Helio X20 vs Snapdragon 625: Chips Inside the Redmi Note 4 Versions Compared

Xiaomi has just announced the international version of the popular Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 smartphone and as expected, there’s one major difference in this new model as compared to the original version — the processor inside. Continuing the tradition, the company announced the Redmi Note 4 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chip inside, instead of the Helio X20 chipset that powers the Chinese variant of the model.

So, which ones better in terms of performance?

Helio X20 vs Snapdragon 625: Performance

If we are strictly comparing the performance of the two versions, then the Chinese Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 with Helio X20 is definitely the winner here. Mediatek’s Helio X20 chip is actually meant to power flagship models, but like its predecessor — the Helio X10, the chip also ended up in mid-rangers like the Redmi Note series. This is great for mid-rangers because their performance is now taken to a whole new level. Considering how most Helio X20 models have at least 3GB or 4GB RAM versions, the combination of a powerful processor + ample RAM actually makes phones like the Redmi Note 4 great performers.

Coming to the Snapdragon 625, it’s pretty decent. It’s definitely not as powerful as the X20, no doubt about it. The SD625 comes with eight octa-core Cortex A53 cores clocked at 2.0GHz which is actually a tried and tested combination. It doesn’t provide amazing performance as some tech enthusiasts would like, but it will be decent enough for normal users. In comparison, the Helio X20 features 2 x Cortex A72 cores @ 2.1GHz (power cores) + 2 X Cortex A53 @1.8GHz + 4 x Cortex A53 @ 1.4GHz (efficient cores). As for the GPU performance, both the chips should handle graphics pretty well.

Here are the AnTuTu and Geekbench scores for reference. Note that benchmarks don’t really mirror real life performance, but they come in handy for comparing two chipsets.

Helio X20 scores around 85-90K on AnTuTu while SD625 scores around 60-65K.