.png "Huawei Mate 70 Series Kirin 9020 Smartphone")
Huawei has never published a full specification sheet for the Kirin 9020. Qualcomm published everything about the Snapdragon 8 Elite on announcement day. That difference in disclosure is the first and most important fact in this comparison, and it explains why the two chips sit so far apart in benchmark tables, in price and in the shops where you can actually buy them.
Neither chip is current any more. The Snapdragon 8 Elite powers discounted 2025 flagships that remain on sale in the United States and Europe, while the Kirin 9020 is the design baseline for Huawei's newer silicon. Everything the Kirin 9020 does well, and everything it struggles with, shows up again in the Kirin 9030 now inside the Mate 80 series.
At a Glance
- Kirin 9020: reported three-cluster CPU with 12 threads, Maleoon 920 graphics at 840MHz, built by SMIC on its 7nm N+2 process, according to TechInsights teardown analysis. (link)
- Snapdragon 8 Elite: documented 3nm TSMC chip with two Oryon prime cores at up to 4.32GHz, six Oryon cores at 3.53GHz and Adreno 830 graphics, per Qualcomm's product page. (link)
- Aggregated AnTuTu data puts Snapdragon 8 Elite phones at about 2.9 million to 3.1 million, against about 1.38 million for the Kirin 9020. (link)
- Geekbench 6 single-core averages run at about 2,900 to 3,000 on 8 Elite phones and about 1,370 on Kirin 9020 phones.
- Kirin 9020 hardware did reach Europe inside the Huawei Pura 80 Pro, which launched there at 1,099 euros in October 2025. (link)
Two chips, two very different levels of disclosure
Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite in October 2024 with a complete technical brief: process node, core layout, clock speeds, cache, graphics, modem and Wi-Fi version. Qualcomm says the platform brings about 45 percent faster CPU performance, 40 percent faster graphics and up to 27 percent system-wide power savings over the previous generation, as listed on its product page.
Huawei took the opposite approach. At the Mate 70 launch in November 2024, it did not name the chip's architecture or clock speeds. Richard Yu, chairman of Huawei's consumer business group, said the Mate 70 had an improved processor and that the combination of hardware and HarmonyOS NEXT lifted performance by 40 percent over earlier models, according to Reuters. TechNode also records Yu's claim of a 31 percent faster frame rate. Everything else that is widely known about the Kirin 9020 comes from device information apps, teardown analysis and benchmark databases.
Teardown researchers have filled in part of the gap. TechInsights reported that the Kirin 9020 uses the same SMIC 7nm N+2 process as the Kirin 9000s and 9010, and SemiAnalysis describes the design as Huawei TaiShan CPU cores with a Maleoon 920 GPU. GSMArena's analysis of device information app data suggests a 2+6+4 physical layout with hyperthreading on the larger clusters, which is where the 12-thread figure comes from. Huawei has never confirmed any of this.
What is confirmed, what is reported, what nobody knows
Table 1. Status of each major claim
Table 2. Kirin 9020 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite on paper
The Kirin 9020 column reflects reported data from teardowns, device information apps and analyst firms, not a Huawei specification page.
What the scores look like on real phones
Benchmark results differ by phone, cooling and software version, so both tables below use aggregator data rather than a single run. NanoReview averages user submissions per device, which is why phones with the same chip do not show identical totals.
Table 3. Scores by phone
All AnTuTu figures are AnTuTu 11 aggregates from NanoReview, checked on September 11, 2026. Geekbench 6 shows single-core and multi-core. The Kirin row is NanoReview's chip-level aggregate, based largely on Mate 70 Pro submissions and a small sample of about seven tests. Launch-period posts from Chinese testers put the Mate 70 Pro+ higher, at 1,591 single-core and 5,178 multi-core on Geekbench 6, and about 1.25 million on the older AnTuTu v10, as reported by TechNode and early tester posts on X. Those v10 results are not comparable to the v11 column, which is why they are kept out of the table.
Table 4. Sub-score split, with the maths shown
Method: AnTuTu 11 composites from NanoReview's pages for the Kirin 9020 and the OnePlus 13, both checked on September 11, 2026. The ratio is the 8 Elite figure divided by the Kirin figure. Read it as one device pair rather than a chip-level law, because the Kirin sample is small and the OnePlus 13 is a gaming-focused phone.
The split is the most useful part of the data. The GPU gap of about 4.2 times is far larger than the CPU gap of about 1.9 times, and memory is nearly level at 1.2 times. That pattern points to graphics throughput and driver maturity as the main difference, not memory bandwidth.
Two more context points keep the comparison honest. First, Chinese Mate 70 units run HarmonyOS and international Pura 80 units run the Android-based EMUI, so the benchmark apps are not running in the same software environment as an Android flagship. Second, Huawei's older devices were removed from Geekbench and 3DMark leaderboards in 2018 after the benchmark makers found phones boosted scores when they detected a benchmark app, as documented by UL and Primate Labs. That finding does not describe the 9020, and it is a reason to treat any single Huawei benchmark figure with care.
Why the gap exists
The reasons are mostly structural. Since 2019, US export controls have blocked Huawei from EUV lithography and from advanced foundry partners, so its chips are built on SMIC's scaled 7nm class processes while Qualcomm buys TSMC's 3nm N3E. Reuters reported that even SMIC's newer N+3 node inside the Kirin 9030 remains well behind 5nm class processes from TSMC and Samsung, citing TechInsights.
Software compounds the hardware difference. Game studios optimise for Adreno drivers first, and the HarmonyOS app ecosystem is smaller than Android, so tuning effort reaches Qualcomm hardware sooner. A Kirin phone can still feel smooth in everyday Chinese apps while sitting far behind in synthetic graphics tests.
What to watch in the rest of 2026
Two launches will decide how this comparison reads by the end of the year. Qualcomm has confirmed its Snapdragon Summit for September 22 to 24 in Maui and has teased two new flagship chips under the phrase Dual 8 Elites, as reported by News9 and Tech Insider. Reported leaks point to a 2nm class node and a new Oryon layout, and Qualcomm has not confirmed specifications.
Huawei is expected to launch the Mate 90 series in September with a next-generation Kirin chip built on its logic folding approach, according to China Daily and SCMP. Huawei has already claimed that the Kirin 9030 in the Mate 80 series is up to 42 percent faster than the Kirin 9020. Until both 2026 chips are official and independently tested, the 2024 generation remains the last verified head-to-head between the two companies.
Prices and availability in the US and Europe
Table 5. Devices, availability and prices
Launch prices come from PhoneArena's Galaxy S25 and OnePlus 13 comparison, 9to5Google for the Xiaomi 15 and GSMArena for the iQOO 13. Street prices have fallen since launch. As a current reference point, PhoneArena reported in August 2026 that Walmart was selling the 256GB Galaxy S25 for 649.99 dollars, against an original 859.99 dollars. European street prices move by market and retailer, so check the local listing before comparing.
Two availability facts matter more than the price table. Huawei has no official retail channel in the United States, a consequence of the restrictions that cut off Google services in 2019, as Reuters has documented. OnePlus, meanwhile, confirmed in July 2026 that it will stop launching new products in the US and Europe, reported by The Verge, so its 8 Elite phones are now limited to remaining stock.
For most buyers the practical choice is simpler than the benchmark debate. In the US and Europe, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is a mainstream retail product with carrier support, Google services and, in Samsung's case, seven years of promised updates. The Kirin 9020 is a China-first platform that reached the West inside one costly camera-focused model without Google services.
.png)
FAQ
Is the Kirin 9020 faster than the Snapdragon 8 Elite?
No. On the device pair in Table 4, the Snapdragon 8 Elite scores about 1.9 times higher on CPU, 4.2 times higher on GPU and 2.3 times higher overall. The Kirin chip is closer to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 from 2022. The chip database unite4buy lists the Kirin 9020 at Geekbench 6 multi-core 4,487 and single-core 1,477, against 4,506 and 1,387 for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in the same database, using the same tests.
Is the Kirin 9020 really built on 7nm?
Yes, according to teardown analysis. TechInsights reported that the Kirin 9020 in the Mate 70 Pro uses SMIC's 7nm N+2 process, the same node family as the Kirin 9000s and 9010. Huawei has not published a node figure itself, so this stays reported rather than confirmed by the manufacturer.
Which phones use the Snapdragon 8 Elite?
The platform shipped in the OnePlus 13, Xiaomi 15 and 15 Ultra, iQOO 13, Galaxy S25 series, RedMagic 10S Pro, Vivo X200 Ultra, Oppo Find X8 Ultra and several gaming phones, per GSMArena and the AnTuTu flagship rankings tracked by Notebookcheck. Most are now discounted, and Qualcomm's newer flagship chips, the 8 Elite Gen 5 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, have taken over the top tier.
Why does Huawei not publish Kirin specifications?
Huawei has not explained the policy. It does not typically discuss chip advancements at product launches, with improvements usually discovered by teardown firms later, as Reuters noted. The company also faces export restrictions that shape what it can manufacture, which makes node and foundry details sensitive. The result is that most Kirin 9020 specifications remain reported rather than confirmed.
Bottom line
The Kirin 9020 is not a competitor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite. It is roughly half as fast overall in public benchmarks, about a quarter as fast in graphics, built on a node several generations behind, and only partly documented by official sources. What makes it notable is the constraint it works under and the progress it represents, from the Kirin 9000s to the 9030 and the next chip expected this autumn. For a reader in the United States or Europe, the practical choice is simpler than the benchmark debate: the 8 Elite is available in mainstream phones with full software support, while the Kirin 9020 is a China-first part that appears in the West only inside a few expensive Huawei models without Google services.
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png&description=Kirin 9020 vs Snapdragon 8 Elite: What We Know){kind=link}
0 Comments