Kirin 980 vs A12 Bionic
We compared the 8-core HiSilicon Kirin 980 (Mali-G76 MP10) with the newer 6-core Apple A12 Bionic (Apple A12 GPU) SoC. Here you will find the pros and cons of each chip, technical specs, and comprehensive tests in benchmarks, like AnTuTu and Geekbench.
Review
CPU Performance
Single and multi-core processor tests
Gaming Performance
GPU performance in games and OpenCL/Vulkan
Battery life
Efficiency of battery consumption
NanoReview Score
Overall chip score
Key Differences
Pros of HiSilicon Kirin 980
- Has 2 more cores
Pros of Apple A12 Bionic
- Performs 67% better in floating-point computations
- Higher GPU frequency (~56%)
- Shows better (up to 22%) AnTuTu 11 score β 895K vs 736K
- Better instruction set architecture
Benchmarks
Performance tests in popular benchmarksAnTuTu 11
| CPU | 322481 | 309104 |
| GPU | 107109 | 144993 |
| Memory | 146249 | 139578 |
| UX | 160916 | 301952 |
| Total score | 736755 | 895627 |
| Samples | [37 tests] | Less than 3 |
AnTuTu results from iOS and Android are not directly comparable! They won't affect NanoReview scores.
GeekBench 6
Single-Core Score
Multi-Core Score
| Asset compression | 128.6 MB/sec | 116.8 MB/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 75 pages/sec | 59.4 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 97.4 Mpixels/sec | 71.7 Mpixels/sec |
| Image detection | 59.9 images/sec | 23.7 images/sec |
| HDR | 85.1 Mpixels/sec | 98.7 Mpixels/sec |
| Background blur | 10.1 images/sec | 11.2 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 22.7 images/sec | 36.1 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 3.74 Mpixels/sec | 3.49 Mpixels/sec |
| Samples | 18 tests | 5 tests |
Compute Score (GPU)
| Background blur | 5.49 images/sec | 16.1 images/sec |
| Face detection | 3.47 images/sec | 19.2 images/sec |
| Horizon detection | 0.17 Gpixels/sec | 0.26 Gpixels/sec |
| Edge detection | 0.28 Gpixels/sec | 0.39 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian blur | 0.16 Gpixels/sec | 0.73 Gpixels/sec |
| Feature matching | 0.04 Gpixels/sec | 0.12 Gpixels/sec |
| Stereo matching | 12.1 Gpixels/sec | 24.1 Gpixels/sec |
| Particle physics | 485.7 FPS | 608.2 FPS |
| API | Vulkan | Metal |
| Samples | 11 tests | Less than 3 |
Compute results use different APIs (Metal vs Vulkan/OpenCL) and are not directly comparable!
3DMark
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Score | 675 | 1482 |
| Stability | 48% | 65% |
| Graphics test | 4 FPS | 8 FPS |
PCMark 3.0
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 7820 | - |
| Video editing score | 5774 | - |
| Data manipulation score | 7472 | - |
| Photo editing score | 14221 | - |
| Writing score | 10928 | - |
| Phones tested | 6 models | - |
Gaming
| PUBG Mobile | 56 FPS [Ultra] |
- |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | 39 FPS [Ultra] |
- |
| Fortnite | 28 FPS [High] |
- |
| Shadowgun Legends | 51 FPS [Ultra] |
- |
| World of Tanks Blitz | 60 FPS [Ultra] |
- |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | 60 FPS [Ultra] |
- |
| Device | Huawei Nova 5T 1080 x 2340 |
- |
We provide average results. FPS may differ, depending on game version, OS and other factors.
Recent User Tests
HiSilicon Kirin 980
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-09-19 (Techdude98) | AnTuTu 12 | 803419 |
| π 2026-09-18 (Eg0sh) | AnTuTu 12 | 757876 |
| π 2026-08-14 (Adiit) | Geekbench 6 GPU | 4204 |
| π 2026-08-01 (KiΓͺn π) | AnTuTu 11 | 738484 |
| π 2026-07-25 (Mrhuh) | AnTuTu 11 | 752693 |
Apple A12 Bionic
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-09-16 -> op1 | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1344 / 4757 |
| π 2026-07-31 (ΠΠΈΠΌΠ°) | AnTuTu 11 | 644981 |
| π 2026-06-27 -> USAball386 | Geekbench 6 GPU | 7868 |
| π 2026-06-27 -> USAball386 | Geekbench 6 CPU | 1306 / 2770 |
| π 2026-05-12 -> Giahuy | AnTuTu 11 | 756483 |
Specifications
Full list of technical specifications of Kirin 980 and A12 BionicCPU
| Architecture | 2x 2.6 GHz β Cortex-A76 2x 1.92 GHz β Cortex-A76 4x 1.8 GHz β Cortex-A55 |
2x 2.49 GHz β Vortex 4x 1.6 GHz β Tempest |
| Cores | 8 | 6 |
| Frequency | 2600 MHz | 2490 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv8.2-A | ARMv8.3-A |
| L1 cache | 512 KB | 128 KB |
| L2 cache | 4 MB | 8 MB |
| Process | 7 nanometers | 7 nanometers |
| Transistor count | 6.9 billion | 6.9 billion |
| TDP (Sustained Power Limit) | 6 W | 6 W |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | TSMC |
Graphics
| GPU name | Mali-G76 MP10 | Apple A12 GPU |
| Architecture | Bifrost 3rd gen | Apple Bionic GPU |
| GPU frequency | 720 MHz | 1125 MHz |
| Pipelines | 10 | 4 |
| Shading units | 24 | 64 |
| Total shaders | 240 | 256 |
| FLOPS | 345.6 Gigaflops | 576 Gigaflops |
| Vulkan version | 1.3 | - |
| OpenCL version | 2.0 | - |
AI Accelerator
| Neural processor (NPU) | Yes | Neural Engine |
Memory
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory frequency | 2133 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Bus | 4x 16 Bit | 4x 16 Bit |
| Max bandwidth | 34.1 Gb/s | 34.1 Gb/s |
| Max size | 8 GB | 4 GB |
Multimedia (ISP)
| Storage type | UFS 2.1, UFS 3.0 | NVMe |
| Max display resolution | 3120 x 1440 | 2688 x 1242 |
| Max camera resolution | 1x 48MP, 2x 20MP | 1x 32MP, 2x 12MP |
| Video capture | 4K at 30FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video playback | 4K at 30FPS | 4K at 60FPS |
| Video codecs | - H.264 - H.265 - VP9 |
- H.264 - H.265 - Motion JPEG |
| Audio codecs | - AIFF - CAF - MP3 - MP4 - WAV |
- AAC - AACβLC - AAX ΠΈ AAX+ - Apple Lossless - HEβAAC - HEβAAC v2 - Linear PCM - MP3 |
Connectivity
| Modem | - | Intel XMM 7560 |
| 4G support | LTE Cat. 21 | LTE Cat. 18 |
| 5G support | No | No |
| Download speed | Up to 1400 Mbps | Up to 1000 Mbps |
| Upload speed | Up to 200 Mbps | Up to 350 Mbps |
| Wi-Fi | 6 | 5 |
| Bluetooth | 5.0 | 5.0 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
Info
| Announced | August 2018 | September 2018 |
| Class | Flagship | Flagship |
| Model number | - | APL1W81 |
| Official page | HiSilicon Kirin 980 official site | - |
| Successor | - HiSilicon Kirin 9000S | - Apple A19 Pro |
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Total votes: 1015