Are you looking to buy a smartphone under INR 20,000? if Yes, then almost any smartphone you are going to consider in your budget will come packed with either a Snapdragon 720G/730G or an Helio G90T SoC. Example, Redmi Note 9 Pro and Poco M2 Pro (comes powered via Snapdragon 720G processor), Poco X2 (comes powered via Snapdragon 730G processor), while Realme 6 (comes powered via Mediatek Helio G90T processor) Just in case, if you have decided on a smartphone, which doesn't come with either of these chipsets, I am 99% sure that the smartphone you have chosen belongs to OPPO or Vivo. Both OPPO and Vivo are pushing trash chipsets to the market in the name of selfie camera, so I'll suggest you reconsider your choice or wait to read our upcoming case-study before buying a smartphone from OPPO or Vivo inventory. Let's move back to the topic.
With the rise of the Chinese brands, the Asian market has never been as competitive as it is right now. Every Smartphone brand is trying to push the best of best Chipset in the particular price bracket, and the Snapdragon 730G ( available in Poco X2) is currently the best possible chipset to own, at least as far as numbers suggest. Common logic, 730 should be better than 720 (available in Redmi Note 9 Pro and Poco M2 Pro), and a Snapdragon should be better than a Mediatek manufactured Helio G90T (available in Realme 6). But in reality, things are the exact opposite of this self-developed perception. I'll talk about numbers in a minute, but first, let us take a look at what is the difference between a G and non-G Snapdragon Chipset.
In recent years, smartphone gaming has achieved a new height. With the shift in the popularity from games like Candy Crush, Temple Run, Unicorn Dash to games like PUBG, Calls Of Duty, Fortnite, and Mobile Legends, the Chipset manufacturers have realized that there is a need for chipsets specially optimized for gaming.
Scenting the situation, The Qualcomm this year, launched its Chipset with a tag 'G' following the chipset's name. The G in Snapdragon chipset stands for gaming, which means that the given Snapdragon chipset has an additional Snapdragon Elite Gaming features and graphical boost compared to the classic non-G variant. Snapdragon 720G and 730G launched this year are the first two of them. With this, let's start the battle for the title of the best mid-range chipset.
You might have already guessed the answer, but the guess is wrong. While numbers suggest 730G is the better one of the two, benchmarks have their own story to tell. Surprisingly in the tests, more affordable Snapdragon 720G outperformed the costlier Snapdragon 730G. The victory wasn't enormous, but the winner is a winner.
On running Gekkbench 5 tests on Realme 6 Pro powered by Snapdragon 720G, and Poco X2 powered by a Snapdragon 730G, we found that 720G has a better performance of the two in single-core. In the multi-core test, both scored the equivalent.
In the AnTuTu test, Realme 6 Pro again had the upper hand, which is surprising, because the Snapdragon 730 CPU is 15% overclocked as compared to Snapdragon 720G.
The above tests clearly show that the cheaper Snapdragon 720G is the better option of the two and is available on a smartphone that comes with a better price tag. For example, Redmi Note 9 Pro comes powered via Snapdragon 720G, while costlier Poco X2 comes with a less powerful Snapdragon 730G. I am sure that this piece of information will help you with your decision.
Now, We know that Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G is better than Snapdragon 730G, so it only makes sense to compare better one of the two with a Mediatek Helio G90T Chipset. I won't talk about the Chipset architecture or anything too technical in this article because the web is full of it. The end consumer doesn't even understand 50-70% of those technical terms. What we are going to see is real-world performance. So let's have a look.
In our gaming test, we found that the Mediatek Helio G90T Chipset can play PUBG mobile on the smoothest graphics settings, which means that an Helio G90T powered smartphones can run PUBG at 60fps frame rate, which is a big thing considering the price. Meanwhile, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 720G failed to run PUBG mobile at the 60fps frame rate. The frame rate of PUBG capped at 40fps, it's surprising. So is a Mediatek Helio G90T better than a Snapdragon 720G?
When we passed both of these chipsets through AnTuTu and GeekBench, we found that Helio G90T scored an overall score of 285303, which is 3000 points higher than Qualcomm's Snapdragon 720G score 282127, which isn't a lot, but again a winner is a winner. Let's break it down.
When it comes to GPU performance, Helio G90T is a clear winner with a lead of 9000 points over Snapdragon 720G, as you can see in the image. Mediatek Helio G90T in AnTuTu scored 79530, while Snapdragon 720G in AnTuTu scored 70829. The difference in GPU performance explains why an Helio G90T can run PUBG mobile at smoothest settings, but Snapdragon 720G and 730G cannot. So, if you're a hardcore gamer, don't look at anything beyond a smartphone that comes equipped with an Helio G90T SoC.
In the CPU test, Snapdragon 720G and 730G outperformed Helio G90T. Snapdragon 720G scored 103012, while Helio G90T scored 96347, which is 6665 points of difference. To me, Both scores are respectful, since nobody is going to feel a difference in day to day usage. Toggling drawers and reading messages isn't going to exhaust a modern CPU. For better user experience, I would suggest you opt for a smartphone that comes with a better refresh rate.
Ok, so if you're up to this point of the article, you are already aware that a MediaTek Helio G90T chipset is the winner in the comparison, but it comes with a minor trade-off. Mediatek Helio G90T chipset implies a 12nm process of manufacturing, while Both Snapdragon 720G and 730G use an 8nm manufacturing process. It means that Snapdragon offerings will be more power-efficient, and they'll offer a better battery life, at least on the paper. Though the real world efficiency is yet to be tested, and an article on Realme 6 VS Redmi Note 9 Pro is already under the work, so stay tuned if you want to see the real world efficiency.
In our detailed test, Th Mediatek Helio G90T unarguable emerged as the best chipset to own under 20K ($300) budget. If you're a hardcore gamer, who loves playing PUBG as I do, it will be an injustice to opt for any smartphone that comes with anything other than a Mediatek Helio G90T chipset. But if you're a Tik-Toker or someone who uses his/her smartphone just for selfies, Snapdragon 720G/730G will be a perfect choice.
Before ending this article, here is a list of smartphones that come with an Helio G90T, and Snapdragon 720G/730G SoC
Here is the list of smartphones that works with a Mediatek Helio G90T processor inside.
Here are the smartphones that come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G chipsets in the market.
Here are the smartphones that come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G chipsets in the market.
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