Mobile GPU Rankings 2021 (Adreno/Mali/PowerVR)

In recent years, we have seen substantial growth in the smartphone gaming industry. Though most people only use smartphones for casual gaming while leaving hardcore gaming for their Consoles and PC, the trend has slowly begun to change in 2018.

Looking for the ranking of Laptop & Desktop Graphics Cards?
Then you should check out this article. Please note that our score for Mobile GPUs should not be compared with the Laptop GPUs. We use different methods to evaluate their performance.

With the popularity of Battle Royale games like PUBG and Fortnite and their introduction to smartphones, having a good GPU on the phone has become essential for mobile gamers. If you want to increase FPS in PUBG Mobile, check out our guide.

For those of you that don’t know, mobile SOCs have a specific GPU and it is integrated into the chip itself. A GPU is not separate from the SOC. Hence, every phone out there with a Snapdragon 845 will have the same Adreno 630 GPU and every device with Exynos 9810 will have the same Mali-G72 MP18 GPU. However, two different SOCs can have the same GPU as well. For example, both the Snapdragon 625 and 626 have the same Adreno 506 GPU.

For evaluating the performance of Mobile Graphics Processors, we use both the raw benchmarks as well as the real-world gaming performance of the device. The resultant score is called Centurion Mark and we use this score to rank mobile GPUs.

    Mobile GPU Rankings

Rank GPU Name SOCs Centurion Mark
#1 A14 Bionic’s GPU Apple A14 Bionic 134.8
#2 Adreno 660 Snapdragon 888 131.3
#3 A13 Bionic’s GPU Apple A13 Bionic 126.1
#4 Mali-G78 MP24 Kirin 9000 124.1
#5 Mali-G78 MP22 Kirin 9000E 122.4
#6 Adreno 650 Snapdragon 870, 865 & 865+ 122.3
#7 Mali-G78 MP14 Exynos 2100 119.7
#8 A12 Bionic’s GPU Apple A12 Bionic 119.3
#9 Mali G78 MP10 Exynos 1080 118.1
#10 Adreno 640 Snapdragon 855 & 855+ 117.7
#11 Adreno 630 Snapdragon 845 114.8
#12 Mali G77 MP11 Exynos 990 114.7
#13 Mali-G77 MC9 MediaTek Dimensity 1200, 1100, 1000+, & 1000 112.2
#14 Mali-G76 MP16 Kirin 990 110.7
#15 Mali-G77 MP8 Kirin 985 5G 110.1
#16 Mali-G77 MC7 MediaTek Dimensity 1000L 109.9
#17 Mali-G76 MP14 Kirin 990E 5G 109.6
#18 Mali-G76 MP12 Exynos 9820 & 9825 108.9
#19 Mali-G76 MP10 Kirin 980 107.6
#20 Mali G77 MP5 Exynos 980 107.3
#21 Mali-G57 MC5 Dimensity 820 and 1000C 106.2
#22 Mali-G72 MP18 Exynos 9810 105.9
#23 Adreno 620 Snapdragon 765, 765G, and 768G 105.2
#24 Mali-G57 MC4 Dimensity 800 105.1
#25 A11 Bionic’s GPU Apple A11 Bionic 105
#26 Mali-G52 MP6 Kirin 810 103.8
#27 Adreno 540 Snapdragon 835 103.5
#28 Adreno 619 Snapdragon 750G, 480 103.4
#29 Adreno 619L* Snapdragon 690 101.4
#30 Mali-G76 MP5 Exynos 880 101.3
#31 Mali-G72 MP12 Kirin 970 101.1
#32 Mali-G76 3EEMC4 Helio G90, G90T, and G95 100.5
#33 Mali-G57 MC3 Dimensity 720 and 800U 99.4
#34 Adreno 618 Snapdragon 720G, 730, 730G, and 732G 99
#35 Mali-G71 MP20 Exynos 8895 96.8
#36 PowerVR 7XT GT7600 Plus Apple A10 Fusion 95.1
#37 Adreno 530 Snapdragon 820 & 821 93.9
#38 Adreno 616 Snapdragon 710 & 712 90.1
#39 PowerVR 7XT GT7600 Apple A9 88.6
#40 PowerVR 7XTP-MT4 Helio X30 87.7
#41 Adreno 615 Snapdragon 670 85.6
#42 Mali-G71 MP8 Kirin 960 84.6
#43 IMG PowerVR GM 9446 Helio P90 and P95 82.7
#44 Adreno 612 Snapdragon 675 and 678 82.1
#45 Mali-T880 MP12 Exynos 8890 81.8
#46 Mali-G52 MC2 Helio G70, G80, and G85 81.6
#47 Adreno 610 Snapdragon 665 and 662 80.2
#48 Adreno 512 Snapdragon 660 79.1
#49 Mali-G72 MP3 Exynos 9611, 9610, Helio P70 & P60 77
#50 Adreno 430 Snapdragon 810 76.2
#51 Mali-T760 MP8 Exynos 7420 72.8
#52 Mali-T860 MP4 Xiaomi Surge S1 71.6
#53 Mali-G52 MP1 Exynos 850 70.1
#54 Adreno 510 Snapdragon 650, 652 & 653 69.9
#55 Adreno 509 Snapdragon 636 69.7
#56 Adreno 508 Snapdragon 630 69.1
#57 Adreno 420 Snapdragon 805 69.1
#58 Adreno 418 Snapdragon 808 68.1
#59 Mali-G51 MP4 Kirin 710 66.6
#60 PowerVR GX6450 Apple A8 66
#61 Mali-T830 MP3 Exynos 7880 65.6
#62 Mali-T880 MP4 Helio X27, X25, X23, X20, Kirin 955 & 950 64.9
#63 Mali-G71 MP2 Exynos 7885, 7884, 7884A, 7904, Helio P30 & P23 62.9
#64 Mali-G71 MP1 Exynos 7872 62
#65 Mali-T880 MP2 Helio P25, P20 60.6
#66 Adreno 506 Snapdragon 632, 626, 625, & 450 59.7
#67 Mali-T760 MP6 Exynos 5433 57.2
#68 Mali-T628 MP6 Exynos 5420, 5422, 5430, & 5800 56.8
#69 PowerVR G6430 Apple A7 55.8
#70 Mali-T830 MP2 Kirin 659, 658, 655, & 650 54.1
#71 Adreno 505 Snapdragon 439, 435, & 430 52.8
#72 Mali-T860 MP2 Helio P10, P18, MT6738, MT6750T, & MT6750 52.4
#73 Mali-T760 MP4 Rockchip RK3288 52.1
#74 PowerVR G6200 Helio X10 & MT8135 51.4
#75 PowerVR GE8320 Helio P22, A22, G35, G25, and A25 51.3
#76 Adreno 405 Snapdragon 617, 616, 615, 610, & 415 50.7
#77 Adreno 504 Snapdragon 429 47.3
#78 Mali-T628 MP4 Kirin 935 & 930 46
#79 Mali-T830 MP1 Exynos 7870 45.9
#80 Mali-T720 MP2 Exynos 7580, MT6753, MT6737T, MT6737, & MT6735 42.2
#81 Mali-T604 MP4 Exynos 5250 41.8
#82 Mali-T760 MP2 MT6752 41.5
#83 Mali-T720 MP1 Exynos 7570 39.8
#84 Adreno 308 Snapdragon 427, 425 and Qualcomm 215 38.6
#85 PowerVR GE8100 MT6739 32.4
#86 Adreno 306 Snapdragon 412 & 410 31.4
#87 Mali-450 MP4 Kirin 620 27.4

* The scores marked with a star (*) are only estimated based on the specification & the performance gain we are expecting based on the architectural improvements, GPU Cores, and clock speeds. We will update them with actual scores after we complete the testing.

Just like the GPUs, you can also check out the ranking of Mobile SOCs here.

Here are the Top 35 GPUs represented graphically.

Top 35 Mobile GPUs

Our score does not increase linearly with performance improvement. A GPU with a score of 115 is not 15% faster than the GPU with a score of 100. The performance difference is generally a lot more than the difference in scores.

The difference in our scores is based on the perceived difference in real-world gaming.

Some SOCs like the Helio G90T, Snapdragon 730G, Snapdragon 855+, and Exynos 9825 use an overclocked GPU and will deliver slightly faster performance over their counterparts (Helio G90, Snapdragon 730, SD 855, and Exynos 9820 respectively). This will generally result in a difference of 1 to 3 points in the Centurion Mark.

How to interpret the score?

We have categorized the GPUs in the following range in order to make the scores more meaningful.

Above 100

Delivers the best gaming performance in smartphones. If you want to purchase a phone that has a 1440p or 2160p display, make sure the GPU scores above 100 for the best gaming experience. PUBG Mobile and Fortnite can be played at high settings.

Between 90-100

Android phones in this range officially support Fortnite Mobile. Aim for this range for the best 1080p gaming experience.

Between 65-89

Good gaming performance at 1080p. The majority of the heavy games are playable without running into lags or other issues. PUBG Mobile can run at Low/Medium Settings.

Between 50-64

Decent Gaming Performance at 1080p and great performance on 720p displays. PUBG Mobile can be played at low settings.

Below 50

The gaming performance in this range is below average. Most games can still be played at 720p. PUBG Mobile may run on some of the phones at low settings.

This range is only suitable for playing casual games at 720p.

    Introduction to Smartphone GPUs

Here’s a brief description of the various GPU Brands that you see in the smartphone market. The Mali GPUs can be seen on MediaTek, HiSilicon Kirin, and Exynos SOCs while the Adreno GPUs are designed by Qualcomm for Snapdragon Processors.

Different GPU Types/Brands

1) ARM Mali

Just like their CPU Architecture, ARM Holdings also licenses the Mali GPU architecture to various chip manufacturers like Huawei HiSilicon, MediaTek, and Samsung. These companies incorporate the Mali Architecture and implement it in their SOC. They often implement various variants of the GPU which might have different cores and frequency.

The number behind Mali Chip represents the number of processing units or cores. For example, the “Mali-T880 MP12” has 12 cores. Though architecture plays the biggest role in their performance, the number of cores and frequency also does affect the performance.

As of 2018, the latest Mali GPUs are quite behind the Adreno and Apple GPUs in terms of performance. And the same also reflects in our rankings. This is one of the reasons why the GPU Performance of Exynos, Kirin and MediaTek chips is lagging behind when compared to Qualcomm Snapdragon and Apple A-Series.

You can read more about ARM’s Mali GPU on its official website.

2) Adreno

The Adreno GPUs are designed by Qualcomm and are used in their Snapdragon Processor lineup. Earlier on, Adreno was known as Imageon when it was first developed by ATI Technologies (which later got acquired by AMD). AMD later sold it to Qualcomm and they renamed it to Adreno.

As of 2018, the Adreno GPUs are only behind Apple in terms of performance. Because of the impressive performance of Adreno GPUs, most mobile gamers prefer the Qualcomm Snapdragon SOCs on Android devices.

3) PowerVR

PowerVR is owned by Imagination Technologies and they license their chipsets to many brands like Apple, MediaTek, Samsung, Intel, Spreadtrum, etc. Apple iPhones have also used the PowerVR GPUs till their Apple A10 Fusion SOC.

4) Apple’s GPUs

In A11 Bionic and A12 Bionic, Apple has designed the GPU for the first time. The performance of these Graphics Processors is outstanding and there’s no denying the fact that Apple is doing an amazing job with their SOCs.

Factors that Influence GPU Performance

There are three major factors that determine the performance of a Mobile GPU.

1) GPU Architecture and Fabrication Process

Without any doubt, the GPU that uses a new flagship architecture will perform better. In a Mali GPU, the number just next to Mali corresponds to the particular architecture or design it is using. For example, in “Mali-G76 MP10”, G76 is the name of the architecture and as of 2018, it is the most powerful GPU ARM has ever designed.

A better fabrication process leads to faster and efficient GPU. This is quite important when it comes to gaming. Older chips using the 28nm Node often overheat on extended gaming.

2) GPU Clock Frequency

The higher the GPU frequency, the better will be the performance of the GPU. It can’t get any simpler. Two GPUs with the same architecture may have a different clock frequency but this does not lead to a significant difference in the performance. For example, the Mali-T860 MP2 GPU in MT6750 has a 520MHz frequency while the same GPU in MT6750T has a frequency of 650MHz.

3) Number of Cores/Processing Units

Though Apple and Qualcomm do not reveal the number of cores in their GPUs, we can know the same in the case of Mali GPUs based on their codename. The number after MP shows the number of cores it has. For example, Mali-G76 MP10 has 10 cores while Mali-G72 MP18 has 18.

Two GPUs with the same architecture but a different number of cores can have a significant impact on the performance. For example, Mali-T880 MP12 scores 81.8 in Centurion Mark but its variants with 4 and 2 cores score 64.9 and 60.6 respectively.

    Centurion Mark for Smartphone GPUs

Centurion Mark

Calculating the Centurion Mark for mobile graphics processing units involves both the computation of raw benchmarks using an algorithm and manual testing of games. We use the same set of games for testing of each GPU. During this process, we also take into account the display resolution of the device.

Thus, we carry out these tests only at 1080p resolution in order to obtain consistent results irrespective of the phone’s display resolution. Here are the 4 factors that play the biggest role in the computation of Centurion Mark.

1) Performance in Heavy Games 

2) Extended Gaming Performance

3) Raw GPU Benchmarks

4) Performance in Casual Games

    Frequently Asked Questions

Question: Which GPU is best for mobile?

Answer: Apple A13 Binoic’s GPU is the best for mobiles. Among Android devices, Snapdragon 855’s Adreno 640 is the best.

Question: Which GPU is better Mali or Adreno?

Answer: Both Adreno and Mali GPUs of comparable performance are available in the market but when we compare their best processors, the Adreno 640 outperforms Mali-G76 MP16 GPU by a good margin.

Question: Which is the best Mali GPU?

Answer: The Mali-G76 MP16 GPU that is present in Kirin 990 is the best Mali GPU as of now. Upcoming SOCs will feature the new Mali-G77 GPU that is 30% faster than the G76.

Question: Which is the best Adreno GPU?

Answer: Adreno 640 GPU that is present in Snapdragon 855+ and 855 is the best Adreno GPU as of now.

    Final Words

I hope this list ends your search for that smartphone with the best GPU. Smartphone gaming is gaining popularity and we want consumers to know about the capabilities of their device. We also have a list of best smartphone SOCs to help you pick the phone with the most powerful processor.

But before you make a decision on purchasing a phone, make sure to watch your device-specific gaming tests on YouTube. This will help you to get an even better idea of the Gaming Performance of that phone. This is essential because every phone is not the same and even though it has a decent GPU, there’s no guarantee that it will perform like the rest.




40 thoughts on “Mobile GPU Rankings 2021 (Adreno/Mali/PowerVR)”

  1. Pls boss, does mediatek chipset last longer I mean 3-5 years?. This is because some peoples says snapdragon is better than mediatek chipset and last longer. Please I want buy infinix note 7 which is powered with helio G70, pls I need your help. Thank you Bright from Ghana

    Reply
    • SOCs and most Semiconductor devices last for decades as long as they used are used under the safe power limits. It doesn’t matter if its a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip or a MediaTek chip, it’s gonna last longer than the life of the smartphone itself.
      Unfortunately, I haven’t used the Infinix Note 7 so I cannot comment on the same.

      Reply
  2. Hi Sir. can I have some details answer about Oppo Reno2f?
    What are the advantages of this Reno2f.
    actually, why the PUBG Displays can use only HD

    Reply
  3. hello.
    does helio g80, g70, and p65 support fortnite?
    i really hate this game and wish an mediatek processor which malli gpu that has ai and voice wakeup, but does not support fortnite!

    Reply

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