Snapdragon 821 vs Helio G85
We compared the 4-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (Adreno 530) with the newer 8-core MediaTek Helio G85 (Mali-G52 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/Vulcan
Battery life
Efficiency of battery consumption
NanoReview Score
Overall chip score
Key Differences
Pros of Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
- Performs 8.8x better in floating-point computations
- Supports 122% higher memory bandwidth (29.8 against 13.41 GB/s)
- Developers optimize games for Snapdragon processors more often than for Helio
- 17% higher CPU clock speed (2342 vs 2000 MHz)
Pros of MediaTek Helio G85
- Announced 3-years and 9-months later
- Has 4 more cores
- Higher GPU frequency (~53%)
- Has a smaller size transistor (12 versus 14 nm)
- Better instruction set architecture
Benchmarks
Performance tests in popular benchmarksAnTuTu 9
| CPU | 67962 | 65225 |
| GPU | 61224 | 56625 |
| Memory | 43896 | 39033 |
| UX | 59644 | 77494 |
| Total score | 232818 | 239717 |
GeekBench 5
Single-Core Score
Multi-Core Score
| Image compression | 51.2 Mpixels/s | 80.9 Mpixels/s |
| Face detection | 7.96 images/s | 11.9 images/s |
| Speech recognition | 15.4 words/s | 24.2 words/s |
| Machine learning | 14 images/s | 18.5 images/s |
| Camera shooting | 10.7 images/s | 9.29 images/s |
| HTML 5 | 0.71 Mnodes/s | 1.55 Mnodes/s |
| SQLite | 239.7 Krows/s | 407.8 Krows/s |
3DMark
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Graphics test | 5 FPS | 4 FPS |
| Score | 887 | 710 |
Gaming
| PUBG Mobile | - | 45 FPS [High] |
| Call of Duty: Mobile | - | 40 FPS [Medium] |
| Fortnite | - | 21 FPS [Low] |
| Shadowgun Legends | - | 49 FPS [Low] |
| World of Tanks Blitz | - | 51 FPS [Medium] |
| Mobile Legends: Bang Bang | - | 46 FPS [Ultra] |
| Device | - | Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 1080 x 2340 |
We provide average results. FPS may differ, depending on game version, OS and other factors.
Specifications
Full list of technical specifications of Snapdragon 821 and Helio G85CPU
| Architecture | 2x 2.342 GHz – Kryo 2x 1.6 GHz – Kryo |
2x 2 GHz – Cortex-A75 6x 1.8 GHz – Cortex-A55 |
| Cores | 4 | 8 |
| Frequency | 2342 MHz | 2000 MHz |
| Instruction set | ARMv8-A | ARMv8.2-A |
| L1 cache | 64 KB | - |
| L2 cache | 3 MB | - |
| Process | 14 nanometers | 12 nanometers |
| Transistor count | 2 billion | - |
| TDP | 11 W | 5 W |
Graphics
| GPU name | Adreno 530 | Mali-G52 MP2 |
| Architecture | Adreno 500 | Bifrost |
| GPU frequency | 653 MHz | 1000 MHz |
| Execution units | 2 | 2 |
| Shading units | 256 | 32 |
| FLOPS | 519 Gigaflops | 59 Gigaflops |
| Vulkan version | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| OpenCL version | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| DirectX version | 11.2 | 12 |
Memory
| Memory type | LPDDR4 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory frequency | 1866 MHz | 1800 MHz |
| Bus | 4x 16 Bit | 2x 16 Bit |
| Max bandwidth | 29.8 Gbit/s | 13.41 Gbit/s |
| Max size | 6 GB | 8 GB |
Multimedia (ISP)
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon 680 | Neural Engine |
| Storage type | eMMC 5.1, UFS 2.0 | eMMC 5.1, UFS 2.1 |
| Max display resolution | 3840 x 2160 | 2520 x 1080 |
| Max camera resolution | 1x 28MP, 2x 13MP | 1x 48MP, 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 | AIFF, CAF, MP3, MP4, WAV |
Connectivity
| Modem | X12 | - |
| 4G support | LTE Cat. 12 | LTE Cat. 7 |
| 5G support | No | No |
| Download speed | Up to 600 Mbps | Up to 300 Mbps |
| Upload speed | Up to 150 Mbps | Up to 100 Mbps |
| Wi-Fi | 5 | 5 |
| Bluetooth | 4.1 | 5.0 |
| Navigation | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
Info
| Announced | August 2016 | April 2020 |
| Class | Flagship | Mid range |
| Model number | MSM8996 Pro | MT6769Z |
| Official page | Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 official site | MediaTek Helio G85 official site |
Cast your vote
Total votes: 79