Call Build.SOC_MODEL on Android 12+ and you don't get "Snapdragon 8 Gen 3."
You get SM8650. "Tensor G3" comes back as zuma. "Dimensity 9300"
as MT6989. Three vendors, three schemes, no marketing name in sight.
Being able to translate the codes is the difference between confirming "yes, this is really a flagship" and giving up on a used listing because the SoC string looks unfamiliar.
Qualcomm: the SM prefix
Every modern Snapdragon mobile SoC starts with SM (Snapdragon Mobile) plus a
4-digit number. First digit is the tier:
SM8xxx— flagship tier (Snapdragon 8 series)SM7xxx— upper-mid tier (Snapdragon 7 series)SM6xxx— mid tier (Snapdragon 6 series)SM4xxx— entry tier (Snapdragon 4 series)
The remaining digits encode the generation:
| SOC_MODEL | Marketing name | Year |
|---|---|---|
| SM8650 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | 2023 |
| SM8550 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 | 2022 |
| SM8450 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | 2021 |
| SM8350 | Snapdragon 888 | 2020 |
| SM8250 | Snapdragon 865 | 2019 |
| SM8475 | Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 | 2022 (midcycle) |
| SM7475 | Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 | 2023 |
| SM7325 | Snapdragon 778G | 2021 |
| SM6450 | Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 | 2022 |
| SM4450 | Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 | 2023 |
A P suffix (SM8450P) means a higher-binned "pro" variant. Anything
starting with SDX (SDX65) is a modem, not a SoC — don't confuse the
two.
MediaTek: the MT prefix
MediaTek splits into two lines with different schemes.
Dimensity uses MT6xxx codes that don't map cleanly to the
marketing number — you just have to memorize the table:
| SOC_MODEL | Marketing name | Year |
|---|---|---|
| MT6989 | Dimensity 9300 | 2023 |
| MT6985 | Dimensity 9200 | 2022 |
| MT6983 | Dimensity 9000 | 2021 |
| MT6896 | Dimensity 8300 | 2023 |
| MT6895 | Dimensity 8200 | 2022 |
| MT6833 | Dimensity 700/720 | 2020 |
Helio follows the older MediaTek conventions:
MT6765= Helio P35MT6762= Helio P22MT6769= Helio G70 / G80 / G85 (all variants share the same SOC_MODEL)MT6789= Helio G99
Really old codes (MT6735, MT6580) refer to the chipset directly
and predate the "Helio" branding altogether.
Google Tensor: word codenames
Google's Tensor chips — designed with Samsung Foundry — skip the marketing name entirely. Build.SOC_MODEL returns the internal codename and that's it:
| SOC_MODEL | Marketing name | Pixels using it |
|---|---|---|
| zuma | Tensor G3 | Pixel 8 / 8 Pro |
| zuma_pro | Tensor G4 | Pixel 9 series |
| cloudripper | Tensor G2 | Pixel 7 / 7 Pro |
| whitechapel | Tensor (G1) | Pixel 6 / 6 Pro |
Samsung Exynos: the S5E prefix
Exynos chips inside international Galaxy SKUs use S5Exxxx:
S5E9945= Exynos 2400 (Galaxy S24 international)S5E9925= Exynos 2200 (Galaxy S22 international)S5E9840= Exynos 990 (Galaxy S20 international)
This one's practical for spotting regional misrepresentation. A "Snapdragon Galaxy S24"
listing whose SOC_MODEL is S5E9945 is actually the Exynos international unit.
HiSilicon Kirin: the kirinNNN code
Huawei's HiSilicon Kirin chips report their model directly:
kirin990,kirin980,kirin970— flagship tierkirin820,kirin810,kirin710— mid tier
Kirin updates slowed dramatically after the US trade restrictions, so you'll mostly see these in 2019-2021 Huawei devices.
Use this to spot fakes
The most common scam in the Android second-hand market is a low-tier chipset dressed up as
a flagship. SOC_MODEL is your defence — a "Snapdragon 8 Gen 3" that reports
MT6769 (Helio G80) is a sub-$80 chip in a sub-$1000 case.
Diff the SOC_MODEL against the expected value on any verified device entry in our database. The Hardware Trust Score wraps this into a 0-100 confidence number and prints the specific mismatch fields — so you don't have to memorize the whole table to catch a fake.
