Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs 8 Gen 2 vs 8s Gen 3: the pecking order

In the era of mobile gaming, there is a constant need for high-performance Android handsets. And, for the most part, flagships powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 series chipsets have met this demand. It should be noted that Qualcomm offers different performance tiers with its 8-series SoCs. In fact, not too long ago, the company added the 8s Gen 3 to its portfolio, prompting comparisons to the existing 8 Gen 2 and the 8 Gen 3 SoCs. Well, let’s see where the processor slots itself in the lineup.

Specifications

First and foremost, let’s take a closer look at the core specifications of the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor. Going by its name, you would be right to assume that it shares some similarities with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 platform. On that note, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor also uses the newer Cortex X4 (Prime), Cortex A720 (Performance), and Cortex A520 (Efficiency) cores as the one on the 8 Gen 3 processor. 

However, the core distribution is different across the two processors. Here, the 8 Gen 3 SoC trades one Efficiency core in lieu of a Performance core. Correspondingly, each processor’s core distribution is as follows:

Additionally, the 8s Gen 3’s Prime, Performance and Efficiency cores are clocked lower at 3.19GHz, 2.8GHz and 2.0GHz, respectively. The SoCs have different GPUs as well; the 8s Gen 3 features the Adreno 735 GPU, and the 8 Gen 3 features the Adreno 750 GPU. Then, there’s the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, which has the same core distribution as the 8s Gen 3 processor (one Prime, Four Performance and Three Efficiency cores). 

However, the 8 Gen 2 processor uses older Cortex cores and comprises one Prime Cortex-X3 core, two Cortex-A715 and A710 Performance cores apiece, and three Cortex-A510 cores. The spec sheet can feel mouthy, so take a look at the handy table attached above for a quick overview of each processor’s core distribution. 

Going by the specs, you can deduce that the 8s Gen 3 processor slots below the 8 Gen 3 processor in terms of performance. That still leaves a lot hanging in the air, though, so let’s take a look at how each processor fares in synthetic tests.

Benchmarks

For the purpose of this article, we’ve used the following devices: POCO F6 (review) with Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 processor, OnePlus 12R (review) with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, and OnePlus 12 (review) with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor. 

Antutu

Synthetic tests aren’t the be-all, end-all of a smartphone’s performance chops, but they can nudge us in the right direction. Let’s start with Antutu, which tests a smartphone’s CPU, GPU, storage, and memory. Here, the OnePlus 12 took a commanding lead and scored 1,738,936 points. The OnePlus12R and the POCO F6 logged 1,444,161 and 1,509,605 points, respectively. Interestingly, while each SoC’s CPU and memory scores were on par with one another, the GPU scores were quite different, with the OnePlus 12 leading the pack, followed by the OnePlus 12R and the POCO F6.

Geekbench 6

We also tested each phone’s mettle in Geekbench 6, which gauges an SoC’s single and multi-core performance by subjecting it to a string of workloads. Here, the OnePlus 12 took the lead once again and outputted 2,135 and 6,374 points. The POCO F6 and the OnePlus 12R net similar single-core scores and logged 1,930 and 2,003 points, respectively. However, the OnePlus 12R took a sizeable lead in the multi-core run and outputted 5,356 points to the F6’s 5,017 points. 

Going by the Antutu and the Geekbench 6 scores, it’s safe to say that the POCO F6’s 8s Gen 3 SoC is on par with the 8 Gen 2-backed OnePlus 12R. Both phones feel equally rapid to use on a daily basis, too, and it’s difficult to ascertain the clear winner just by these benchmark figures. However, our next set of synthetic tests should highlight the differences a tad better.

3DMark

Up next is the 3DMark Wildlife Test, which tests a phone’s graphics performance. Here, all three contenders logged maxed-out scores and were “too powerful” for the benchmark. As such, we decided to tax them with more demanding workloads. Solar Bay, for instance, gauges a smartphone’s performance when running games with ray-traced graphics across three different scenarios. The workload for ray tracing increases with each scenario, so you’ll notice decreasing FPS metrics for each section on the three phones.

Unsurprisingly, the OnePlus 12 took a superb lead and logged 8.002 points. The OnePlus 12R came in second with 5,320  points, and the POCO F6 trailed closely behind with 4,880 points. Notably, the OnePlus 12R overturned marginally better FPS in all three scenarios compared to the POCO F6. 

The Wild Life Extreme test is also quite gruelling as it renders frames in 4K resolution. Here, the OnePlus 12 snagged the lead once again and secured 4,553 points and an average frame rate of 27.27FPS. The OnePlus 12R and the POCO F6 trailed behind with 3,721 and 2,931 points respectively. Additionally, the frame rate plateaued at 22.28FPS and 17.56FPS on the smartphones.

Stress test

Finally, let’s take a look at the 3DMark Solar Bay Stress test, which measures the sustained performance when running a ray-traced game on an Android smartphone. The test concludes by showing the deviation between the best and worst loop scores and calculating the system stability. Here, the OnePlus 12 and the OnePlus 12R had higher ‘best loop’ scores, although lower system stability. This can be attributed to the more efficient cores of the 8s Gen 3 SoC, which have also been clocked lower than their 8 Gen 3 counterparts.

Gaming Performance

Finally, let’s take a closer look at each smartphone’s gaming performance. For this test, we ran Genshin Impact and CoD: Warzone on the three smartphones for extended periods. As for the graphics preset, Genshin Impact was run with all graphics settings set to ‘High’, except for the Environment Detail preset, which was set to ‘Highest.’ Note that Motion Blur was disabled during our test playthrough. 

Here, the OnePlus 12 and the OnePlus 12R logged higher average FPS than the 8s Gen 3 toting POCO F6. For the most part, the game ran consistently at 60FPS on the OnePlus duo. While we did encounter some frame drops, the gameplay was much smoother compared to the F6, which would drop the FPS to the low forties in areas with a lot of foliage and vegetation, or when switching between characters and using abilities. 

Less taxing games work equally well on the three phones. GrimValor, for instance, runs smoothly on all three devices and logs an average FPS of 120FPS, providing a seamless combat experience. Similarly, GTA: San Andreas runs flawlessly on the phones, too. Note that the game is frame-locked at 30FPS, and all three processors could comfortably hit the target FPS during the test run.

Lighter multiplayer games like CoD: Mobile also run at 120FPS on our three contenders. With Medium graphics settings, all three phones could achieve 120FPS in multiplayer game modes like DeathMatch and Frontline and 90FPS in Battle Royale mode. We played a few Frontline / Death Match games on all three smartphones and rarely encountered FPS drops below the 118FPS mark, which is excellent. Do note that the average FPS logged by each phone is lower as the frame rate dipped to 60FPS in between games.

Verdict

With the synthetic and gaming tests out of the way, it’s safe to conclude that the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is a highly capable and efficient SoC with snappy CPU performance. Having said that, its GPU seems to be behind the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and 8 Gen 3 SoCs. Needless to say, gamers looking to pick up a new smartphone should still find the 8 Gen 2 more to their liking. That said, those on a tighter budget should not find much to complain about the 8s Gen 3 platform either.