HiSilicon Kirin 980 vs Samsung Exynos 990

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


HiSilicon Kirin 980 CPU1 vs CPU2 Samsung Exynos 990
HiSilicon Kirin 980 Samsung Exynos 990

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the HiSilicon Kirin 980 and the Samsung Exynos 990 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the HiSilicon Kirin 980 8 core processor released in Q4/2018 with the Samsung Exynos 990 which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q1/2020.
HiSilicon Kirin (29) Family Samsung Exynos (46)
HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2) CPU group Samsung Exynos 990 (1)
7 Generation 4
Cortex-A76 / Cortex-A55 Architecture Exynos M5/Cortex-A76/-A55
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The HiSilicon Kirin 980 is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.60 GHz. The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Samsung Exynos 990 clocks with 2.73 GHz, has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 990
8 Cores 8
8 Threads 8
hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.60 GHz
2x Cortex-A76
A-Core 2.73 GHz
2x Exynos M5
1.92 GHz
2x Cortex-A76
B-Core 2.50 GHz
2x Cortex-A76
1.80 GHz
4x Cortex-A55
C-Core 2.00 GHz
4x Cortex-A55

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 990
-- AI hardware Samsung AI engine
-- AI specifications 2 NPU cores @ 15 TOPS

Internal Graphics

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-G76 MP10 GPU ARM Mali-G77 MP11
0.72 GHz GPU frequency 0.80 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) --
Bifrost 3 GPU Generation Vallhall 1
7 nm Technology 7 nm
2 Max. displays 1
10 Compute units 11
160 Shader 176
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory 4 GB
12 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-G76 MP10 GPU ARM Mali-G77 MP11
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec VC-1 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 8 GB of memory in a maximum of 4 memory channels is supported by the HiSilicon Kirin 980, while the Samsung Exynos 990 supports a maximum of 12 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of -- enabled.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 990
LPDDR4X-2133 Memory LPDDR5-2750
8 GB Max. Memory 12 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
-- Max. Bandwidth --
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache 1.50 MB
2.00 MB L3 Cache 2.00 MB
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The HiSilicon Kirin 980 has a TDP of 6 W. The TDP of the Samsung Exynos 990 is --. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 990
6 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The HiSilicon Kirin 980 has 2.00 MB cache and is manufactured in 7 nm. The cache of Samsung Exynos 990 is at 3.50 MB. The processor is manufactured in 7 nm.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Samsung Exynos 990
7 nm Technology 7 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
Q4/2018 Release date Q1/2020
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks

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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
681 (74%)
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
923 (100%)

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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
2576 (93%)
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
2779 (100%)

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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
885 (77%)
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
1144 (100%)

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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
2778 (100%)
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
2645 (95%)

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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
ARM Mali-G76 MP10 @ 0.72 GHz
520 (46%)
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
ARM Mali-G77 MP11 @ 0.80 GHz
1126 (100%)

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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
412594 (81%)
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
510697 (100%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
HiSilicon Kirin 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
5511 (100%)

Performance for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. The performance is given in the number (trillions) of arithmetic operations per second (TOPS).
HiSilicon Kirin 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
0 (0%)
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
15 (100%)

Devices using this processor

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Samsung Exynos 990
Huawei P30
Huawei P30 Pro
Huawei Honor 20
Huawei Honor 20 Pro
Huawei Mate 20
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Huawei Nova 5T
Samsung Galaxy S20
Samsung Galaxy S20+
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

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