Number of cores and frequency isn’t all

The 400 series uses cortex A53 cores, witch are really small cores (and thus much less instruction per cyce) than the Krait 400s cores (in our Snadragon 801).

CPU performances :

the A53 have 2.24 DMPIS/MHz (drysthone benchmark, raw performance) where the Krait 400 have 3.39DMPIS/Mhz

In therms of raw performances, the maximum output of 8A53@1.4Ghz (maximum freq according to Qualcomm datasheet) is 17% less than the output of the 4Kryo400@2.26 (25 DGIPS vs 30 DGIPS), and not a lot of apps can make use of 8 cores…

As the A53 core haven’t been design for “actual use”, but more for standby and background usage (they are supposed to be paired with bigger A57cores), they are not able to use out of order execution, witch is really important for responsiveness.

A53 cores are also very old (2012) and thus can lack instruction set and optimizations

GPU performances

The GPU in the 400 series , the Adreno 505, is much more younger, and thus compatible with DX12 and Vulkan, but is, in therms of raw power, 2 times less powerful than the Adreno 330 in the 801, which already lag and stutter is some games !

Futureproofing

More or less unrelated, the 400 series processor are used on low budget phone that are rarely updated, so Qualcomm will be much less willing to provide libraries for newer version of android.

Everything just to say that yes, using a 400series processor isn’t going to be a pleasure (in two years, it “might” be okay for most usage, but if you try to keep it for 5 years…)

Usage

(my opinion)Two usage here, power user (like me), who get the most out of their phone, and thus are willing to pay premium for it, and light user…that will be much more on a budget as they don’t rely too much on their phone most of the time…

Main problem a see here is that the second group will be much less willing to pay more for an ethical phone…I mean, the performance/price ratio is a falling curve, and paying 100€ more for a phone because is ethical is easier when the phone cost 500€, than if it costed 200€

A brand new Snadragon 630 could be the perfect spot imo !

Like said freibadschwimmer i’m also in the second group, and thus i will wait for the FP4.

As you understood, i don’t really approve this processor choice, but FP will probably tell us why did i choose it when the phone will be announced

My sources :

Comparison of Arm8 proc - Wiki

Krait CPU - wiki

Qualcomm Snapdragon Lineup - Qualcomm

Adreno 330 Benchmarks - Notebookcheck

Adreno 505 Benchmarks - Notebookcheck