AnTuTu charts show Dimensity 9000 is breathing down Snapdragon 8 Gen 1's neck
Qualcomm used to be have the best-performing chipsets for Android and it still does. However, AnTuTu’s performance charts show that the competition is closer than ever. And it is smaller than ever too – HiSilicon is no longer a factor and Samsung just doesn’t sell Exynos flagships in China (where AnTuTu is based, so the charts are skewed towards that market).
Starting with the flagships, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phones hold the Top 3 positions: Red Magic 7 Pro, iQOO 9 (the Chinese version) and iQOO 9 Pro.
However, the MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 is knocking on the door. The Redmi K50 Pro is in fourth (this should go global under a Poco F4 name), the Oppo X5 Pro (for China) is in sixth. The rest of the Top 10 are Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 devices, but the Dimensity is only a few percent off the best score.
The AnTuTu team attributes the score of the Red Magic to its superior cooling – it’s a gaming phone with a built-in fan – which allowed the chipset to keep its frequencies high. The iQOOs are gaming phones too and while don’t have fans, their cooling is beefier than on most phones.
As for the two Dimensity 9000 models, AnTuTu writes that Oppo uses a more conservative governor, which kept Find X5 Pro’s performance slightly behind the Redmi. The K50 Pro did not automatically go into performance mode during the test, which is what kept it from crossing the 1 million mark.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 vs. Dimensity 9000 fight is not one-sided. The MediaTek chip edged ahead in CPU performance, but its Mali-G710 MC10 GPU was slightly behind the Adreno 730 of the Qualcomm chip. That’s no surprise, the Adreno has been the most efficient GPU for Android for years now.
Moving on to value for money devices that cost CNY 2,000 ($315/€285/₹24,000), but pack a Snapdragon 888 or a high end Dimensity chip. The Moto Edge S30 (S888+) and the year-old Realme GT 5G (S888) are first and second. A slightly older model, the Realme GT Neo2T (Dimensity 1200), is in third. The Redmi Note 10 Pro (for China, Dimensity 1100) and Realme Q3s (Snapdragon 778G) are fourth and fifth.
AnTuTu has also prepared a list of the best-perfroming phones in the CNY 2,000-3,000 category, capped by the Moto Edge X30 (SD 8 Gen 1), Redmi K50 (Dimensity 8100), and K50 Pro (Dimensity 9000). Note that these charts show a “value for money” rating, i.e. performance divided by price. This is how the Dimensity 8100 phone outperformed the one with the 9000. The Realme GT Neo3 is also based on the 8100 chip.
Best value for money phones: CNY 2,000 or less • CNY 2,000-3,000
With that in mind, we move over to the CNY 3,000-4,000 category, which is led by the Redmi K50 Gaming, Realme GT2 Pro and nubia Z40 Pro. All three use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. The iQOO 8 and 9 represent the Snapdragon 888(+).
Next, the CNY 4,000-5,000 category. This is led by three Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 models again: Red Magic 7 Pro, Xiaomi 12 Pro and iQOO 9 Pro.
Best value for money phones: CNY 3,000-4,000 • CNY 4,000-5,000
Finally, the “money is no object category”. As you can tell by the rating, performance is only a small part of what you are paying for with these phones. Notably, it is the Dimensity 9000 version of the Oppo Find X5 Pro that is on top, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 version closely behind, followed by the vivo X70 Pro+ (SD 888+).
Best value for money phones: CNY 5,000+
Moving on to the mid-range, the Dimensity 8000 series is yet to leave its mark here. It starts with the iQOO Z5 (Snapdragon 778G), followed by the Honor 60 Pro (Snapdragon 778G+) and Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G (Snapdragon 780G). After that it is all 778G phones until the 10th spot where an Oppo Reno6 5G (Dimensity 900) spoils the all-Snapdragon party.
