2022 smartphone SoCs were not very strong, but the Apple Bionic SoC has been constantly improving. Last year’s Qualcomm flagship chipset was reported to have many heating issues, but Qualcomm managed to avoid them with the updated 8+ Gen 1 by switching production from Samsung to TSMC.
On the other hand, MediaTek SoCs, despite being very capable, were not widely used in smartphones. 2023 looks promising for Android smartphones, as both MediaTek and Qualcomm’s flagship SoCs promise to bring a massive performance boost. In this article, we will provide an in-depth analysis of this year’s SOCs, so let’s dive in.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 vs. A16 Bionic vs. Dimensity 9200: Quick Spec Comparison
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2:
- manufactured using TSMC’s 4nm process.
- Use 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 CPU clusters with RV9 cores.
- 1x Cortex-X3 at 3GHz for high-performance
- 2x Cortex A715 at 2.8GHz and 2x Cortex A710 at 2.8GHz for mid-performance
- 3x Cortex-A510 at 2.0 GHz for efficiency
- It claims to be 35x faster and 40% more energy efficient than the 8 Gen 1.
- The Adreno 710 GPU is used.
Dimensity 9200 MediaTek:
- 1 + 3 + 4 CPU cluster is used
- 1x Cortex-X3 at 3.2GHz for high-performance
- 3x Cortex A715 for mid-performance
- 4x Cortex-A510 2.0GHz processors for efficiency
- Fabricated using the 4nm TSMC Gen 2 process
- expected to offer 6% better performance than its predecessor.
Apple A16 Bionic:
- uses a 2 + 2 + 2 CPU cluster.
- Older RV8 architecture
- For maximum performance, use two Everest 3.46GHz processors.
- For mid-performance, 4x Sawtooth 2.02GHz is used.
- Fabricated using the 4nm TSMC process
- There were no significant improvements compared to its predecessor.
Benchmark
For reference, the following benchmarks were taken from GSMArena for the IQOO 11 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Vivo X90 Pro with MediaTek Dimensity 9200, and Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max with Apple A16 Bionic.
Geekbench
A higher score is better. Here, we can see that Apple is 26% more efficient than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and 31% better than the Dimensity 9200.
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2: 1476
- Dimension 9200: 1428
- A16 Bionic: 1873
AnTuTu v9
In the overall system test, Apple falls behind the Android flagship SoCs. In this test, we can see that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is 27% better and the Dimensity 9200 is 22.5 percent better than the A16. In multiple tests with heavy loads, Apple showed a 5% decrease, while Qualcomm showed a 2.2% decrease, and MediaTek lost 2.5% in the benchmark.
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2: 1.27 million
- 9200 Dimensions: 1.2 Million
- A16 Bionic: 932K
Note: During testing, A16 Bionic remained the coolest, with temperatures registering between 36°C and 38°C, while Qualcomm was 40°C and 39°C, and MediaTek was 42°C and 39°C.
3D Mark
This test is for GPU performance. In comparison to the previous test, Apple (76.3% stability) falls behind and shows inconsistent GPU performance. Dimensity (98.1%) remains constant and is the top performer among the rest, while Qualcomm remains at 77.8%.
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2: 12,623
- 9200 Dimensions: 12,285
- A16 Bionic: 9,906
However, Dimensity beats Qualcomm with an efficiency score of 8.03 as compared to 7.65 for Qualcomm and 7.24 for the A16 Bionic, despite its efficiency being behind the Android flagship.
class="wp-block-heading">GFX Bench
Apple shows a 29.2% decrease in performance in Aztech Ruins ES 3.1 (1080p, OpenGL, Offscreen), followed by a 16% decrease for Dimensity and a 6.5% decrease for Qualcomm.
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2: 156
- Dimension 9200: 138
- A16 Bionic: 144
Note: In Car Chase ES 3.1 (1080p, offscreen), Apple showed a 12.4% decrease in performance, while Qualcomm and MediaTek showed no decrease in performance. Finally, in Manhattan 3.1 ES 3.1 (1080p, offscreen), MediaTek had a 13.7% decline in performance, followed by an 8.6% decrease for Apple and a 5% decrease for Qualcomm.
Ray Tracing Support
Both Android flagship devices support hardware-based ray tracing, which is missing from the Apple A16 Bionic SoC. If you’re not familiar with this technique, it provides more realistic graphics through more accurate lighting and reflections. Dimensity leads in ray tracing performance, while Snapdragon is slightly behind.
This performance is clearly evident in popular games such as PUBG Mobile, Genshin Impact, Apex Legends, Asphalt 9, Injustice 9, and Mech Arena. This year, the Android flagship SoC is a real winner, especially for MediaTek, which has never been this aggressive. Thanks to TSMC’s 4nm technology, Qualcomm and MediaTek are true champions.
