Huawei is back and they have announced their return with a new flagship SoC. But this then brings up a good question, how does this SoC fare against those from other close competitors? In this article, we are going to pit the HiSilicon Kirin 9000S vs. Tensor G2.

The HiSilicon Kirin 9000S is Huawei’s attempt at a strong comeback into a market that they once dominated. This SoC was announced in August of 2023 and it is a flagship grade SoC. HiSilicon Kirin SoCs are only made for Huawei’s phones and the Kirin 9000S upholds this tradition. It has already made its debut on the Huawei Mate 60 Pro and can’t be found elsewhere.

HiSilicon Kirin

On the other hand, the Tensor G2 is Google’s attempt to improve on its first foray into the market with the Tensor. Whilst the original Tensor wasn’t necessarily a bad SoC, the reviews were mixed as audiences weren’t convinced. Like the Kirin 9000S, the Tensor G2 is a flagship SoC that is only made for Google’s smartphones. You can find the Tensor G2 on the Google Pixel 7a, Pixel 7, and Pixel 7 Pro.

Google Tensor G2

Now that we know what we’re working with, let’s move on to the comparison proper.

Kirin 9000S vs. Tensor G2

Performance

Our first port of call is CPU performance and this one is tight. The Tensor G2 is the faster SoC here (2.85GHz) but it uses older and slightly inferior CPUs (Cortex X1 + A78 + A55). The Kirin 9000S on the other hand is the slower of the two (2.62GHz). However, it could either use this configuration (Custom Taishan Prime CPU + Custom Taishan Big CPU + A510) or this configuration (Cortex X1 + A710 + A510). Whilst we’re not entirely sure of the exact config utilized by the Kirin 9000S, either of these configurations posts a slightly better performance than its counterpart. Do note that this slight difference may not matter all that much in real-life use.

Performance: Kirin 9000s

Gaming

Whilst their parent companies are not exactly known for their gaming prowess, the GPUs of both SoCs seem to be on par here. That being said, the Maleoon 910 is built on entirely custom architecture. This means that software developers will have a headache trying to optimize apps, games, and other software for it. The Mali G710 MP7 on the other hand, uses a well-known architecture, and software developers will have no trouble optimizing apps and games for it.

Gaming: Google Tensor G2

Storage and RAM

Both SoCs use the current-gen LPDDR5 RAM but the Tensor G2 uses the faster RAM. This means that it should multitask and switch apps better than the Kirin 9000S.

On the other hand, the Kirin 9000S supports the faster UFS 4.0 storage. Meanwhile, the Tensor G2 is stuck at UFS 3.1 support.

Storage and RAM: Tie

Camera and Video

Whilst the Kirin 9000S has support for 50 MP cameras, the Tensor G2 quadruples that by having support for 200 MP cameras. Both SoCs record 4K video at 60fps and play them back at the same 60fps speed.

Camera and Video: Tensor G2

Connectivity

Both SoCs have support for 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G as well as Bluetooth 5.2 and WiFi 6. With that being said, a lot of the information on the 5G architecture of the Kirin 9000S is shrouded in mystery. On the other hand, the Tensor G2 uses an Exynos 5300G 5G modem, and its information is out for all to see.

Connectivity: Tensor G2

Battery life

Whilst this comparison has mostly been a close affair, battery life is completely different. The battery life on the Tensor G2 far outstrips that of the Kirin 9000S. This is because the Tensor G2 is built on Samsung’s 5nm process while the Kirin 9000S is built on an inferior 7nm SMIC process.

Battery life: Tensor G2

Conclusion

From the results above, the Google Tensor G2 is the better SoC when it comes to games, camera, connectivity, and battery. This should be more than enough to sway this tie in the Tensor G2’s favor. The other areas where the Kirin 9000S does meet up like performance and RAM are pretty close and not enough to be a big deal.


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