Introduction
Samsung introduced the Exynos 9825 SoC in August 2019 to rectify a major shortcoming of the Exynos 9820, the processor that shipped with the Galaxy S10. The Exynos 9820 was manufactured on the 8nm LPP process node from Samsung and since the company kept the split between Exynos and Snapdragon processors for its flagship models, this meant that customers in select markets got the superior 7nm-based Snapdragon 855.
This process technology disadvantage meant that the Exynos 9820 was nearly not as power-efficient as the Snapdragon 855. Furthermore, it had a larger 127mm² die area, meaning that it was a significantly larger chip compared to the Qualcomm's 73mm² chip.
The Exynos 9825 was thus a mid-cycle refresh of the Exynos 9820. It had the distinction of being the first mobile processor built with the 7nm EUV processing technology. EUV, or extreme ultraviolet lithography, is a process that utilizes extreme ultraviolet wavelengths to print finger circuits.
It also retained the significant change Samsung made to the CPU configuration with the Exynos 9820 which moved from a 4+4 setup to a tri-cluster 2+2+4 setup. The top cluster had two custom Samsung CPUs, aided by two Cortex-75 mid-tier performance cores and four Cortex-A55 cores for power efficiency.
Exynos 9825 Specs
| Exynos 9825 | |
| Process | 7nm EUV |
| CPU | 2x Exynos M4 @ 2.73GHz 2x Cortex-A75 @ 2.4GHz 4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.95Ghz |
| GPU | Mali-G76 MP12 |
| Dedicated AI processor | Integrated Neural Processing Unit |
| Display | WQUXGA (3840×2400), 4K UHD (4096×2160) HDR10+ |
| Modem | LTE-Advanced Pro Cat.20 8CA 2Gbps (DL) / Cat.20 3CA 316Mbps (UL) |
| Storage | UFS 3.0, UFS 2.1 |
| Memory | LPDDR4X |
| Camera | Rear 22MP, Front 22MP, Dual-camera 16MP+16MP |
| Video Capture | 8K @ 30fps, 4K @ 120fps |
| Video Playback | 8K @ 30fps or 4K @ 120fps, 10-bit HEVC(H.265), H.264, VP9 |
Processor Cores
The Exynos 9825 has three clusters of processor cores with different architectures. Samsung's custom Mongoose M4 cores form the first cluster, clocked at 2.73GHz for peak performance. Compared to the Exynos 9820, the mid-tier Cortex-A75 performance cores have a slightly higher clock speed of 2.4GHz compared to 2.31GHz. Lastly, 4 Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 1.95GHz handle minor tasks to increase power efficiency.
Graphics Processing Unit
The Exynos 9825 kept the same ARM Mali-G76 GPU in an MP12 configuration that Samsung shipped with the Exynos 9820. The GPU promises a 33 percent increase in execution engines over the previous generations. Samsung claimed a 40 percent increase in performance or 35 percent increase in efficiency.
Memory and Storage
Samsung's 2019 mid-cycle premium Exynos refresh has support for LPDDR4X memory. The 4x 16-bit CH LPDDR4X @ 2093MHz memory controller is exactly the same as the one in the Exynos 9820. Up to 12GB of LPDDR4x RAM is available on smartphones that utilize this processor.
Camera
The Exynos 9825 has support for up to five sensors. It can support a combination of 22MP rear and 22MP front cameras in addition to a 16MP + 16MP dual-camera setup at the back. An advanced image signal processor is included for multi-camera solutions.
Modem
Samsung kept the Shannon 5000 as the integrated modem for this SoC. This Category 20/13 LTE-Advanced Pro modem touts peak a download rate of 2Gbps with 8x carrier aggregation with max upload speeds of 316Mbps.
The Exynos 9825 doesn't have an integrated 5G modem but can be paired with one. Samsung's 5G Exynos Modem 5100 was coupled with the SoC on 5G variants of the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+ to enable support for the next-gen network standard.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
A separate neural processing unit is present onboard. Samsung claims it's capable of performing artificial intelligence tasks around seven times faster than the processor. The NPU allows for AI tasks to be processed on-device so as to increase performance and provide more security for personal information. The NPU enables the device to offer enhanced camera and augmented reality functions.
Exynos 9825 Benchmarks
Benchmarks are the most commonly used yardstick to judge how much better a new chip is compared to its predecessor. That's why there's always so much hype around benchmarks for mobile chips, even though they are never really representative of real-world performance.
Benchmark apps run a standard workload on all devices to keep consistency in the test. Various aspects of the device such as CPU, GPU, memory and more are then tested to see how it performs compared to other devices. Benchmark results are great for looking at percentage gains in performance. All of the following benchmarks and leaderboards are accurate as of April 2020.
Exynos 9825 on Geekbench
Geekbench is a popular benchmark for measuring the single-core and multi-core performance of mobile chips. The Exynos 9825 in our Galaxy Note 10 with 8GB RAM posted single and multi-core scores of 785 and 2269 respectively.
Exynos 9825 on AnTuTu
AnTuTu runs multiple tests and assigns an overall score and individual score for each of them. Our unit scored 451975 overall, landing on the 18th spot in the leaderboard.
Exynos 9825 on 3DMark
For measuring GPU and CPU performance with Vulkan and OpenGL ES benchmarks, 3DMark is widely used. Its workload includes instanced rendering, volumetric lighting and depth of field. The Exynos 9825 in our unit scored 6822 overall on Sling Shot Extreme.
List of Exynos 9825 Phones
The following Samsung Galaxy smartphones use the Exynos 9825 processor:
- Galaxy Note 10 (LTE-only & 5G)
- Galaxy Note 10+ (LTE-only & 5G)
- Galaxy F62
