What Is A Smartphone Processor | Smartphone Processors Ranking List - 2021

What Is Smartphone Processor ?

Your smartphone processor, also known as chipset, is a component that controls everything going on in your smartphone and ensures it functions correctly. You can compare it to the brain of the human body. Every action you perform on your smartphone goes straight to the processor. These actions are then converted to visual changes on your screen, and all of this happens in a split second. A mobile processor can be throttled down to different power levels or sections of the chip can be turned off entirely when not in use. Further, the clock frequency may be stepped down under low processor loads. This stepping down conserves power and prolongs battery life.

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A smartphone’s processor is unarguably one of the most important components. The performance of the processor directly impacts the phone’s speed, gaming performance, user experience, and battery efficiency. A mobile phone with a fast processor will open all your favorite apps in a blink of an eye and your task will be done in no time. But a phone with a weaker processor will result in a bad user experience and may cause issues such as overheating, lag, and poor battery life. It also plays a huge role in gaming performance as the GPU is also integrated into the chip itself. This is why the proper term for a mobile chip is SOC (System-on-chip).

As of December 2020, the best mobile processor is Apple A14 Bionic which powers iPhone 12 Lineup. The second best processor is Snapdragon 888 followed by Samsung Exynos 2100, A13 Bionic, and Kirin 9000. Next up, we have Exynos 1080, Kirin 9000E, Snapdragon 870/865+, and MediaTek Dimensity 1200 and 1100. The Apple A12 Bionic is the 14th best SOC and it is slightly better than Snapdragon 855+.

● Also read : Desktop VS Mobile Processor

How Does a Smartphone Processor Work ?

You're opening a few pictures in an app, for example. This action is registered by the processor and stored in the memory of your device. That's the fetch phase. The action is then translated to ones and zeros in the decode phase. The instructions are now saved in a language your smartphone understands. It's ready for the execute phase. The processor transmits the ones and zeros, and you can see it all happen on the screen. Your pictures are opened. Finally, the executed instructions are saved in the register memory during the save phase. Afterwards, the process will restart.

What Determines The Processor Speed ?

The speed at which a processor processes a certain action depends on a number of factors, like the number of processor cores. The clock speed is another important aspect. Processors with low clock speeds and (sometimes) a smaller number of processor cores work more slowly than processors with high clock speeds and a large number of processor cores. Makes sense, as that's what you're paying for, in the end. Actions performed on a cheaper smartphone will be processed more slowly than on a more expensive model.

● Also read : What is Operating System

Clock Speed :

The clock speed determines how many instructions the processor can execute per second. A processor with a 1-Gigahertz (GHz) clock speed can process 1 billion instructions per second. The general rule is that higher clock speeds make for faster phones. You can often see this with more expensive smartphones. Their processor cores have higher clock speeds than those of more affordable devices. The number of processor cores also influences the speed of your smartphone.

Processor Cores :

A processor, also known as CPU, consists of multiple cores: Dual, Quad, Hexa, and Octa core. What do these cores do exactly? Processor cores distribute the work that comes in when you use your phone. One core has a maximum number of instructions it can process within a certain amount of time. If you perform a lot of actions on your smartphone, a queue of sorts will form. If this queue gets too long, part of it will go to the next core. This ensures your smartphone will keep functioning smoothly.
The processor of your smartphone is the component that converts all your actions into visual changes on the screen. It can do this thanks to the number of cores and a certain clock speed. The number of cores ensures actions are always processed on time. The clock speed determines the amount of instructions that can be executed per second. The higher the clock speed, the faster the smartphone. My tip: don't just look at the amount of cores, but also at the clock speed.

● Also read : Apple Inc.

Smartphone Processors Ranking 2021 - Top 11

1. Processor - A14 Bionic (Apple)
    Rating - 96 A+
    Cores - 6 (2+4)
    Clock - 2990 Mhz
    GPU - Apple GPU

2. Processor - Snapdragon 888 (Qualcomm)
    Rating - 93 A+
    Cores - 8 (1+3+4)
    Clock - 2840 Mhz
    GPU - Adreno 660

3. Processor - Exynos 2100 (Samsung)
    Rating - 90 A+
    Cores - 8 (1+3+4)
    Clock - 2900 Mhz
    GPU - Mali-G78 MP14

4. Processor - Kirin 9000 (HiSilicon)
    Rating - 88 A+
    Cores - 8 (1+3+4)
    Clock - 3130 Mhz
    GPU - Mali-G78 MP24

5. Processor - Snapdragon 870 (Qualcomm)
    Rating - 86 A+
    Cores - 8 (1+3+4)
    Clock - 3200 Mhz
    GPU - Adreno 650

6. Processor - A13 Bionic (Apple)
    Rating - 85 A+
    Cores - 6 (2+4)
    Clock - 2660 Mhz
    GPU - Apple A13 Bionic GPU

7. Processor - Exynos 1080 (Samsung)

    Rating - 82 A
    Cores - 8 (1+3+4)
    Clock - 2800 Mhz
    GPU - Mali-G78 MP10

8. Processor - Snapdragon 865 Plus (Qualcomm)

    Rating - 81 A
    Cores - 8 (1+3+4)
    Clock - 3100 Mhz
    GPU - Adreno 650

9. Processor - Kirin 9000E (HiSilicon)

    Rating - 79 A
    Cores - 8 (1+3+4)
    Clock - 3130 Mhz
    GPU - Mali-G78 MP22

10. Processor - Snapdragon 865 (Qualcomm)

       Rating - 80 A
       Cores - 8 (1+3+4)
       Clock - 2840 Mhz
       GPU - Adreno 650

11. Processor - Dimensity 1100 (MediaTek)

       Rating - 75 A
       Cores - 8 (4+4)
       Clock - 2600 Mhz
       GPU - Mali-G77 MC9