Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Snapdragon vs Exynos

June 28, 2022

0 0 8 minutes read

Also this year Samsung has chosen to diversify the SoC present on its top of the range of the Galaxy S line, in our country S22 arrived with Samsung Exynos 2200 , while for other geographical areas, we opted for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 .

This policy of the Korean brand has been going on for some time now, despite the complaints of the community for the apparent penalization of some markets due to the lower performance of the SoC built in Samsung’s foundries. In the past, in fact, the Qualcomm platform has proved to be more solid in performance and sparing in consumption, as well as having revealed a slight advantage in the management of cameras. Differences that we have analyzed in the last two years and we have proposed to you through two dedicated articles.

This time the premises are different, Exynos 2200 has an ace up its sleeve represented by the XClipse GPU with RDNA2 architecture created in collaboration with AMD and on paper the gap should have been filled. As we know, however, the field test is another story, as we pointed out in the review, our Galaxy S22 Ultra (with Exynos) showed quite a few uncertainties, in particular in the operation of the GPU. A few months have passed and several updates have arrived, now we are at the litmus test, make yourself comfortable.

INDEX

DATA SHEET
FREQUENCIES AT REST
FREQUENCIES UNDER STRESS
BENCHMARK
EVERYDAY USE EXPERIENCE
PHOTO AND VIDEO
IN CONCLUSION

COMPARISON OF TECHNICAL SHEETS

Let’s start with a brief review of the technical specifications of the Samsung Exynos 2200 and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1

The two processors are really very similar on paper, with the exception of the slightly higher peak frequencies on Qualcomm, as mentioned it completely changes the GPU that will be the tip of the balance of the comparison.

MANAGEMENT OF FREQUENCIES AT REST

Before throwing ourselves on the benchmarks, let’s evaluate the behavior of the two smartphones in a rest situation, 10 minutes after restarting and with all connections disabled. Recall that the two Galaxy S22s are in the same basic conditions , have the same applications installed and all the latest updates received, are found with the brightness manually set to 50%, screen in WQHD and battery at the same level.

View in Full Screen

First of all on the Cores 1,2,3,4 or the Cortex-A510, the less performing ones, you can see a very different clock, we are on 844 MHz for Snapdragon and 1056 MHz for the Exynos, in addition to the medium frequencies there is a much more linear behavior on one side and more hopping on the other.
On the Core 5,6,7, the mediums, we again notice much higher frequencies and maintained on the Exynos 2200, while the Snapdragon constantly tries to bring the clock back to idle frequencies.
On the Core 8, that is the Cortex-X2 instead the roles are reversed, it is the Qualcomm that tends to maintain a higher frequency.

As for the temperatures, there is nothing to report in particular but this is already news if we think about last year, when the CPU of the Exynos 2100 was constantly 5 to 10 degrees warmer than the Qualcomm counterpart.

MANAGEMENT OF FREQUENCIES IN PROLONGED STRESS

After seeing how the two SoCs divide at rest, let’s see instead the management of the frequencies under stress. At this point we are not investigating the performance but only the behavior of the various cores.

samsung galaxy s22 ultra snapdragon vs exynos

Under stress we see how the two processors are programmed in a substantially different way, in particular the discrepancy on the Core X2 is evident, identified on the graph with the fuchsia line. On the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 the frequencies remain higher and jump clearly, an indication of a sudden scaling governor, on the Exynos 2200 instead we almost immediately go below 2 GHz and then the frequencies are kept constant and relatively low.

Soon we will see how all this translates into performance, what is certain is that in the calibration of the Samsung SoC it has been chosen to keep temperatures and consumption under control, limiting the peak frequencies. In confirmation of this we see that the T recorded on the battery rises above 40 degrees faster on the S22 Ultra Snapdragon.

Let’s now see a series of classic benchmarks to evaluate the behavior of the two smartphones in the most varied situations.

ANTUTU BENCHMARK

Antutu shows a rather linear behavior of the two SoCs. There is a certain gap which is maintained from start to finish, i.e. after the fourth consecutive execution loop.

Going to read the values in more detail, we realize that in this test the advantage is distributed among all the items, with a particular weight in everything concerning the GPU. Below is the detail of the “UX” tab which contains various evaluation parameters including video decoding, image process, data process and security.

3D MARK

We performed the Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, which repeats the single test in a loop 4 times. The results are in line with what we saw on Antutu, but here the focus is completely centered on the GPU. In the following image you can evaluate the framerates that the two smartphones are able to maintain in repeated loops.

Red T. (Exy), Gray T. (Snap), Orange FPS (Exy), Green FPS (Snap)

In this combined graph you can see the temperatures and the fps throughout the test. The behavior is very similar, better peaks can be observed for the Snapdragon (green line) but overall, beyond the test environment, it is impossible to notice significant differences, both in temperature and in performance.

GEEKBENCH 5

The Geekbench 5 test on the GPU substantially confirms the trend, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 is not afraid of comparisons in terms of graphic computing capacity, it remains slightly higher even on the single core CPU, while in the multi core it finally puts the Exynos 2200 head ahead ( multi core represented by the two lines).

GEEKBENCH 5 MACHINE LEARNING

In this specific test for machine learning features we offer you some rounds repeated in sequence that selectively stress the CPU and GPU. Here too the refrain does not change, Snapdragon superior on the CPU in a marginal way, while on the GPU it achieves a score that is often double that of the Exynos model. In this case it is probably not just about superior performance but about incompatibility between the benchmark and the RDNA2 architecture of Exynos’ XClipse.

GFX BENCH

In this benchmark we went to check the graphics performance on API OpenGL ES 3.1 and Vulkan 1.0, as you can see from the graphics Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 proves slightly superior, although the order of magnitude is the same. The score is expressed in the total number of rendered frames, actually reading the details of each round you realize that the FPS difference remains in the order of 1 or less points (see screenshot below).

PC MARK

This benchmark simulates an average and prolonged load on the Soc, without a particular focus on the GPU. The results are close but for 3 out of 3 loops they benefit the Exynos model. All this confirms the sensations of daily use in which, after the latest updates, it is very difficult to notice significant speed differences.

EVERYDAY USE EXPERIENCE

After analyzing the capabilities of the two SoCs in “laboratory” conditions, let’s now proceed with some considerations dictated by the experience of daily use, with particular reference to autonomy and performance.

A TWO-SIDED EXYNOS

The first noteworthy aspect concerns the Exynos variant, which was the one we used the most and in which we appreciated a slow but inexorable improvement, from launch day to today. If initially Galaxy S22 Ultra had disappointed us a little on the performance front, now, despite the summer heat, we can say that it performs as expected. The annoying lag that gripped him at first are gone, leaving room for convincing performance.

The first positive aspect concerns the general fluidity of use, but it is above all in gaming that we notice the gear change on the GPU, finally able to express at least part of its power, despite the fact that the titles available are not yet able to fully exploit it. the potential. Many “benchmark” games such as COD Mobile, Genshin Impact, Apex Legend or Diablo Immortal do not yet allow you to set the graphic effects to the maximum level, a sign that the GPU is still not recognized correctly, or that in any case the optimization is not it’s enough.

For gaming, therefore, Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (European) continues to be not the ideal solution , hoping that in the future things can improve further.

The other noteworthy aspect is the autonomy, even slightly higher for the Exynos model , when initially it left us more than a doubt.

HOT GALAXY

Despite all the improvements, we cannot ignore a general overheating and throttling tendency of the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the speech applies to both variants. In general, all the smartphones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 that we have tested have shown, some more or less, some thermal management problems, here, the Samsung flagship in this particular aspect does not stand out positively, in particular if the resolution of the QHD display.

Unlike other products, such as Xiaomi 12 Pro, which chooses to sacrifice a minimum performance, or Realme GT 2 Pro, which instead focuses on a large dissipation system, it seems that the Galaxy have not been able to find the perfect square between performance and temperatures, with the result of ending up a bit in limbo for those who don’t know which side to take.

PHOTO AND VIDEO

As for the photo and video sector, a different ISP makes the difference. In the past years, the distance between the two Galaxy variants was important, but this time we are very close, so we went to look for situations in which something interesting could come up to show.

In videos in poor light conditions, both with the front and rear cameras you can see a much better noise management on the Snapdragon model, the colors are better preserved but above all the grain is finer, the framerate is maintained more effectively. so that overall the movies are smoother.

In the photos the differences are really minimal, you have to push the crop to the extreme to appreciate some differences, which in any case do not change the overall quality evaluation.

IN CONCLUSION

At the end of this long roundup of data and comparisons, let’s try to pull the strings. The numbers are numbers and they speak to us once again of a superiority of the Galaxy S22 Ultra with Qualcomm compared to the variant with a Samsung processor. Some benchmarks, however, highlight how the advantage is fundamentally enclosed in the GPU , where, despite the many improvements, a certain difficulty of the XClipse made in collaboration with AMD emerges.

Paradoxically, the strength of the Exynos version is proving to be a weak point, it being understood that we are still on good standards and the disappointing result is to be compared to the Adreno 730 equipped on Qualcomm’s Soc, the market reference to date. The problem remains compatibility with games and applications that should exploit it, which suggests that perhaps Samsung has been a bit too hasty in placing such an innovative top of the range on the market.

In any case, it must be said that, never as this year, the differences in the test environment do not have an equally important impact on daily usability. They exist, and the most attentive to the technical aspect will not be happy about this, but ultimately they can be overlooked if viewed in the overall context of a product like S22 Ultra, which remains of a high level.

7.5
Hardware6.4 Price
Quality