At a recently concluded online event in Europe, Xiaomi unveiled the long-rumored Redmi Note 9. It is the most recent model in the Redmi Note 9 series, which was introduced in March with the Redmi Note 9 Pro and Note 9 Pro Maxin India. The Redmi Note 9 has the same design as its older siblings, with a square camera on the back and a punch-hole cutout on the front. The chipset is one significant distinction between the Redmi Note 9 and the Pro versions, though.
Instead of a Snapdragon CPU, the Redmi Note 9 is powered by a brand-new MediaTek Helio G85 chipset. Now, neither MediaTek nor its website have made any public announcements about this chipset before to its unveiling. I therefore made the decision to compare the Helio G85 to the Helio G80. Here are my conclusions:
Helio G85 vs Helio G80: Specs
The MediaTek Helio G80 and Helio G85 are both gaming-focused chipsets. The Helio G80 was launched back in February, and the latter made its debut roughly three months later. It follows that we should infer that it includes certain upgrades. Right? Let’s examine these two chipsets’ internal specifications:
The same 12nm FinFET technology is used in the Helio G80 and Helio G85. Six ARM Cortex-A55 efficiency cores and two performance ARM Cortex-A75 cores, both clocked at up to 1.8GHz, are included in the Helio G80. You might be surprised to learn that the CPU within the Helio G85 chipset is the exact same as the Helio G80.
Speaking about GPUs, the ARM Mali-G52 MC2 GPU is built inside the Helio G80 and Helio G85 chips. There is, however, a slight distinction between the two. The highest GPU frequency of the Helio G85 is 1000MHz, compared to 950MHz for the Helio G80. Both chipsets come equipped with the MediaTek HyperEngine and a number of AI features.
So, the overclocked GPU is the only distinction between the Helio G80 and Helio G85. A 50MHz frequency increase does not appear to be a significant enough change to warrant the introduction of a new chipset. At this time, nothing else is known about the Helio G85. To summarise everything we have talked thus far, here is a quick specs table:
| Helio G80 | Helio G85 | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU Cores | octa-core | octa-core |
| Process Technology | 12nm FinFET | 12nm FinFET |
| Performance Cores | two Cortex-A75 cores, clocked up to 2.0GHz | two Cortex-A75 cores, clocked up to 2.0GHz |
| Efficiency Cores | six Cortex-A55 cores, clocked up to 1.8GHz | six Cortex-A55 cores, clocked up to 1.8GHz |
| GPU | Mali G52 MC2, clocked at 950MHz | Mali G52 MC2, clocked at 1000MHz |
AnTuTu Benchmark
Although we don’t yet have any smartphones running the Helio G80 or Helio G85, Realme and Xiaomi have published AnTuTu benchmark results for both chipsets during the launch events for the Realme 6i and Redmi Note 9, respectively. Additionally, the AnTuTu benchmark results for both chipsets are rather similar.
- Twitter/Xiaomi”>
- Facebook/Realme”>
The Realme 6i, powered by a Helio G80 processor, achieves a score of 201,278 on AnTuTu, whereas the Redmi Note 9, powered by a Helio G85 processor, achieves a score of 205,946. It doesn’t appear like the processing power of the Helio G80 and Helio G85 differs significantly because there is such a small difference between the two.
Geekbench alone would have been sufficient to put a stop to the uncertainty, but we do not currently have access to any other benchmark results.
Helio G85 vs Helio G80: Identity Crisis?
In conclusion, it looks like Xiaomi only wanted to adopt a new MediaTek chipset for the sake of bragging rights even though it does not offer any notable upgrades. Keep checking back for further details as MediaTek has not yet released the Helio G85’s official specifications.
Additionally, neither of these two chipset-powered phones has yet to be introduced in India. When the lockdown ends later this month, the Realme Narzo 10 and Redmi Note 9 should be the first smartphones in India to be equipped with the Helio G80 and Helio G85 chipsets, respectively.
We will perform all benchmark testing once we have these 2 devices in our possession, and we’ll update this post to reflect any significant changes. Up to that point, it is clear that the MediaTek Helio G85 has a pitiful GPU overclock. not another. Therefore, if you take an unbiased view, the Redmi Note 9 and the Realme 6i are both powered by the MediaTek Helio G80.
