Xiaomi is preparing to introduce the MIUI 13 user interface and the Redmi Note 11 series to the Global.
Xiaomi introduced the Redmi Note 10 series last year. The Redmi Note 10 series attracted the attention of users. The fact that the top model of the series, Redmi Note 10 Pro, came with an AMOLED display with a 120HZ refresh rate was a big improvement over the Redmi Note 9 Pro introduced in previous years. Because Redmi Note 9 Pro came with an IPS LCD screen with a 60HZ refresh rate. Xiaomi will now launch the Redmi Note 11 series soon. According to the information we have, the entry-level of the series will come with the Redmi Note 11 Snapdragon 680 chipset. The Redmi Note 10, which was introduced the previous year, came with the Snapdragon 678 chipset. We will compare the Snapdragon 680 chipset in the newly introduced Redmi Note 11 today with the Snapdragon 678 chipset of the previous generation Redmi Note 10. If you want, let’s start our comparison now.
Beginning with the Snapdragon 678, this chipset, introduced in December 2020, is an enhanced version of the Snapdragon 675 manufactured with Samsung’s 11nm (11LPP) manufacturing technology. The Snapdragon 680 chipset, whose name we have just heard, was introduced in October 2021, and this chipset is produced with TSMC’s 6nm (N6) production technology. It should also be noted that this chipset is an enhanced version of Snapdragon 662. Some people think of Snapdragon 680 as an enhanced version of Snapdragon 678 but things are not like that. Snapdragon 680 is an improved version of Snapdragon 662 and we will tell you everything in detail in our comparison.
An Overview of Chipsets
If we examine the CPU part of Snapdragon 678 in detail, it has 2 Cortex-A76 performance cores that can reach 2.2GHz clock speed and 6 Cortex-A55 power efficiency cores that can reach 1.8GHz clock speed. If we talk about of Cortex-A76, it’s the 3rd core developed by ARM’s Austin team. Before the Cortex-A76 was introduced, the Austin team had developed the Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A72. Later, the Sophia team developed the Cortex-A73 and Cortex-A75 cores. A year after the launch of the Cortex-A75, the long-developed DynamIQ-powered Cortex-A76 by the Austin team was introduced. Cortex-A76 is a superscalar core with a decoder that switches from 3 width to 4 width compared to Cortex-A75. Compared to Cortex-A75, Cortex-A76 has significantly improved performance and power efficiency. If we have to talk about Cortex-A55, the successor of Cortex-A53, Cortex-A55 was designed by Cambdridge team to increase power efficiency. In line with the needs of the mobile market, ARM improves the memory subsystem in Cortex-A55 over Cortex-A53 and fixes some performance issues with other microarchitecture changes. Finally, about this core ARM adds some key features to the Cortex-A55 by switching from ARMv8.0 architecture to ARMv8.2 architecture.
If we examine the CPU part of Snapdragon 680 in detail, it has 4 Cortex-A73 performance cores that can reach 2.4GHz clock speed and 4 efficiency-oriented Cortex-A53 cores with 1.8GHz clock speed. Snapdragon 662, on the other hand, has 4 Cortex-A73 cores with a lower clock speed than Snapdragon 680 and 4 Cortex-A53 cores, which are exactly the same as Snapdragon 680. Here’s what we can deduce. The Snapdragon 680 was introduced with some minor changes by overclocking the Cortex-A73 core in the Snapdragon 662 to a higher clock speed. If the Snapdragon 680 were an enhanced version of the Snapdragon 678, we would see higher clocked Cortex-A76 and Cortex-A55 cores instead of Cortex-A73 and Cortex-A53 cores. Snapdragon 680 is an enhanced version of Snapdragon 662, not Snapdragon 678.
As for the Cortex-A73, it’s a core developed by ARM’s Sophia team. Cortex-A73 brings 30% performance and 30% power efficiency increase over Cortex-A72. When ARM introduced the Cortex-A73, it talked about the power efficiency of today’s smartphones, which still does not lose its importance. ARM has repeatedly repeated that the sustainable performance of smartphones must be good. Because smartphones have a certain thermal design. If you try to consume 10W or more power on smartphones, you will see that your device is overheating, the performance is halved and you are not satisfied. That’s why ARM is trying to improve performance and reduce power consumption of new CPU cores. Let’s talk about the Cortex-A53 and then comment on the CPU performances of Snapdragon 678 and Snapdragon 680. The successor to the Cortex-A7, the Cortex-A53 is a core designed by the Cambridge team with a focus on power efficiency. Cortex-A53 gained 64-bit architecture support not available on Cortex-A7. In terms of performance, the Cortex-A53 includes significant improvements compared to the Cortex-A7, but it also increases power consumption.
We will use Geekbench 5 to evaluate the CPU Performance of the chipsets. Here are the Geekbench 5 results of the two devices using Snapdragon 680 and Snapdragon 678:
Snapdragon 678: Single Core: 531 Multi-Core: 1591
Snapdragon 680: Single Core: 383 Multi-Core: 1511
In the single-core score, the Cortex-A76 cores of the Snapdragon 678 made a significant difference. The Cortex-A76 has a 4-wide decoder while the Cortex-A73 has a 2-wide decoder. One of the reasons for the performance difference is due to the number of decoders. Snapdragon 678 has better performance than Snapdragon 680. The Snapdragon 680 unfortunately lags behind the Snapdragon 678.
GPU Performance
As for GPU, Snapdragon 678 comes with Adreno 612 clocked at 845MHz while Snapdragon 680 comes with Adreno 610 clocked at 1100MHz. When we compare graphics processing units, Adreno 612 offers better performance than Adreno 610. Finally, let’s talk about the Modem and Image Signal Processor and determine our winner.
Image Signal Processor
The Snapdragon 678 has a dual 14-bit image signal processor named Spectra 250L. Snapdragon 680, on the other hand, has a triple 14-bit image signal processor named Spectra 346. Spectra 346 can record 60FPS videos at 1080P resolution, while Spectra 250L can record 30FPS videos at 4K resolution. Spectra 250L supports camera sensors up to 192MP resolution while Spectra 346 supports camera sensors up to 64MP resolution. The Spectra 250L is ahead of the Spectra 346 in these matters. Spectra 250L can record videos with a resolution of 30FPS 16MP+16MP with a dual camera and 30FPS 25MP with a single camera. Spectra 346, on the other hand, can shoot videos with a resolution of 30FPS 13MP+13MP+5MP with a triple camera, 30FPS 16MP+16MP with a dual camera and 30FPS 32MP with a single camera. In this regard, the Spectra 346 is ahead of the Spectra 246L.
Modem
On the modem side, it has Snapdragon 678 X12 LTE modem while Snapdragon 680 X11 has LTE modem. X12 LTE Modem can reach 600 mbps Download and 150 mbps Upload speeds. X11 LTE Modem can reach 390 mbps Download and 150 mbps Upload speeds. Snapdragon 678 with X12 LTE modem can achieve much higher download speeds than Snapdragon 680 with X11 LTE modem. On the modem side, the winner is the Snapdragon 678.
If we make a general evaluation, Snapdragon 678 is ahead of Snapdragon 680 in most points. Why did Snapdragon introduce the Snapdragon 680, an enhanced version of the Snapdragon 662? Why did Xiaomi choose to use the Snapdragon 680 chipset in the Redmi Note 11? Snapdragon can introduce any chipset it wants, but it’s up to the device manufacturers to choose the right chipsets and use them in devices. Xiaomi is doing it wrong by using the Snapdragon 680 chipset in the Redmi Note 11. Compared to the Redmi Note 10, the Redmi Note 11 will not offer a significant improvement in performance and will perform poorly at some points. The battery life of the Redmi Note 11, which will be introduced soon, will be slightly better than the previous generation Redmi Note 10, but we do not think you will feel the difference. We advise you not to expect much from this generation. Don’t forget to follow us if you want to see more such comparisons.
