Processors are one of the mainstem features in a smartphone device. And there are a number of devices which sport different processors. Two of the most popular processors that are in use at the moment in the world of gadgets are the Apple A10 Fusion and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor. It is a matter of real debate which one is better and with the following comparative study we can add fuel to that already prevailing debate in the market.
Apple A10 Fusion vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 821: Specifications
The first thing that comes to our mind while making a comparative study is the specifications of the concerned devices. And in this section, we try to bring forward a comparative study of the configurations of the Apple A10 Fusion and Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processors.
To begin with, the Apple A10 Fusion processor sports 16nm process technology while the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor sports a 14nm process technology. The one from the Apple has a 64Bit Quad-core CPU which comes with two ARMv8-A cores called Hurricane. Also, there are two power-efficient cores codenamed Zephyr which comes in the Apple A10 Fusion processor. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor sports a 64Bit Quad-core processor which comes with two sets of Kryo CPU, one clocked at 2.4 GHz and the other at 2.0 GHz. The Apple A10 Fusion processor features a 6 core GPU compared to the Adreno 530 650MHZ GPU used in the Snapdragon 821 processor. There not much of a difference noticed as far the video resolutions are concerned as both supports 4K video recording at 30 fps although the Snapdragon 821 processor supports an Ultra HD 4k video recording.
The Snapdragon processor and the one from Apple have almost similar sort of RAM. The one from Snapdragon supports an LPDDR4 RAM clocked at 1855 MHz while the Apple A10 features an LPDDR4 RAM. The Snapdragon 821 processor has a per core scheduling while the Apple A10 one has a per cluster scheduling.
Apple A10 Fusion vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 821: Performance
The performances of the Apple A10 Fusion and Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processors have been subject to all sorts of discussions among the users. If we take a look at the various benchmark tests that these two processors have gone through, it can be noticed that Apple A10 Fusion has fared much better than Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor.
In the AnTuTu tests, it has been revealed that Apple A10 Fusion has got 150000 points while Snapdragon 821 has got 141092 points. The Geekbench S benchmark testing the Apple processor has got 3399 points while its competitor has got 1500 points. In the Geekbench M as well Apple has scored more points than Qualcomm although the difference is not by much. The former has got 5386 points; the latter has received 4154 points.
Obviously, the Apple A10 Fusion has a better performance capability than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor. But there are other issues like memory speeds, L1 and L2 cache sizes and number of instructions per clock that the CPU is capable of carrying out, and these issues are quite crucial when it comes to the level of performance that the processors can provide when it comes to real-time usage.
Apple A10 Fusion vs Qualcomm Snapdragon 821: Power
It ‘s hard to determine which one is better than the other when it come to the power that both the processor consumes. This is because it mostly depends on the type of usage the device is put to use. Also, a bigger screen display and the kind of resolution that it supports determine the power consumption of the processor. So in this section, the contest remains even-Stevens.
Wrap up
Overall it can be remarked that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and the Apple A10 Fusion processor both have exemplary configurations. But there are occasions when the Apple A10 Fusion holds the upper hand. But that does not give the interpretation by any means that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor is going to be a worse processor. The debate of which one is better might be somewhat solved only when the processor are put to real-time usage, and it is predicted that there won’t be too much of a difference between the two.
