Samsung’s M series phones have surprised everyone since it is the first time in the past couple of years that Samsung has launched budget phones at very aggressive pricing. Most of us are not interested in the Galaxy M10 as much as we are in the Galaxy M20. This is because the Galaxy M20 comes with the all-new Exynos 7904 processor which is supposed to be a successor to the Exynos 7885 that we didn’t see in any budget phone from Samsung.
Apart from Qualcomm, there is one more company that is popular when it comes to mobile SoCs. We are talking about MediaTek. MediaTek wasn’t considered a competition to Qualcomm a couple of years back, but in the past few years, we have seen the company launching some really good processors that give a solid competition to the Snapdragon chips from Qualcomm.
Take an example of the Helio P60. It was the first 12nm processor in the budget segment that, due to its powerful CPU and AI capabilities, beat the chipsets like Snapdragon 625 and 636 with ease. Further, the company launched Helio P70 with even better AI features and slightly better CPU performance.
In India, there are phones like the Realme 1, Nokia 5.1 Plus, etc. in the sub Rs 15,000 price with the Helio P60 but only one phone has Helio P70 right now, and that’s the Realme U1. So, how does the Exynos 7904 from Samsung compared to the Helio P60 as well as the Helio P70?
Well, in this article, we will compare the Exynos 7904 vs Helio P60 and Exynos 7904 vs Helio P70. We are doing this comparison in the same article since there isn’t much difference between the P60 and P70.
EXYNOS 7904 VS HELIO P60 – THE SPECIFICATIONS
Exynos 7904MediaTek Helio P60Manufacturing Process14nm12nmCPU64-bit 2x1.8GHz Cortex-A73 + 6x1.6GHz Cortex-A534x Cortex A73 at 2.0GHz + 4x Cortex A53 at 2.0GHz GPUARM Mali-G71 MP2 with frequency up to 770MHzARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPUwith frequency up to 800MHzCAMERAUp to 32 MP single camera Up to 16 MP dual cameraUp to 32MP single camera Up to 24MP+16MP dual-camerasDISPLAYUp to Full HD+ [2400x1080]Up to Full HD+ 20:9LTELTE Cat.13LTE Cat-13
THE ARCHITECTURE
Solely based on the architecture, the Helio P60 takes the lead since it is a 12nm processor compared to the 14nm Exynos 7904. You can think of this like – ‘The smaller the size, the better the performance and power efficiency.’ So, the Helio P60 easily beats the Exynos 7904 in this case.
WINNER – HELIO P60
THE CPU
The Exynos 7904 has eight cores, but they are arranged such that two cores are for high performance whereas rest of the six cores are for power efficiency. So, there are two high-performance Cortex A73 cores clocked at 1.8GHz and six power-efficient Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.6GHz. In our previous comparisons of Exynos 7904 vs Snapdragon 636 and Exynos 7904 vs Snapdragon 660, we saw that the Exynos 7904 is more of a power efficient processor.
Talking about the Helio P60, it is a very powerful processor based on the 12nm architecture. It too has eight cores, but the arrangement is such that the four Cortex A73 cores and rest of the four Cortex-A53 cores are clocked at 2.0GHz. This is a huge advantage for the Helio P60 since the CPU is much powerful than that of the Exynos 7904. So, in this case, the Helio P60 is easily a winner.
WINNER – HELIO P60
THE GPU
If you think that the Exynos 7904 has a better GPU because it is a newer processor, then you’re completely wrong. The MediaTek Helio P60 of last year has a better GPU than it. The Exynos 7904 has a Mali G71 MP2 GPU with a frequency of 770MHz. On the other hands, the Helio P60 has the Mali G72 MP3 GPU with a frequency of 850MHz. Both the 16nm GPUs but since the Mali G72 is a successor to the G71, it is better.
Hence, in this case, too, the Helio P60 beats the Exynos 7904. And did we mention that the Mali G71 was launched in 2016 whereas the G72 MP3 in October 2017?
WINNER – HELIO P60
THE CAMERA SUPPORT
If you read our previous comparisons, then you know that the Exynos 7904 is the only processor at this price range which supports triple rear cameras. So, in that case, the 7904 is better than the P60. Talking about single cameras, both the processors support up to the 32MP single rear camera. But, when it comes to dual cameras, the Helio P60 supports up to 24MP + 16MP cameras whereas the Exynos 7904 supports up to a dual 16MP camera.
WINNER – IT’S A TIE
CONNECTIVITY
Finally, talking about the connectivity, the MediaTek Helio P60 supports LTE Cat. 7 and LTE Cat.13 for uplink and downlink respectively. On the other hand, the Exynos 7904 supports LTE Cat.12 and LTE Cat.13 for uplink and downlink respectively. So, the Exynos 7904 has a slight edge here.
WINNER -EXYNOS 7904
AI
MediaTek focuses a lot of AI and hence, the Helio P60 features a mobile APU [multi-core AI Processing Unit]. According to MediaTek, the Mobile APU includes a multi-core processor combined with intelligent control logic. It is 2X more power efficient than a GPU and generates class-leading edge-AI processing performance of up to 280GMAC/s.
On the other hand, Samsung didn’t state a word on AI and any AI Engine in the Exynos 7904, so we think there isn’t any.
WINNER – HELIO P60
EXYNOS 7904 VS HELIO P70 – THE SPECIFICATIONS
Exynos 7904MediaTek Helio P70Manufacturing Process14nm12nmCPU64-bit 2x1.8GHz Cortex-A73 + 6x1.6GHz Cortex-A534x ARM Cortex-A73 + 4x ARM Cortex-A53 Up To 2.1GHzGPUARM Mali-G71 MP2 with frequency up to 770MHzARM Mali-G72 MP3 GPU clocked at up to 850MHzCAMERAUp to 32 MP single camera Up to 16 MP dual cameraUp to 24MP+16MP dual-cameras Up to 32MP single cameraDISPLAYUp to Full HD+ [2400x1080]Up to Full HD+ 20:9LTELTE Cat.13Cat-7 DL / Cat-13 UL
Remember when we said that the Helio P60 isn’t much different compared to the P70? Well, as you can see in the specifications above, there is hardly any difference between the P60 and P70. The only difference you are going to notice is in the clock speed.
THE ARCHITECTURE
Just like the MediaTek Helio P60, the P70 is also a 12nm processor which means it is better than the 14nm Samsung’s Exynos 7904 processor. It will have better power efficiency and better performance due to the better architecture.
WINNER – HELIO P70
THE CPU
The Helio P70 has the same CPU arrangement as the P60 except for the fact that the clock speed is now up to 2.1GHz. Again, since the P60 is better regarding the CPU as compared to the Exynos 7904, the Helio P70 is better in this case as well.
WINNER – HELIO P70
THE GPU
Despite being an upgrade to the Helio P60, the GPU remains unchanged on the Helio P70. So, it is the same Mali G72-MP3 GPU, and again, it is better than the Mali G71-MP2 GPU of the Exynos 7904.
WINNER – HELIO P70
THE CAMERA SUPPORT
The Helio P70, just like the P60, support up to dual cameras on the rear but the Exynos 7904 supports triple rear cameras. But then again, the P70 supports up to 24MP + 16MP dual rear cameras whereas the Exynos 7904 supports dual 16MP cameras. So, it’s a tie.
WINNER – IT’S A TIE
CONNECTIVITY
The connectivity options for the Helio P70 are the same as P60. So, it supports LTE Cat. 7 and LTE Cat.13 for uplink and downlink respectively. But since Exynos 7904 supports LTE Cat. 12 for UL, it is slightly better in this case.
WINNER – EXYNOS 7904
AI
One of the things that differentiate the Helio P70 and P60 is the more powerful and efficient Multi-Core, Multi-Threaded AI Processor. Due to the new intelligent multi-threading scheduler, the AI processing efficiency is 30% better than the P60. Again, since the Samsung Exynos 7904 doesn’t have an APU, the Helio P70 is a winner in this case.
WINNER – HELIO P70
EXYNOS 7904 VS HELIO P60 – THE BENCHMARKS
Exynos 7904 AnTuTu Score
Exynos 7904 Geekbench Score
The Exynos 7904 scores around 107K on AnTuTu and that’s not a bad score at all. Still, when you see the score of P60, you are going to agree that Exynos 7904 is not as good as the P60. Anyways, the Geekbench benchmark shows that the Exynos 7904 scores around 1314 on single core and 3982 on multi-core.
Finally, on Slingshot Extreme, the Exynos 7904 scores around 580 for Open GL ES 3.1 and 1101 for Vulkan.
Helio P60 AnTuTu score
Helio P60 Geekbench score
Saw the difference? Well, the Helio P60 destroys the Exynos 7904 when it comes to the benchmark scores. The AnTuTu score is around 138K for the Helio P60 which is about 30K more than what the Exynos 7904 scores. Also, on Geekbench, the Helio P60 scores 1488 on the single core and around 5668 on multi-core which is again higher than the scores of the 7904.
So, regarding the benchmarks also, the Helio P60 is a clear winner.
EXYNOS 7904 VS HELIO P70 – THE BENCHMARKS
As we already know the scores of the Exynos 7904, let’s move on to the scores of Helio P70. The AnTuTu score of the Helio P70 is a staggering 145K which is way higher than the score of Exynos 7904. So, in this case, the Helio P70 completely annihilates the Exynos 7904. On Geekbench, the single core score of the P70 is around 1540 and almost 5970 on multi-core.
On SlingShot Extreme, the Helio P70 scores 1K+ for both Open GL ES 3.1 and Vulkan. So, regarding the benchmarks, the Helio P70 is way better than the Exynos 7904.
EXYNOS 7904 VS HELIO P60 VS HELIO P70 – THE CONCLUSION
Well, as you saw, the Exynos 7904 is nowhere near the Helio P60 and the Helio P70 when we talk about the overall performance. Yes, it might be better regarding power efficiency due to more power efficient cores, but then again, it is a 14nm processor whereas the Helio P60, and P70 are 12nm processors hence they are not only powerful but also power efficient.
What processor would you prefer if you have to choose between the Exynos 7904 vs Helio P60 vs Helio P70 and why? Do let us know via the comments section.