From the launch of the new generation of Snapdragon 8 at the end of last year to more than a month before the Tiger New Year, a total of 5 flagship phones have adopted this latest SoC, namely moto edge X30, Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro, True Self GT2 Pro, OnePlus 10 Pro and iQOO 9 Pro. Compared with the beginning of the release of the previous generation flagship Snapdragon 888, the controversy over this generation of SoCs on the Internet has increased unabated. So we decided to make a comparison of these phones to see what the potential of this generation of SoCs really is.
In order to explore the tuning ability of various manufacturers for this SoC, we used "Original God" for two rounds of testing, and it should be noted that we will consider it from three dimensions: frame rate, SoC call rate and mobile phone surface temperature.
The first round was a 30-minute stress test with the scene chosen in the main city of Liyue.
In this scene, the average frame rate is arranged from highest to lowest: True My GT2 Pro (59.55 frames), moto edge X30 (59.03 frames), iQOO 9 Pro (57.38 frames), OnePlus 10 Pro (56.98 frames), and Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro (49.67 frames).
Among these 5 mobile phones, the CPU performance release of xiaomi 12 pro is the most conservative, and the maximum frequency of the large core is only within 1.3GHz; the frame rate curve is decent, with a certain slight fluctuation, but there is no sharp decline after a long time.
The most radical performance release is the True Self GT2 Pro, the main frequency of the big core can come to 2.4GHz; the frame rate curve is also the best of the 5 mobile phones.
The moto edge X30 main frequency call rate fluctuations in the other three mobile phones are more obvious, but the highest is also 1.7GHz; the frame rate also fluctuates slightly.
The maximum frequency of the OnePlus 10 Pro can come to 2.0GHz, but it is not stable, and it will be reduced to 1.4GHz at the lowest time; the frame rate stability will show the first significant decline at the 20-minute time point (about 55 FPS), and the second decline (about 50 FPS) will occur at about 25 minutes.
The iQOO 9 Pro maintains a clocking frequency of 1.7 GHz until 20 minutes, and then begins to derate as low as 1.5 GHz; the frame rate drops significantly (around 50 FPS) for about 20 minutes, after which the fluctuations are more pronounced, as low as 45 FPS.
In the case of only 10 °C indoor temperature in Shanghai, we measured the surface temperature of the mobile phone using a temperature gun immediately after the test.
The highest frame rate of the True Self GT2 Pro screen is 39.8 °C, the center of the battery is 35.3 °C, the SoC is 41.5 °C, and the maximum bezel temperature is 41.0 °C, and there is already a clear sense of heat when handheld.
The moto edge X30 screen is 38.5 °C, the battery center is 30.4 °C, the SoC is 38.1 °C, the maximum frame temperature is 35.7 °C, and there is also a very obvious sense of heat when handheld.
The iQOO 9 Pro has a maximum temperature of 36.2°C at the screen, 32.5°C at the center of the battery, 33.1°C at the SoC, and a maximum bezel temperature of 36.2°C.
The OnePlus 10 Pro screen is 35.3 °C, the center of the battery is 31.5 °C, the SoC is 35.8 °C, and the maximum temperature of the bezel is 32.4 °C, and the temperature performance is basically the same as that of the iQOO 9 Pro, accompanied by a more obvious sense of heat.
The Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro has a screen of 28.0 °C, a center of 26.5 °C at the battery, 31.7 °C at the SoC, and a maximum bezel temperature of 29.0 °C, which is only a warm hand.
Overall, the surface temperature arrangement of these 5 mobile phones is basically linked to the average number of frames, the highest surface temperature with the highest frame number (True My GT2 Pro), the lowest surface temperature with the lowest frame number (Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro), and there is no mobile phone that maintains a high frame rate while the surface temperature is still within the acceptable range.
At the same time, it should also be noted that the above temperature map is the temperature after the iQOO 9 Pro and the OnePlus 10 Pro have been reduced, and if measured at the time node before hitting the temperature wall, the surface temperature of these two mobile phones should be higher than the current data.
Sharp-eyed netizens may have found that the above test method is actually not rigorous - because we just let the characters in the same scene, neither moving nor releasing skills, so the above tests actually examine the performance release strategy and heat dissipation ability of the mobile phone, and there is still a certain separation from the actual game experience.
So we next choose 4 characters with off-the-hand skills, interspersed with general attacks, heavy hits and other operations in the case of card CD release skills, to see how the frame rate of these five mobile phones will change in the actual game scene.
As there are more special effects and more frequent picture changes, the computational pressure of the SoC is heavier. In this case, in addition to the player's sense of average frame rate, the number of stutters and the worst frame drop will obviously image the game experience.
(From top to bottom, they are Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro, OnePlus 10 Pro, iQOO 9 Pro, True Self GT2 Pro and Moto Edge X30)
At this time, the actual game average frame rate is significantly different from the previous stress test, from high to low, the real me GT2 Pro (58.14 frames), one plus 10 Pro (51.68 frames), iQOO 9 Pro (50.6 frames), moto edge X30 (48.08 frames) and Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro (44.56 frames), in addition to the true self, generally reduced by about 5 frames compared to the static stress test.
The number of stutters (stuttering number/hour) from low to high is iQOO 9 Pro (96), True Self GT2 Pro (227), Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro (251), OnePlus 10 Pro (326) and Moto Edge X30 (494).
The worst dropped frames from low to high are the iQOO 9 Pro (18 frames), the True Self GT2 Pro (21 frames), the OnePlus 10 Pro (22 frames), the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro (29 frames) and the Moto Edge X30 (41 frames).
One thing that is clear from the two rounds of testing is that if you want a higher game frame rate, fewer stutters, and lower worst drop frames, you must stick to a more aggressive SoC performance release strategy, and aggressive performance release will lead to higher heat, as well as a hotter phone surface.
Just as the so-called fish and bear paws can not be combined, it is not possible to find models with good temperature control and excellent frame rate on many models equipped with a new generation of Snapdragon 8. If you want the most enjoyable gaming experience, and at the same time have a cooling device like the Black Shark Ice Cooling Back Clip, then I think the GT2 Pro with GT mode turned on is indeed a good choice.
At the same time, we also noticed that the temperature/power walls of the iQOO 9 Pro and the OnePlus 10 Pro were triggered at room temperature of only 10°C and running Prosthetic for 20 minutes, so when the temperature is higher in the summer, the trigger speed of these two phones will only be faster.
Although the moto edge X30 performed well in the stress test, when there are more human-computer interaction, screen effects and scene changes, the actual game frame rate will also drop rapidly, and the stuttering and frame drop at this time are also the most serious of the 5 mobile phones, so we think that this phone needs to be optimized and improved for more game scenarios in the future.
Although the performance release of xiaomi mi 12 pro is very conservative, it generally has a temperature advantage of 10 ° C compared to friends, and the stuttering situation and worst dropped frames are still within the acceptable range. So whether to exchange the average frame rate difference of 13 frames for the surface temperature drop of 10 ° C is a trade-off for all players.
Overall, these 5 flagship phones equipped with the new generation of Snapdragon 8 make us have to face the fact that players must make trade-offs in performance release and somatosensory temperature control. If you want the most extreme game stability, then the real GT2 Pro is the best; if you care about the extreme temperature control, players who think that the frame rate is OK can consider the Xiaomi Mi 12 Pro; if you want to choose a balance point in the frame rate and temperature control, then iQOO 9 Pro and OnePlus 10 Pro are good choices.