Does your Android phone have a Snapdragon, Exynos, MediaTek or Tensor chip?

Competition in the CPU market is fierce, and when it comes to Android smartphones, there are three main contenders. Qualcomm with its Snapdragon processors, Samsung with its Exynos chips, and MediaTek with its MediaTek chips. Each chip maker has its own pros and cons.

Recently, there’s a new big player in the space: Google . The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are the first devices to use Tensor, Google’s first in-house SoC , which will power Pixel phones from now on. So how do the chips from these four manufacturers differ? And does it really matter which chipset your phone is running?

Snapdragon: Fan favorite

Qualcomm is considered by both reviewers and users to be the king of Android chips, thanks to its Snapdragon CPUs. There are several lines of Snapdragon chips, each with different performance and price points.

There's the Snapdragon 800-series, designed for top-end performance and flagship smartphones, followed by the 700-series and 600-series, meant for mid-range smartphones. The 400-series is found in budget phones, under $200.

These processors are used by pretty much every major smartphone manufacturer, from Samsung, Google, Oppo, Xiaomi, and OnePlus. And it's clear to see why. Snapdragons consistently outperform other Android chips, whether they're flagship or mid-range.

Qualcomm customizes standard ARM cores to improve their performance and also creates its own GPU designs under the Adreno umbrella, instead of using standard ARM Mali designs.

And they're also a boon to development, with rich documentation making the task of porting custom ROMs to Qualcomm-powered phones much easier than Exynos or MediaTek phones (though this advantage isn't as big as it once was thanks to Project Treble and GSIs).

Of course, there are downsides too. Qualcomm chips are often more expensive than their rivals, especially at the high end – 2020 saw a significant price increase with the Snapdragon 865, forcing OEMs like Google and LG to use mid-range chips instead in their flagships.

Qualcomm doesn't make smartphones itself, but it supplies its chips to a wide range of smartphone manufacturers. And its importance in the Android ecosystem can't be understated.

Exynos: Amazing performance

Although less commonly seen in real-world use than Snapdragon processors, Exynos chipsets are often no slouches in head-to-head comparisons with Qualcomm chipsets.

Exynos CPUs are manufactured by Samsung and are used in its own phones globally (although Samsung uses Snapdragon in some markets like the US mainly for modems). They are also sometimes seen in phones from other manufacturers like Meizu.

When it comes to performance, Exynos chipsets often match or even exceed the performance of their Snapdragon counterparts, especially at the high end. In 2021, the Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100 are the top-performing chips, with each chip outperforming in different scenarios.

The same story happened in the previous generation, with the Snapdragon 865 and Exynos 990. These two chips competed closely with each other, and often there was no clear winner.

Samsung uses more generic CPU/GPU designs than Qualcomm, but Samsung isn't afraid to change things up sometimes. At some point, we might even see Samsung use Radeon GPUs in its chips.

They're also often cheaper than Snapdragon alternatives — this can be seen when looking at the price difference between Snapdragon and Exynos versions of otherwise identical Samsung phones.

MediaTek: Solid mid-range (and low-cost)

MediaTek doesn't always get the love it deserves from users, as MediaTek is a Taiwanese chipmaker and, like Qualcomm, sells chips to other OEMs.

MediaTek chips have been used by a lot of OEMs, including some big names. Even Samsung has used MediaTek chips and the list includes companies like Xiaomi, OnePlus, Oppo, etc.

While Qualcomm is often considered the king of the Android CPU market, MediaTek is the king in terms of sales. In terms of market share, MediaTek chips are used in 43% of smartphones worldwide, while Qualcomm has only 24% (still respectable, but still quite modest compared to 43%).

However, MediaTek has a bad reputation in the eyes of some Android fans because it is often chosen to power lower-end phones that are cheap but very slow.

But look at MediaTek's mid-range and high-end offerings, including the company's flagship Dimensity lineup, as well as some of its Helio chips, and you'll see that they're actually very respectable CPUs.

They'll likely perform just as well as a Snapdragon-powered phone but at a significantly lower cost.

Tensor: The New Name in the Android Chip Market

Google is a newcomer to the chipmaking game. Google Tensor was released this year, appearing in the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. As Google’s first chips, they have a long way to go before they can fully realize the potential of Google’s silicon.

Google Tensor has a few advantages: It focuses on AI, machine learning, and security, thanks to the Titan M2 chip. Every part of the chip is powered by Google's AI, even including the company's AI coprocessor on phones. The chip itself is on par with the most powerful CPUs on the market, like the Snapdragon 888 and Exynos 2100.

Google still has a long way to go. Its CPUs even get some help from Samsung. That’s okay, because Apple started out that way too. It’s going to be interesting.

Which chip should you choose?

There’s no right or wrong answer here. The thing is, it doesn’t really matter which CPU brand you have. They’re all great in their own way, and there’s probably no real clear winner. But if you start getting into specifics, the answer is a little different.

If you're looking for the absolute best performance, then Qualcomm or Exynos are the way to go, but if you want an open device that can be easily modified, Snapdragon is probably the better choice.

If you're looking at the mid-range, Snapdragon is also a good choice, but you might also want to consider MediaTek's options. Finally, if you're a Google fan, you won't be disappointed with Tensor on the Pixel 6.