As we know that the smartphones are getting smaller, slimmer and lighter day by day, so it is getting tougher for companies to create a processor that offers the best without compromising the design and quality. But still there are companies like Huawei, Qualcomm, Samsung, MediaTek and more, who are working in the direction of creating revolutionary processors and achieve the impossible.
What is a processor?
Everything you do on your smartphone is executed and implemented by a processor using its sub-components like CPU, GPU and more. In simple words, processor is the brains of a smartphone that processes your tasks, like touch input, GPS, camera function, power management, calculations and more. A processor has a number of other components like video encoders, decoders, audio playback and camera operations. This segregation of duties lets the individual tasks be accomplished more efficiently and in a quick fashion. CPU plays a major role in performance and efficiency and it can be called as the heart of the smartphone. You must note that the processor is just a small part of your smartphone – there are other components like GPU, RAM, flash storage, cooling systems, antennas and more. All the components work together as a unit and should surely be considered before you buy a smartphone. While we normally do not bother with specs of these other individual components, you must consider the GPU, RAM, type and version of flash storage, the different bands supported. These components can affect your decision individually and as a whole, too.
What are we looking at?
We have been testing a lot of smartphones and tablets that come with different processors, made by different companies. There have been times when the same processor works better on one phone and gives poor results on the other. So a lot of things depend on the architecture of the processor and the software optimizations made therein. A good architecture is the base of a processor’s performance. Let’s take the example of Huawei’s Kirin 650, which has been used in the Honor 5C for the first time. It is an affordable processor with 16nm architecture that makes it power efficient, fast and accurate for day to day usage. After the Kirin 650, Huawei has also brought its current flagship SoC, the Kirin 955 to India with the P9. Kirin 955 is one of the best processors presently in the market, competing with other flagship SoCs like the Snapdragon 820 and MediaTek Helio X25. The Kirin 955 chipset is based on the FinFET Plus 16 nm fab technology. It offers lightning-fast performance compared with the previous generation of 28 nm chipsets. This octa-core processor comes with 4 x Cortex A72 cores clocked at 2.5GHz and 4 x Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz. With this type of architecture, it offers next-level performance when coupled with adequate RAM. It has set high standards for power efficiency and accuracy when compared to the industry. There is a lot to say about this processor but for now, we will be testing this hardware and let you know how it fares in actual real life usage, especially because benchmarks don’t always say the entire story.
