Mediatek and qualcomm processors. Which mobile processor is better - MTK or Snapdragon

Until recently, most users associated MediaTek with buggy Chinese smartphones, the rest did not say anything. But as time went on, the Taiwanese manufacturer became stronger, gained experience, and now their processors are already being installed in a huge number of smartphones from the most serious market players. But the American manufacturer Qualcomm did not stand still - their Snapdragon processor are recognized, occupying a huge percentage of the market. At one time, they even managed to oust such a giant as Texas Instruments. So on which processor is it better to choose a smartphone - MTK or Snapdragon? We will try to give the answer in this article.

What do these companies have in common?

Both manufacturers, Qualcomm and MediaTek, are only engaged in the development of processors, and their final production is carried out at the facilities of TSMS factories. These are huge factories specializing in the production of crystals. Also, both firms are developing processors for smartphones of all price niches, and the architecture of both ARM (which is radically different from that used in personal computers x86). Here the similarities end, which is remarkable, because companies are fighting in the same market, but they develop and promote their products to the masses in completely different ways.

Pros and cons of MediaTek

The Taiwanese company produces processors with a number of positive features:

• A huge amount of products. The company initially produced processors only for budget categories of smartphones, but the company goes permanent job, which is why the lineup is expanding every month. True, there is still no wide choice in the flagship segment, but a huge number of medium and budget models are offered;
• Extremely low price. Digging is best entrenched in the budget segment, since the price of their processors allowed them to sell smartphones at ridiculous prices. The cost of even the most powerful Helio processors does not exceed the price of mid-range solutions from other manufacturers;
• Integrated graphics. Most often, most MTK chips are equipped with Mali graphics chips, which are manufactured by ARM. Architecture graphics cores reference, thanks to which developers can easily optimize their games and applications for it, which is much more difficult to do with Adreno. By the way, Samsung also installs Mali graphics in its smartphones, so the developers are trying to adapt games for it in the first place.

Disadvantages of MTK processors quite a lot too:

• Not the best configurations. To attract more buyers, while maintaining the performance and autonomy at the proper level, the company chose a rather crooked track, which is why in practice the processors show far from the most brilliant results that are offered on paper. For example, the Helio processor uses 3 clusters of cores, the microarchitecture of which is different, as well as clock frequency... 10 cores, of course, are easier to advertise, but in fact they turned out to be slower than the four energy efficient ones in the Snapdragon 820;
• Cortex cores. The company, for financial reasons, cannot improve the microarchitecture, which is why it has to use standard cores in the processors. This makes their products weaker than competitors from Qualcomm, Apple or Samsung;
• The hardware is poorly balanced. For example, the Mali T880 MP4 video accelerator has three times less active blocks, which means three times less performance;
• Poor support from developers. This situation in recent times is starting to get better, but with MTK CPU support, developers still have a lot of problems. This leads producers to receive late required drivers, because of what you have to install old version Android or release updates on time;
• Outdated process technology. MediaTek lacks the ability to invest in process development, so they rarely get the opportunity to work with state-of-the-art conveyor lines. Because of this, processors are manufactured using outdated technologies, which is especially important for flagship models.

Qualcomm pros and cons

American processors have more significant advantages over MediaTek:

• Using your own kernels. It is based on off-the-shelf Cortex cores, but Qualcomm specialists are doing their own refinement in order to improve performance and optimize power consumption;
• Its graphics. For processing graphics in Qualcomm processors responds with its own subsystem, called Adreno. Qualcomm is fully responsible for its creation, controlling the process from the first drawings to launching into serial production. This allows graphics and processor to dock better than competitors do;
• Higher rates of autonomy. The manufacturer tries to make its processors not only powerful, but also energy efficient, constantly working on this indicator with each new model... For example, after the 820 was replaced by the 821, it became a little faster, but at the same time it consumes less power. This is especially interesting, because there are practically no differences in architecture;
• Work is also underway on the capacity of cellular modules. The modems used in Qualcomm processors are designed with the latest technology in mind. A striking example is LTE Cat. 12 supported by many modern smartphones, and here cellular operators yet they do not possess such technology. Also, American modems support many more cellular standards than their Taiwanese competitors;
• Modern technical process. The manufacturer Qualcomm strives to constantly improve production, all the time moving to more sophisticated technical processes. New technologies are first tested on the most expensive devices, after which more affordable products are added to the new production.

But not without a fly in the ointment:

• A small number of solutions for the budget segment. The company is trying to produce high-quality processors mainly for flagship solutions, making them faster and more energy efficient, but budget smartphones much less attention is paid. More recently, Qualcomm budget processors there were only three - 200, 400 and 410. By the way, their price significantly exceeds that of the Taiwanese manufacturer;
• High price. Since the company constantly uses modern technologies, improving production, then they have to spend colossal money on their implementation. Because of this, the price of the processors is very high. For example, the cost of Snapdragon 821 was $ 70 in 2016;
• Complex bootloader. The Snapdragon processor bootloader has a complex architecture. This does not affect during use, but it is much more difficult to restore a smartphone from a state of "brick".

Outcomes

It is difficult to finally decide which processors are better, both have a lot of advantages and disadvantages. For a choice, it is better to group smartphones by price category.

It's hard to find the difference in a budget niche. Therefore, both manufacturers make good decisions that allow you to work comfortably with your smartphone. But the cost of devices on MTK is significantly lower. Therefore, here the choice is obvious.

Middle class the advantages of Taiwanese processors fade into the background. Qualcomm is more energy efficient and has more powerful graphics. But there is not much difference in performance.

And in the flagship category, the choice is obvious - there is only Qualcomm, since it is he who is the leader in this segment on the Android smartphone market. MediaTek still cannot provide adequate resistance, even the top model Helio does not help. Moreover, the Helio X30 version will use the not the most powerful graphics accelerator PowerVR GT7400, which is almost twice as slow as the Adreno 530, which is more than relevant today.

* Recommended to upload a 720 * 312 image as the cover image

Article Description

Hi MI-Fans, what processor does your smartphone run on? Let's try to compare and find both the pros and cons of each. Let's get started. Snapdragon 625 vs. Helio x20: Comparison of Reference Mid-Budget Chipsets According to reports from analysts and the smartphone manufacturers themselves, non-flagships are in greatest demand or state employees, and balanced models of the middle level. Therefore, in this price category, a serious struggle flares up, which also includes chipset manufacturers. At the beginning of 2016, Qualcomm introduced the first chip of the 600 series based on the 14 nm process technology - Snapdragon 625. Around the same time, MediaTek showed the world the first 10-core processor for mobile technology - Helio X20 (MT6797). V lineup It is a pre-top version of the Taiwanese developer (the only overclocked version of the Helio X25 is cooler), but in terms of price and features it belongs to the average level. Many smartphones have been released on the basis of both chipsets. The brainchild of Qualcomm interested many manufacturers, including Xiaomi. The MediaTek chipset also proved to be popular, but the leaders reacted to it more coolly. But Xiaomi and smaller Chinese companies have created a good selection of suitable gadgets with it inside. To find out which chipset is better, let's take a closer look at their pros and cons. Pros and cons of Helio x20 Pros: Flexible multi-cluster CPU configuration. The Helio x20 chipset contains 10 cores grouped into 3 clusters. The first consists of a pair of high-frequency (2.1 GHz) Cortex A72, designed for heavy tasks that can only load 1 or 2 cores. The second one includes 4 Cortex A53 with a high frequency (1.85 GHz), for multi-threaded tasks, and has a reduced consumption. The third cluster is identical to the second, but operates at reduced frequencies (1.4 GHz) to further save battery power. Dynamic switching between cores, depending on the current task, allows you to select the optimal balance between performance and power consumption. Dual-channel memory controller. The chipset is equipped with a dual-channel memory controller, which theoretically makes the Helio x20 faster when launching and switching between programs, as well as when processing background tasks. Powerful screen controller. The MediaTek chipset is equipped with a display controller that supports QHD resolution (up to 2560x1600 pixels), as well as work in FullHD with a picture refresh rate of 120 Hz. Such characteristics are closer to flagships and make smartphones based on Helio x20 more suitable for viewing high-definition content and working with virtual reality... Price. MediaTek has gained market share through low prices and its chips are still relatively cheap. Thanks to this, Chinese manufacturers were able to initially offer smartphones with it at an attractive cost. Cons: Problems with autonomy. In theory and in infographics from MediaTek marketers, multi-cluster configuration looks attractive, but in practice, not everything is so smooth. The system does not always correctly estimate the load and activate the most optimal CPU configuration, which is fraught with fast battery consumption and heating. For example, in applications that are enough even with 4 A53 cores, the A72 cores, which are too gluttonous in this situation, may be unreasonably used. Heat dissipation. Helio x20 is manufactured using the 20 nm process technology, which, although not the worst option for today, is inferior to 14 and 16 nm in terms of energy efficiency. And integrated modems MediaTek consume more than Qualcomm. Because of this (and also because of not always high-quality software optimization from the side of Chinese developers) smartphones based on the Helio x20 chipset tend to overheat and decrease performance under prolonged load. Problems with updating the OS. MediaTek is renowned for its special, selective attitude towards vendor support. It is not uncommon for budget chipsets to have a new Android version and the drivers are released just a couple of months after the release of Google OS (as was the case with MT6737), and for the top-end - "the promised three years are waiting." Earlier, only a couple of smartphone models received Android 6 for Helio x10, while Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 owners waited for Android 7 for Helio x20 for six months. There is no visible progress in this regard yet, which is not encouraging. Pros and cons of Snapdragon 625 Pros: Subtle technical process. The Snapdragon 625 chipset is manufactured using the thinnest and most modern (from mass produced, as of March 2017) 14 nm process technology. Due to this, it features low power consumption and low heat generation. High frequency. All cores Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 have ARM Cortex A53 microarchitecture, are not divided into groups, and operate at frequencies up to 2 GHz. The frequency changes dynamically, depending on the load. This ensures high speed processing tasks optimized for multithreaded computing. Supports USB 3.0. Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 supports USB 3.0, which provides high-speed connection when working with OTG flash drives, external SSDs and other accessories. Powerful modem. The Snapdragon 625 integrates a communication module that supports all current communication standards, up to LTE Cat 7. It can work with any frequency range and provide simultaneous activity of two SIM cards in LTE networks. Cons: Cortex A53 architecture. The Cortex A53 microarchitecture strikes a balance between high performance and low power consumption. Its specific performance per clock cycle is significantly lower than that of the A72, so in tasks requiring 1-2 fast cores, the Snapdragon 625 will be noticeably inferior to the MT6797. A more modest screen controller. The display controller in the Snapdragon 625 chipset is capable of operating only in FullHD (up to 1920x1200 pixels) and only with a refresh rate up to 60 Hz. If you use a smartphone for VR, this may not be enough, as a result, your eyes will get tired faster. The Adreno 506 GPU may be inferior to the Mali T880 MP4. The theoretical graphics performance of Qualcomm Adreno 506 is better than Mali T880 MP4 in MT6797. However, due to the better software optimization for Mali, the MediaTech chip can outperform the competitor if its temperatures are normal. better than Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 or MediaTek Helio X20, let's summarize the key parameters and features of the chipsets in a table. SoC, on the side of which there is an advantage in the selected item, gets a plus, the lagging one gets a minus. Based on the comparison, several conclusions can be drawn. So, in terms of performance - the potential of Helio x20 is greater than Snapdragon 625. In theory, it is faster, has powerful processor, supports QHD screens. However, in practice, all these advantages are leveled by the tendency to overheat, and the real performance of both chipsets is approximately at the same level. Even a dual-channel memory controller does not help. Taking into account the unpleasant moment with overheating, as well as the clear advantages of the Qualcomm chipset in terms of modem and communications, we can conclude that the Snapdragon 625 is more balanced. The situation with OS updates is also not on the MTK side. Her graphic illustration - Xiaomi smartphones... The first Redmi Note 4 (on MTK) has not yet received updates to Android 7, and it is not known for sure (at the official level) if there will be any at all. But for Redmi Note 4X (on Qualcomm) - the beta version of the seven for testers appeared back in January, shortly after the presentation of this smartphone in the Indian market. So if updates are important to you, then the Snapdragon 625 is clearly better. See you in the MI Community!