Understanding the midrange smartphone market can be challenging, especially for those unfamiliar with deciphering SoCs. That’s the purpose of this series. Let’s explore the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 vs. The MediaTek Helio G99.

The Helio G99 is the older of the two SoCs, essentially a rebranded MediaTek Helio G96. Positioned as an upper midrange SoC, the Helio G99 aims to offer good performance for its price.

The Helio G99 is a favorite among midrange devices, powering popular smartphones like Tecno Pova 4 Pro, Tecno Pova 5, Tecno Camon 20 Pro, Poco M5, Samsung Galaxy A24, Realme 10, Realme 11, Infinix Zero 20, Infinix Note 30, and more.

On the other hand, we have the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, introduced in June 2023. Despite its “4 series” name, which typically denotes entry-level, this SoC delivers upper-midrange performance.

Unlike the Helio G99, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 isn’t widely adopted by smartphone companies. Currently, it’s primarily featured in select Xiaomi phones such as the Redmi 12 5G and Poco M6 Pro 5G.

With both SoCs falling into the same midrange category, let’s explore how they compare against each other.

Performance of the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 vs Helio G99

When it comes to launching and running apps, general smartphone speed, smoothness, and fluidity, the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 is the better SoC. Its 2 ARM Cortex A78 cores outperform the 2 ARM A76 cores on the G99. When it comes to tackling apps and running an operating system, the 4 Gen 2 is a lot better at it.

Performance: Snapdragon 4 Gen 2

Gaming on the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 vs Helio G99

When it comes to gaming, the Helio G99 has a slightly better GPU (Mali G57 MC2), but the Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 does gaming better for two reasons. The first is that developers code games to run better on Adreno GPUs and the second is that the more powerful A78 CPUs on the 4 Gen 2 will pitch in to help run games.

Gaming: Snapdragon 4 Gen 2

Cameras and video

Both SoCs support a max camera resolution of 108MP and can record videos of 1080p @60fps. This by all means should be a tie, however, the image/video processing of the 4 Gen 2 (Spectra/Hexagon) is better than what you can get on the Helio G99.

Cameras: Snapdragon 4 Gen 2

Media

When it comes to storage and media, the newer 4 Gen 2 is miles better. It supports UFS 3.1 (faster storage) and LPDDR5 RAM. The G99 on the other hand only supports UFS 2.1 and LPDDR4x. This fact would make phones running the 4 Gen 2 faster, smoother, and able to multitask better than the G99.

Media: Snapdragon 4 Gen 2

Connectivity

This one is the easiest. The 4 Gen 2 supports 5G while the G99 is stuck at 4G. It is a no-brainer. If we take a look at the 4G support, the 4G connection on the 4 Gen 2 (LTE Cat. 18) is a lot faster than that of the G99 (LTE Cat. 13). It is a no-brainer.

Connectivity: Snapdragon 4 Gen 2

Battery life

The 4 Gen 2 is built on a 4nm (Samsung) process whilst the G99 is built on a 6nm (TSMC) process. Now whilst Samsung has gotten some heat of late, their 4nm process is still better than TSMC’s 6nm process. This means that phones running the 4 Gen 2 should have a more efficient battery life and should run cooler as well.

Battery: Snapdragon 4 Gen 2

Conclusion

As you can see, it is a clean sweep for the 4 Gen 2. It is the better SoC in terms of everything. However, this is not an indictment of the 4 Gen 2. It is still a good SoC, but the 4 Gen 2 is simply better.

Please leave a comment if you have any difficulty and remember to: