With the launch of the alternative ROG Phone 6 models and the landing of reviews for them – we get a rare opportunity to test the capabilities of the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 against the Dimensity 9000 Plus when both are in a very similar environment that allows them to reach their full potential
Many smart devices come with the same advanced processing chip that powers them, on paper – but in reality differences in the physical size and internal design of the models bring with them various compromises that also dictate the power “budget” for the various processing cores. In other words, a proper direct comparison between different smartphones like the one that can be done with desktop computers, or even some models of laptops, is very challenging.
Sometimes, though, a golden opportunity pops up that feels for a change like a proper apples-to-apples comparison in the mobile world – and we have an example of that now with reviews landing for the ROG Phone 6D Ultimate from Asus, which is very similar to the ROG Phone 6 Pro it launched before A few months in every imaginable feature, except that the chip responsible for the celebration inside is Mediatek’s flagship Dimensity 9000 Plus, rather than rival Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1.
After years of technological inferiority on the part of the chip developer from Taiwan, does it succeed in overshadowing the American rival? Yes but also no, this is probably the most accurate answer received thanks to the official reviews from agreed sources like GSMArena.
According to the most popular benchmarks, the Dimensity 9000 Plus-equipped ROG Phone seems to beat the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1-equipped ROG Phone in most aspects of general core performance when operating in X Mode or X Mode Plus which ignores all aspects of battery saving in order to provide the highest performance for gaming (or for benchmarks, in this case). Although the differences are minor and rely on a few percentages, it seems that even in Geekbench 5, in the test for a single core and the test for multiple cores, and in Antutu 9 that gives a score to all the parts of the system, the new 6D Ultimate model manages to reach the top, above any other device Another Snapdragon currently available in stores.
Image source: gsmarena.com
In the various 3DMark and GFXBench tests for the processing capabilities of the graphics cores, the situation is reversed, with the Adreno 730 inside the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 taking the lead in most cases, while in the latest Aztec test the differences are modest (even when based on the Vulkan standard and even when based on OpenGL ES 3.1) and as you go back to older performance tests, this gap widens. Although Mediatek is using the newest Mali graphics core that ARM had earlier this year, it seems that the experience and knowledge that Qualcomm has in its own internal teams is still superior.
Image source: gsmarena.com
And what about Apple? In the small number of tests in which a proper direct comparison can be made between the A16 Bionic chip and those of Qualcomm and Mediatek, a healthy advantage of tens of percent was observed when it comes to the general processing cores (according to the results in the Geekbench 5 test), alongside a much more modest advantage in the tests GFXBench of the graphic core which still does not prevent the iPhone 14 models from being at the top.
There is no knockout victory here for any of the parties in the battle for Android kingship, then, but the very fact that device manufacturers and users have legitimate reasons to decide between two chips with very impressive performance (and forgive us Samsung, which seems to have exited this race at least temporarily) is positive news for competitiveness In the industry – so probably we all win a little bit, actually.
Who do you think is the best chip for Android devices at the end of 2022? Let’s share in the comments.