Quick Answer: Kirin 9030S is the strongest overall of the three according to NanoReview’s current benchmark data, with the highest AnTuTu 11 score and the highest Geekbench 6 multi-core result. Dimensity 8100 remains highly competitive in CPU and everyday workloads, while Kirin 9000 shows stronger documented GPU benchmark and gaming results in several tests. Best efficiency: Dimensity 8100.

Introduction

The Kirin 9030S vs Kirin 9000 vs Dimensity 8100 comparison brings together three 5nm smartphone chipsets from very different generations. Kirin 9030S was announced in April 2026, while Kirin 9000 dates back to October 2020 and Dimensity 8100 to March 2022. Despite the age difference, their specifications show an interesting split between newer CPU design, graphics capability, memory bandwidth and actual benchmark behavior.

NanoReview currently lists the Kirin 9030S with an AnTuTu 11 score of 1,273,046, compared with 1,092,605 for Dimensity 8100 and 1,079,281 for Kirin 9000. Geekbench 6 also gives the Kirin 9030S a small single-core advantage and a clearer multi-core advantage over both rivals.

Processor Overview

Kirin 9030S is the newest chipset and leads this comparison in overall benchmark throughput, although NanoReview classifies it as a mid-range SoC. It uses an eight-core CPU based on Taishan v124 cores and pairs it with a Maleoon 935F GPU. The chip was announced in April 2026 and is manufactured on a 5nm process by SMIC.

The Kirin 9000 is much older, having launched in October 2020 as a flagship SoC. Its CPU consists of Cortex-A77 and Cortex-A55 cores, while graphics are handled by the Mali-G78 MP24. It was manufactured by TSMC on 5nm and supports LPDDR5 memory and UFS 3.1 storage.

The Dimensity 8100 arrived in March 2022 and was also positioned as a flagship chipset by NanoReview. Its CPU uses four Cortex-A78 performance cores and four Cortex-A55 efficiency cores, while the GPU is the Mali-G610 MP6. It is also manufactured by TSMC using 5nm technology.

The generation story is therefore important: Kirin 9030S is newer in CPU design and platform features, while Kirin 9000 and Dimensity 8100 rely on older Cortex generations. However, graphics benchmarking shows that a newer specification does not automatically translate into the highest result in every test.

CPU Architecture & Processing Power

Kirin 9030S has the strongest CPU benchmark profile overall, particularly in multi-core performance. NanoReview records 1,273 points in Geekbench 6 single-core and 3,894 points in multi-core. Kirin 9000 scores 1,262 and 3,507, while Dimensity 8100 scores 1,139 and 3,842 respectively.

The single-core gap between Kirin 9030S and Kirin 9000 is relatively small. At 1,273 versus 1,262, the newer chip is only about 0.9% ahead in the listed Geekbench 6 result. Against Dimensity 8100, however, Kirin 9030S has roughly an 11.8% advantage.

Multi-core results are more revealing. Kirin 9030S reaches 3,894, about 11.0% higher than Kirin 9000 and approximately 1.4% higher than Dimensity 8100. This makes the 9030S particularly interesting for workloads that can distribute work across multiple CPU cores.

Dimensity 8100 is therefore much closer to Kirin 9030S in multi-core processing than its older Cortex-A78 architecture might suggest. Its four Cortex-A78 performance cores operate at up to 2.85GHz, whereas Kirin 9000 combines one Cortex-A77 core at 3.13GHz with three additional A77 cores at 2.54GHz and four A55 cores at 2.05GHz.

For general CPU performance, Kirin 9030S takes the lead in the supplied benchmark set, Dimensity 8100 follows closely in multi-core testing, and Kirin 9000 trails both in current Geekbench multi-core results.

GPU & Gaming Performance

Kirin 9030S has the highest listed GPU FLOPS, but Kirin 9000 has the strongest documented NanoReview gaming score and 3DMark Wild Life Extreme result. This is one of the most important distinctions in the comparison.

The Kirin 9030S uses the Maleoon 935F at 933MHz and is listed at 1,433.1 GFLOPS. Kirin 9000’s Mali-G78 MP24 reaches 1,165.8 GFLOPS, while Dimensity 8100’s Mali-G610 MP6 is listed at 660.5 GFLOPS. On raw listed FLOPS, that puts Kirin 9030S about 23% ahead of Kirin 9000 and roughly 117% ahead of Dimensity 8100.

However, NanoReview’s other graphics measurements tell a different story. Kirin 9000 records 2,062 points in 3DMark Wild Life Extreme, compared with 1,540 for Dimensity 8100. NanoReview does not currently list a corresponding 3DMark Wild Life Extreme result on the Kirin 9030S page, so that benchmark cannot be used to establish a direct three-way result.

NanoReview’s review indicators also list Gaming Performance scores of 27 for Kirin 9000, 22 for Kirin 9030S, and 20 for Dimensity 8100. Those scores are useful as NanoReview’s own evaluation but should not be interpreted as a universal FPS ranking for every phone.

The available game results reinforce the need for caution. On the tested Huawei Mate 40 Pro, Kirin 9000 records 81 FPS in PUBG Mobile and 58 FPS in Genshin Impact. The OnePlus Ace running Dimensity 8100 records 77 FPS and 57 FPS respectively, but reaches 60 FPS in Call of Duty: Mobile compared with 44 FPS for the Kirin 9000 result. These are device-specific measurements, so they demonstrate gaming behavior rather than guaranteeing identical results across phones.

Manufacturing Process & Efficiency

All three chips use a 5nm manufacturing process, but NanoReview’s battery-life indicator currently favors Dimensity 8100.

Kirin 9030S is manufactured by SMIC, while Kirin 9000 and Dimensity 8100 are manufactured by TSMC. Since all three are listed as 5nm, process size alone does not create a straightforward efficiency winner.

NanoReview gives the Dimensity 8100 a battery-life score of 89, compared with 84 for both Kirin 9030S and Kirin 9000. The supplied pages do not provide identical detailed battery-consumption testing that would allow a precise percentage improvement in real battery endurance. Therefore, the NanoReview score is the appropriate basis rather than claiming a specific number of hours.

Dimensity 8100 also has a listed 6W sustained power limit, while NanoReview does not disclose an equivalent TDP figure on the Kirin 9030S page. Kirin 9000 is listed at 6W as well. That means efficiency comparisons should be based on NanoReview’s reported review score and benchmark behavior rather than assuming that all 5nm chips consume power identically.

RAM, Memory & Storage Support

Kirin 9030S uses the newest memory standard of the three, LPDDR5X, but Dimensity 8100 has the highest listed memory bandwidth.

Kirin 9030S supports LPDDR5X at 4266MHz, with a 2×16-bit bus and maximum bandwidth of 34.1GB/s. Kirin 9000 supports LPDDR5 at 2750MHz with a wider 4×16-bit bus and 44GB/s bandwidth. Dimensity 8100 also uses LPDDR5, running at 3200MHz with a 4×16-bit bus and 51.2GB/s maximum bandwidth. All three support up to 16GB of RAM.

The memory comparison therefore is not simply new versus old. Kirin 9030S has the newer LPDDR5X standard and higher memory frequency, but its narrower bus produces lower listed bandwidth than both competitors. Dimensity 8100 has the highest bandwidth on paper, which can benefit workloads that are particularly sensitive to memory throughput.

Storage support is another clear advantage for Kirin 9030S. NanoReview lists UFS 3.1, UFS 4.0 and UFS 4.1 for the 9030S, while both Kirin 9000 and Dimensity 8100 are listed with UFS 3.1.

AI & NPU Capabilities

All three chipsets include dedicated AI hardware, but NanoReview does not provide comparable TOPS figures, so a precise AI performance ranking cannot be derived from the supplied pages.

Kirin 9030S is listed with a Da Vinci neural processor. Kirin 9000 uses an AI accelerator, and Dimensity 8100 integrates the MediaTek APU 580.

The Kirin 9030S page does not publish a TOPS figure, nor does the Kirin 9000 page provide a directly comparable numerical AI-throughput result. Without equivalent AI benchmark scores, it would be misleading to declare one chipset definitively faster for generative AI or on-device AI workloads.

For SEO and buyer research, the useful distinction is that all three have dedicated AI acceleration, while the available NanoReview data is insufficient to convert those hardware names into a reliable three-way AI performance percentage.

ISP, Camera & Video Capabilities

Kirin 9030S, Kirin 9000 and Dimensity 8100 all support 4K video recording and playback at 60 FPS, but Dimensity 8100 is the only one of the three pages that explicitly lists a maximum camera resolution.

NanoReview lists 4K at 60 FPS capture and 4K at 60 FPS playback for all three processors. Kirin 9030S supports H.264, H.265 and VP9 video codecs, while Kirin 9000 lists the same three. Dimensity 8100 additionally lists AV1 alongside H.264, H.265 and VP9.

For camera input, NanoReview lists Dimensity 8100 with support for one 200MP camera. The current Kirin 9030S and Kirin 9000 pages do not provide an equivalent maximum camera-resolution figure. Therefore, the 8100 has the clearer documented specification in this category rather than an automatically superior real-world camera system.

The maximum camera resolution supported by a SoC should not be confused with the actual image quality of a smartphone. Sensor quality, lenses, stabilization and phone-level image processing all influence the final result. The same caution applies to video: 4K60 support establishes the chipset capability, but does not guarantee that every phone using that SoC will implement every available recording mode.

Display Support

Kirin 9030S and Kirin 9000 have the highest listed maximum display resolution, while Dimensity 8100 is listed at a lower maximum resolution.

NanoReview gives both Kirin 9030S and Kirin 9000 a maximum display resolution of 3840 × 2160. Dimensity 8100 is listed at 2960 × 1440.

The higher maximum resolution gives the Kirin chips more documented display pipeline headroom. However, NanoReview does not provide a directly comparable maximum refresh-rate figure for these three pages, so no reliable ranking can be made for 120Hz, 144Hz or higher-refresh operation from this dataset alone.

Modem, 5G & Connectivity

Kirin 9030S has the strongest connectivity specification in this comparison, with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0 and the highest listed theoretical 5G download and upload speeds.

Kirin 9030S uses the Balong 6000 modem and supports LTE Cat. 24, 5G, up to 7,500Mbps download and 3,500Mbps upload. It also supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0.

Kirin 9000 uses Balong 5000 with LTE Cat. 24, 5G, up to 4,600Mbps download and 2,500Mbps upload, alongside Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. Dimensity 8100 uses MediaTek UltraSave 2.0, supports LTE Cat. 21 and 5G, and reaches 4,700Mbps download and 2,500Mbps upload, with Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3.

These are theoretical maximum modem rates. Real network performance depends on carrier deployment, spectrum, signal strength, congestion and device implementation. Nevertheless, on the published specification alone, Kirin 9030S has the clearest connectivity advantage.

Benchmark Comparison

Kirin 9030S leads the current AnTuTu 11 comparison by a substantial margin and also holds the highest Geekbench 6 scores overall.

NanoReview reports 1,273,046 in AnTuTu 11 for Kirin 9030S, 1,092,605 for Dimensity 8100 and 1,079,281 for Kirin 9000. The 9030S therefore scores approximately 18.0% higher than Kirin 9000 and 16.5% higher than Dimensity 8100 in the listed AnTuTu 11 results.

Geekbench 6 shows a smaller single-core difference. Kirin 9030S scores 1,273, Kirin 9000 scores 1,262, and Dimensity 8100 scores 1,139. The 9030S is therefore about 0.9% ahead of Kirin 9000 and approximately 11.8% ahead of Dimensity 8100 in single-core testing.

Multi-core performance gives Kirin 9030S another lead. Its 3,894 score is approximately 11.0% above Kirin 9000 and 1.4% above Dimensity 8100. This confirms that Dimensity 8100 remains extremely close to the newer Kirin chip in this particular CPU test.

Graphics testing is less uniform. Kirin 9000 records 2,062 in 3DMark Wild Life Extreme versus 1,540 for Dimensity 8100. A directly comparable 3DMark result is not published on the current Kirin 9030S page, so this category cannot be fully ranked by one common 3DMark result.

Real-World Performance

For general smartphone performance, Kirin 9030S has the strongest evidence from current benchmarks, while Dimensity 8100 remains close enough in multi-core performance to be highly competitive.

For everyday tasks such as application launching, web browsing, social media and multitasking, the current Geekbench and AnTuTu results favor Kirin 9030S. Its newer CPU configuration and higher overall benchmark score provide the strongest documented headroom among these three chipsets.

Dimensity 8100 is particularly interesting because its 3,842 Geekbench multi-core score is only about 1.4% below Kirin 9030S despite being an older platform. That means users should not interpret the Kirin 9030S’s newer generation as a massive CPU advantage in every workload.

Gaming is more complicated. Kirin 9030S has the highest listed GPU FLOPS, but Kirin 9000’s current NanoReview gaming score and 3DMark Wild Life Extreme result are higher. The available game data also varies by tested phone, demonstrating why actual gaming performance cannot be reduced to GPU clock speed or theoretical FLOPS alone.

For efficiency, NanoReview’s current battery-life scores favor Dimensity 8100 at 89, compared with 84 for both Kirin 9030S and Kirin 9000. This makes Dimensity 8100 the strongest documented choice for efficiency in this particular NanoReview dataset, without claiming a fixed battery-life advantage in every smartphone.

Connectivity is much clearer. Kirin 9030S supports Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0 and significantly higher theoretical cellular speeds, giving it the strongest published communications platform of the three.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Kirin 9030S

Strengths

• Highest AnTuTu 11 score at 1,273,046.
• Highest Geekbench 6 single-core and multi-core scores.
• Maleoon 935F reaches 1,433.1 GFLOPS, the highest listed theoretical GPU figure.
• LPDDR5X support at 4266MHz.
• Supports UFS 3.1, UFS 4.0 and UFS 4.1.
• Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0.
• Highest theoretical 5G download and upload speeds.

Weaknesses

• NanoReview’s current page gives it a gaming-performance score of 22, below Kirin 9000’s 27.
• Its listed memory bandwidth of 34.1GB/s is lower than both rivals.
• NanoReview does not provide a directly comparable 3DMark Wild Life Extreme result on the current page.

Kirin 9000

Strengths

• Strong documented graphics performance.
• 2,062 in 3DMark Wild Life Extreme.
• NanoReview gaming-performance score of 27, the highest among the three.
• 3.13GHz maximum CPU frequency.
• 44GB/s memory bandwidth.
• Supports 4K60 recording and playback.

Weaknesses

• Oldest architecture, launched in 2020.
• Lowest AnTuTu 11 score of the three.
• Lowest Geekbench 6 multi-core score.
• LPDDR5 and UFS 3.1 are older than the memory and storage support listed for Kirin 9030S.
• Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 are behind Kirin 9030S connectivity.

Dimensity 8100

Strengths

• Geekbench 6 multi-core score of 3,842, very close to Kirin 9030S.
• Highest memory bandwidth at 51.2GB/s.
• LPDDR5 at 3200MHz.
• 200MP camera support is explicitly listed.
• NanoReview battery-life score of 89, higher than the other two.
• Strong current user-test availability, with numerous AnTuTu 11 submissions.

Weaknesses

• Lowest listed GPU FLOPS at 660.5 GFLOPS.
• Lower maximum display resolution than both Kirin chips.
• UFS 3.1 only.
• Wi-Fi 6 rather than Wi-Fi 7.
• NanoReview gaming-performance score is 20.

Best Processor For Different Users

Best overall: Kirin 9030S, based on its highest AnTuTu 11 score and highest Geekbench 6 results, combined with newer LPDDR5X, UFS 4.x support and significantly stronger connectivity specifications.

Best documented gaming profile: Kirin 9000, based on NanoReview’s current Gaming Performance score of 27 and its 2,062-point 3DMark Wild Life Extreme result. However, Kirin 9030S has the highest theoretical GPU FLOPS, so the two measures should not be treated as interchangeable.

Best efficiency: Dimensity 8100, based on NanoReview’s battery-life score of 89 versus 84 for both Kirin 9030S and Kirin 9000.

Best CPU performance: Kirin 9030S, which leads both Geekbench 6 single-core and multi-core scores and has the highest AnTuTu 11 result.

Best memory bandwidth: Dimensity 8100, at 51.2GB/s.

Best connectivity: Kirin 9030S, with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, 7,500Mbps maximum download and 3,500Mbps maximum upload.

Best storage support: Kirin 9030S, because NanoReview lists UFS 3.1, UFS 4.0 and UFS 4.1.

Final Verdict & Ranking

1. Kirin 9030S

Kirin 9030S ranks first overall because it has the strongest combined CPU and system benchmark results in the current NanoReview data. Its 1.273 million AnTuTu 11 score, 3,894 Geekbench 6 multi-core score, LPDDR5X memory support, UFS 4.x compatibility and Wi-Fi 7 connectivity give it the most modern specification package of the three.

2. Dimensity 8100

Dimensity 8100 ranks second because it remains extremely competitive in CPU performance while offering the highest listed memory bandwidth and NanoReview’s strongest battery-life score. Its 3,842 Geekbench 6 multi-core result is only slightly behind Kirin 9030S, although its GPU FLOPS and display ceiling are lower.

3. Kirin 9000

Kirin 9000 ranks third overall despite having a strong GPU and gaming profile. Its 3DMark Wild Life Extreme score and NanoReview gaming score show that it can still perform well graphically, but its older CPU platform, lower AnTuTu 11 result and older memory, storage and connectivity standards reduce its overall position against the newer alternatives.

Bottom Line: The Kirin 9030S is the strongest all-round chipset in this three-way comparison according to NanoReview’s current data. It leads the major CPU and overall-system benchmarks and adds newer LPDDR5X, UFS 4.x, Wi-Fi 7 and faster theoretical 5G connectivity. Dimensity 8100 is the closest CPU competitor and has the strongest documented efficiency score, while Kirin 9000 remains notable for its graphics and gaming results despite its much older platform.

Sources & Last Verified

Specifications and benchmark figures were verified against the current NanoReview pages for HiSilicon Kirin 9030S, HiSilicon Kirin 9000, and MediaTek Dimensity 8100.

Last Verified: October 3, 2026