Galaxy S21 Exynos 2100 vs Snapdragon 888: Samsung’s CPU could lastly be ready for prime time
The outcomes surprised us.
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Samsung’s Exynos processors possess by no scheme barely been ready to are living as a lot as their Snapdragon counterparts. Whether or not we’re speaking relating to the 990 in the S20 or the 850 in the A21s, Qualcomm’s chips possess always enjoyed a happy lead relating to energy and performance.
Which could perchance be changing with the most up-to-date Exynos 2100 processor that powers the Galaxy S21 phones world wide. Samsung made a little bit of a splash all the scheme thru the commence of the chip, declaring “Exynos is abet” with a processor that “sets a fresh customary for prime rate mobile experiences.”
Extra protection
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That’s a dauntless notify, and we had been to start out with skeptical. Whereas the 2100 is for mosey an improvement over the outdated Exynos flagship processor, bringing an integrated 5G modem, reinforce for 144Hz displays, and a 5nm direction of with a Cortex-X1 CPU, we wondered if it would surely compete with essentially the most up-to-date from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 888.
First let’s detect at how the Exynos 2100 in the S21 compares to the Exynos in the S20, as tested by our sister space in the UK, Tech Consultant.
Geekbench 5
Multi-core
S20: 2299
S21: 3263
That’s a pleasing leap in yr-over-yr performance and presentations that Samsung’s claims aren’t correct lip service. The PCMark Work 2.0 rating seen very nice gains as effectively, with an spectacular rating of 14,732 versus lower than 11,000 with the 990. That’s a wide performance leap that’s bigger than the Snapdragon’s yr-on-yr gains.
Michael Simon/IDGThe Galaxy S21 is powered by essentially the most up-to-date Qualcomm flagship processor, the Snapdragon 888.
Nonetheless comparing the Exynos 2100 in opposition to the 990 is hardly an illustration that it could perchance compete with the 888. So with out additional ado, right here are the numbers you’ve been staring at for:
Geekbench 5
Single-core
S21 Snapdragon 888: 1,076
S21 Exynos 2100: 1,070
Multi-core
S21 Snapdragon 888: 3,223
S21 Exynos 2100: 3,263
PCMark Work 2.0
S21 Snapdragon 888: 13,070
S21 Exynos 2100: 14,732
Now we’re getting someplace. Now not most productive are the Exynos 2100’s Geekbench Multi-core and Work 2.0 outcomes monumental improvements over these of its predecessor, nevertheless it also bests the Snapdragon 888 in a head-to-head matchup. And that’s with much less RAM than the S20 (8GB vs 12GB).
Graphics are spectacular as effectively. Whereas the Exynos 2100 is aloof utilizing a Mali GPU, the outcomes are pleasing valuable per the Snapdragon 888 utilizing 3DMark’s horrifying-platform Flowers and fauna benchmark.
3D Trace Flowers and fauna
S21 Snapdragon 888: 5,733
S21 Exynos 2100: 5,852
The Snapdragon 888 performs a little bit better with extra graphics-intensive tasks, as considered by the frame-rate outcomes from GFXBench’s assessments:
GFXbench Aztec Ruins Vulkan
S21 Snapdragon 888 (Excessive): 35 fps
S21 Snapdragon 888 (Traditional): 55 fps
S21 Exynos 2100 (Excessive): 26 fps
S21 Exynos 2100 (Traditional): 35 fps
The outcomes had been valuable nearer with the Manhattan assessments, with the Exynos 2100 edging out the Snapdragon 888 with 100-plus fps. Nevertheless you slash it, these are better than prison-adequate numbers, positioning the Exynos processor as a competitor to essentially the most up-to-date flagship Snapdragon. It even closes the hole some with Apple’s A14 Bionic processor (though both chips aloof possess a ways to switch to raise up).
The Exynos 2100 could aloof fade a little bit relating to battery existence. Whereas we’ll lumber extra in-depth with our formal reports, battery existence benchmarks had been moderately lots diversified when running the Work 2.0 test with the display veil put to 200 nits and adaptive refresh turned on. On the Snapdragon 888 mannequin, I got nearly 10 hours of battery existence, whereas the Exynos 2100 counterpart barely hit 8 hours. Whereas both of these numbers will obtain you thru most days, it appears as if Samsung has a little bit extra work to pause with energy efficiency.
Even so, the Exynos processor in the Galaxy S21 is an spectacular entry correct into a world dominated by Qualcomm and its Snapdragon processors. If the Exynos 2100 processor wasn’t ready for the anxious U.S. target audience, the numbers we’re seeing counsel the Exynos 2200 very effectively could perchance be, especially if AMD’s Radeon graphics energy the next GPU as anticipated.
The truth is, benchmarks don’t tell your total legend, nonetheless Samsung has made a essential and spectacular leap in CPU performance with its most up-to-date Exynos processor. If the S21 is any indication, Snapdragon Galaxy phones could lastly be ready for their terminate-up.
Update 12: 00PM ET: Added a hyperlink to the Galaxy S21 review on our sister space, TechAdvisor.
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Michael Simon covers all things mobile for PCWorld and Macworld. You should recurrently salvage him along with his nostril buried in a display veil. Discover how to cry at him is on Twitter.
