The best processor for a budget smartphone - Snapdragon, Kirin, Exynos or MediaTek?

Now even budget chips are eight-core. The models we have chosen are no exception to the rule. However, the structure of these cores is different, as is their operating frequency.

As can be clearly seen from the table above, the Chinese Kirin 710F looks more interesting than the rest. The fact is that this chip has at its disposal four cores capable of operating at a clock frequency of 2200 MHz. They come in handy when running games and heavy applications. In particular, smartphones with such a processor should do a good job of editing photos and editing video from the built-in camera. However, there is a downside to this solution. The manufacturer had to reduce the frequency of the remaining four cores to 1700 MHz, and therefore, slowdowns may be observed in the operation of the operating system and ordinary programs. In this regard, the Exynos 850 shows itself more stably, the frequency of all eight cores of which is 2000 MHz.

Here it immediately becomes clear that Unisoc SC9863A will be an outsider in our comparison. It included the weakest cores. Unsurprisingly, smartphones with this chip usually get a lite version of Android, known as the Go Edition.

It is impossible not to note the technical process used to create the chipsets we have chosen. In this regard, Samsung's creation pleases the most. The choice in favor of 8 nm can only be praised. As a result, the processor turned out to be very energy efficient - at the level of more expensive chips. The Snapdragon 662, made using an 11-nanometer process technology, does not perform so badly.

Choosing a budget device automatically means you won't be using it to run serious 3D games. But if such a need does arise, then devices based on Snapdragon, MediaTek or Kirin will show themselves a little better. They are based on not the worst graphics accelerator. If the device will have a display with a resolution of 720p, then there will be no problems at all. If the device includes a better screen, then you will have to lower the graphics settings or “enjoy” the slide show.

Surprisingly, Exynos received a rather weak graphics accelerator. The Mali-G52 MP1 is used here as it.As a result, a South Korean smartphone based on this chip copes with the launch of three-dimensional games quite mediocrely. However, Unisoc shows itself even worse in this regard. The device based on it will mainly be sharpened exclusively for games like "three in a row". But some of our readers do not need more.

Inexpensive smartphones almost never get a lot of RAM. But still, we cannot but estimate how much RAM these processors are ready to recognize. Comparison of the figures declared by the manufacturers shows that the outsider is Unisoc, which supports only 4 GB. This is the bare minimum that Android Go Edition is missing. The Kirin 710F does not stand out very much against its background, ready to recognize 6 GB.

As for the rest of the chips, they are able to understand the presence of 8 GB of RAM inside the smartphone. Such processors do not need more. And if we talk about persistent memory, then Kirin and Snapdragon outperform the competition. The fact is that these chips support UFS 2.1 memory. It cannot be called super fast. However, it is still noticeably faster than the cheap eMMC 5.1.

It depends on the chipset what kind of screen the manufacturer of the mobile device will be able to endow with his creation. The fact is that not all processors are ready to process a picture in a very high resolution. If you take a look at the plate attached below, you will understand that the most budget solutions are designed for Full HD +. However, this is quite enough. Even flagship models don't always get a higher resolution display.

A similar data flow is associated with the operation of the camera. Therefore, a smartphone with an inexpensive chip, even theoretically, could not receive a 108-megapixel module - it simply would not be recognized. However, we do not recommend paying attention to the maximum resolution of the camera. Instead, look at what kind of video the processor can handle.

As you might guess, Unisoc shows itself worse than the others. The camera in a smartphone with such a chip will record video in Full HD resolution at a frequency of only 30 frames / s. Don't expect high bitrate either. In a word, the result of video filming will be very mediocre.Exynos and Kirin do their job better - they are ready to exactly double the frequency.

Helio G88 is theoretically ready to shoot video in 2K resolution. However, smartphones with this chip rarely get this feature. What this is connected with is not clear. As for the Snapdragon 662, it is designed for processing 4K video at 30 fps. Usually the camera of devices with this processor gives the best result.

It also depends on the processor what type of connection the smartphone will please. Of course, none of the chips we chose received support for 5G networks, because this is the lot of mid-budget and top-end solutions. You will have to be content with an LTE modem. He, by the way, can be of a different category. Standard 4G support means that you can download files at a maximum speed of 300 Mbps from the device. However, in Snpapdragon this setting has been raised to 390 Mbps. But Kirin gives the best result - at the level of 600 Mbps. Please note that this is only for downloads. The speed of uploading files to the network for all is 150 Mbps.

Despite the budget status, some chips are ready to please with support for Wi-Fi 802.11ac. That is, the fifth version of this standard. And Qualcomm became generous even for the sixth! So far, not every reader of ours can organize such a network, because for this you need a good and fairly expensive router. And do budget smartphones need high speeds? Unisoc and HiSilicon seem not to. That must be why they only implemented 802.11n Wi-Fi support.

Finally, it is impossible not to say a few words about Bluetooth. If you have good wireless headphones at your disposal, then you would like to get a smartphone with support for the fifth version of the “blue tooth”. Unfortunately, owners of the device with Kirin or Unisoc on board will have to limit themselves to the fourth one. Snapdragon shows itself better than the rest in this regard - it has support for stable and energy-efficient Bluetooth 5.1.

If you read reviews of budget smartphones, which include the processors we have chosen, then there are mostly positive emotions. Yes, and in reviews of such devices complain extremely rarely. Of course, there is an exception to the rule - these are devices based on Unisoc. Pure Android works on them without much difficulty, but running heavy applications makes you spend some time waiting.And games run at high frame rates only if you lower the graphics level a lot. This, of course, is about projects like Call of Duty: Mobile. Unpretentious toys run without problems, especially if the device has received an adequate amount of RAM.

Perhaps the standard is the Snapdragon 662. On the Xiaomi Poco M3 smartphone, the screen of which has a resolution of 1080x2340 pixels, the mobile Call of Duty runs on ultra graphics settings at 30 fps. But it's not the most demanding game. World of Tanks Blitz forces you to reduce the level of graphics. But in this case, 50-55 fps are already waiting for you. Fortnite is the most CPU intensive. The game runs at the lowest graphics level, while averaging 26 frames per second.

Snapdragon 662 shows itself from the best side. He won in almost all of our categories. And this despite the fact that, purely on paper, its computing cores do not seem as powerful as those of competitors! However, in practice, it turns out that smartphones with this chip work without serious problems. Yes, slowdowns happen, but quite rarely.

However, we will not argue that the creations of HiSilicon and MediaTek are completely useless. We must not forget that processors from a second manufacturer are built into even cheaper devices. And for some of our readers, the price tag is the most significant factor. But even for such people, we will not recommend a device based on Unisoc SC9863A, unless you are going to use it only as a dialer.