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AnandTech Reviews Samsung's Exynos 9810 SoC (and Galaxy S9) (anandtech.com)

The Galaxy S9 and S9+, the flagship smartphones from the South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung are powered by company's homegrown Exynos 9810 SoC (in most markets) or Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 SoC. In its review of Samsung Galaxy S9, AnandTech comments on the differences it observed on the S9 model powered by Samsung's own SoC and the variant with Qualcomm's processor. From the review: Finally, the biggest story for the Galaxy S9 is its big contrast in terms of SoC hardware. Ever since we first heard about the Exynos 9810 we had very large expectations and we knew there would be some tangible differences between Exynos and Snapdragon variants. The expectations couldn't be more shattered than the results we got. While the Snapdragon 845 variant of the Galaxy S9 performed largely as advertised and as we had been told to expect by Qualcomm, the Exynos 9810 failed to live up to its hype in real-world scenarios. Effectively, the Exynos 9810 variant and as evidenced by all the data we collected, is the slower variant of the two. The root cause here has been identified as the extremely conservative scheduler and DVFS mechanisms which essentially nullify any advantage the new M3 cores have in synthetic benchmarks.

In 3D benchmarks, the Exynos 9810 posted very healthy efficiency improvements and even sometimes managed to catch up to last year's Adreno 540 -- something I hadn't expected. Qualcomm's new Adreno 630 raises the bar in terms of peak performance, however the promises of increased efficiency have not materialised in the commercial hardware as the performance boost comes at a cost of increased power. Effectively, when looking at sustained workloads, the Snapdragon 845 isn't any faster than the Snapdragon 835 in its GPU department. Fortunately for Qualcomm, they're still in the lead and this is not a deal-breaker for the Galaxy S9. While the performance advantage of the Snapdragon 845 variant over the Exynos 9810 variant is something we could live with, the battery life results of the Exynos is definitely a deal-breaker.

22 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. Re:No thank you! by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are two companies I will NEVER buy a cellphone from, Apple and Samsung. The tech world would be better off without either of them.

    I disagree; whereas, I think Apple and Samsung are overpriced for what they are, they help spur on innovations in other phone manufacturers. I probably won't buy an Apple or a Samsung again personally, but I hope to benefit from their competition in the market driving new features.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  2. In the lead by mccalli · · Score: 2

    " Fortunately for Qualcomm, they're still in the lead "....err....ahem.

    1. Re:In the lead by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      Well if you read the review, the Exynos 9810 and Snapdragon 845 falls behind the Apple A11 and A10 CPUs in the same benchmarks. In GPU performance the Snapdragon 845 with it's Adreno GPU performs better than the A11 and A10 in some tests but worse in others. The Exynos 9810 was definitely worse than the 845 in GPU performance almost consistently losing to the A11 GPU and only sometimes beating the A10 GPU. That being said, yes Qualcomm has the lead in Android chips right now, but they do not have the lead in smartphone chips for benchmarks tested.

      --
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    2. Re:In the lead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sooo, a custom made ARM V8 fine tuned to work on a specific operating system, out performs a general purpose ARM V8 able to handle multiple OS and you are surprised?

      I bet you are also surprised that certain ASICs are able to outperform GPU's for certain crytomining algorithms. Apples, oranges etc.

    3. Re:In the lead by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      Sooo, a custom made ARM V8 fine tuned to work on a specific operating system, out performs a general purpose ARM V8 able to handle multiple OS and you are surprised?

      The Exynos 9810 is a custom made ARM V8 fine tuned to work on a specific operating system. And yet it lost out to a general purpose ARM V8 (Snapdragon 845). So your point being?

      I bet you are also surprised that certain ASICs are able to outperform GPU's for certain crytomining algorithms. Apples, oranges etc.

      No I am merely pointing out the obvious which the OP stated: Qualcomm does not have the lead in smartphone CPUs. They have the lead in smartphone CPUs you can run on Android.

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    4. Re:In the lead by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      No its not. Google "linux on Exynos"

      So what you're saying is that because someone (not Samsung) has devised a way for 4+ year old SoCs to run on Linux that Samsung didn't custom make it's newest flagship SoC the Exynos 9810 specifically to run Android? In the same regard, you can get Linux running on Lumia phones but that doesn't Microsoft designed/optimize their phones to run Windows Phone.

      Qualcomm does not have the lead in smartphone CPUs While the numeric performance metrics are valuable, a feature comparison is also vital...... and being able to run and being able to run less than 20% of the world wide smartphones is a rather critical design flaw that more or less disqualifies A11 from even being considered a "top smartphone CPU."

      The entire context of the discussion was in mobile CPU/GPU performance based on benchmarks. While benchmarks may not represent real world performance, you willing to disqualify those benchmarks merely based on Apple's marketshare is some disingenuous. That's like saying AMDs CPUS do not beat Intel ones on performance merely because AMDs are on less than 20% of consumer PCs.

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    5. Re:In the lead by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      But according to your logic, AMDs don't count because you want to create artificial constructs to your logic.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  3. Re:No thank you! by Tsolias · · Score: 1

    the strange thing is that samsung makes 3/4 of the iphone, yet apple "innovates"
    that's...... :rolleyes: .... strange

  4. Re:Why? by Tsolias · · Score: 1

    welfare status.

  5. Re:No thank you! by halivar · · Score: 1

    ...as well as an atheist crossfitter.

  6. Re:No thank you! by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 2

    But you’ll post about all this on the Internet that is heavily surveilled by the government and your ISP that will give them access to all your information and browsing history without a warrant? Ok, bro...

  7. Re:Why? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

    To make you upset since you seem unusually preoccupied with what other people buy.

  8. Re:No thank you! by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

    the strange thing is that samsung makes 3/4 of the iphone, yet apple "innovates"

    No, what is strange is seeing people state stupid things such as your post. Also, fabbing something that someone is designs is not “making” it. Most of the components in an iPhone are not made from Samsung. Just reading an iFixit iPhone teardown would disprove your ludicrous claim.

  9. Re:No thank you! by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

    How do you quantify 3/4s of the phone? The last time I checked Samsung might make a few components but not 3/4 of it. Also that's like saying Ford/Honda/Toyota is made 3/4s from US Steel yet car manufacturers "innovate".

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  10. Re:No thank you! by Tsolias · · Score: 1

    apple designing?
    let's see
    Apple engineer: Mr. Cucks, we need an L-shaped 2800mAh
    Mr. Cucks: Ayo, hol' up, I got the latest product catalog from alibaba.... hmmm... that's tough, erm call 011-86-12345679 and order 20k batteries, page 27, second from the bottom.
    Apple engineer: Ok, Mr Cucks.
    Mr. Cucks on stage: ....We design....

    you don't get that the one who makes the product has to overcome all the engineering obstacles in order make the product that the guy with a drawing board drew.
    inb4 "do you know how difficult is to draw an L-shapped battery?"
    P.S.: don't tell me that they design the A10 soc, they just bought the company PA semi on 2008 and that's what their "design" team consists of, purchased companies. I am not that paranoid to ask the uber-company to have foundries to make their socs or mines to mine materials for their batteries, but come on they just order off the self components that's why the least % of their revenue in R&D.

  11. Re:No thank you! by Tsolias · · Score: 1

    How do you quantify 3/4s of the phone? The last time I checked Samsung might make a few components but not 3/4 of it. Also that's like saying Ford/Honda/Toyota is made 3/4s from US Steel yet car manufacturers "innovate".

    If those furnaces are outputing car chassis, they innovate.
    there's a great book "how to analogy". you should read it.

  12. Re:No thank you! by ShakaUVM · · Score: 1

    I won't give any more money to Samsung after they force-patched my television to add ads on the menu bar. I returned it, and won't have anything more to do with them.

  13. Re:No thank you! by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

    If those furnaces are outputing car chassis, they innovate.

    Again by your logic, car makers don't do any innovation, steel makers do because they made the steel even if all the steelmakers do is make the steel.

    there's a great book "how to analogy". you should read it.

    Please answer the 3/4s question: How do you quantify 3/4s of an iPhone was made by Samsung when at best the CPU was made by Samsung in the past. If we look at the chips in the iPhone not even 10% of them by count was made by Samsung and that's if Samsung supplied the memory chips.

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  14. Re:No thank you! by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

    P.S.: don't tell me that they design the A10 soc, they just bought the company PA semi on 2008 and that's what their "design" team consists of, purchased companies

    When Apple bought PA Semi in 2008, PA Semi worked on different architectures but was known for their Power processors. So by your assertion, magically somehow Apple acquired their knowledge on how to design ARM processors from a company they acquired 8 years ago who worked primarily on Power processors. You do know that ARM designs from ARM themselves 8 years ago are nothing like ARM designs today, right?

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  15. Re:Why? by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

    Even an $1100 iPhone X is only about 7.5% the cost of a base model Kia Rio or 8.5% of a Chevrolet Spark. Hardly a significant amount especially since many cars are 1.5 to 2x the prices of either of those cars.

  16. Re:Why? by jezwel · · Score: 1

    Because work will pay for it? I'm also planning on getting a Dex dock and running a virtual desktop session for anything that won't run natively. That saves the cost of a laptop for work - for my organisation, the hardware cost for a new high-end smartphone every 2 years is about the cost of a new laptop every 4. Both have SIM cards for data. Only 1 has the convenience of phone calling and text messages, while the other has a better form factor for meetings. I'd need a phone anyway with a voice/data plan, so this could save on hardware and mobile plan costs too.

  17. Re:No thank you! by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

    don't tell me that they design the A10 soc, they just bought the company PA semi on 2008 and that's what their "design" team consists of,

    Samsung has bought companies too. So have plenty of other semiconductor companies. To say that that means the buyer company doesn’t design the product is the height of stupidity.