Apple onlyannounced the iPhone 13 two days ago, but references are already starting to arrive. It’s no surprise that the new phones are faster than their predecessors, but the results also show, once again, that Apple is about a generation or more ahead of its Android rivals when it comes to raw power.
For reference, using high-end Geekbench 5 metric Android devices with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 – the most common flagship processor – tends to hit scores of around 1,100 for single-core speeds and 3,500 for multi-core performance. . Here is for example the OnePlus 9 Pro:
It already lagged behind the iPhone 12 Pro’s A14 Bionic processor, which scored around 1,600 and 4,100 points respectively. Mind you, the iPhone 12 launched even before the Snapdragon 888 was announced.
And now for the iPhone 13, and its A15 Bionic:
(No, that’s not a typo; iPhone 14.2 is the base iPhone 13 model number. Confusing, I know.)
It’s not the most dramatic performance jump, but Apple gladly maintains its CPU dominance (there have been similar gains on the GPU front as well).
Add to that the optimizations and tight integration with Apple software, and there’s no denying that the iPhone is simply ahead of any Android phone in terms of raw performance.
We were hoping Google’s new Tensor processor might make a difference, but based on early leaks, it doesn’t look like the company is catching up with Apple yet. That said, Google has hinted that its chip is much more focused on machine learning tasks than traditional speed metrics.
In any case, the references are far from complete, and even taking them into account, they are not so important for most everyday use. I mean, I’m currently using a Pixel 5a powered by a relatively puny Snapdragon 765G as my daily driver, and that scores around 600/1600. Still, I can barely tell the difference when I upgrade to a Snapdragon 888 device.
The point is, for most users, performance on mobile devices has been on the verge of declining returns for a few years now. There are some apps where the extra power comes in handy, but for regular social media apps and web browsing, it’s not like these increases make such a big difference.
But despite Android’s reputation for being geared more towards power users, the iPhone team still have a right to boast when it comes to performance.
Did you know that we have a newsletter dedicated to consumer technology? It’s called Plugged In – and you can subscribe to it right here.
