Kirin 710 Benchmarks & Performance Review

Huawei has recently unveiled the Honor 8X and Honor 10 Lite smartphones that are powered by the Kirin 710 SOC.

So, here’s the time to have a better look at this chip and find out whether it can compete with the likes of Snapdragon 660 or not.

Before we begin with this review, you can check out our rankings of Smartphone Processors to find out where does Kirin 710 stands.

Kirin 710 is a mid-range chip by HiSilicon which is fabricated using TSMC’s 12nm FinFET Process. This is the same 12nm process that we saw in MediaTek Helio P60 & P70. If you don’t know what the above line means, check out my detailed guide on Fabrication Technology.

TSMC’s 12nm is almost equivalent to Samsung’s 14nm (used to manufacture Snapdragon 660 & 636) and has only a 3-4% higher transistor density. So, there’s nothing much to get excited about.

But the exciting part is that even though it doesn’t pack a very powerful GPU, the real-world gaming performance is actually pretty good. Most games including PUBG Mobile are playable without any hiccups.

The Mali-G51 MP4 GPU used in Kirin 710 is weaker than Adreno 509 (Snapdragon 636) and Mali-G72 MP3 (Helio P70). However, with the help of GPU Turbo Boost and some good optimizations by Huawei, the gaming performance is pretty smooth. But it is still no match for Snapdragon 660 when it comes to gaming performance.

Guess what? We have a GPU Rankings section as well. Check out this page to find out which Mobile GPU performs better in real-world gaming tests.

So, that’s it for the brief introduction and now here’s the pros. and cons. table for those of you who are in a hurry. And to those who want to read the complete review, let’s go ahead and explore this processor.

In Cons senction, I’ve mentioned the lack of Kernel Sources for those of you who like to root their devices and flash custom ROMs. However, Huawei has stopped Bootloader Unlocking so flashing custom ROMs is already out of the picture.

    Kirin 710 Specification

Name	Kirin 710
Brand	Huawei HiSilicon
Fabrication Process	12nm FinFET
CPU Cores	8 (Octa-Core)
Core Configuration	4x Cortex-A73 at 2.2 GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 at 1.7 GHz
GPU	Mali-G51 MP4
Max. Display Resolution	Full HD+
Memory	Dual-Channel LPDDR4
Max Download Speed	600 Mbps
VoLTE Support	Yes, Dual VoLTE
Bluetooth version	4.2
Camera ISP	Dual ISP with max 24MP

As already mentioned, Kirin 710 is fabricated using TSMC’s 12nm Node. It is an Octa-Core CPU with ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture.

The 8 cores are divided into 2 clusters of 4 cores each. The big cluster consists of four Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 2.2 GHz while the power efficient cluster has 4 Cortex-A53 cores.

It has the Quad-Core Mali-G51 MP4 Graphics Processor that can support a maximum display resolution of Full HD+. Huawei’s GPU Boost Technology also improves gaming performance by a small margin.

While most of the competitors of Kirin 710 pack LPDDR4x RAM, this chip only supports LPDDR4 RAM. For those of you that don’t know, LPDDR4x has slightly higher bandwidth and lower power consumption as compared to LPDDR4. Most mid-range SOCs like Snapdragon 636, 660, and Helio P70 have support for LPDDR4x RAM.

The integrated modem supports maximum download speeds up to 600 Mbps and upload speeds up to 150 Mbps. Dual 4G VoLTE is also supported by this modem.

This chip supports Bluetooth v4.2 while Snapdragon 636 & 660 are again ahead with Bluetooth 5.0 support.

    Centurion Mark

In our real-world performance testing, we have given the Kirin 710 a score of 98. This means the chip is on the same level as Exynos 7885 and Helio P60 while it falls just short of Helio P70. Snapdragon 660 is ahead with 3 points for its superior GPU and features.

    Antutu Score

The Antutu score of Kirin 710 is impressive as well with both the Honor 8X and Honor 10 Lite almost touching the 140K mark.

    GeekBench Score

In the Geekbench test, Kirin 710 manages 1,598 points in the Single-Core test and 5,528 points in the Multi-Core test. Both the Single-Core and Multi-Core scores are pretty impressive and are on the same level as the Snapdragon 660 an Helio P70.

    Kirin 710 Review

Benchmarks never tell the whole story so here’s the real-world performance review that you’re looking for.

Remember when I review a processor or any product in general, I consider the price range of that product in mind. So, when I call a product as ‘best’, it means that it is best in its price category.

General Performance

Using the Honor 8X and Honor 10 Lite is a pretty smooth experience. It is great for heavy-users as well as normal users that use their smartphone just for Social Media, Browsing & Media Consumption.

The powerful Cortex-A73 deliver the extreme performance that you need in gaming while the efficient Cortex-A53 help in saving the battery life. I’ll give the Kirin 710 5/5 stars in the Performance part. It is equivalent to both Helio P70 and Snapdragon 660 is performance department.

Gaming Performance

Though the Kirin 710 has a weak Mali-G51 MP4 GPU, the real-world gaming performance isn’t bad at all. The gaming performance of this chip is weaker than Snapdragon 636/660 and Helio P60/P70 but still good enough to run every Android game at 1080p.

Even with the GPU Turbo Boost, the gaming performance cannot reach the level of other chips that I mentioned. If you’re someone who occasionally plays PUBG Mobile and other heavy games, you can definitely pick this phone.

But if you’re someone whose primary requirement is to play games on his/her smartphone, Snapdragon 660 is a better choice. The Adreno 512 packs deliver a much higher FPS as compared to Mali-G51 MP4.

Feel free to refer to our GPU rankings to know which GPU is superior to the other.

Power Efficiency

For those who haven’t read my article of Fabrication Technology, I’ve explained why the TSMC’s 12nm is nothing more than a marketing gimmick and it is almost equal to the 14nm Node of Samsung. And both of these nodes are way inferior to the 14nm Node of Intel.

Hence, in terms of power efficiency, consider this equivalent to other 14nm SOCs like Snapdragon 636.

However, I would rate it even below SD636 for power efficiency because of two reasons:

The first is the use of LPDDR4 Memory which is less efficient than LPDDR4x Memory.

If you’re someone who uses Bluetooth headphones or a fitness band that is 24/7 connected to your phone, the second reason will apply to you as well. The Bluetooth v5.0 in most midrange SOCs saves some decent amount of battery juice when compared to the Bluetooth 4.2 in Kirin 710.

Even though the above two points don’t have a serious impact, I thought it was worth a mention.

Ratings

 

    Comparison with other Processors

Before we wrap up the review, let’s have a brief comparison with other SOCs. The points that I mention here are the ones that have a significant impact on our Smartphone SOC Rankings.

Kirin 710 vs Snapdragon 660

Snapdragon 660 outperforms Kirin 710 is GPU performance while they are equivalent in CPU Performance.

Kirin 710 vs Snapdragon 845

Snapdragon 845 is way ahead in every aspect.

Kirin 710 vs Snapdragon 636

Snapdragon 636 has a weaker CPU but a slightly better GPU.

Kirin 710 vs Snapdragon 710

The Snapdragon 710 is far better than Kirin 710 is all aspects.

Kirin 710 vs Helio P70

Helio P70 outperforms Kirin 710 in GPU Performance while they have comparable CPU Performance.

Kirin 710 vs Exynos 7904

Exynos 7904 loses in both GPU & CPU Performance.

Kirin 710 vs Snapdragon 675

The Snapdragon 675 is superior to Kirin 710 is all aspects.

    List of Kirin 710 Smartphones

• Huawei Honor 10 Lite
• Huawei Honor 8X