Benchmark

It’s not just Samsung: everyone games benchmarks except Apple and Motorola

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 2, 2013

Nobody reviews hardware more exhaustively than chip gurus over at AnanadTech - for these guys, no detail is too small and nothing escapes their scrutiny. When the publication set out to review the Galaxy Note 3, it shamed Samsung by spotting some tweaked code which artificially inflates the device's scores on popular benchmarks by anywhere between twenty to fifty percent.

Not only did it provoke a reaction from Apple's marketing head honcho Phil Schiller, the discovery has prompted AnandTech to really scrutinize other device makers. Shockingly enough, turns out most Android OEMs pad their results by increasing CPU/GPU clock speed during benchmarking to make them look good.

So, who are the cheaters? Almost everyone, except Apple and Motorola. Samsung, HTC, Asus, LG and many others are all dirty and guilty of gaming the benchmarks.

If that's not the biggest wake-up call the benchmarking industry has ever seen, I don't know what is. I myself feel dirty even blogging about this, but the numbers don't lie and that's the sad state of things. Just who are the cheaters? Go past the break for the full disclosure...

Phil Schiller calls out Samsung for benchmark ‘shenanigans’

Cody Lee ∙ October 1, 2013

Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller is at it again, stirring the pot via his Twitter again. Earlier this year he called out Android for its staggering malware problem, and today he put Samsung in his sights.

This morning, Schiller tweeted out a link to an ArsTechnica article called 'Galaxy Note 3’s benchmarking “adjustments” inflate scores by up to 20%.' And the SVP calls 'shenanigans' on Samsung's attempt to pad its benchmark scores...

As expected, the iPhone 5s is way faster than the iPhone 5

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated March 15, 2018

We knew it would be faster, but there's something to be said about running benchmarks and confirming it for yourself. That's just what I did a few seconds ago. I fired up the new Geekbench 3, which now comes with 64-bit processor support I might mention, and compared the two devices head to head.

What I found wasn't very surprising, given Apple has stated in its press materials that the 5s is two times faster than the incumbent both in terms of CPU and GPU speed. Check past the break for the full breakdown of the results.

iPhone 5s impresses in early graphics benchmarks

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

One of the big new features in the iPhone 5s is its A7 processor with '64-bit desktop-class architecture.' What these buzzwords essentially mean is that the thing is fast—Apple says the CPU is 40x faster and graphics are 56x faster than the original iPhone.

But that doesn't really tell us much in the way of performance, does it? Luckily, an early graphics benchmark for the handset surfaced this morning that gives us a better idea of how the 5s will perform. And the results show significant gains over the iPhone 5...

New Nexus 7 vs iPad mini comparison [Video]

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 12, 2018

The new Nexus 7 has touched down in stores, and it's a pretty compelling little device at $229 for the base 16GB Wi-Fi unit. It's much improved over its predecessor in nearly every facet, and will likely become a thorn in Apple's side as time goes on without a significant iPad mini (Retina) refresh.

With that all said, the iPad mini still has a few distinct advantages over Google's latest offering. Its main advantage is readily apparent, as its screen size completely dwarfs the smaller screen of the Nexus 7. Interestingly enough, the bezel on the older iPad mini is still smaller on all four sides when compared to the Nexus 7. Lastly, the iPad mini is still thinner than the Nexus 7. By themselves, all of these advantages may not amount to much in the eyes of consumers, but when compared side by side, they all add up for a pretty intense debate regarding which is superior.

Make no mistake though, in terms of sheer power and screen prowess, this is no competition. After comparing the two, running benchmarks, playing games, etc, it's evident that Apple has a legitimate competitor on its hands when it comes to the low end of the tablet market. Check inside as I compare both the new Nexus 7 and the iPad mini in our hands-on video walkthrough.

Galaxy S4 benchmarks almost twice as fast as the iPhone 5

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 31, 2017

As most of you know already, Samsung unveiled its highly anticipated Galaxy S III successor last week, the S4. The handset will sell head-to-head against the iPhone 5 until Apple releases its next-gen smartphone, which is expected sometimes this summer.

While the jury is still out on which handset provides the best user experience — easy-of-use, reliability, etc — the S4 is certainly looking better on paper. It has a sharper screen, a bigger battery, and according to new benchmarks, a much, much fast processor...

4th gen iPad’s A6X chip runs quad-core PowerVR SGX 554MP4 graphics

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 24, 2016

Apple introduced the new A6X with the fourth-generation iPad on October 23. It's an improved version of the A6 silicon powering the iPhone 5 by increasing clock frequency for the CPU (1.5GHz) and GPU (500MHz) part in order to achieve Apple's claim of twice the CPU and GPU performance.

Though the A6X still runs two ARM Cortex-A15 cores with a heavily customized, Apple's own ARMv7 based processor design (called Swift), the company has improved graphics performance compared to the A6's three PowerVR-based GPU cores by moving to a newer GPU core: the PowerVR SGX 554 from UK's fabless semiconductor maker Imagination Technologies, where Apple has an ownership stake...

iPad 4th generation benchmark shows 1GB of RAM, 1.4Ghz CPU, blows away predecessors

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

We think it's safe to say that the upcoming iPad 4th generation release will be a beast of a machine. In fact, the 4th generation iPad more than doubles the overall Geekbench benchmark score of the iPad 2. It also more than doubles the score of the incumbent iPad 3.

Whereas many complained about the iPad 3's relative lack of processing power when compared to the iPad 2 (in some cases, the iPad 2 outperformed the New iPad due to the strain placed on it by the Retina Display), you will not have that problem with the latest iPad iteration.

As Primate Labs points out, some of the first Geekbench scores are beginning to make themselves available online, and it paints a telling picture about the horsepower inside the iPad 4's inconspicuous casing...

Geekbench: the new iPod touch cannot hold a candle to the iPhone 5

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 15, 2012

Apple's fifth-generation iPod touch has arrived to some raving reviews, representing a major upgrade over the previous model with the same four-inch display as the iPhone 5 (sans a cheaper assembly), the thinner chassis (only 6.1mm), the new Lightning interconnect, a five-megapixel iSight camera with custom optics and the A5 chip, also found inside the third-generation iPad and iPhone 4S. First Geekbench benchmarks show that the new iPod touch is nearly as fast as the iPhone 4S, but not even half as fast as the iPhone 5, Apple's first iOS device to utilize the brand new A6 processor...

Apple is now shipping orders of the new iPod touch and iPod nano

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 9, 2012

Some buyers reported today that Apple has begun shipping orders of the fifth-generation iPod touch and seventh-generation iPod nano. The company yesterday started shipping the new Lightning to 30-pin adapter which allows people to use most of legacy accessories with the iPhone 5, as well as the new iPod touch and iPod nano, all featuring the Lightning connector. In addition, Apple this morning published the iPod touch user guide as a free iBookstore download...

New iPod touch benchmarks surface as Apple posts user guide

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 28, 2017

Folks who pre-ordered, or are thinking about ordering, the new iPod touch might be interested to hear that some screenshots containing purported benchmarks for the device have surfaced.

If the images are legitimate, then they offer up a few new details about the fifth-gen iPod touch. For example, it appears it has an A5 chip with CPU speeds on par with last year's iPhone 4S...

iPhone 5 rules competitive landscape in first Geekbench tests

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 16, 2012

Following a detailed analysis by AnandTech which exposed the A6 chip inside the iPhone 5 as bein comprised of custom ARMv7 design rather than stock Cortex-A15 cores, someone has posted an iPhone 5 benchmark on Geekbench.

Now, the handset will hit store shelves on Friday so there's no way to verify the authenticity of this poster (and Geekbench scores could be easily faked). If you believe the results though, the iPhone 5,2 hardware has a Geekbench score of 1601.

The test also shows an ARMv7 processor design with two cores clocked at 1.02GHz each, with 32KB of L1 instruction/data cache, 1MB of L2 cache and 1GB of RAM (Samsung's print ad has helped reveal that tidbit)...