Speed Test G: HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (it's close)

The HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro is a beast of a phone with a last-of-its-kind Kirin 9000 chip inside, but how does it stack up agains the best of the Snapdragon devices? Our own Gary Sims has pitted the Mate 40 Pro against Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in a realistic speed test to find out, and it’s a fiercer fight than you might expect.

The phones are quite close in some respects. The Mate 40 Pro comes out slightly on top in the CPU and mixed-use speed tests, completing tasks a second or two faster than the Note 20 Ultra. However, it’s another story when it comes to GPU performance — the Note thrashes its rival by several seconds, making it clear that the Snapdragon 865 Plus’ Adreno graphics are a better choice for games.

See also: Galaxy Note 20 Ultra vs OnePlus 8 Pro

It’s a familiar story, if not as dramatic as in the past. When Sims benchmarked the P40 against the Galaxy S20 Plus, the HUAWEI phone claimed the edge in raw computational power only to fall apart in the graphics challenge. The Kirin 9000 is a marked improvement over its predecessor in GPU speed, but it’s just not powerful enough to claim an absolute lead.

This may be one of the last times you see a test like this, at least for a while. With HUAWEI effectively blocked from using high-end chips, the Chinese firm won’t have high-end phones once the Mate 40 Pro is discontinued — the Note 20 Ultra may win this speed test simply by being the last phone standing.

Next: See more Speed Test G battles here