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With the launch of the Realme GT Neo powered by the Dimensity 1200 mobile platform, the mid-range flagship 5G SoCs have all taken the stage. The main competitors of this chip are Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 870 and Samsung’s Exynos 1080.
Although their performance is not as strong as flagship SoCs like the Kirin 9000, Snapdragon 888, and Exynos 2100, they benefit from advantages in heat generation and power consumption, which may result in better frame stability in games like Genshin Impact compared to some flagship devices.So, among Snapdragon 870, Dimensity 1200, and Exynos 1080, which of these chips can be considered the gatekeeper of mid-range flagship chips? For comparison, we also included Dimensity 1100 and Dimensity 1000+ as references.
First, let’s take a look at the specifications of these 5G SoCs. Exynos 1080, Dimensity 1200, and Snapdragon 870 are manufactured using 5nm, 6nm, and 7nm processes respectively, with Exynos 1080 having the most advanced process, theoretically offering the best energy efficiency.Both Exynos 1080 and Dimensity 1200 utilize the latest Cortex-A78 big cores and a 1+3+4 tri-cluster architecture, but the Dimensity 1200 has a higher main frequency for its super big core. The Snapdragon 870 uses Kryo 585, which is a modified version of Cortex-A77; although it is not as advanced as A78, it boasts a higher main frequency of 3.19GHz.In terms of GPU, the Dimensity 1200 continues to use the Mali-G77MC9 from the Dimensity 1000 series, which is inferior to the Mali-G78MC10 integrated in Exynos 1080. The Snapdragon 870 integrates the same Adreno 650 as the Snapdragon 865, but with a higher GPU core frequency, resulting in better performance. Additionally, both Exynos 1080 and Snapdragon 870 support LPDDR5 memory, but due to the positioning of the phones that use them, they generally still use LPDDR4X, making it difficult for them to outperform the Dimensity 1200 in storage performance.Next, let’s move on to theoretical benchmark scores, starting with the well-known AnTuTu and Master Lu. These two benchmarking software assess the overall performance of smartphones, and here, Snapdragon 870 and Dimensity 1200 are neck and neck, with a slight advantage over Exynos 1080.
Next are the CPU benchmark tests using GeekBench 4 and GeekBench 5. The three SoCs have varying results in these two software, with Exynos 1080 performing relatively weaker.
In the 3DMark tests, the Snapdragon 870 significantly outperformed the other two competitors, while Exynos 1080 was ahead of Dimensity 1200.
Finally, in GFXBench, which is a 3D benchmark software that is closer to real gaming performance, unsurprisingly, the Snapdragon 870 still leads, followed by Exynos 1080, with Dimensity 1200 in last place. However, the differences between the latter two were not as pronounced as expected, failing to demonstrate the advantages of Mali-G78MC10 over Mali-G77MC9 in terms of architecture and the number of compute cores, likely due to the lower frequency set for the GPU in Exynos 1080.
In summary, among the three mid-range flagship SoCs, the Snapdragon 870 is the most suitable for the title of gatekeeper. However, the cheapest phone with Snapdragon 870 starts at 1999 yuan (Motorola edge s), while the Exynos 1080 phone starts at 3798 yuan (vivo X60), and the Dimensity 1200 is priced at 1799 yuan (Realme GT Neo), making the Dimensity 1200 the best in terms of performance-to-price ratio.Of course, while absolute performance is important for smartphones, there are still many factors that affect the actual experience that we need to consider, such as screen quality, whether it is equipped with stereo dual speakers, horizontal linear motors, full-featured NFC, and the quality of the main camera sensor, etc.
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