Samsung Exynos 990 vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 888

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Samsung Exynos 990 CPU1 vs CPU2 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Samsung Exynos 990 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888

CPU comparison

Samsung Exynos 990 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 - 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 Samsung Exynos 990 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.73 GHz. Up to 12 GB of memory is supported in 4 memory channels. The Samsung Exynos 990 was released in Q1/2020.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 has 8 cores with 8 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 2.84 GHz. The CPU supports up to 16 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 was released in Q1/2021.
Samsung Exynos (46) Family Qualcomm Snapdragon (102)
Samsung Exynos 990 (1) CPU group Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 (2)
4 Generation 8
Exynos M5/Cortex-A76/-A55 Architecture Kryo 680
Mobile Segment Mobile
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Samsung Exynos 990 is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 2.73 GHz. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 has 8 CPU cores with a clock frequency of 2.84 GHz.

Samsung Exynos 990 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8 Cores 8
8 Threads 8
hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE) Core architecture hybrid (Prime / big.LITTLE)
No Hyperthreading No
No Overclocking ? No
2.73 GHz
2x Exynos M5
A-Core 2.84 GHz
1x Kryo 680 Prime
2.50 GHz
2x Cortex-A76
B-Core 2.42 GHz
3x Kryo 680 Gold
2.00 GHz
4x Cortex-A55
C-Core 1.80 GHz
4x Kryo 680 Silver

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.

Samsung Exynos 990 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Samsung AI engine AI hardware Qualcomm AI engine
2 NPU cores @ 15 TOPS AI specifications Hexagon 780 @ 26 TOPS

Internal Graphics

The integrated graphics unit of a processor is not only responsible for the pure image output on the system, but can also significantly increase the efficiency of the system with the support of modern video codecs.

ARM Mali-G77 MP11 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 660
0.80 GHz GPU frequency 0.84 GHz
-- GPU (Turbo) --
Vallhall 1 GPU Generation 6
7 nm Technology 5 nm
1 Max. displays 0
11 Compute units --
176 Shader --
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
4 GB Max. GPU Memory --
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-G77 MP11 GPU Qualcomm Adreno 660
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
Decode Codec AV1 No
Decode / Encode Codec AVC Decode
Decode / Encode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

The Samsung Exynos 990 supports a maximum of 12 GB of memory in 4 memory channels. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 can connect up to 16 GB of memory in 4 memory channels.

Samsung Exynos 990 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
LPDDR5-2750 Memory LPDDR5-6400
12 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
4 (Quad Channel) Memory channels 4 (Quad Channel)
-- Max. Bandwidth 51.2 GB/s
No ECC No
1.50 MB L2 Cache 1.00 MB
2.00 MB L3 Cache 8.00 MB
-- PCIe version --
-- PCIe lanes --
-- PCIe Bandwidth --

Thermal Management

The TDP (Thermal Design Power) of a processor specifies the required cooling solution. The Samsung Exynos 990 has a TDP of --, that of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 is --.

Samsung Exynos 990 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
-- TDP (PL1 / PBP) --
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
-- TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. --

Technical details

The Samsung Exynos 990 has a 3.50 MB cache, while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 cache has a total of 9.00 MB.

Samsung Exynos 990 Characteristic Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
7 nm Technology 5 nm
Unknown 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
Q1/2020 Release date Q1/2021
-- 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 3 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.
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
923 (85%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
1088 (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.
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
2779 (86%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
3250 (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.
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
1144 (97%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
1174 (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.
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
2645 (84%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
3151 (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.
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
ARM Mali-G77 MP11 @ 0.80 GHz
1126 (65%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Qualcomm Adreno 660 @ 0.84 GHz
1720 (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.
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
510697 (71%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
715600 (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.
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
5511 (90%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
6125 (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).
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
15 (58%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
26 (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.
Samsung Exynos 990 Samsung Exynos 990
8C 8T @ 2.73 GHz
0 (0%)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
8C 8T @ 2.84 GHz
816812 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Samsung Exynos 990 Qualcomm Snapdragon 888
Samsung Galaxy S20
Samsung Galaxy S20+
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra
ASUS Zenfone 8 mini

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