which, coupled with a special technology, has increased energy efficiency by 70%. The performance boost can be attributed to the processor cores called Monsun and Mistral. This chipset has two additional cores and is capable of asymmetric multiprocessing. This means that it can use all six cores at the same time.

The processor is equipped with a new ASP which helps with the new portrait mode. Dual-parallel cores can process up to 600 billion operations per second and create effects even on video. Delightful Animoji are made available thanks to a powerful neural engine. Despite the excellent performance, this processor can only be found in smartphones from Apple, which is a significant disadvantage.

1 A12 Bionic

Best Apple processor
Country: USA
Average price: 91,900 rubles.
Rating (2019): 5.0

The A12 version is considered the best and most powerful processor in the world. When examining it, a balanced use of the lithographic plate area without imbalance to one or another component is immediately thrown. The two large performance cores run at just under 2.5 GHz. Nearby is a monstrously large 8 MB cache, divided into 4 clusters, grouped into two blocks. The most notable change was the increase in the level 1 cache from 64 + 64 to 128 + 128. The 4 energy efficient tempest cores also have a level 2 cache in two blocks, approximately per megabyte. The system cache remains in place and is still moved outside the CPU boundaries. High-performance cores in the new iteration have become more powerful by 15%, and energy efficiency has increased to 50%.

The processor has a graphics accelerator with a neural processing unit. It consists of 6 cores in a 2 + 4 configuration and performs up to 5 trillion operations per second, which is 9 times higher than the previous generation. This "stone" can be found in the latest models of IPhoneXS / XR smartphones, in addition, a variant of the chip with the 12X index is used in the iPad PRO.

Updated 07.09.2018

There are many phones on the market, and they are all equipped with different processors from manufacturers Qualcomm, Mediatek, Exynos, HiSilicon, Apple and others. To get confused in them is one piece of cake, so a potential buyer most often does not know which chip is used in the chosen phone. Below is a list of TOP hardware used in flagships.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 835

This mobile chipset includes the components necessary for the functioning of any smartphone: the processor itself, the Adreno 540 graphics core, 4G module, Wi-Fi module, sensor hubs, sound equipment. Snapdragon 835 is the successor to the previous TOP Snapdragon 821 chip, on the basis of which the flagships of 2016 were created (list).

The 835 is made using 10nm technology (like all top chips in 2017). That is, the size of the transistors is reduced, which allows them to be placed closer to each other in comparison with 14-nm and even more so 20-nm processors. The result is lower energy consumption, smaller dimensions, higher productivity.

8 cores of Kryo 280 are applied:

  1. 4 powerful cores with a frequency of 2.45 GHz and a second level cache memory of 2 MB.
  2. 4 low-performance cores with a frequency of 1.9 GHz and 1 MB cache memory.

Works 835th on the effective architecture of big.LITTLE.

Top Phones:

  1. OnePlus 5 (Shows Top Performance Results)
  2. Samsung Galaxy S8 - produced with proprietary Exynos or Snapdragon chips
  3. Google Pixel 2 (Best Camera, # 1 in).
  4. Nokia 8.
  5. HTC U11.
  6. Sony Xperia XZ1.
  7. Xiaomi Mi6.
  8. LG V30.
  9. nubia Z17.
  10. Xiaomi Mi MIX 2.

The other day at Qualcomm Tech Summit 2017, the company announced the release of a new mobile chip - Snapdragon 845. According to the developers, the hardware is supposed to be made using 10nm technology. It will be equipped with improved processing technology and an LTE modem, and will focus on supporting and improving virtual reality technology. There are no smartphones with this processor now, but it should appear in the first half of 2018.

Helio X30 and Helio P25 by MediaTek

Mediatek lags behind Qualcomm in the popularity of its products. In early 2017, it introduced the Helio X30 - a powerful 10-core processor with a standard set of components: video processor, modems, coprocessor, memory controllers, etc.

As befits top chips, this one is produced using 10nm technology and has three clusters:

  1. 2 Cortex-A73 cores with a frequency of up to 2.5 GHz (powerful productive cores are used if necessary).
  2. 4 Cortex-A53 cores up to 2.2 GHz.
  3. 4 cores Cortex-A53 up to 9 GHz.

Interesting is the model Helio P25 - a processor from "Mediatek" created for flagships with dual cameras. There is a separate 12-bit coprocessor that provides "advanced" camera effects: changing the depth of field, improved exposure, support for Color + Mono Denoise technology (shooting without artifacts and with less noise). Helio-P25 is made using 16nm technology, so it cannot be called a flagship.

Phones based on the Helio X30 chip:

  1. Meizu Pro 7 is one of the best phones from Meizu, taking 3rd place in the ranking.
  2. Meizu Pro 7 Plus.

Helio P25 based:

  1. Meizu Pro 7.
  2. DOOGEE Mix 6.
  3. DOOGEE S60.
  4. DOOGEE Mix 2.
  5. Ulefone Armor 2.

Exynos 8898M

Samsung's proprietary chip is created using a 10nm process technology - one of the best modern mobile processors for smartphones with machine learning technology. Thanks to it, the chip will better cope with the assigned tasks every time. For example, the first video conversion will take 30 seconds, the second - 28. Exynos 8898M gets used to similar tasks and performs them faster.

At the moment, the only smartphone equipped with this processor is the new flagship from Samsung - Note 8. See its characteristics and comparison with the iPhone 8.

Future flagships of 2018 from Samsung (in the first half for sure) will be based on this chip.

HiSilicon Kirin 970

The new flagship processor from Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon is used in the only phone - the Mate 10 and its modification Mate 10 Pro. The new TOP models from Huawei in 2018 will also be equipped with this processor.

The chip is made using a 10nm process technology, equipped with a 12-core graphics processor and a neural processing unit for AI tasks. Artificial intelligence allocates memory more efficiently, processes complex images and videos, and solves the problems of visualizing the interface. With this hardware, Huawei has stepped to a new level, and the phone itself took 1st place in the review of the manufacturer's best models (the review itself is available).

Apple a11 bionic

The old Apple A10 fusion chipset has been replaced by a new one - A11 Bionic. Used in new smartphones from Apple - iphone 8 and X. And although the models were disappointing (why? Read on), they got the best mobile processors in the world, which set a performance record in benchmarks.

Here is a screenshot from the official Antutu benchmark blog:

Smartphones are listed in order of decreasing performance. There's no iphone x yet, but there is an iPhone 8 Plus with a similar processor.

A11 Bionic is built on 10nm technology, includes 4.3 billion transistors, a graphics coprocessor and IPS, 2 powerful Monsoon cores and 4 energy-efficient Mistral cores. Now the iPhone X and iPhone 8 (and 8 plus) are equipped with this chip, but Apple may launch other flagships (as it did with the iPhone SE) based on the A11 Bionic.

Conclusion

These processors are the most powerful at the end of 2017 - beginning of 2018. Starting in mid 2018, there will be new chipsets from all manufacturers. Leadership is held by Apple processors among iOS devices, Qualcomm - among Android gadgets. The competition is Samsung Exynos and HiSilicon Kirin, and MetiaTek is slightly behind. Their market share is much lower compared to Qualcomm and Samsung.

There are three main players in the mobile chipset market today: the American company Qualcomm, the Taiwanese MediaTek and the Korean Samsung. Also, the chips are being developed by the Chinese Spreadtrum, the American Intel and Apple. The chips of the latter are used only in the technique of their production (iPhone, iPad, iPod). The lineup of processors from each corporation (except Apple) is wide enough. It is also important to note the Huawei company. It owns its own division for the development and production of HiSilicon processors.

The three leaders release CPUs for smartphones of all price categories, the number of simultaneously used models can exceed a dozen. Due to the fact that the model number does not directly reflect the level of performance, it is difficult for an untrained user to find the best processor for a smartphone. For example, in the 675x series of MediaTek there are eight-core models MT6750, 6752, 6753 and 6755. The most productive of them is 6755, but it is followed not by 6753 (which would be logical), but 6750 or 6752 (this chip was quickly removed from production , as it turned out to be too fast for the positioned niche). The mentioned 6753 is the weakest in the series.

To be considered the best, a processor must have fast and economical cores with an up-to-date technical process. It is also required to be suitable for any modern task and to cope with both games and video decoding in 4K. All the models in the selection are able to do this and are installed in flagship smartphones until the end of summer 2016 and will be relevant for a long time.

The best processor for a smartphone at the time of this writing is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. The chipset, presented at the end of 2015, was first released in February 2016, as part of the flagships Samsung Galaxy S7 (version for China) and Xiaomi Mi5. It is a powerful quad-core CPU based on a modification of Qualcomm's own ARM architecture. Its operating frequency is up to 2.2 GHz.

Thanks to a thin 14 nm process technology, the chip remains cool and economical, unlike its predecessor. The high speed of the processor is confirmed by the AnTuTu tests. The average result of existing smartphones based on it is about 140 thousand points. Upcoming Chinese flagships with Snapdragon 820 show even more impressive numbers. A more advanced processor will be released under the number 821.

Samsung Exynos 8890 Octa

Samsung Exynos 8890 Octa is the second leader in the mobile processor market. The brainchild of Samsung is an eight-core CPU with big.LITTLE architecture. Four cores on the proprietary Mongoose architecture run heavy duty at 2.4GHz, while four cost-effective 1.6GHz Cortex-A53 are activated under light loads. The chip was presented at the beginning of 2016, the first smartphone based on it was the Samsung Galaxy S7 / S7 EDGE.

The processor is manufactured according to the 14 nm process technology, thanks to which smartphones with it are energy efficient. In AnTuTu, the chipset scores 135,000 points, which confirms the second place in terms of performance. The next more advanced Exynos is numbered 8893.

Apple a9

The Apple A9 processor was developed by the company's engineers specifically for the current generation of iPhone and was presented in September 2015. It is used inside models 6s, 6s Plus, SE, as well as several apple tablets. The chip is a dual-core CPU based on a modified ARM Twister architecture. Its clock speed can reach 1.8GHz.

Like the other two leaders, the processor is manufactured using the 14 nm process technology, as well as 16 nm (depending on the manufacturer). This, coupled with top-notch optimization, allows it to perform well in unimpressive on paper, and stay cool. Depending on the smartphone model (and, as a result, the screen resolution), the chip gains about 130-135 thousand points in AnTuTu. Apple's next more advanced processor is labeled A10.

MediaTek Helio X25

The brainchild of the Taiwanese company MediaTek is the first massive 10-core processor for a smartphone. The CPU was launched into mass production at the beginning of 2016, the first device based on it was Meizu Pro 6. It has an unusual architecture, since it consists not of 2 (like big.LITTLE), but 3 computing clusters. 2 Cortex-A72 cores, operating at 2.5 GHz, are active in heavy tasks, in medium load and with multiple data streams, four Cortex-A53 2 GHz are activated, and in the background and under light load, four Cortex-A53 1.55 are activated GHz.

The chip's approach to multicore allows you to choose the optimal cluster of cores, depending on the task. Due to this, energy savings are achieved and the fact that the percentage was produced using the 20 nm process technology is compensated. In the synthetic AnTuTu test, the processor shows about 97 thousand points. Considering that, in addition to Meizu Pro 6, there are no more smartphones on it - in the foreseeable future, new products based on it with even greater performance may be released.

HiSilicon Kirin 955

The top chipset of Huawei smartphones is HiSilicon Kirin 955. The processor, presented in April 2016, is equipped with eight cores. Four of them are high-speed Cortex-A72 operating at 2.5 GHz, four more are Cortex-A53 1.8 GHz. Traditionally, big.LITTLE technology is used to separate cores.

The technical process by which the chipset is created is 16 nm. This value is relevant in 2016, allowing to achieve efficiency and performance at the same time. In the AnTuTu benchmark, the processor is gaining about 95 thousand points.

ARM processor is a mobile processor for smartphones and tablets.

This table lists all currently known ARM processors. The ARM processor table will be updated and expanded as new models become available. This table uses a conditional system for evaluating CPU and GPU performance. ARM performance data has been taken from a variety of sources, mainly based on benchmarks such as: PassMark, Antutu, GFXBench.

We do not claim absolute accuracy. Absolutely accurate to rank and evaluate the performance of ARM processors impossible, for the simple reason that each of them, in some way has advantages, and in some way lags behind other ARM processors. The ARM processor table allows you to see, evaluate and, most importantly, compare different SoCs (System-On-Chip) solutions. Using our table, you can compare mobile processors and find out exactly how the ARM heart of your future (or present) smartphone or tablet is positioned.

Here's a comparison of ARM processors. We looked and compared the performance of the CPU and GPU in various SoCs (System-on-Chip). But the reader may have several questions: Where are ARM processors used? What is an ARM processor? How does ARM architecture differ from x86 processors? Let's try to figure it all out without going into too much detail.

First, let's define the terminology. ARM is the name of the architecture and at the same time the name of the company leading its development. The abbreviation ARM stands for (Advanced RISC Machine or Acorn RISC Machine), which can be translated as: advanced RISC machine. ARM architecture brings together a family of both 32 and 64-bit microprocessor cores developed and licensed by ARM Limited. I would like to note right away that ARM Limited is solely engaged in the development of kernels and tools for them (debugging tools, compilers, etc.), but not in the production of the processors themselves. Company ARM Limited sells licenses to manufacture ARM processors to third parties. Here is a partial list of companies licensed to manufacture ARM processors today: AMD, Atmel, Altera, Cirrus Logic, Intel, Marvell, NXP, Samsung, LG, MediaTek, Qualcomm, Sony Ericsson, Texas Instruments, nVidia, Freescale ... and many others.

Some companies that have licensed ARM processors are creating their own versions of the cores based on the ARM architecture. Examples include: DEC StrongARM, Freescale i.MX, Intel XScale, NVIDIA Tegra, ST-Ericsson Nomadik, Qualcomm Snapdragon, Texas Instruments OMAP, Samsung Hummingbird, LG H13, Apple A4 / A5 / A6 and HiSilicon K3.

ARM-based processors are currently running virtually any electronics: PDA, mobile phones and smartphones, digital players, handheld game consoles, calculators, external hard drives and routers. They all contain an ARM core, so we can say that ARM - mobile processors for smartphones and tablets.

ARM processor represents a SoC, or "system on a chip". SoC system, or "system on a chip", can contain in one chip, in addition to the CPU itself, and other parts of a full-fledged computer. This is a memory controller, and a controller for I / O ports, and a graphics core, and a geolocation system (GPS). It can contain a 3G module, as well as many other things.

If we consider a separate family of ARM processors, let's say Cortex-A9 (or any other), we cannot say that all processors of the same family have the same performance or all are equipped with a GPS module. All these parameters are highly dependent on the chip manufacturer and what and how he decided to implement in his product.

How ARM differs from X86 processors? The RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture itself implies a reduced instruction set. Which accordingly leads to very moderate energy consumption. Indeed, inside any ARM chip there are much fewer transistors than its counterpart from the x86 line. Do not forget that in an SoC system, all peripheral devices are located inside one microcircuit, which allows the ARM processor to be even more economical in terms of power consumption. ARM architecture was originally designed to compute only integer operations, in contrast to x86, which can work with floating point or FPU calculations. It is impossible to unambiguously compare these two architectures. ARM will have some advantage. And somewhere and vice versa. If you try to answer the question in one phrase: what is the difference between ARM and X86 processors, then the answer will be: ARM processor does not know the number of instructions that an x86 processor knows. And those that know look much shorter. This is both its pros and cons. Be that as it may, lately everything says that ARM processors are starting to slowly but surely catch up, and in some ways surpass the usual x86. Many are openly claiming that ARM processors will soon replace the x86 platform in the home PC segment. As we already know, in 2013, several world-famous companies have completely abandoned the further release of netbooks in favor of tablet PCs. Well, what will actually happen, time will tell.

We will keep track of ARM processors already on the market.