Qualcomm is by far the biggest smartphone chipset manufacturer right now with little competition from MediaTek, Exynos, and Kirin chipsets. The major chipset manufacturer recently turned its attention to building gaming-centric chipsets earlier last year. They expanded the 700 series chipsets to include the Snapdragon 730G gaming-centric chipset. In this article, we will talk about how Snapdragon 720G vs Snapdragon 730G compare with each other.
In the recent few years, Gaming smartphones have emerged as a brand-new sector. Initially, only flagship-level smartphones offered dedicated Gaming features and the ultimate performance but having seen the success in this segment, chip manufacturers have started optimizing their mid-range chipset for better gaming performance. The best two examples of this are the Snapdragon 720G and the Snapdragon 730G which are both mid-range SoC from Qualcomm that offer very good gaming performance.
When it comes to gaming performance there are many constraints to be measured including the Clock performance of the CPU, the number of cores, the architecture that they are using, the manufacturing process that is used to develop the chipset, and many more. This makes it very complicated to judge the actual performance of a Smartphone before actually using it. Another core factor that is important in a gaming optimized smartphone is the GPU which is un use. Moreover, the thermal optimizations ensure that the SoC doesn’t get throttled.
Over the year we have seen multiple smartphones, especially Realme and Xiaomi use this for their premium mid-range devices. While it was an extremely capable chipset, we now have the new Snapdragon 720G based smartphones arriving and put them to the test to see how well they stack up against each other.
Snapdragon 720G vs Snapdragon 730G – Core Specifications
The Snapdragon 720G is based on a Kryo 465 octa-core CPU while the Snapdragon 730G uses a slightly better Kryo 470 Octa-core CPU for processing needs. The Snapdragon 720G chipset comes with 2 x 2.3GHz cores based on Cortex A76 architecture and uses 6 x 1.8GHz cores based on Cortex A55 architecture to offer a balanced performance.
This is mostly the same in the Snapdragon 730G except for the slight underclock for the A76 cores at 2.2GHz. Both the chipsets use an 8nm manufacturing process and the same Adreno 618 GPU to power the gaming needs.
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The machine learning and AI processing on the Snapdragon 720G are powering by the Hexagon 692 processor. However, the Snapdragon 730G uses the Hexagon 688. Coming to the optics, both the chipset supports up to 192MP single camera, however, the Snapdragon 730G gets an edge here as it supports up to 22MP dual camera as compared to 16MP by the 720G.
Both the chipsets support Wi-Fi 6 and come with Snapdragon X15 LTE modem, however, the Snapdragon supports a QuadHD+ display as compared to the FullHD limitation in the Snapdragon 720G. Both the chipsets support HDR content and up to 120Hz refresh rate for a smooth gaming experience.
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Snapdragon 720G vs Snapdragon 730G – CPU Performance
Starting with the basics, both the Snapdragon 720G and the 730G are built on Qualcomm’s 8nm process. They are equally efficient. Both the chipsets come with eight cores and are the same big.LITTLE architecture but the internal cores and clock speeds have a small difference. The Snapdragon 730G chipset comes with Kryo 470 cores while Snapdragon 720G settles for the slightly lower Kryo 465 cores. Both the chipsets use two Cortex A76 cores and six Cortex A55 cores and the smaller cores are clocking similarly at 1.8GHz on both. While the big cores on the 720G are clocked 100MHz higher than the 730G at 2.3GHz.
Both the smartphones perform very similarly when we tested them on Geekbench and AnTuTu benchmarks. The AnTuTu scores of both the chipsets are around the 2,80,000 mark with the 720G chipset smartphone scoring slightly higher than the 730G chipset smartphone. Geekbench scores are similar and the 720G is slightly higher than the 730G by a marginal amount. We feel that it is okay to say that the 720G, as well as the 730G, are equally capable in terms of CPU performance.
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Snapdragon 720G vs Snapdragon 730G – GPU Performance
The graphic performance in smartphones has now become an important factor for buyers to make their decision when buying a new smartphone. The PUBG craze doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon and all manufacturers are working on products that can improve the gaming experience. The Snapdragon 720G and the Snapdragon 730G both come with the Adreno 618GPU and also offer the Elite Gaming Engine along with features such as Game Fast Loader, HDR Gaming, Game Anti-Cheat Extensions and more to offer the most optimum experience.
Running the 3DMark benchmark on the smartphones running the two chipsets returns very identical results as both the chipsets come with the same GPU. There is a marginal difference in the scores, but it is so negligible that it isn’t worth considering.
Snapdragon 720G vs Snapdragon 730G – ISP Performance
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G and the 730G essentially come with the same Spectra 350ISP in both the chipsets with a minor difference. The Snapdragon 720G comes with a slightly downgraded lighter variant dubbed the Spectra 350L but both of them support 4K 30 FPS recording. While both of them support 4K recording, the Snapdragon 730G supports 1080p slow-Mo at 120FPS and 720F slow-Mo at 960FPS. Both the ISP support single camera support up to 192-megapixel.
Snapdragon 720G vs Snapdragon 730G – Connectivity
Both the chipsets are exactly the same when it comes to connectivity and both the chipsets use the same Snapdragon X15 LTE modem offering a peak download speed of 800Mbps and upload speed of 150Mbps. The Wi-Fi on the chipset supports the latest 802.11ax standards or Wi-Fi 6, there is even support for Dual SIM Dual VoLTE and VoWiFi along with Bluetooth 5.0 support. The Snapdragon 720G however, also supports India’s NavIC positioning system and if you own a device that supports it then you will be able to connect to any one of the six NavIC satellites for improved GPS support in India.
Update
Apart from the core specifications and CPU performance of Snapdragon 720G and Snapdragon 730G, the below-listed head to head comparison is based on the ISP and connectivity of both the chipsets to know which one is better than the other:
Image Signal Processor (ISP)
Essentially Qualcomm has stuffed the same Spectra 350 ISP in both Snapdragon 720G and Snapdragon 730G with minor differences between the two. Both chipsets support 4K recording at 30FPS although Snapdragon 720G features a lighter variant of Spectra 350, downgraded and dubbing the Spectra 350L. These chipsets apart from supporting 4K recording at 30FPS, the Snapdragon 730G supports the Portrait Mode, 720p video capture at 960FPS, 1080 video capture at 120FPS and up to 192MP photo capture.
Connectivity
In terms of connectivity, both Snapdragon 720G and Snapdragon 730G are the same and equipped with Snapdragon X15 LTE modem, ensuring peak uploading speeds up to 150 Mbps and download speeds up to 800 Mbps. Both Snapdragon 720G and Snapdragon 730G support Bluetooth 5.0, voice over Wi-Fi (VoWiFi), Dual SIM Dual VoLTE along with Wi-Fi 6 or 802.11ax ready.
The only thing that is in favour of Snapdragon 720G is that it Supports India’s NavIC positioning system which allows your device to use the six NavIC satellites for enhanced GPS support.
Conclusion
After taking a closer look at both the chipsets, one can confidently say that both the chipsets perform pretty well and are in sync with each other. While initial references suggested that the Snapdragon 720G might be placed between the Snapdragon 712 and the 730G, upon a further understanding of the chipsets it is safe to say that the 720G is on par in terms of performance with the 730G. The overall CPU and GPU performance of both the chipsets are identical while the 720G takes a slight hit in the optics department.
