HiSilicon Kirin 970 discussion thread

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*static.digit.in/default/471d43c73a4e6629a39ee966e7a2aaa7e12beb8f.jpeg

The Honor 10 may look like a diva, that doesn’t mean that it’s just a pretty face. The phone packs HiSilicon’s flagship chipset, the Kirin 970. It is also based on the 10nm process, which offers the best of both worlds, improved performance and power efficiency. Here’s a quick rundown of everything that the new chipset has to offer.

Like most other SoCs, the Kirin 970 is an octa-core processors in big.LITTLE architecture. So nothing new there. This includes a cluster of four power efficient Cortex A53 cores with four high performance Cortex A73 cores.

The Kirin 970 also features a 12-core Mali G72 MP12 GPU. The company says that this new GPU offers 20% higher graphical processing performance and 50% higher energy efficiency as compared to the previous generation GPU. Always a good thing in our book.

For connectivity, the Kirin 970 features a 1.2Gbps high-speed Cat. 18 LTE modem. Other tech that the chipset offers includes 4x4 MIMO, 5CC CA, and 256-QAM to aggregate fragmented frequency spectrums.

Photography is something Honor phones focus a lot on. The Kirin 970 features a dual ISP, which the company claims can offer an improved photography experience. Further, the chipset also offers dedicated hardware for facial detection, which makes portrait shots look more natural. So none of that weird effect that blurs not just the background, but the hair as well as edges of the user’s skin.

Of course, The Kirin 970 also features a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) that is aimed at improving on device AI computing. But that’s best left for another thread.

So what you you guys think of the HiSilicon Kirin 970 SoC? Sound off in the comments below.

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Digit-Brand said:
The Honor 10 may look like a diva

I'm not sure if copying ugly notch from Apple makes any phone look like a diva.
As for the SoC in discussion, it would perform better if it wasn't running a resource-hog, bloated UI.

It doesnt matter what kind of processor it has,
if (nil == devsupport) {
phone = ded;
}

(atleast in the context of digit forums)

M

I do like Kirin processor they are very efficient but the main problem with them is slow GPUs compared to the competition and lack of developer support stop me from buying honor/huwaie phones.

There is no significant improvement from Kirin 960. Does that mean this ic has reached its peak? Also how is this better than 845? Isn't neural processing more like a software gimmick?

Digit-Brand said:
The Honor 10 may look like a diva, that doesn’t mean that it’s just a pretty face.

Does anyone else find language like this cringy?

Desmond David said:
Does anyone else find language like this cringy?

Maybe it's a jab at Vivo.

Allu Azad said:
There is no significant improvement from Kirin 960. Does that mean this ic has reached its peak? Also how is this better than 845? Isn't neural processing more like a software gimmick?

I don't think comparing top level SoC's performance matter much these days strictly speaking from a consumer perspective. Devices with better optimised software and non existent bloatware would always be faster than those who lack these.

Bloatware wouldn't be an issue if we could flash a stock ROM.

Desmond David said:
Does anyone else find language like this cringy?

Facebook lingo lol

Nerevarine said:
Facebook lingo lol

My guess is that Digit has hired some social media marketer to post here and said person does not know how to deal with technology forums like this. I think said person needs to LURK MOAR. XD

Edit: Link.

Desmond David said:
My guess is that Digit has hired some social media marketer to post here and said person does not know how to deal with technology forums like this. I think said person needs to LURK MOAR. XD

Pretty much no one from Team Digit lurks on any forums anymore. Also, language is changing whether we like it or not. Heck, I don't even like "moar", and that whole nonsense thing... but I'm just in a smaller minority than even you are

It's too normalized these days. I might be the only one but when I read something like this it makes me distrustful of the product immediately (gives the impression of them being dishonest). I would prefer more serious discussion than marketing lingo.

But then again this is probably a sign that I am becoming old.

Edit: Minor edit.

A

I want to know what is the use of this AI thing in honor phones.

M

Ashutosh Rajput said:
I want to know what is the use of this AI thing in honor phones.

It is clearly mentioned on their websites
Honor 10

B

@Digit-Brand
Why isn't the supercharger supplied with Indian units? Are you too waiting for the bullet train or acche din?

Last year it emerged that Kirin 970 beats Snapdragon 845 in a number of image recognition benchmarks. Honor published its own tests revealing claiming the chip performs better than the newer Snapdragon 845 as well which was 20-33 percent faster run on classified pre-trained models. :+1:

Because of the NPU, its performance for ML has increased and performs better than Snapdragon DSP design.

K

Kirin 970 is very good chipset by performance but every time Snapdragon beats it up
So Honor can look for this to make better

I believe all the newer chipsets by Huawei in mid range and the top end must have dual 4g support with a capable power efficient chip and a decent GPU .

Sent from my MI MAX 2 using Tapatalk

How does Kirin 970 compares with Snapdragon 845 in Oneplus 6?

Charchit Sharma said:
Last year it emerged that Kirin 970 beats Snapdragon 845 in a number of image recognition benchmarks. Honor published its own tests revealing claiming the chip performs better than the newer Snapdragon 845 as well which was 20-33 percent faster run on classified pre-trained models. Because of the NPU, its performance for ML has increased and performs better than Snapdragon DSP design.

What about actual day to day performance? You won't be using the camera 24*7.

Charchit Sharma said:
Last year it emerged that Kirin 970 beats Snapdragon 845 in a number of image recognition benchmarks. Honor published its own tests revealing claiming the chip performs better than the newer Snapdragon 845 as well which was 20-33 percent faster run on classified pre-trained models. Because of the NPU, its performance for ML has increased and performs better than Snapdragon DSP design.

It doesnt matter if Honor phones take pictures 0.01 seconds faster than snapdragon ones. Tell me, what happens after 4 years when the support ends from Honor. THERE WOULD BE NO AFTER MARKET ROMS to keep your phone alive.

Nerevarine said:
It doesnt matter if Honor phones take pictures 0.01 seconds faster than snapdragon ones. Tell me, what happens after 4 years when the support ends from Honor. THERE WOULD BE NO AFTER MARKET ROMS to keep your phone alive.

He'll buy another Honor phone with Kirin 970 then lol.

Nerevarine said:
It doesnt matter if Honor phones take pictures 0.01 seconds faster than snapdragon ones. Tell me, what happens after 4 years when the support ends from Honor. THERE WOULD BE NO AFTER MARKET ROMS to keep your phone alive.

There is a difference between ROM and processor I guess!

PrashantK007 said:
He'll buy another Honor phone with Kirin 970 then lol.

For sure!

SaiyanGoku said:
What about actual day to day performance? You won't be using the camera 24*7.

It increases every small computation performance. Which requires classification.

Charchit Sharma said:
For sure!

Why? Many companies would have latest phones with latest processors by that time.

PrashantK007 said:
Why? Many companies would have latest phones with latest processors by that time.

It was sarcastic bhai!

Charchit Sharma said:
There is a difference between ROM and processor I guess!

What he meant was that after 1.5-2 years, Huawei/Honor would simply end all software support for the phone. And since they already are ending support for Bootloader Unlocking, you'll be stuck with bloated, buggy emui and no option to flash any custom rom. Keep in mind that there are 4-5 year old phones, running latest android oreo 8.1 because of custom roms and developer support.

Charchit Sharma said:
It increases every small computation performance. Which requires classification.

If you need the phone to identify the scene, you need to try modded G Cam from XDA. It just works.

SaiyanGoku said:
What he meant was that after 1.5-2 years, Huawei/Honor would simply end all software support for the phone. And since they already are ending support for Bootloader Unlocking, you'll be stuck with bloated, buggy emui and no option to flash any custom rom. Keep in mind that there are 4-5 year old phones, running latest android oreo 8.1 because of custom roms and developer support.

Ohhh....
I am not a rich person and if this custom rom thing gives a my phone extra life and I woldn't need to buy a phone again for software only, I will buy that phone which has many custom roms.

SaiyanGoku said:
If you need the phone to identify the scene, you need to try modded G Cam from XDA. It just works.

Still onboard is better.

SaiyanGoku said:
If you need the phone to identify the scene, you need to try modded G Cam from XDA. It just works.

Does this modded GCam need root?

Desmond David said:
Does this modded GCam need root?

No but it needs camera2 api to be enabled in build.prop file.

But all new ROMs use camera2 right?

Desmond David said:
But all new ROMs use camera2 right?

Nope. Depends on the OEM. Custom roms would have it enabled I think.

SaiyanGoku said:
If you need the phone to identify the scene, you need to try modded G Cam from XDA. It just works.

Doesnt GCam depend on Hexagon DSP for it's HDR+, which is there only in newer snapdragon processors

Nerevarine said:
Doesnt GCam depend on Hexagon DSP for it's HDR+, which is there only in newer snapdragon processors

It works on samsung phones running on exynos SoCs as well AFAIK.

One hard reason to understand is despite the prowess of KIRIN 970, it is not able to match up to Snapdragon 845 in benchmark scores

Giridharan7 said:
Kirin 970 is not that good as snapdragon 845 it is on another level the GPU in 845 that is adreno 630 which is very good in graphics processing as compared to arm Mali GPU mp3 12 in kirin 970
Kirin Soc's should go with other gpu's and only the speed of the photo capturing doesn't matters and that too of 0.01 seconds

Compatibility is different if hardware are used differently embedded with different software. Try comparing intel and AMD.

I'm sure the hi silicon Kirin 970 will be adequate at the price Huawei will sell it's top end phones for.
The need of the hour here is a new mid range chip that will help Huawei sell phones in the 8 k to 15 k range with dual 4g support .
This will help them compete better with the Redmi note 5 and Asus M1 and Realme.
I think the Kirin 659 is a bit too long in the tooth.
Other than this the Huawei phones look much better than their counterparts .
Just my personal opinion.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The antutu score of honor 10 is still good (213.381) but not as good as OP6 (282.275)

SilentAssassin said:
The antutu score of honor 10 is still good (213.381) but not as good as OP6 (282.275)

AnTuTu and other benchmarks for high end SoCs

*i.imgur.com/IrxmmiTl.jpg

M

Very good smartphone