Comparison: Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 vs MediaTek Dimensity 820: How they Stack Up?

A few years ago, folks into the tech space had an aversion for MediaTek devices when the processors from Qualcomm and Samsung were all rage. The things have changed lately with users slowly starting to adopt MediaTek devices. MediaTek’s revamped strategy with the Helio and the latest Dimensity Series really helped the chip designer. Let’s see the comparison between Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 vs MediaTek Dimensity 820

Must See: Qualcomm Launched Snapdragon 690 with 120Hz refresh and 4K HDR support

As such, the Snapdragon 690 and the Dimensity 820 are two new releases from the silicon giants Qualcomm and MediaTek. This article compares these two new SoCs by detailing and analyzing their specifications provided by their makers. Qualcomm has always had the edge over MediaTek with its more efficient and stable chipsets. The MediaTek chipsets were always more power-hungry than the Qualcomm chipsets. This always made the users choose Qualcomm over MediaTek. However, MediaTek clearly changed the game with the announcement of the new Dimensity Series.

Before getting into comparison, let’s discuss the chipsets individually in the first session. Starting with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 690.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 690

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 was announced on 16th June 2020. It is an 8 nm System on Chip with an Octa-Core CPU. The Snapdragon 690 is the 1st SoC in the 6-series to offer 5G connectivity.

• CPU: The Snapdragon 690 has an 8 core ARMv8-A 64bit CPU with a 2 + 6 core configuration. There are 2 Kryo 560 Gold CPUs clocked at 2.00GHz and 6 Kryo 560
  Silver CPUs clocked at 1.70GHz. For the unversed, Kryo is a series of custom or semi-custom ARM-based CPUs included in the Snapdragon line of SoCs. While the Kryo 560 Gold and 560 Silver are derivatives of Cortex-A77 and Cortex-A55 respectively.
  GPU: On the GPU side of things, the Snapdragon 690 uses Qualcomm Adreno 619L. The GPU can drive a 120Hz FHD+ 10bit display which is a new addition in the 6-series and it can also cast up to 4K at 60Hz. Supports 4K HDR video recording which is new in 6-series. The GPU supports HDR10 and HDR10+. It uses the Hexagon 692 DSP and bolsters the 5th gen Qualcomm AI Engine and the Qualcomm Hexagon Tensor Accelerator both which are new to the 6-series.
• Memory: Uses LPDDR4X dual-channel memory with speeds up to 2133 MHz.
• Connectivity: The Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 5G chipset comes with the new
  Snapdragon X51 modem that offers download and upload speed up
  to 2.5Gbps download and 660Mbps upload precisely. Supports the standards 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 802.11ax WiFi 6 Ready. Needless to say, 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectral bands are supported. The Qualcomm Wi-Fi 6-ready technology features Target Wakeup
  Time, 8×8 sounding, WPA3 security etc. It uses Bluetooth version 5.1. Qualcomm aptX Adaptive Audio and Qualcomm TrueWireless Stereo are supported.
• ISP: The Snapdragon 690 5G chipset comes with the Spectra 355L ISP,
  which is a dual 14-bit ISP that supports up to 4K HDR @30FPS video recording, portrait video, 192MP image capture, and 720P @240FPS slow-motion videos.

MediaTek Dimensity 820

The MediaTek Dimensity 820 was announced on 18th May 2020. It is a 7 nm SoC with an Octa-core CPU. The MediaTek Dimensity 820 offers Dual 5G connectivity.

• CPU: The MediaTek Dimensity 820 has an 8 core ARMv8-A 64bit CPU with
  a 4 + 4 core configuration. There are 4 Cortex-A76 CPUs clocked at 2.60GHz and 4 Cortex-A55 CPUs clocked at 2.00GHz
• GPU: The Dimensity 820 uses Mali-G57 MC5 clocked at 900 MHz. It can drive a 120Hz FHD+ display effortlessly and supports MiraVision Video which is an exclusive display technology that adjusts a wide range video stream factors such as colour, brightness,
  contrast, sharpness, and dynamic range, based on what’s being watched or surrounding environmental factors, like when viewing in bright daylight. The GPU supports 4K HDR video recording, AI-PQ, HDR Composer (SDR to HDR)and Enhanced HDR10+ Video Playback.
• AI: Uses MediaTek’s 3 core APU 3.0 provides up to 300% faster ETHZ AI benchmark performance than its direct competitors. A unique FP16 and INT16 capable design generate the most precise AI-camera actions for the best quality video capture or streaming
  results, while also maximizing power efficiency. This includes activities such as AI-Recognition (for example, objects, scenes, or people), AI-Super Resolution and AI-deblur functions.
  Memory: Supports 2 x 16-bit LPDDR4x @ 2133 MHz (17.1 GB/s) up to a maximum of 16GB
  Connectivity: The MediaTek Dimensity 820 5G chipset comes with MediaTek 5G UltraSave modem coupled with 2CC carrier aggregation which offers download and upload speed up to 2.5Gbps and 660Mbps.n Supports the standards Wi-Fi 5 (a/b/g/n/ac) and uses the 2T2R Wi-Fi antenna of 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectral bands are supported. Uses Bluetooth version 5.1.
• ISP: The Dimensity 820 5G chipset comes with an HDR-native flagship-level ISP that supports up to quad-camera setup and 80MP sensors. It also supports 4K video recording @30FPS, 32MP and 16MP dual cameras.

Comparison: Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 vs MediaTek Dimensity 820

• CPU – The Dimensity 820 had an edge over Snapdragon 690 in Geekbench
  5 single-core and multi-core benchmarks. Also, the Dimensity 820 scored 46% more than the Snapdragon 690 in the AnTuTu Benchmark 8. This lead in performance is clearly due to the higher clock speeds and 7 nm design of the MediaTek Dimensity 820 compared to the lower clock speeds and 8 nm design of the Snapdragon 690. Since the Dimensity 820 is a 7 nm SoC it should offer better power efficiency. Although in the paper, Dimensity 820 blows away the Snapdragon 690 the real-world experience can be the opposite based on usage.
• GPU – It’s hard to decide between the GPU as both MediaTek and Qualcomm has not shared GPU clock speeds in its specifications sheets. We believe that MediaTek will certainly perform better as the Mali-G57 GPU is much more powerful than the Adreno 619L.
• Connectivity – In terms of modem, both the Snapdragon 690 5G chipset and the Dimensity 820 5G chipset have similar features. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 5G chipset comes with advanced Wi-Fi 6 technology and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity. So, phone makers
  can add lacked antennas and enable high-speed Wi-Fi on their devices. Whereas, the Dimensity 820 5G chipset, supports only up to Wi-Fi 5 networks. Although, it’s not a shortcoming, as the Wi-Fi 6 adoption is still growing and most of the users would be fine with Wi-Fi 5 networks. Moreover, it also supports Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity. So, in the case of Wi-Fi, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 5G chipset is clearly a winner because of its advanced Wi-Fi 6 technology.
• Display – Both the Snapdragon 690 5G and the Dimensity 820 5G chipsets support up to Full HD+ resolution and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz.
• AI – MediaTek gains an advantage over Qualcomm with the MediaTek APU 3.0 that is in charge of managing activities such as AI- Recognition, AI-deblur functions, and AI-Super Resolution.

At A Glance: Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 vs MediaTek Dimensity 820

Conclusion

It is quite difficult to compare two chipsets solely based on the specifications provided by their makers because their performance will vary from brand to brand. However, a blind comparison based on their specs and benchmarks would give us a small idea of how each of them would perform in the real world. One thing we should realize is that both
chipsets are highly capable mid-range SoCs, the differences in their
specifications would go unnoticed in the real world and we should assume that they would perform nearly identical.

Hope you enjoyed the comparison and do let us know your pick, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 690 or the MediaTek Dimensity 820? Drop down in the comments.

Also Read: New Redmi smartphone with MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ coming soon