Snapdragon 821 vs Dimensity 6300
We compared the 4-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (Adreno 530) with the newer 8-core MediaTek Dimensity 6300 (Mali-G57 MP2) 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 Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
- Performs 2.4x better in floating-point computations
- Supports 75% higher memory bandwidth (29.8 against 17 GB/s)
Pros of MediaTek Dimensity 6300
- Has a smaller size transistor (6 versus 14 nm)
- Has 4 more cores
- Shows significantly better (up to 69%) AnTuTu 11 score β 528K vs 312K
- Higher GPU frequency (~64%)
- Better instruction set architecture
Benchmarks
Performance tests in popular benchmarksAnTuTu 11
| CPU | 84002 | 224355 |
| GPU | 72699 | 45549 |
| Memory | 62840 | 104424 |
| UX | 92820 | 154070 |
| Total score | 312361 | 528398 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | [46 tests] |
GeekBench 6
Single-Core Score
Multi-Core Score
| Asset compression | 43.4 MB/sec | 100.4 MB/sec |
| HTML 5 Browser | 26.6 pages/sec | 48.9 pages/sec |
| PDF Renderer | 35.3 Mpixels/sec | 70.9 Mpixels/sec |
| Image detection | 9.82 images/sec | 38.3 images/sec |
| HDR | 35.1 Mpixels/sec | 62.1 Mpixels/sec |
| Background blur | 1.79 images/sec | 5.73 images/sec |
| Photo processing | 7.1 images/sec | 19.4 images/sec |
| Ray tracing | 993.9 Mpixels/sec | 2.92 Mpixels/sec |
| Samples | 21 tests | 23 tests |
Compute Score (GPU)
| Background blur | 1.2 images/sec | 2.03 images/sec |
| Face detection | 1.09 images/sec | 0.96 images/sec |
| Horizon detection | 0.04 Gpixels/sec | 0.06 Gpixels/sec |
| Edge detection | 0.05 Gpixels/sec | 0.1 Gpixels/sec |
| Gaussian blur | 0.01 Gpixels/sec | 0.06 Gpixels/sec |
| Feature matching | - | 0.02 Gpixels/sec |
| Stereo matching | 1.1 Gpixels/sec | 4.05 Gpixels/sec |
| Particle physics | 51.3 FPS | 243.8 FPS |
| API | Vulkan | OpenCL |
| Samples | - | 18 tests |
3DMark
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Score | - | 151 |
| Stability | - | 98% |
| Graphics test | - | 1 FPS |
PCMark 3.0
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 3763 | 11337 |
| Video editing score | 5829 | 5070 |
| Data manipulation score | 4163 | 7132 |
| Photo editing score | 11521 | 25038 |
| Writing score | 4882 | 11440 |
| Phones tested | - | 12 models |
Recent User Tests
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
No benchmark results yet
MediaTek Dimensity 6300
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| π 2026-10-02 (Gremmar) | AnTuTu 12 | 643666 |
| π 2026-09-29 (Gremmar) | AnTuTu 12 | 630572 |
| π 2026-09-28 (JJ) | AnTuTu 12 | 529486 |
| π 2026-09-27 (JJ) | Geekbench 7 CPU | 650 / 1924 |
| π 2026-09-27 (Gremmar) | AnTuTu 12 | 620457 |
Specifications
Full list of technical specifications of Snapdragon 821 and Dimensity 6300CPU
| Architecture | 2x 2.342 GHz β Kryo 2x 1.6 GHz β Kryo |
2x 2.4 GHz β Cortex-A76 6x 2 GHz β Cortex-A55 |
| Cores | 4 | 8 |
| Frequency | 2342 MHz | 2400 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv8-A | ARMv8.2-A |
| L1 cache | 64 KB | 512 KB |
| L2 cache | 1 MB | 1 MB |
| L3 cache | - | 2 MB |
| Process | 14 nanometers | 6 nanometers |
| Transistor count | 2 billion | - |
| TDP (Sustained Power Limit) | 11 W | - |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
Graphics
| GPU name | Adreno 530 | Mali-G57 MP2 |
| Architecture | Adreno 500 | Valhall 1st gen |
| GPU frequency | 653 MHz | 1072 MHz |
| Pipelines | 1 | 2 |
| Shading units | 256 | 32 |
| Total shaders | 256 | 64 |
| FLOPS | 334.3 Gigaflops | 137.2 Gigaflops |
| Vulkan version | 1.0 | 1.3 |
| OpenCL version | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| DirectX version | 11 | 12 |
AI Accelerator
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon 680 | Yes |
Memory
| Memory type | LPDDR4 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory frequency | 1866 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Bus | 4x 16 Bit | 2x 16 Bit |
| Max bandwidth | 29.8 Gb/s | 17 Gb/s |
| Max size | 8 GB | 12 GB |
Multimedia (ISP)
| Storage type | eMMC 5.1, UFS 2.0 | UFS 2.2 |
| Max display resolution | 3840 x 2160 | 2520 x 1080 |
| Max camera resolution | 1x 28MP, 2x 13MP | 1x 108MP, 2x 16MP |
| Video capture | 4K at 30FPS | 2K at 30FPS |
| Video playback | 4K at 30FPS | 2K at 30FPS |
| Video codecs | - H.264 - H.265 - VP8 - VP9 |
- H.264 - H.265 - VP9 |
| Audio codecs | - AIFF - CAF - MP3 - MP4 - WAV |
- AAC LC - FLAC - HE-AACv1 - HE-AACv2 - MP3 |
Connectivity
| Modem | X12 | - |
| 4G support | LTE Cat. 12 | - |
| 5G support | No | Yes |
| Download speed | Up to 600 Mbps | Up to 3300 Mbps |
| Upload speed | Up to 150 Mbps | Up to 1250 Mbps |
| Wi-Fi | 5 | 5 |
| Bluetooth | 4.1 | 5.4 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC |
Info
| Announced | August 2016 | April 2024 |
| Class | Flagship | Mid range |
| Model number | MSM8996 Pro-AC | MT6835, MT6835T, MT6835V/TZB |
| Official page | Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 official site | MediaTek Dimensity 6300 official site |
| Successor | - Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 | - MediaTek Dimensity 6400 |
Cast your vote
Total votes: 4
