Qualcomm’s latest premium processor for 5G mobile devices – the Snapdragon 888 has made its way to the devices such Xiaomi Mi 11 and the US variant of Samsung’s Galaxy S21 smartphones. When these devices launched, they went head-to-head with the already-launched iPhone 12, 12 mini, 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max smartphones, which are all powered by Apple’s A14 Bionic.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The A14 Bionic first made it appearance on the fourth-generation iPad Air and delivers up to 16% faster CPU performance when compared to the A13 Bionic while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 offers roughly 20% jump in performance over its immediate predecessor. On paper, the more recent Snapdragon 888 looks more powerful and feature-packed, however, Apple mobile processors have a long history of leading the pack in single core performance.
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So, lets get into the similarities and differences between both processors.
Snapdragon 888 vs A14 Bionic Specs
| Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | Apple A14 Bionic | |
| Process | 5nm (Samsung) | 5nm (TSMC) |
| CPU Cores | 8 (Kryo 680 CPU), 2840 MHz | 6 (ARM big.LITTLE), 3100 MHz |
| CPU | 1x 2.84GHz (ARM Cortex-X1)
3x 2.4GHz (ARM Cortex-A78) 4x 1.8GHz (ARM Cortex-A55) |
2x 3.0GHz (Firestorm)
4x 1.8GHz (Icestorm) |
| GPU | Adreno 660 GPU | Apple-Designed 4-Core GPU |
| AI | 6th-gen Qualcomm AI Engine with Hexagon 780 DSP + 2nd-gen Qualcomm Sensing Hub | 16-Core Neural Engine |
| RAM | LPDDR5/ LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| ISP | Spectra 580 ISP | Apple-Designed ISP |
| 5G Modem | Qualcomm X60 5G Modem | Qualcomm X55 5G Modem (External) |
| 5G Spectrum | Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), mmWave, sub-6 GHz | Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), mmWave, sub-6 GHz |
| Camera | Up to 28MP triple camera
Up to 64MP dual camera Up to 200MP single camera |
N/A |
| Video Capability | 8K @ 30 FPS, 4K HDR Dolby @ 60FPS, 720p @ 960FPS+ | 4K HDR Dolby @ 60FPS |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6/Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2 | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Gaming | Snapdragon Elite Gaming + Game Quick Touch | N/A |
| Security | Qualcomm 3D Sonic/3D Sonic Max, Qualcomm Secure Processing Unit, Trusted Execution Environment and Wireless Edge Services | Secure Enclave |
| Charging | Quick Charge 5 | Fast Charging |
Snapdragon 888 vs A14 Bionic: Comparison
Fabricated using Samsung’s 5nm (5LPE) process technology, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 has an octa-core Kryo 680 CPU cores in a 1+3+4 CPU configuration spearheaded by a prime ARM Cortex-X1 core @2.84GHz. Contrarily, Apple’s A14 Bionic is built using a 5nm process designed by Apple’s frequent collaborator, TSMC and pack a hexa-core CPU headed by two high-performing cores (Firestorm) @3.0GHz. In terms of graphical performance, the A14 is equipped with Apple-designed 4-core GPU to deliver up to 8% boost while the Snapdragon 888 promises to deliver up to 35% performance boost and 20% decrease in power consumption largely the Adreno 660 GPU.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 supports both LPPDDR5 and LPDDR4X and relies on the 6th-generation AI Engine coupled with Hexagon 780 DSP to deliver a total of 26 TOPS and 3x performance-per-watt improvement for AI-related activities. The Apple A14 Bionic currently only supports LPDDR4X and its 16-Core Neural Engine delivers a total of 11 TOPS and 2x faster machine learning performance.
They are both equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 5G Modem, however, the A14 uses the X55 5G modem (external) and the Snapdragon 888 is integrated with the more recent X60 5G modem. There is support for fast charging and Wi-Fi 6 across board, however, the Snapdragon 888 has support for the latest Bluetooth 5.2 (Bluetooth 5.0 on the A14), Quick Charge 5 and Wi-Fi 6E.
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Apart from the fact that it uses Apple-designed ISP, there are no explicit details available about the A14’s camera features and specifics for gaming. Nevertheless, the Snapdragon 888 is furnished with the Spectra 580 ISP with triple ISP architecture can capture up to 200MP photos, and up to three 28MP photos simultaneously.
Snapdragon 888 vs A14 Bionic: Benchmarks
Due to its recent release, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 has the latest features but that does not automatically translate into better performance. Qualcomm recently released the processor’s performance scores when it was tested on benchmark apps including AnTuTu, Geekbench CPU and GFXBench. This performance was pitched against immediate previous generation high-end Snapdragon processors (Snapdragon 865), Exynos 990 and Apple A14 Bionic.
On GeekBench 5 (CPU), the Apple A14 excels in the single-core (1607) and multi-core (4084) performances while the Snapdragon 888 comes behind it with 1135 and 3794, respectively. The benchmark also revealed that the Snapdragon 888 gained 26% in single-core and 18% in multi-core performances over the SD865. On AnTuTu, the Snapdragon 888 achieved a total of 735439 points while the A14 was just ahead of the SD865 with an overall benchmark score of 592697.
For graphics, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 recorded about 59% boost in off-screen Aztec test (86) and 31% faster in the off-screen Manhattan test (169) when compared to the Snapdragon 865. However, it falls short of Apple’s A14 Bionic where both parties have similar frame rates in the Manhattan test and plays catchup in the Aztec test.
Thoughts
Judging by the scores, the obvious choice would be to declare that the Apple A14 Bionic will smoke the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 in terms of performance and vice versa, when features are considered. These numbers could change over successive tests, but current results confirm that Snapdragon 888 is a significant upgrade over the Snapdragon 865 and are in-line with what Qualcomm stated during its launch.
So far, the Apple A14 Bionic looks to continue to lead the mobile processor race and recently dominated the news in the PC processor space in form of the new Apple M1 for Mac computers.
Benchmark Scores Via: Android Authorithy