HiSilicon Kirin 980 vs HiSilicon Kirin 9000E 5G

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The HiSilicon Kirin 980 and the HiSilicon Kirin 9000E 5G are two processors that have distinct specifications.

Starting with the HiSilicon Kirin 980, it utilizes a 7 nm lithography and consists of a total of eight cores. The architecture consists of 2x 2.6 GHz Cortex-A76 cores, 2x 1.92 GHz Cortex-A76 cores, and 4x 1.8 GHz Cortex-A55 cores. With an instruction set of ARMv8-A, this processor boasts a neural processing unit called HiSilicon Dual NPU. It has a TDP (thermal design power) of 6 Watts and contains approximately 6900 million transistors.

On the other hand, the HiSilicon Kirin 9000E 5G features a 5 nm lithography, which allows for more efficient power consumption. Like the Kirin 980, it also has eight cores, consisting of 1x 3.13 GHz Cortex-A77 core, 3x 2.54 GHz Cortex-A77 cores, and 4x 2.05 GHz Cortex-A55 cores. Its instruction set is ARMv8.2-A, which signifies a slight improvement in terms of architecture. This processor incorporates an impressive neural processing unit called Ascend Lite + Ascend Tiny, along with HUAWEI Da Vinci Architecture 2.0. It shares the same TDP of 6 Watts as the Kirin 980 but has a significantly higher number of transistors, with approximately 15300 million.

In summary, the HiSilicon Kirin 9000E 5G appears to have a more advanced lithography at 5 nm, which may result in greater energy efficiency compared to the Kirin 980's 7 nm. Additionally, the Kirin 9000E 5G features faster clock speeds for its Cortex-A77 cores, which may lead to improved performance in certain tasks. The introduction of the Ascend Lite + Ascend Tiny neural processing unit and the HUAWEI Da Vinci Architecture 2.0 further enhance the capabilities of the Kirin 9000E 5G. However, despite these improvements, both processors have a similar TDP and the Kirin 980 still maintains a respectable number of transistors. Ultimately, the choice between these processors would depend on the specific requirements and priorities of the user.

CPU cores and architecture

Architecture 2x 2.6 GHz – Cortex-A76
2x 1.92 GHz – Cortex-A76
4x 1.8 GHz – Cortex-A55
1x 3.13 GHz – Cortex-A77
3x 2.54 GHz – Cortex-A77
4x 2.05 GHz – Cortex-A55
Number of cores 8 8
Instruction Set ARMv8-A ARMv8.2-A
Lithography 7 nm 5 nm
Number of transistors 6900 million 15300 million
TDP 6 Watt 6 Watt
Neural Processing HiSilicon Dual NPU Ascend Lite + Ascend Tiny, HUAWEI Da Vinci Architecture 2.0

Memory (RAM)

Max amount up to 8 GB up to 16 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5
Memory frequency 2133 MHz 2750 MHz
Memory-bus 4x16 bit 4x16 bit

Storage

Storage specification UFS 2.1 UFS 3.1

Graphics

GPU name Mali-G76 MP10 Mali-G78 MP22
GPU Architecture Bifrost Valhall
GPU frequency 720 MHz 760 MHz
Execution units 10 22
Shaders 160 352
DirectX 12 12
OpenCL API 2.1 2.1
OpenGL API ES 3.2 ES 3.2
Vulkan API 1.2 1.2

Camera, Video, Display

Max screen resolution 3120x1440 3840x2160
Max camera resolution 1x 48MP, 2x 32MP
Max Video Capture 4K@30fps 4K@60fps
Video codec support AV1
H.264 (AVC)
H.265 (HEVC)
VP8
VP9
H.264 (AVC)
H.265 (HEVC)
VP8
VP9

Wireless

4G network Yes Yes
5G network Yes Yes
Peak Download Speed 1.4 Gbps 4.6 Gbps
Peak Upload Speed 0.2 Gbps 2.5 Gbps
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) 6 (802.11ax)
Bluetooth 5.0 5.2
Satellite navigation BeiDou
GPS
Galileo
GLONASS
BeiDou
GPS
Galileo
GLONASS
NavIC

Supplemental Information

Launch Date 2018 Quarter 4 2020 October
Vertical Segment Mobiles Mobiles
Positioning Flagship Flagship

AnTuTu 10

Total Score
Kirin 980
484026
Kirin 9000E 5G
737022

GeekBench 6 Single-Core

Score
Kirin 980
698
Kirin 9000E 5G
1059

GeekBench 6 Multi-Core

Score
Kirin 980
2482
Kirin 9000E 5G
3702