Kirin 970 vs Snapdragon 845: What’s the difference of them? - Honor 10 Questions & Answers

As the two chipsets that are discussed most frequently, both Kirin 970 and Snapdragon 845 have their own advantages. Compared with SD835, SD845 is enhanced in terms of CPU and GPU, which improves its overall performance and speed. Kirin 970, an AI-enabled core, is a chipset with an independent built-in NPU processor which is an amazing innovation for introducing artificial neural network to be more intelligent, whereas SD845 uses CPU, GPU, and DSP to simulate the function of NPU. So for SD845, when the tasks to be processed are overload, the AI performance can’t be guaranteed. As a result, the NPU of Kirin 970 is able to process AI tasks such as image recognition, voice-controlled personal assistant and intelligent photography separately from the CPU, NPU, and DSP on the chipset, delivering AI-related performance far better than the NPE adopted by SD845.
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This picture was showed in the Honor10 launch event in China, illustrating the AI performance benchmark. It is clear from the picture that Honor10 (Kirin 970) has a superior performance than Galaxy S9 (Snapdragon 845) regarding AI, which proves that the NPU is powerful as it was mentioned in articles.
So, SD845 has an advantage in CPU and GPU, whereas Kirin 970 performs better in AI-related tasks because of independent built-in NPU. Personally, the ‘marginal benefit’ of the improvement in CPU and GPU by SD845 is slightly low, while the enhancement of the AI performance in Kirin 970 is obvious and it could be applied in more areas in the future.
I want to know your opinions. Welcome to discuss with me!

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I really think that the CPU on the SD 845 and the Exynos 9810 (based on cortex A75 & A55) are better than the ones on the kirin 970, which is based on the Cortex A73 and A53 (if you're wondering, the same as Kirin 960). The SD 845 outright has the best GPU (Adreno) and the Exynos and Kirin processors share the same Mali G72 GPU, but the Exynos gets 20 cores against the kirin's 12 (Exynos being more powerful). The only thing that differentiates the Kirin 970 is the presence of the NPU, a physical processing unit (Part of SoC) dedicated to Machine Learning functions, unlike SD and Exynos that use their DSPs and ISPs for Machine learning, whicheans that the kirin is the fastest among the bunch for AI and Machine Learning functions.

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iamsabresh said:
I really think that the CPU on the SD 845 and the Exynos 9810 (based on cortex A75 & A55) are better than the ones on the kirin 970, which is based on the Cortex A73 and A53 (if you're wondering, the same as Kirin 960). The SD 845 outright has the best GPU (Adreno) and the Exynos and Kirin processors share the same Mali G72 GPU, but the Exynos gets 20 cores against the kirin's 12 (Exynos being more powerful). The only thing that differentiates the Kirin 970 is the presence of the NPU, a physical processing unit (Part of SoC) dedicated to Machine Learning functions, unlike SD and Exynos that use their DSPs and ISPs for Machine learning, whicheans that the kirin is the fastest among the bunch for AI and Machine Learning functions.
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Yes, I totally agree with you. Personally, the marginal benefits of improvements of the CPU and GPU by each introduction of new SD chips are decreasing except for gaming users. The NPU might be a trend for chip R&D because it really makes our smartphone 'smarter'.

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Kirin is still new, completely unexplored. It has a lot of potential and opportunities.