The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Performance Preview: Sizing Up Cortex-X2
by Dr. Ian Cutress on December 14, 2021 8:00 AM ESTSystem-Wide Testing and Gaming
For our system wide tests, we had time to go through Geekbench 5, PCMark, and GFXBench. For workload based testing, we see performance uplifts with the S8g1, and it is a noting that here we tested PCMark with both performance mode on and off, which gave a +10% increase in the score – we’ve seen this before running PCMark on both Arm and x86 devices where turbo and favored cores can have large effects on scores. By contrast, GB5 scored the same.
In our PCMark tests, it's clear who the new ruler of the roost is.
On the graphics side, Qualcomm’s new number-less Adreno that is advertised as being ‘new from the ground up (but we won’t tell you how)’ again offers generational improvements for next year’s Android flagships. Qualcomm historically also offers better graphics performance per watt, so we’ll have to wait until we get the devices on hand to showcase that data. But overall, the gains in these tests show a large +50% performance jump over previous generation S888 graphics performance. In 2022, we'll have MediaTek’s flagship trying to aim for the same market but based on the Mali GPU, and graphics is an area that Qualcomm historically outpaces Mali designs quite easily. The only serious competitor in this space is Apple.
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GeoffreyA - Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - link
Since about Kit Kat or so, the bytecode of an Android app is compiled to native code at install time. But doubtless C++ would still be faster because Java overdoes object-oriented style and dynamic allocation. C/C++ code can work in Android using the NDK, but it appears to be a nightmare getting it latched in. Sometimes I wonder what they were thinking when they picked Java as their language.Meteor2 - Friday, December 17, 2021 - link
They were thinking about the number of developers who could code it...TheinsanegamerN - Friday, December 17, 2021 - link
Developer support, ease of transition, and flexibility.Chaser - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
Before, I used to care about these SOC improvements/benchmarks, etc. But I don't play games on smartphones. All I care about today is battery life improvements, not performance.Alistair - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
That's why I switched to Apple. I get battery life and efficiency improvements, and CPU improvements. The only highlight for Snapdragon is GPU. CPU improvements are almost non-existent this year, again. Same for several years, they get farther and farther behind Apple in CPU.flyingpants265 - Thursday, December 16, 2021 - link
Yeah, but everything else about it sucks.Alistair - Saturday, December 18, 2021 - link
just browsing the web and using apps that are the same on all platforms, and doing it fasterKangal - Sunday, December 19, 2021 - link
Apple has a long history, that whenever their next chipset offers more efficiency, they counteract this by using a new (power hungry) feature.For instance, newer 5G modem, 120Hz screen, higher resolution, or more processing demand in their next software.
And at times, they even reduce the battery capacity. This saves weight off the phone, and they counteract this by adding other components like more cameras, or heavier glass construction.
All in all, the iPhones don't gain more battery life, they follow a general trend, and there are some outliers there (eg iPhone 6S+ and iPhone 13 Max).
TheinsanegamerN - Friday, December 17, 2021 - link
Budget phones like the moto g power annialate apple in real life battery benchmarks for a fraction of the price.Alistair - Tuesday, December 14, 2021 - link
I'll all in on Mediatek then, this was disappointing. Can't wait for Mediatek comparisons!