Home > Smartphone processors comparison > Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs M2 (iPad) – what's better?

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs M2 (iPad)

Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
VS
M2 (iPad)
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
M2 (iPad)

We compared two 8-core processors: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (with Adreno 750 graphics) and Apple M2 (iPad) (Apple M2 GPU). Here you will find the pros and cons of each chip, technical specs, and comprehensive tests in benchmarks, like AnTuTu and Geekbench.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Benchmarks
  4. AnTuTu v11
  5. GeekBench 6
  6. Specs
  7. Comments (11)

Review

General comparison of performance, power consumption, and other indicators
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

Main differences and advantages of each chip
Pros of Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
  • Has a smaller size transistor (4 versus 5 nm)
  • Better instruction set architecture
Pros of Apple M2 (iPad)
  • Higher GPU frequency (~40%)
  • Supports 33% higher memory bandwidth (102.4 against 76.8 GB/s)
  • 6% higher CPU clock speed (3490 vs 3300 MHz)
  • Shows better (up to 8%) AnTuTu 11 score – 2536K vs 2345K

Benchmarks

Performance tests in popular benchmarks
SoC:
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
vs
M2 (iPad)

AnTuTu 11

The AnTuTu Benchmark measures CPU, GPU, RAM, and I/O performance in different scenarios
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
2345563
M2 (iPad) +8%
2536320
CPU 700525 841074
GPU 805478 801119
Memory 296043 371059
UX 543517 523068
Total score 2345563 2536320
Samples [443 tests] Less than 3
AnTuTu results from iOS and Android are not directly comparable! They won't affect NanoReview scores.
Submit your AnTuTu result

GeekBench 6

The GeekBench test shows raw single-threaded and multithreaded CPU performance
Single-Core Score
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
2203
M2 (iPad) +19%
2619
Multi-Core Score
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
6511
M2 (iPad) +55%
10084
Asset compression 256.8 MB/sec 386.1 MB/sec
HTML 5 Browser 190.9 pages/sec 238.6 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 209.1 Mpixels/sec 269.5 Mpixels/sec
Image detection 168.6 images/sec 236.7 images/sec
HDR 208.6 Mpixels/sec 334.9 Mpixels/sec
Background blur 24 images/sec 42 images/sec
Photo processing 63.6 images/sec 106.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 7.27 Mpixels/sec 10.4 Mpixels/sec
Samples 139 tests 4 tests
Compute Score (GPU)
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
15378
M2 (iPad) +183%
43561
Background blur 26.9 images/sec 74.8 images/sec
Face detection 13.2 images/sec 93.3 images/sec
Horizon detection 0.7 Gpixels/sec 1.36 Gpixels/sec
Edge detection 0.61 Gpixels/sec 1.92 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian blur 0.98 Gpixels/sec 2.31 Gpixels/sec
Feature matching 0.18 Gpixels/sec 0.53 Gpixels/sec
Stereo matching 43.4 Gpixels/sec 129.5 Gpixels/sec
Particle physics 3083.6 FPS 5024.6 FPS
API OpenCL Metal
Samples 90 tests 3 tests
Compute results use different APIs (Metal vs Vulkan/OpenCL) and are not directly comparable!

3DMark

A cross-platform benchmark that assesses graphics performance in Vulkan (Metal)
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
1652
M2 (iPad) +50%
2474
Score 1652 2474
Stability 79% 67%
Graphics test 12 FPS 18 FPS
3DMark Solar Bay
Score 8190 8572
Stability 72% 71%
Graphics test 31 FPS 33 FPS
Section 1 36 FPS 41 FPS
Section 2 31 FPS 33 FPS
Section 3 26 FPS 23 FPS
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
4676
M2 (iPad) +46%
6808
Score 4676 6808
Stability - 71%
Graphics test 27 FPS 40 FPS

PCMark 3.0

Benchmark for evaluating overall system performance in everyday workloads
PCMark 3.0
Web score 16536 -
Video editing score 7905 -
Data manipulation score 14260 -
Photo editing score 31248 -
Writing score 19168 -
Phones tested 41 models -

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-10-04 -> purtGeekbench 7 GPU10162
πŸ“˜ 2026-10-04 -> purtGeekbench 7 CPU1668 / 5549
πŸ“˜ 2026-10-02 (fx)AnTuTu 122392357
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-30 (EA Fran)AnTuTu 122452758
πŸ“˜ 2026-09-30 (Nyvronis)AnTuTu 122649328
Add View all (610)
Apple M2 (iPad)
No benchmark results yet
Add

Specifications

Full list of technical specifications of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and M2 (iPad)

CPU

Architecture 1x 3.3 GHz – Cortex-X4
3x 3.15 GHz – Cortex-A720
2x 2.96 GHz – Cortex-A720
2x 2.27 GHz – Cortex-A520		 4x 3.49 GHz – Avalanche
4x 2.42 GHz – Blizzard
Cores 8 8
Frequency 3300 MHz 3490 MHz
Instruction set ARMv9.2-A ARMv8.5-A
L1 cache - 192 KB
L2 cache 1 MB 16 MB
L3 cache 12 MB -
Process 4 nanometers 5 nanometers
Transistor count - 20 billion
TDP (Sustained Power Limit) 8 W 20 W
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC

Graphics

GPU name Adreno 750 Apple M2 GPU
Architecture Adreno 700 Apple GPU
GPU frequency 903-1000 MHz 1398 MHz
Pipelines 6 8
Shading units 256 128
Total shaders 1536 1024
FLOPS 2774 Gigaflops 2863.1 Gigaflops
Vulkan version 1.3 -
OpenCL version 2.0 -
DirectX version 12.1 -

AI Accelerator

Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Apple Neural Engine
NPU theoretical performance - 15.8 TOPS

Memory

Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory frequency 4800 MHz 3200 MHz
Bus 4x 16 Bit 8x 16 Bit
Max bandwidth 76.8 Gb/s 102.4 Gb/s
Max size 24 GB 24 GB

Multimedia (ISP)

Storage type UFS 4.0, UFS 4.1 NVMe
Max display resolution 3840 x 2160 2732 x 2048
Max camera resolution 1x 200MP -
Video capture 8K at 30FPS, 4K at 120FPS 4K at 60FPS
Video playback 8K at 60FPS, 4K at 120FPS 4K at 60FPS
Video codecs - H.264
- H.265
- AV1
- VP8
- VP9		 - H.264
- H.265
- VP9
Audio codecs - AAC
- AIFF
- CAF
- MP3
- MP4
- WAV		 - AAC
- AIFF
- CAF
- MP3
- MP4
- WAV

Connectivity

Modem Snapdragon X75 -
4G support LTE Cat. 24 LTE Cat. 24
5G support Yes Yes
Download speed Up to 10000 Mbps Up to 7500 Mbps
Upload speed Up to 3500 Mbps Up to 3000 Mbps
Wi-Fi 7 6
Bluetooth 5.4 5.0
Navigation GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, QZSS

Info

Announced October 2023 June 2022
Class Flagship Flagship
Model number SM8650-AB, SM8650-AC APL1109
Official page Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 official site -
Successor - Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 - Apple M4 (iPad)
Further details
Notes on Snapdragon 8 Gen 3:
    - Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy has a 100 MHz higher CPU and GPU clock speed. It has a higher GPU performance rate of up to 3072 Gigaflops.

Cast your vote

So, which SoC would you choose?
739 (39.3%)
1143 (60.7%)
Total votes: 1882

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Comments

Please give your opinion on the comparison of M2 (iPad) and Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, or ask any questions
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Avatar
Zen March 9, 2024 at 04:06 AM
The Apple M2 (iPad) could potentially run Genshin Impact at 120 FPS. I'm not entirely certain if the iPad supports this, however. Thanks to its large radiator area and sizable screen, technically the M2 surpasses the capabilities of eighth-generation phones in running this game.
+34 Reply
Avatar
Xemana April 26, 2024 at 12:32 PM
The 8th Gen 3 can run Genshin and even COD Warzone at 120fps. The fps for the 8th Gen 3 tends to be more stable, typically ranging around 90-110 fps, while it's less stable for m2.
+30 Reply
Avatar
Jon May 8, 2024 at 07:59 PM
Xemana, Genshin doesn't support over 60fps on any device apart from Apple products.
+20 Reply
Avatar
Sen May 8, 2024 at 11:02 PM
Xemana, Maybe Gen 3 indeed can, but 120 FPS in Genshin is only for iOS, lol. Even on PC, you can set a maximum of 60 FPS.
+7 Reply
Avatar
-m- May 23, 2024 at 09:45 PM
Xemana, The 8th Gen 3 thermal throttles way more than M2, which makes the performance drop a bit from time to time.
+5 Reply
Avatar
Immovable March 8, 2024 at 12:41 PM
It's impressive, nonetheless, because I know how powerful the iPad is. I know this because I own one.
+14 Reply
Avatar
Daine Quitco December 30, 2023 at 04:46 AM
It's astounding to know that the GPU present in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, namely the Adreno 750, can nearly match the performance of the Apple M2's GPU, which is legitimately of a desktop class.
+67 Reply
Avatar
Yoo January 17, 2024 at 10:25 AM
No, this graph is incorrect. The M2 GPU is 30-40% more powerful than the SD8Gen3.
+100 Reply
Avatar
The tablet version of sd gen 3 strongee April 25, 2024 at 05:04 AM
Yoo, No, it's not. Do proper research.
+5 Reply
Avatar
-m- June 8, 2024 at 09:30 PM
The tablet version of sd gen 3 strongee, It literally is much, much better than Gen 3 of 8, and you can clearly see that in gaming.
+9 Reply
Avatar
Adiyan August 1, 2024 at 12:29 PM
Not desktop, but that's a laptop processor
+10 Reply
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