2020’s Exynos 990 in the Galaxy S20 series was considered the low point for the Exynos family from a performance perspective. Our own testing showed that the Snapdragon 865 variant offered better multi-core CPU performance and much better graphical performance, while the two were virtually tied in single-core benchmarks. We can trace similar performance differences back as early as 2012’s Galaxy S3. Benchmarks at the time showed that the Snapdragon version was able to beat the Exynos model in CPU tests, despite the Snapdragon model offering a dual-core CPU versus the Exynos variant’s quad-core design.
2021’s Galaxy S21 series was available with either a Snapdragon 888 chipset or the Exynos 2100, and we saw the gap narrow between the two SoCs. In fact, our testing found that the two were neck-and-neck when it came to CPU performance, but Qualcomm’s variant still reigned supreme in the GPU category (albeit with a reduced gap). The Snapdragon model has been the better choice for gamers in recent years owing to this performance advantage and broader compatibility when it comes to emulation...
...The situation seems to be more favorable for Exynos variants when it comes to endurance. The Exynos 990 may have been the nadir of Samsung’s mobile chip efforts, but our testing found that Galaxy S20 series variants equipped with this chipset beat the Snapdragon 865 variant (albeit by between 15 and 30 minutes). This is likely due to the Exynos chipset throttling back in the name of endurance, sacrificing performance for battery life, but it’s still notable anyway.