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Snapdragon, Kirin and Exynos: What do mobile processors do? And what's behind the terms?

Dominik Bärlocher
8.11.2017
Translation: machine translated

Experts in the smartphone scene like to throw around words like "Snapdragon" or "Kirin" and then nod meaningfully at each other. But what is behind the terms? And what does the marketing promise?

"The singularity is near," said Huawei CEO Richard Yu at the launch of the Huawei Mate 10. However, this is only possible because the new processor in the device, the Kirin 970, is specially designed for artificial intelligence. Before we dive deep into the science of processors, or as deep as necessary so that you know a little better, let's take a quick trip to the impending robot apocalypse. Because the singularity is not necessarily a good thing.

The «Terminator» film series describes the pitfalls of the Singularity with genocide quite well

But it's not just in fiction that the Singularity and the apocalypse are being driven by robots; the technology companies of our world are also working on it. These include not only Huawei, but also Samsung and Panasonic, among others.

Despite the impending doom of humanity, the new Kirin processor from Huawei is impressive. But the Exynos processors and Snapdragons are also impressive. But which processor suits you best is, of course, once again the answer: "Well... it depends."
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What does it depend on? Let's take a look.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 835: The de facto standard and an introduction to platforms

Probably because of its resounding name, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 is the processor that is mentioned the most in spoken language. That, and the marketing budget of technology giant Samsung, which has installed the Snapdragon in its latest flagships, is many times larger than that of the competition.

The name is made up of three components:

  1. Qualcomm: The name of the manufacturer
  2. Snapdragon: Series of the processor
  3. 835: Model

In common parlance, the part is usually called "the Snapdragon". However, the Snapdragon is more than just a processor. It can be compared to a platform, technically known as a "system-on-a-chip" or SoC for short. This means that the Snapdragon system is something between a complete system and individual components. Something that smart device manufacturers can build on.

The Snapdragon platform is designed for communication. Data must be able to flow quickly from A to B without requiring a lot of power, as communication must not break down.

A side effect of the improved energy efficiency is that the phones can get by with less battery power and still last longer. Less battery also means less weight, which can be found in ultra-light flagships such as the LG V30, which weighs just 150 grams without SIM and memory card.

A little detail at the end: There are a total of 8998 parts built into a Snapdragon platform.

Huawei Kirin 970: The one with the singularity

Just like the Snapdragon 835, the Kirin's name is a compound:

  • Huawei: manufacturer
  • Kirin: series
  • 970: model

The Kirin platform achieves this - like the Snapdragon, the Kirin 970 is not a single chip, but a platform - by incorporating a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), i.e. dedicated hardware for artificial intelligence. Where other manufacturers have so far relied almost exclusively on software and have not allowed the calculations in the neural network to take place on the smartphone to a large extent, Huawei brings the computing power into your pocket. At least in part.

But apart from recognising all kinds of things, the Kirin platform with its NPU should also help to make using the phone faster and, above all, longer. As Christophe Coutelle, Huawei's Vice President of Software Marketing, told the industry magazine DigitalTrends:

Huawei is officially keeping a low profile when it comes to exact specs, but the website anandtech knows more.

Exynos 9 Series (8895): The third in the bunch

If the competition is already producing new processors, then so must Samsung. After all, the company is the world's largest chip manufacturer. The development from Samsung is called the Exynos 9 Series (8895), or "the Exynos" for short.

  • Samsung: Manufacturer
  • Exynos: Series
  • 9: Series
  • 8895: model

Though there is no second platform in the Exynos 9 series, Samsung is certainly keeping the option open. A "Samsung Exynos 9 8996" is at least theoretically possible, even if the version history of the platforms does not suggest this. This is where it gets a little strange. This is because the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ were delivered with both Exynos and Snapdragons. The difference is small and not really noticeable in everyday use.

In Samsung's marketing chatter, the manufacturer talks about the "best ever experience in mobiles", which sounds a lot like Apple and hasn't impressed tech freaks since at least the death of Steve Jobs. Hence, tech specs.

But - and this is where the Exynos comes as a surprise - in benchmarks in our offices, the Exynos was easily able to keep up with the other two platforms purely in terms of system performance. Chapeau.

In the race for the fastest and best platform, you have a choice: communication or intelligence. But that's not to say that the Snapdragon can't perform functions with AI or that the Kirin is useless when it comes to uploading and downloading. The manufacturers are simply going in different directions with their chipsets. They are giving us a deep insight into the direction of development.

  • Samsung, with its own processors and Snapdragons, wants communication from the backbone of the internet to your pocket to be as fast as possible
  • Huawei seeks the intelligence of the machine on the local device

And Apple? Apple is currently focussing on its own development, the A11 Bionic. We'll take a look at it as soon as the iPhone X has been thoroughly tested here in the editorial team.

So if you're wondering which platform you need or want, the answer is still "Well... it depends". But at least now you know what matters. Even if you're not looking for a new phone, you can now join in with your colleagues when they're talking shop. Have fun with it.

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Dominik Bärlocher
Senior Editor
dominik.baerlocher@digitecgalaxus.ch

Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.

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