Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 vs. Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2: Why 2.9 GHz Doesn’t Provide an Advantage

Based on their names, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 and Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 may appear to be closely related models, but they differ significantly in architecture and capabilities. The Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 uses Cortex-A720 and Cortex-A520 cores, a 4 nm process, 5G, and more powerful graphics. The Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 is built on Cortex-A73 and Cortex-A53 cores, is limited to 4G, and is designed for budget smartphones.

Key Differences

Performance in Real Smartphones

In Geekbench 6, smartphones powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 score around 1000-1070 points in single-threaded mode and approximately 3000 in multi-threaded mode. The Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 scores around 460-490 and 1500 points, respectively.

In AnTuTu 11, devices powered by the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 score around 0.9-1.0 million points, compared with approximately 0.5 million for the Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2.

Some Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 models launched at lower prices than smartphones using the Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2. Therefore, a smartphone’s price cannot be judged by the name of its SoC.

Why 2.9 GHz Doesn’t Give the Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 an Advantage

The Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 reaches a maximum clock speed of 2.9 GHz, while the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 reaches only 2.3 GHz.

However, these frequencies apply to cores from different generations: the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 uses Cortex-A720 and Cortex-A520 cores, while the Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 uses Cortex-A73 and Cortex-A53 cores.

The Cortex-A720 performs more work per clock cycle, so the higher clock speed of the Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 does not help it catch up with the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 in benchmarks.

In Geekbench 6, the gap reaches approximately twofold in Multi-Core and exceeds twofold in Single-Core.

GPU: An Even Larger Gap

The Oppo K13 5G with the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 scores approximately 3718 points in 3DMark Wild Life and 962 in Wild Life Extreme. The Honor X8d with the Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 scores around 636 and 135, respectively.

Other Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 smartphones deliver similar results:

In Wild Life, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 has an advantage of approximately six times, while in Wild Life Extreme, the gap exceeds seven times.

According to the 3DMark results, the Adreno 810 is several times ahead of the Adreno 610 in graphics performance. The Adreno 610 is noticeably weaker, especially under heavy graphics loads.

A More Modern Platform

The Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 supports 5G download speeds of up to 2.9 Gbps, Wi-Fi 6E, LPDDR5, and UFS 3.1. The Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 is limited to LTE speeds of up to 390 Mbps, Wi-Fi 5, LPDDR4X, and UFS 2.2.

The Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 supports cameras of up to 200 MP and 4K video recording at 30 FPS. The Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 supports a maximum camera resolution of 108 MP, while video recording is limited to 1080p at 60 FPS.

Conclusion

In real-world tests, the Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 is approximately twice as fast in CPU performance, while its advantage in 3DMark reaches six to seven times.

The Snapdragon 6 Gen 4’s advantage is not limited to speed: it also supports 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, and faster memory and storage standards. The Snapdragon 6s 4G Gen 2 remains a solution for basic smartphones without 5G.