First Galaxy S20 vs Galaxy S10 benchmark score pits Snapdragon 865 vs 855
Samsung’s processor foundries missed one production cycle of the flagship Snapdragon 8-series processor and their new and superior extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography didn’t win the hearts of Qualcomm’s management for the production of Snapdragon 865, either.
Qualcomm revealed at the 865’s unveiling that it is done with TSMC’s second-generation 7nm process, the same one that allowed Apple to cram 8.6 billion transistors in its A13 chipset in the iPhone 11 series.
The big bump, however, is in the value-added features like multi-mode 5G, high-res camera support, or up to 144Hz display refresh rates. Here is a quick comparison table with all the known Snapdragon 865 features against the Exynos 990 and some other notables.
Snapdragon 865 and 855+ vs Exynos 990 vs Apple A13 specs comparison
We are comparing the currently known Exynos 990 and Snapdragon 865 specs and features below for your viewing pleasure. For reference, we include the Snapdragon 855 and Apple A13 that are in 2019 flagships already.
| Exynos 990 (Galaxy S20) | Snapdragon 865 (Galaxy S20) | Snapdragon 855+ | Apple A13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Production process | 7nm+ EUV | 7nm (TSMC N7P) | 7nm (TSMC FF) | 7nm (TSMC N7P) |
| Processor cores | 2x Exynos M5
2x Cortex A76 4x Cortex A55 |
1x 2.84GHz A77
3x 2.42GHz A77 4x 1.8GHz A55 |
1x Kryo 485 Gold (custom Cortex-A76) @ 2.96GHz
3x Kryo 485 Gold (custom Cortex-A76) @ 2.42GHz 4x Kryo 485 Silver (custom Cortex-A55) @ 1.80GHz |
2x Lightning @2.66GHz
4x Thunder @1.7GHz |
| GPU | Mali-G77 MP11 | Adreno 650 at 587MHz | Adreno 640 | Apple custom quad-core |
| Modem | Exynos 5123 (Category 24) Downloads up to 7.3Gbps (mmWave), 5.1Gbps (sub-6GHz), or 3Gbps (4G LTE), 8xCA |
X55 5G modem add-on
up to 7 Gbps over 5G, and 2.5 Gbps download speeds on LTE |
Snapdragon X24 LTE (Category 20) Downloads: up to 2Gbps, 7xCA Uploads: up to 316Mbps X50 5G modem add-on |
Intel XMM7660 (Category 19) Downloads: up to 1.6Gbps, 7xCA Uploads: up to 225Mbps |
| AI co-processor | Yes, dual-core NPU | Yes | Yes | Yes, octa-core Neural Engine |
| Video encode | 4K HDR at 150fps 8K HDR at 30fps |
8K HDR | 4K HDR10+ | 4K HDR at 60fps |
| Misc. | UFS 3.0 storage support for up to 2.9GB/s speeds
LPDDR5 memory support Single-camera up to 108MP 120Hz display refresh rate |
LPDDR5 memory support | 4K HDR Bokeh Video
8K 360 VR video playback Always-on noise cancellation Dual-frequency GPS |
Computational photography
Machine learning capable of 1 trillion operations per second |
Galaxy S20+ vs Galaxy S10 benchmarks, Snapdragon 865 vs 855 score
As you can see, the Snapdargon 865 in the S20+ scores a fair bit higher for the same clock speed, as can be expected, and the S20+ is listed as having 12GB RAM, perhaps even in the base version.
Based on the Snapdragon 865 and Exynos 990 specs alone, we can deduce that, yes, the Galaxy S20 will indeed sport a 108MP camera, have fast DDR5 memory, and a display refresh rate of 120Hz.
Moreover, Samsung’s finest for the spring season would be capable of smooth 8K video recording, and up to 7.5Gbps download speeds on mmWave networks like Verizon’s 5G. All specs that you don’t even have on your high-end laptop at home, and sound pretty crazy to have in your phone, but may very well become reality before March has rolled out in earnest.