Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 vs HiSilicon Kirin 970

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 CPU1 vs CPU2 HiSilicon Kirin 970
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 HiSilicon Kirin 970

CPU comparison

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 or HiSilicon Kirin 970 - 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 Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.00 GHz. Up to 8 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 was released in Q2/2016.

The HiSilicon Kirin 970 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.40 GHz. The CPU supports up to 8 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The HiSilicon Kirin 970 was released in Q3/2017.
Qualcomm Snapdragon (102) Family HiSilicon Kirin (29)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625/626 (2) CPU group HiSilicon Kirin 970 (1)
3 Generation 6
Cortex-A53 Architecture Cortex-A73 / Cortex-A53
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 8 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 is 2.00 GHz while the HiSilicon Kirin 970 has 8 CPU cores and 8 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the HiSilicon Kirin 970 is at 2.40 GHz.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 970
8 Cores 8
8 Threads 8
normal Core architecture hybrid (big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.00 GHz
8x Cortex-A53
A-Core 2.40 GHz
4x Cortex-A73
-- B-Core 1.84 GHz
4x Cortex-A53

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.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 970
Qualcomm AI engine AI hardware --
Hexagon 546 AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 or HiSilicon Kirin 970 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.

Qualcomm Adreno 506 GPU ARM Mali-G72 MP12
0.65 GHz GPU frequency 0.75 GHz
0.65 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
5 GPU Generation Bifrost 2
14 nm Technology 16 nm
0 Max. displays 1
-- Compute units 12
96 Shader 192
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
-- 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.

Qualcomm Adreno 506 GPU ARM Mali-G72 MP12
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
No Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
No Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
No Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 can use up to 8 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 14.9 GB/s. The HiSilicon Kirin 970 supports up to 8 GB of memory in 4 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to --.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 970
LPDDR3-1866 Memory LPDDR4X-2133
8 GB Max. Memory 8 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
14.9 GB/s Max. Bandwidth --
No ECC No
-- L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 2.00 MB
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 is --, while the HiSilicon Kirin 970 has a TDP of 9 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 970
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) 9 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 is manufactured in 14 nm and has 0.00 MB cache. The HiSilicon Kirin 970 is manufactured in 10 nm and has a 2.00 MB cache.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Characteristic HiSilicon Kirin 970
14 nm Technology 10 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
Q2/2016 Release date Q3/2017
-- Release price --
show more data show more data


Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.4 stars (5 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the HiSilicon Kirin 970 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 5.0 stars (4 ratings). Rate now:


Average performance in benchmarks

⌀ Single core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 (78%)
HiSilicon Kirin 970 (100%)
⌀ Multi core performance in 1 CPU benchmarks
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 (80%)
HiSilicon Kirin 970 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
271 (78%)
HiSilicon Kirin 970 HiSilicon Kirin 970
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
349 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
1163 (80%)
HiSilicon Kirin 970 HiSilicon Kirin 970
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
1455 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
Qualcomm Adreno 506 @ 0.65 GHz
125 (38%)
HiSilicon Kirin 970 HiSilicon Kirin 970
ARM Mali-G72 MP12 @ 0.75 GHz
330 (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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
294 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 970 HiSilicon Kirin 970
8C 8T @ 2.40 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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
941 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 970 HiSilicon Kirin 970
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

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.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
8C 8T @ 2.00 GHz
1775 (100%)
HiSilicon Kirin 970 HiSilicon Kirin 970
8C 8T @ 2.40 GHz
0 (0%)

Devices using this processor

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 HiSilicon Kirin 970
Unknown Huawei Honor 10
Huawei Note 10
Huawei Play
Huawei Honor View 10
Huawei Mate 10 Pro
Huawei P20
Huawei Nova 3
Huawei Nova 4

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