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Snapdragon 821 vs Snapdragon 820

Snapdragon 821
VS
Snapdragon 820
Snapdragon 821
Snapdragon 820

We compared two 4-core processors: Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 (with Adreno 530 graphics) and Snapdragon 820 (Adreno 530). 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 (2)

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 821
  • Higher GPU frequency (~28%)
  • Performs 28% better in floating-point computations
  • 9% higher CPU clock speed (2342 vs 2150 MHz)
Pros of Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
  • Shows better (up to 7%) AnTuTu 11 score – 333K vs 312K

Benchmarks

Performance tests in popular benchmarks
SoC:
Snapdragon 821
vs
Snapdragon 820

AnTuTu 11

The AnTuTu Benchmark measures CPU, GPU, RAM, and I/O performance in different scenarios
Snapdragon 821
312361
Snapdragon 820 +7%
333877
CPU 84002 131994
GPU 72699 36166
Memory 62840 63256
UX 92820 102461
Total score 312361 333877
Samples Less than 3 Less than 3
Submit your AnTuTu result

GeekBench 6

The GeekBench test shows raw single-threaded and multithreaded CPU performance
Single-Core Score
Multi-Core Score
Asset compression 43.4 MB/sec 28.8 MB/sec
HTML 5 Browser 26.6 pages/sec 19.7 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 35.3 Mpixels/sec 28 Mpixels/sec
Image detection 9.82 images/sec 6.36 images/sec
HDR 35.1 Mpixels/sec 25.9 Mpixels/sec
Background blur 1.79 images/sec 1.39 images/sec
Photo processing 7.1 images/sec 6.33 images/sec
Ray tracing 993.9 Mpixels/sec 789.4 Mpixels/sec
Samples 21 tests Less than 3
Compute Score (GPU)
Background blur 1.2 images/sec 1.58 images/sec
Face detection 1.09 images/sec 0.86 images/sec
Horizon detection 0.04 Gpixels/sec 0.06 Gpixels/sec
Edge detection 0.05 Gpixels/sec 0.09 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian blur 0.01 Gpixels/sec 0.05 Gpixels/sec
Feature matching - 0.01 Gpixels/sec
Stereo matching 1.1 Gpixels/sec 4.09 Gpixels/sec
Particle physics 51.3 FPS 81.6 FPS
API Vulkan OpenCL

PCMark 3.0

Benchmark for evaluating overall system performance in everyday workloads
PCMark 3.0
Web score 3763 4378
Video editing score 5829 5152
Data manipulation score 4163 4144
Photo editing score 11521 11831
Writing score 4882 5024

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
No benchmark results yet
Add
Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2024-01-05 (Saber)Geekbench 6 CPU356 / 615
Add View all (1)

Specifications

Full list of technical specifications of Snapdragon 821 and Snapdragon 820

CPU

Architecture 2x 2.342 GHz – Kryo
2x 1.6 GHz – Kryo		 2x 2.15 GHz – Kryo
2x 1.593 GHz – Kryo
Cores 4 4
Frequency 2342 MHz 2150 MHz
Instruction set ARMv8-A ARMv8-A
L1 cache 64 KB 64 KB
L2 cache 1 MB 1 MB
Process 14 nanometers 14 nanometers
Transistor count 2 billion 2 billion
TDP (Sustained Power Limit) 11 W 11 W
Manufacturing Samsung Samsung

Graphics

GPU name Adreno 530 Adreno 530
Architecture Adreno 500 Adreno 500
GPU frequency 653 MHz 510 MHz
Pipelines 1 1
Shading units 256 256
Total shaders 256 256
FLOPS 334.3 Gigaflops 261.1 Gigaflops
Vulkan version 1.0 1.0
OpenCL version 2.0 2.0
DirectX version 11 11

AI Accelerator

Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon 680 Hexagon 680

Memory

Memory type LPDDR4 LPDDR4
Memory frequency 1866 MHz 1866 MHz
Bus 4x 16 Bit 2x 32 Bit
Max bandwidth 29.8 Gb/s 29.8 Gb/s
Max size 8 GB 8 GB

Multimedia (ISP)

Storage type eMMC 5.1, UFS 2.0 eMMC 5.1, UFS 2.0
Max display resolution 3840 x 2160 3840 x 2160
Max camera resolution 1x 28MP, 2x 13MP 1x 28MP, 2x 13MP
Video capture 4K at 30FPS 4K at 30FPS
Video playback 4K at 30FPS 4K at 30FPS
Video codecs - H.264
- H.265
- VP8
- VP9		 - H.264
- H.265
Audio codecs - AIFF
- CAF
- MP3
- MP4
- WAV		 - AIFF
- CAF
- MP3
- MP4
- WAV

Connectivity

Modem X12 X12
4G support LTE Cat. 12 LTE Cat. 12
5G support No No
Download speed Up to 600 Mbps Up to 600 Mbps
Upload speed Up to 150 Mbps Up to 150 Mbps
Wi-Fi 5 5
Bluetooth 4.1 4.1
Navigation GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, SBAS

Info

Announced August 2016 November 2015
Class Flagship Flagship
Model number MSM8996 Pro-AC MSM8996
Official page Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 official site Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 official site
Successor - Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 - Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5

Cast your vote

So, which SoC would you choose?
182 (65.5%)
96 (34.5%)
Total votes: 278

Comments

Please give your opinion on the comparison of Snapdragon 820 and Snapdragon 821, or ask any questions
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Avatar
Sd821 April 7, 2022 at 02:35 PM
Snapdragon 821 is much better maybe the device you guys tested was in a critical condition πŸ˜‚
+43 Reply
Avatar
Agreed May 16, 2023 at 06:21 AM
The SD821 in my OnePlus 3T (MSM8996 Pro-AC) consistently outperformed my daughter's Samsung S7, my son's LG V20, and even my wife's Pixel XL (which features the slightly slower MSM8996 Pro-AB variant of the SD821). Not sure what went happened with the device tested here.
+35 Reply
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