MediaTek Helio X20 Scores High in Benchmark, but Falls Short of Snapdragon 820, Apple's A9
It remains a cheaper alternative for high-end phones
It looks like MediaTek's deca-core Helio X20 chipset will be the obvious choice for handset makers that will offer cheaper high-end smartphones next year.
The latest benchmark results indicate that MediaTek's chipset is no match for Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor, but in some cases, the Helio X20 scores lower than Apple's A9 chip as well.
According to Geekbench 3, MediaTek Helio X20 scored 2094 points in the single-core benchmark, around the same as the Snapdragon 820, but much lower than Apple's A9 chipset that scored 2,350 points.
The big difference stands in multi-core tests that showed that MediaTek Helio X20 is better than Huawei's Kirin 950 chipset, but is still far behind the Snapdragon 820 CPU.
The Helio X20 scored 7037 points in the multi-core benchmark, but as some of you might recall, Snapdragon 820 is still the best performer with no less than 7400 points scored in the multi-core tests.
MediaTek will probably be the main supplier of high-end chipsets for smartphones
Although MediaTek Helio X20 chipset hasn't been released on the market yet, we doubt that the developer will be able to improve its performances too much by the time it gets launched.
However, the Helio X20 chipset, which accommodates two Cortex-A72 cores and two quad-core Cortex-A53 CPUs inside, will be a great alternative to the most expensive chipsets that will be launched next year, including the Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890.
We will probably see many Chinese OEMs adopt MediaTek's Helio X20 chipset for their high-end smartphones, which will allow them to keep the prices very low.
Obviously, benchmark performance shouldn't be the only aspect that you should take into consideration when choosing the right smartphone for you.
Still, many consumers are looking at these benchmark charts, so we recommend waiting for the final version of these chipsets are tested in real smartphones.
