When it comes to the budget smartphones, the market is somewhat overcrowded. With devices having good internals and affordable price tag, choosing the right one becomes a nightmare. Xiaomi has recently updated their budget Redmi family with Redmi 6 series. The higher Redmi 6 Pro directly competes with the Honor 9N. Although one comes with a Snapdragon 625, Honor used their very own chipset Kirin 659. Both the devices share somewhat similar hardware specifications. In this article, we will compare the performance of Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro and Honor 9N.
How Do They Compare In Terms Of Performance Cores
As mentioned earlier, the Redmi 6 Pro runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset while the Honor 9N features Kirin 659. The Snapdragon 625 was launched in Q1 2016 and since then has been used in tons of devices. The Kirin 659, on the other hand, made its way into the market a little late.
Coming to the performance, both the processor comes with eight cores having ARM Cortex-A53. All the eight cores of the Snapdragon 625 is clocked at the same speed of 2.0 GHz. The Kirin 659, on the other hand, works differently with four cores clocked at a higher speed of 2.36 GHz and the remaining four power-saving cores clocked at 1.7 GHz. So, if your smartphone needs power for a heavy task, the Kirin 659 can easily suffice thanks to the four performance core. Since all the cores are clocked at the same speed in Redmi 6 Pro, the device will not able to handle that heavy task. In multi-core performance, things turn around a little bit. The lowest frequency of Snapdragon 625 is 2.0 GHz which is higher than the Kirin 659’s weaker core clocked at 1.7 GHz.
Benchmark Scores: Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro and Honor 9N
A snapdragon 625 powered device paired with 3GB of RAM was able to score 880 points in single core and 3148 multi-core performance. The kirin 659, on the other hand, when paired with the same 3GB of RAM got 869 in single-core and 3342 in multi-core. The scores turn out to be quite contrary to what we’ve expected. After testing numerous devices, the Kirin 659 manages to show 8-10% of increase over Redmi 6 Pro. In the multi-core, the Redmi 6 Pro was able to take the lead with 20-22% advantage. You can expect both the processors to give out identical performance.
GPU and Efficiency: Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro and Honor 9N
The processor is not the only thing which is important. In terms of GPU, Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro clearly takes the lead all due to the Adreno 506. Although, the Mali-T830 MP2 GPU on the Honor 9N isn’t that bad but still gets beaten by Adreno 506. Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro was able to score 11% higher than the Honor 9N on 3DMark’s Sling Shot Unlimited Physics 2560×1440 test. Even in the GPU department, the difference in the GPU performance is not that significant.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 is fabricated over Samsung’s 14nm manufacturing process. The Kirin 659, on the other hand, is produced over TSMC’s 16nm process. Although SD625 is made over a 14nm process, the power efficiency of both the devices is similar. It is worth noting that TSMC does not have any 14nm manufacturing process, what comes after 16nm is 12nm. Considering the hardware, you’ll get similar power efficiency levels. The software on both the devices might create a little variance in the efficiency.
The Verdict
Considering all the benchmark scores and other factors, it is safe to say that both the devices will perform similarly in terms of power, graphics, and efficiency. Snapdragon does have more community support than the Huawei’s Kirin 659. This means that the custom ROMs, mods, and tweaks will be easily and largely available for Snapdragon than the Kirin. On the other hand, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 is also a two-year-old chipset while the Kirin 659 is much younger.
The other thing which will make the huge difference in terms of performance is the software. If the software is very well optimized, then you can expect decent performance out of both the chipset. That said, if you’re more into exploring communities work then the Xiaomi Redmi 6 Pro will be a solid choice. Otherwise, you can buy any of the two devices.
