HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G CPU1 vs CPU2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3

CPU comparison

HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G or Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.

The HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.86 GHz. Up to 8 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G was released in Q3/2019.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.40 GHz. The CPU supports up to 24 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 was released in Q4/2023.
HiSilicon Kirin (29) Family Qualcomm Snapdragon (102)
HiSilicon Kirin 990 (3) CPU group Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (2)
8 Generation 3
Cortex-A76 / Cortex-A55 Architecture --
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G is 2.86 GHz while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has 8 CPU cores and 8 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is at 3.40 GHz.

HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
8 Cores 8
8 Threads 8
hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.86 GHz
2x Cortex-A76
A-Core 3.40 GHz
1x Cortex-X4
2.09 GHz
2x Cortex-A76
B-Core 2.96 GHz (3.15 GHz)
5x Cortex-A720
1.86 GHz
4x Cortex-A55
C-Core 2.27 GHz
2x Cortex-A520

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 990 4G Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
HUAWEI HiAI 2.0 AI hardware Qualcomm AI engine
Da Vinci Architecture. 1x Ascend Lite + 1x Ascend Tiny AI specifications Hexagon NPU @ 34 TOPS

Internal Graphics

The HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G or Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.

ARM Mali-G76 MP16 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 750
0.60 GHz GPU frequency 0.90 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) --
Bifrost 3 GPU Generation --
7 nm Technology 4 nm
2 Max. displays 2
16 Compute units --
256 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing Yes
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory 6 GB
12 DirectX Version 12.1

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 MP16 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 750
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
Decode / Encode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G can use up to 8 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is --. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 supports up to 24 GB of memory in 4 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 76.6 GB/s.

HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
LPDDR4X-2133 Memory LPDDR5X-9600
8 GB Max. Memory 24 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
-- Max. Bandwidth 76.6 GB/s
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
2.00 MB L3 Cache 12.00 MB
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G is 6 W, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has a TDP of 12.5 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
6 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 12.5 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G is manufactured in 7 nm and has 2.00 MB cache. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is manufactured in 4 nm and has a 12.00 MB cache.

HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
7 nm Technology 4 nm
Chiplet Chip design Chiplet
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) Armv9-A (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions --
-- Socket --
None Virtualization None
No AES-NI No
Android Operating systems Android, Windows 10/11 (ARM)
Q3/2019 Release date Q4/2023
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


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Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G (44%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 2 CPU benchmarks
HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G (45%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 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 990 4G HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G
8C 8T @ 2.86 GHz
757 (44%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.40 GHz
1709 (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 990 4G HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G
8C 8T @ 2.86 GHz
2855 (44%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.40 GHz
6431 (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 990 4G HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G
8C 8T @ 2.86 GHz
996 (43%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.40 GHz
2293 (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 990 4G HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G
8C 8T @ 2.86 GHz
3244 (46%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.40 GHz
7117 (100%)

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 990 4G HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G
ARM Mali-G76 MP16 @ 0.60 GHz
737 (32%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
Qualcomm Adreno 750 @ 0.90 GHz
2287 (100%)

AnTuTu 10 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 10 benchmark is one of the best-known benchmarks for mobile processors, which is now available in version 10. There is a version for Android-based smartphones and tablets, as well as a version for Apple mobile devices, i.e. iPhones and iPads.

The Antutu 10 benchmark has 3 phases. In the first phase, the device's RAM is tested, in phase 2 the graphics are tested and in the final phase the entire device is pushed to its performance limits by rendering 3D graphics.

Antutu 10 is therefore ideal for comparing the performance of different devices.
HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G
8C 8T @ 2.86 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.40 GHz
1949480 (100%)

AnTuTu 9 Benchmark

The AnTuTu 9 benchmark is very well suited to measuring the performance of a smartphone. AnTuTu 9 is quite heavy on 3D graphics and can now also use the "Metal" graphics interface. In AnTuTu, memory and UX (user experience) are also tested by simulating browser and app usage. AnTuTu version 9 can compare any ARM CPU running on Android or iOS. Devices may not be directly comparable when benchmarked on different operating systems.

In the AnTuTu 9 benchmark, the single-core performance of a processor is only slightly weighted. The rating is made up of the multi-core performance of the processor, the speed of the working memory, and the performance of the internal graphics.
HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G
8C 8T @ 2.86 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.40 GHz
1476480 (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 990 4G HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G
8C 8T @ 2.86 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
8C 8T @ 3.40 GHz
34 (100%)

Devices using this processor

HiSilicon Kirin 990 4G Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
Huawei Mate 30 Pro Xiaomi 14
Xiaomi 14 Pro
ASUS ROG Phone 8 Pro
Samsung S24 Ultra

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