Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 vs Exynos 2400 | Croma Unboxed (2024)

The Samsung Exynos 2400 and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 are flagship mobile SoCs (System-on-Chip). Samsung tends to use its Exynos chips in its own phones, with the Exynos 2400 being available in its flagship Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus smartphones. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, a flagship SoC made by Qualcomm, can be found in the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

These platforms share many similarities as they are both based on the readily licensable ARM architecture. However, both companies had different objectives and capabilities in mind when designing the chips, leading to some variation in performance and features.

Here are how their specifications compare:

As we can see, the specs differ in two key areas: CPU and GPU. The CPU on the Exynos 2400 has two more cores than the Snapdragon variant, but these cores run slower. The Snapdragon chip’s cores are significantly faster, which should help with the phone’s responsiveness.

The GPU is where things get even more interesting as both companies have opted for different designs. Samsung’s is a new design based on GPU maker AMD’s RDNA3 graphics, which apparently makes it 70 per cent faster than the previous generation. Qualcomm’s Adreno 750, on the other hand, is based on a more refined and mature platform and so is only about 25 per cent faster than the Adreno 740 it succeeds.

Looking at the benchmarks, it’s clear that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, despite having fewer cores, is faster overall than the Samsung Exynos 2400.

The single core scores are quite close in GeekBench, but the higher clock speeds of the Snapdragon chip overcome the extra cores of the Exynos in the multi-core workload. The most significant variation, though, comes in GPU performance, where it’s readily apparent that the Snapdragon chip is significantly more powerful.

That said, benchmarks tell only part of the story. They’re an indicator of performance under ideal conditions and workloads, which isn’t the case in real-world use. The fact that the SC (single-core) and MC (multi-core) scores are so close suggests that the responsiveness of an Exynos powered phone and Snapdragon powered phone will be nearly identical.

The same goes for the GPU. The Adreno GPU is significantly faster in benchmarks, but that performance lead will only be noticeable in highly demanding games and longer play sessions. For an average user, the performance of the two platforms should be virtually indistinguishable.

Exynos 2400 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen 3: What would we recommend?

If you’re attempting to choose between smartphones running either platform, we’d recommend the Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, but only if there’s no significant price difference between the two. One advantage of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip is that you can find it in phones from different makers (like the OnePlus 12) and at different price points.

We’d also recommend the Qualcomm chip to gamers as that additional GPU headroom will be very useful in the long run. In every other scenario, and for non-gamers, either platform will serve you well, and you’re not likely to regret your decision.