Allwinner H728. Review and Comparison VS all SoCs

Today we present the comparison and analysis of the new SoC Allwinner H728 vs. the rest of SoC on the market. A very powerful processor.

The new SoC H728 is an Octa Core with ARM Cortex-A55 cores and integrates a Mali-G57 MC1 GPU for graphics . In the video section it supports native h.265 video decoding with 4K@60fps support with HDR support, it has limitations as we will see with codecs such as AV1. A chip that replaces the Allwinner H6XX generation that was the top of the range of Allwinner.

Let’s see how it performs against options from other manufacturers such as Amlogic, Nvidia or Rockchip.

Allwinner H728 Specifications

Test Hardware

For testing we will use the Android Box X96Q PRO PLUS with this SoC Octa Core Allwinner H728. We will test the version with 4 GB of RAM DDR3 and 32 GB of storage memory eMMc. We have Wifi 6 with internal antenna and Bluetooth 5.0. As connectors we find scattered on the sides of its plastic case are 2 USB 2.0 ports, a USB 3.0 port, RJ45 Gigabit network interface, 3.5 mm jack, SPDIF and an HDMI 2.0a video output port that allows us to output video at resolutions up to 4K @ 60fps.

• The X96 X10 can be purchased on AliExpress and Amazon only for $37 with free shipping.

General specifications

This new Allwinner H728 SoC is manufactured in 22 nm ULP TSMC, has a maximum power consumption of 7 W and has eight ARM Cortex-A55 cores with speeds up to 1.8 GHz. It has native connection for HDMI 2.0 up to 4K@60fps video resolutions, USB 2.0 support, internal storage up to eMMC and Gigabit Ethernet.

CPU

The Allwinner H728 has eight ARM Cortex-A55 cores, capable of reaching 1.8 GHz, a rather limited speed. The manufacturing process is only 22 nm which places it in the mid/low range of performance.

In this Allwinner SoC we have only 32 bit ABIs due to firmware limitations, hardware does support the ARMv8-A instruction set.

• As we can see, the system does NOT support ABI armeabi-v8a, only compatible with 32bit applications .
• CPU id: part d05 / revision r4p1.

GPU

For the graphics section there is a Mali-G57 MC1 GPU compatible with Vulkan, which is currently in the mid-range. With it we can run somewhat demanding games and quite a few emulators.

VPU

As we have seen, this SoC does not support the AV1 codec and is compatible with basic HDR format. This system allows us to output video up to UHD 4K@60fps resolutions without problems thanks to its HDMI 2.0 video output . In general it is not a SoC focused on DRM services, so if we are interested in paid streaming it is better to look at other certified options.

Android System

The system that we found the device we used in our analysis is based on Android 14 (API 34), the kernel that controls the system is the kernel 5.15.1370, a fairly modern version.

• Render: The system supports the Android user environment in 1080p resolution.

Performance test

We run several performance tests with the Allwinner H728 SoC and compare it against processors such as the Nvidia Shield TV, Mediatek, Rockchip, Amlogic and previous generation Allwinner.

Geekbench

A test that gives us high values in raw power, we can see the performance of the CPU in mono core and multi core thanks to its tests. As we can see, the results are similar to the AMLogic S905X4 in mono core and close to the Amlogic S928X in multi core.

3DMark

This quintessential graphics performance test with a pretty solid continuity in terms of results, which helps us when comparing GPU performance historically. As we can see, the ARM Mali-G57 MC1 GPU outperforms the Amlogic S922X and S905X4.

PCMark

This test allows us to get an idea of the power of this chip in terms of desktop apps, performing tasks such as browsing, video editing, handling text or audio files. The result is influenced by the overall hardware components. As we can see, the data leaves it at a similar level to the S904X.

VPU and Sound

We test the video playback on the Allwinner H728, we check the formats supported by the integrated VPU. As we can see, the results are good with h.265 and VP9 codecs up to 4K@60fps resolutions. As mentioned, this SoC does NOT support the AV1 codec. We have good performance with 10bit color formats, we also have HDR support. This is not a SoC oriented to reproduce high quality video with Dolby Vision and Atmos certification needs.

• HDR: Basic HDR10 supported.
• HDMI-CEC: Available in base firmware.
• Auto framerate: Not available by default.
• Sound: Supports only stereo sound by default

Video and audio test results

• SW = does not have hardware acceleration and may have some occasional skipping on very large files.

Conclusions

This Allwinner H728 SoC is an interesting evolution of the H6XX generation. The graphics power with the Mali-G57 MC1 GPU gives us a considerable leap. As for the CPU level thanks to its eight cores we have a pretty good performance in desktop use.

The Allwinner H728 processor works well in terms of video playback, but is limited by not supporting AV1, it is a box suitable for video up to 4K@60fps with basic HDR. On the other hand, the firmware on Android 14 64bit behaves with stability, it is quite modern and will give us some useful life in the long run.

Once tested the new Allwinner H728 we can say that it offers enough power, but it is limited in some aspects such as modern video playback.