HiSilicon Kirin 960 vs Samsung Exynos 9609

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


HiSilicon Kirin 960 CPU1 vs CPU2 Samsung Exynos 9609
HiSilicon Kirin 960 Samsung Exynos 9609

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the HiSilicon Kirin 960 and the Samsung Exynos 9609 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the HiSilicon Kirin 960 8 core processor released in Q4/2016 with the Samsung Exynos 9609 which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q2/2019.
HiSilicon Kirin (29) Family Samsung Exynos (47)
HiSilicon Kirin 960 (2) CPU group Samsung Exynos 9600 (3)
5 Generation 3
Cortex-A73 / Cortex-A53 Architecture Cortex-A73 / Cortex-A53
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The HiSilicon Kirin 960 is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.40 GHz. The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Samsung Exynos 9609 clocks with 2.20 GHz, has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 9609
8 Cores 8
8 Threads 8
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.40 GHz
4x Cortex-A73
A-Core 2.20 GHz
4x Cortex-A73
1.80 GHz
4x Cortex-A53
B-Core 1.60 GHz
4x Cortex-A53

NPU AI performance

The performance values of the processor's AI unit. The isolated NPU performance is specified here, the total AI performance (NPU+CPU+iGPU) can be higher. Processors with support for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors.

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 9609
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --
-- NPU + CPU + iGPU --

Integrated graphics (iGPU)

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

ARM Mali-G71 MP8 GPU ARM Mali-G72 MP3
0.90 GHz GPU frequency 0.85 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) --
Bifrost 1 GPU Generation Bifrost 2
16 nm Technology 16 nm
2 Max. displays 1
8 Compute units 3
256 Shader 48
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory 2 GB
11 DirectX Version 12

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

ARM Mali-G71 MP8 GPU ARM Mali-G72 MP3
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
No Codec VC-1 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 6 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the HiSilicon Kirin 960, while the Samsung Exynos 9609 supports a maximum of GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of -- enabled.

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 9609
LPDDR4-1600 Memory LPDDR4X-1600
6 GB Max. Memory
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 0
12.8 GB/s Max. Bandwidth --
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
4.00 MB L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The HiSilicon Kirin 960 has a TDP of 5 W. The TDP of the Samsung Exynos 9609 is --. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 9609
5 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The HiSilicon Kirin 960 has 4.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 16 nm. The cache of Samsung Exynos 9609 is at 0.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 10 nm.

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 9609
16 nm Technology 10 nm
Chiplet Chip design Unknown
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv8-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
None Virtualization None
No AES-NI No
Android Operating systems Android
Q4/2016 Release date Q2/2019
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

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Here you can rate the Samsung Exynos 9609 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 0 stars (0 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 960 (100%)
Samsung Exynos 9609 (84%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 960 (100%)
Samsung Exynos 9609 (75%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
381 (100%)
Samsung Exynos 9609 Samsung Exynos 9609
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
319 (84%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
1521 (100%)
Samsung Exynos 9609 Samsung Exynos 9609
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
1139 (75%)

iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
ARM Mali-G71 MP8 @ 0.90 GHz
245 (100%)
Samsung Exynos 9609 Samsung Exynos 9609
ARM Mali-G72 MP3 @ 0.85 GHz
94 (38%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
403 (100%)
Samsung Exynos 9609 Samsung Exynos 9609
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
1393 (100%)
Samsung Exynos 9609 Samsung Exynos 9609
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
0 (0%)

AnTuTu 8 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 8 Benchmark measures the performance of a SoC. AnTuTu benchmarks the CPU, GPU, Memory as well as the UX (User Experience) by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu can benchmark any ARM CPU that runs under Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly compareable if the benchmark has been performed under different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 8 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The evaluation consists of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the RAM and the performance of the internal graphics.
HiSilicon Kirin 960 HiSilicon Kirin 960
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)
Samsung Exynos 9609 Samsung Exynos 9609
8C 8T @ 2.20 GHz
185205 (100%)

Devices using this processor

HiSilicon Kirin 960 Samsung Exynos 9609
Huawei Honor 8 Pro
Huawei Honor 9
Huawei Mate 9
Huawei Mate 9 Pro
Huawei Mate 9 Porsche
Huawei MediaPad M5
Huawei Nova 2s
Huawei P10
Unknown

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