HiSilicon Kirin 980 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


HiSilicon Kirin 980 CPU1 vs CPU2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
HiSilicon Kirin 980 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the HiSilicon Kirin 980 and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the HiSilicon Kirin 980 8 core processor released in Q4/2018 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q1/2022.
HiSilicon Kirin (29) Family Qualcomm Snapdragon (104)
HiSilicon Kirin 980 (2) CPU group Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 (1)
7 Generation 3
Cortex-A76 / Cortex-A55 Architecture Cortex-X1 / Cortex-A78
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen. 2
-- 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 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 clocks with 3.00 GHz, has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
8 Cores 8
8 Threads 8
hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.60 GHz
2x Cortex-A76
A-Core 3.00 GHz
4x Kryo 680 Prime
1.92 GHz
2x Cortex-A76
B-Core 2.42 GHz
4x Kryo 680 Gold
1.80 GHz
4x Cortex-A55
C-Core --

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 980 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
-- AI hardware Qualcomm AI engine
-- AI specifications Hexagon
-- 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-G76 MP10 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 690
0.72 GHz GPU frequency --
-- GPU (Turbo) --
Bifrost 3 GPU Generation 6
7 nm Technology 7 nm
2 Max. displays 0
10 Compute units --
160 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory --
12 DirectX Version 12.0

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 Qualcomm Adreno 690
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
Decode / Encode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode
Decode / Encode Codec VC-1 Decode
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 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 supports a maximum of 32 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 68.2 GB/s enabled.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
LPDDR4X-2133 Memory LPDDR4X-4266
8 GB Max. Memory 32 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 8 (Octa Channel)
-- Max. Bandwidth 68.2 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
2.00 MB L3 Cache --
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The HiSilicon Kirin 980 has a TDP of 6 W. The TDP of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 is 7 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
6 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 7 W
-- 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 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 is at 0.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 5 nm.

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
7 nm Technology 5 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
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, Windows 10 (ARM)
Q4/2018 Release date Q1/2022
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the HiSilicon Kirin 980 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (9 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.4 stars (13 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 980 (62%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 980 (44%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 (100%)

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 (62%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
1096 (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 (44%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
5789 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. 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
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
579 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. 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
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
3286 (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 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.00 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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
2778 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)

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 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
Qualcomm Adreno 690 @ 0.00 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 980 HiSilicon Kirin 980
8C 8T @ 2.60 GHz
412594 (100%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.00 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

HiSilicon Kirin 980 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3
Huawei P30
Huawei P30 Pro
Huawei Honor 20
Huawei Honor 20 Pro
Huawei Mate 20
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
Huawei Nova 5T
Unknown

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