In-depth Review of the Kirin 9020 Processor: How Does it Stack Up Against the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2?

In-depth Review of the Kirin 9020 Processor: How Does it Stack Up Against the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2?Since its inception, the Kirin processor's market performance has been a subject of much debate. Some users believe that benchmark scores and performance tests don't fully reflect its value, while others focus on its actual performance and improvements in subsequent iterations

In-depth Review of the Kirin 9020 Processor: How Does it Stack Up Against the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2?

Since its inception, the Kirin processor's market performance has been a subject of much debate. Some users believe that benchmark scores and performance tests don't fully reflect its value, while others focus on its actual performance and improvements in subsequent iterations. Many even see it as a significant advancement for domestically produced chips. To unravel this mystery, recent media outlets have conducted comparative tests between the Kirin 9020 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and this article will detail the test results and delve into the performance differences between the two.

First, let's review the theoretical performance of the Kirin 9020. According to publicly available benchmark data, its Geekbench 6 single-core performance falls between the Snapdragon 888+ and Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2, while its multi-core performance sits between the Dimensity 8300 and Dimensity 9200. AnTuTu scores reach 1.25 million points, surpassing not only its predecessor, the Kirin 9010, but also some Snapdragon 8+ models. Theoretically, it seems to have the potential to compete with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. However, theoretical performance often differs from real-world application experience. The Kirin 9020's actual performance in areas like game smoothness, power consumption, and heat management, and its comparison to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, require further testing.

Test results show that the Kirin 9020's real-world application performance is also noteworthy. Taking the Huawei Mate 70 Pro+, which features the Kirin 9020, as an example, its application launch and background process maintenance test results are striking. In the application launch test, the device launched 30 commonly used applications in two rounds, completing the process in 188 seconds comparable to the iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, in a 3-hour background process maintenance test, the Huawei Mate 70 Pro+ only maintained 25 applications, placing it in the lower-middle range compared to other Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 flagship devices. Nevertheless, considering the ongoing optimization and upgrades of the HarmonyOS, we believe the Kirin 9020's performance is commendable, and future improvements are promising.

• Game testing data provides a more comprehensive performance evaluation. In testing with Honor of Kings, the Huawei Mate 70 Pro+ supports a maximum of 120 frames + high-definition graphics, achieving an average frame rate of 119.4 FPS, with power consumption of 3.9W and a maximum temperature of 41.7. In Genshin Impact version 4.5, the average frame rate was 50.9 FPS, with power consumption of 5.6W and a maximum temperature of 48.4. Honkai: Star Rail achieved an average frame rate of 30.8 FPS, with power consumption of 6.1W and a maximum temperature of 50.4. Overall, the Kirin 9020's gaming performance is relatively average, with a noticeable gap between the achieved frame rates and user expectations.

Compared to Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 devices, the Kirin 9020 demonstrates a certain advantage in power consumption and temperature control. Under the same conditions, the Kirin 9020 generally achieves lower power consumption and more stable temperature control. However, this doesn't mean the Kirin 9020 surpasses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in gaming performance. Current manufacturing processes limit the Kirin 9020's performance under high-load gaming. The main differences lie in frame rate, power consumption, and temperature control. However, the Kirin 9020's smoothness in daily use remains commendable.

It's worth mentioning that compared to the Kirin 9000S, the Kirin 9020 shows significant improvements in gaming performance and application response speed. This indicates that the Kirin 9020's performance is gradually catching up with market trends. Furthermore, as a self-developed Huawei chip, the Kirin processor boasts unique advantages in terms of functionality. The HarmonyOS NEXT system, through deep optimization and scheduling strategies, can more fully leverage the Kirin processor's performance. Reportedly, HarmonyOS NEXT offers a 30% overall performance improvement compared to its predecessor, complementing the performance enhancements of the Kirin 9020 and jointly improving the user experience.

Particularly noteworthy is the significant advancement of the native HarmonyOS in AI features. With the increased computing power of the Kirin 9020, the AI application experience will be further enhanced.

While the Kirin 9020 still faces competition from high-end flagship processors like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, its performance as a domestically developed chip is impressive. It exhibits strong competitiveness in application launch speed, power consumption control, and AI performance. Although it still lags behind top flagships in high-frame-rate game performance, its smoothness in daily use and stable temperature control still provide users with a good experience. In the future, with continued optimization of HarmonyOS and iterative improvements in Kirin processor technology, we have reason to believe that Kirin processors will play a more important role in the mobile chip field. The Kirin 9020 processor is not perfect, but it represents progress and effort in domestically produced chip technology, and its future development deserves continued attention.

Finally, we reiterate that this article only objectively analyzes the performance differences between the Kirin 9020 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processors, without any subjective evaluations or value judgments. We hope this analysis provides readers with a more comprehensive understanding of the Kirin 9020 processor.