Video: Apple iPhone X versus Samsung Galaxy Note 8 benchmark comparison

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in iPhone
The consumer wars between Apple and Samsung will go on as long as both companies are around, as will the debates around which flagship device is more powerful. AppleInsider gets both the iPhone X and the Galaxy Note 8 on our test bench, and put them both through their paces.




The truth is, both devices are more than powerful enough for our daily needs, but since we got our hands on both of them, AppleInsider decided to run some benchmarks to compare the two devices.

As far as the hardware goes, the iPhone X's A11 Bionic processor has six cores total, with two high performance cores, and four efficiency cores. It also has a three-core graphics chip and 3GB of RAM.

The Note 8 has an eight-core processor, with four high performance cores and four more efficient cores. It also has 6GB of RAM -- twice as much as the X. It's worth noting that the Note 8 is pushing more pixels, which takes more power to render.

More cores doesn't always mean more performance. There are a limited amount of apps that can actually put up to six and eight cores to use. A lot of apps actually use one or two cores, with apps only slowly transitioning into using more, efficiently.





Starting with the Antutu benchmark, The iPhone X comes in at around 31 percent faster than the Note 8. In Basemark OS 2, the iPhone X is 17 percent faster.

In 3DMark's Sling Shot Extreme benchmark, the scores were very similar, with the Note 8 gaining a small advantage.

Let's move onto a couple browser benchmarks. Keep in mind that it's not purely based on the device, but also on the browser. Chrome is now the default for the Note 8, and of course Safari remains the standard for the iPhone X.

In Antutu's HTML5 test, the iPhone X was 62 percent faster than the Note 8.

The iPhone X completely destroyed the Note 8 in the Jetstream 1.1 javascript benchmark. This may be due to optimization issues with Chrome, so don't give the iPhone X by itself too much credit.

Now let's finally get to the popular Geekbench 4 benchmark. For the single core test, the iPhone X blew the Note 8 out of the water, with over double the score.

Apple's iPhone line is known for strong single-core performance, and since most applications benefit more from powerful single cores than multiple weaker cores, even dual-core iPhone's were able to keep up in performance when Android devices were already moving up to four and more cores.

Moving on to the multi-core test, the iPhone X is actually 53 percent faster than the Note 8, even though the Note 8 has eight cores, compared to six on the iPhone X.

Finishing off with the GPU benchmark, the iPhone X was 59 percent faster than the Note 8, but that's using Metal on the iPhone. Keep in mind that even though the GPU shows that much of a performance boost, the more realistic Slingshot Extreme benchmark scores were similar.

Either way, both devices are extremely powerful, but these tests show that Apple comes out the clear winner.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 45
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,093member
    It's an absolute embarrassment that Samsung with more cores does much worse than an iPhone with what is technically a "slower" chip.  Shameful.  It's a testament to Samsung's marketing brainwashing department to make people (you listening Fandroids) believe that Samsung has the lead in innovation.  

    Clearly it is not.

    Waiting to see how the Fandroids and iHaters will spin this into some kind of Apple conspiracy, like they've always done for each iPhone launch since Samsung starting producing iKnockoffs.
    radarthekatcalimagman1979racerhomiewatto_cobraSnickersMagoorobjnStrangeDaysjbdragonpropod
  • Reply 2 of 45
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,296member
    Benchmarks are their own measurement, and not always highly applicable to real-world use. For example: a benchmark must simulate a multi-core app in order to test multi-core performance, but the actual user may not yet be using any apps that really take advantage. That said, benchmarks are useful for overall trends, and the overall trend here is that the iPhone X kicks Samsung ass, nearly any way you slice it. It does not surprise me that the “more realistic” (read: game-oriented) Slingshot test showed the GPUs more evenly matched: Samsung was well aware that it had to push a higher number of pixels around than Apple was likely to need to. So I think it’s broadly fair to say the GPUs are roughly equal between the two, minus Apple’s use of Metal (which nearly all developers are going to take advantage of, giving Apple a significant win now and going forward). It also seems clear that the figures give Apple a huge win in every area of “typical” use (which for 90 percent of users 90 percent of the time is more dependent on the speed of their connection more than anything). I think if someone developed a test suite that simply emulated the performance of FaceBook, YouTube, the default browser on each system, and some of the most popular games for each platform, you’d get close to a “real world” number than everyday people (more so than “power users”) could relate to.
    watto_cobrasdw2001Just_Iaincornchip
  • Reply 3 of 45
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,213member
    sflocal said:
    It's an absolute embarrassment that Samsung with more cores does much worse than an iPhone with what is technically a "slower" chip.  Shameful.  It's a testament to Samsung's marketing brainwashing department to make people (you listening Fandroids) believe that Samsung has the lead in innovation.  

    Clearly it is not.

    Waiting to see how the Fandroids and iHaters will spin this into some kind of Apple conspiracy, like they've always done for each iPhone launch since Samsung starting producing iKnockoffs.
    They'll spin into "it doesn't matter". As the AI author alluded to both phones are so capable no one will notice in actual use. 
    muthuk_vanalingamGeorgeBMac
  • Reply 4 of 45
    And iPhone X said to Samsung Note, "Who's your daddy? I am!" Benchmarks really don't matter. As long as the fAndroids believe the Note is faster than iPhone X, then everyone is happy, right? More is always better, right? The fAndroids are already anticipating the Snapdragon 845 to blow the A11 away. Happiness comes to those who wait.
    magman1979caliwatto_cobracornchip
  • Reply 5 of 45
    VRingVRing Posts: 108member
    I'm curious to see what the long term performance is. In other words, does it heavily throttle after a couple of minutes of use? Would the scores of the benchmarks see drastic changes on the 2nd or 3rd run? It's hard to say as some of the benchmarks, such as Geekbench, will give a pause to prevent thermal throttling. Are the numbers the Galaxy and iPhone outputting even sustainable beyond a couple minutes of real world use?
    chasm said:
    Apple’s use of Metal (which nearly all developers are going to take advantage of, giving Apple a significant win now and going forward).
    I think you're forgetting about Vulkan which launched a year or two back on Android. Most major engines already support it (Unreal, Unity, CryEngine, Source 2, etc.). 
    sflocal said:
    It's an absolute embarrassment that Samsung with more cores does much worse than an iPhone with what is technically a "slower" chip.  
    Since when did having more cores make something "technically" faster? Your logic doesn't make any sense.
    edited November 2017 singularity
  • Reply 6 of 45
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    VRing said:
    I'm curious to see what the long term performance is. In other words, does it heavily throttle after a couple of minutes of use? Would the scores of the benchmarks see drastic changes on the 2nd or 3rd run? It's hard to say as some of the benchmarks, such as Geekbench, will give a pause to prevent thermal throttling. Are the numbers the Galaxy and iPhone outputting even sustainable beyond a couple minutes of real world use?
    chasm said:
    Apple’s use of Metal (which nearly all developers are going to take advantage of, giving Apple a significant win now and going forward).
    I think you're forgetting about Vulkan which launched a year or two back on Android. Most major engines already support it (Unreal, Unity, CryEngine, Source 2, etc.). 
    sflocal said:
    It's an absolute embarrassment that Samsung with more cores does much worse than an iPhone with what is technically a "slower" chip.  
    Since when did having more cores make something "technically" faster? Your logic doesn't make any sense.
    Yet, the dumbass androitite were trumpeting it for YEARS. Check any android forum, pick on, for the last 5 years.
    While Apple was kicking as single core, they were all saying, but muhhh we are the best if you can actually find an app that does 8 cores.... Well, actual reality meant those OS/HW combination ran like sludge.
    pscooter63caliwatto_cobraStrangeDaysjbdragon
  • Reply 7 of 45
    foggyhillfoggyhill Posts: 4,767member
    And iPhone X said to Samsung Note, "Who's your daddy? I am!" Benchmarks really don't matter. As long as the fAndroids believe the Note is faster than iPhone X, then everyone is happy, right? More is always better, right? The fAndroids are already anticipating the Snapdragon 845 to blow the A11 away. Happiness comes to those who wait.
    Yet, it won't even happen even on a new core. The results are now very embarassing.
    And that is what Apple fillijng the A11 with tons of non CPU/GPU processing. They didn't even produce CPU's with huge areas (the cpu area of the SOC is very small).
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 45
    VRingVRing Posts: 108member
    In 3DMark's Sling Shot Extreme benchmark, the scores were very similar, with the Note 8 gaining a small advantage..
    Why is your score for the Note 8 so much lower than the reported score on Futuremark's website? Or various other websites?

    Sling Shot Extreme
    iPhone X: ~2700 
    Note 8: ~3600

    Additional sources: 1, 2, 3
    edited November 2017 cornchip
  • Reply 9 of 45
    gatorguy said:
    sflocal said:
    It's an absolute embarrassment that Samsung with more cores does much worse than an iPhone with what is technically a "slower" chip.  Shameful.  It's a testament to Samsung's marketing brainwashing department to make people (you listening Fandroids) believe that Samsung has the lead in innovation.  

    Clearly it is not.

    Waiting to see how the Fandroids and iHaters will spin this into some kind of Apple conspiracy, like they've always done for each iPhone launch since Samsung starting producing iKnockoffs.
    They'll spin into "it doesn't matter". As the AI author alluded to both phones are so capable no one will notice in actual use. 

    Won’t notice doing simple things. Try to do something that taxes the processor and the Note 8 will fall way behind. Like Toms found out in things like video rendering.

    Speaking of which, since AI has both devices, why don’t you run some intensive Apps to compare speed? Like the previously mentioned video rendering? Or photo editing? Or opening some complex PDFs? 
    edited November 2017 watto_cobrajbdragon
  • Reply 10 of 45
    kevin keekevin kee Posts: 1,289member
    chasm said:
    Benchmarks are their own measurement, and not always highly applicable to real-world use. For example: a benchmark must simulate a multi-core app in order to test multi-core performance, but the actual user may not yet be using any apps that really take advantage. That said, benchmarks are useful for overall trends, and the overall trend here is that the iPhone X kicks Samsung ass, nearly any way you slice it. It does not surprise me that the “more realistic” (read: game-oriented) Slingshot test showed the GPUs more evenly matched: Samsung was well aware that it had to push a higher number of pixels around than Apple was likely to need to. So I think it’s broadly fair to say the GPUs are roughly equal between the two, minus Apple’s use of Metal (which nearly all developers are going to take advantage of, giving Apple a significant win now and going forward). It also seems clear that the figures give Apple a huge win in every area of “typical” use (which for 90 percent of users 90 percent of the time is more dependent on the speed of their connection more than anything). I think if someone developed a test suite that simply emulated the performance of FaceBook, YouTube, the default browser on each system, and some of the most popular games for each platform, you’d get close to a “real world” number than everyday people (more so than “power users”) could relate to.
    Basically when iPhone is winning against Samsung (or any other Android phones), benchmark does not matter. But when Samsung (or any other Android phones) are winning against iPhone: "OMG, PWND! IPHONE SUCKS!".

    Yeah, talking about real world here.
    magman1979caliwatto_cobrajbdragon
  • Reply 11 of 45
    radarthekatradarthekat Posts: 3,842moderator
    Benchmarks, schmenchmarks.  In the real word every friend of mine has an Android phone, because I’m living in the Philippines where almost nobody, including most of the expats here, can afford an iPhone.  And what I see in everyday use is that the simplest action taken on those Androids compares horribly to my iPhone 6. And what action is that?  It’s something that people do many times every day.  The simple action of pinching to zoom a photo.  Seems like there’s something either amiss in the touch controller or somewhere deeper down, but I constantly see Androiders pinching two and three times before a picture will start to zoom, and then it suddenly zooms too far and they’re pinching back the other way.  On every iPhone I’ve had it’s buttery smooth.  What is it about the Android universe where this simple action can’t be nailed?  
    edited November 2017 magman1979caliwatto_cobrachiaking editor the grateStrangeDayscornchip
  • Reply 12 of 45
    Benchmarks, schmenchmarks.  In the real word every friend of mine has an Android phone, because I’m living in the Philippines where almost nobody, including most of the expats here, can afford an iPhone.  And what I see in everyday use is that the simplest action taken on those Androids compares horribly to my iPhone 6. And what action is that?  It’s something that people do many times every day.  The simple action of pinching to zoom a photo.  Seems like there’s something either amiss in the touch controller or somewhere deeper down, but I constantly see Androiders pinching two and three times before a picture will start to zoom, and then it suddenly zooms too far and they’re pinching back the other way.  On every iPhone I’ve had it’s buttery smooth.  What is it about the Android universe where this simple action can’t be nailed?  
    I’ve totally noticed that too but never really thought about it. They were using an android device and every time they would show me a picture they did exactly as you say. Thanks for that. 
    magman1979caliwatto_cobraradarthekat
  • Reply 13 of 45
    More cores doesn't always mean more performance. There are a limited amount of apps that can actually put up to six and eight cores to use.”

    Ive always disliked this line of thinking. It presupposes that the apps are the only software threads consuming cpu resources. 
    croprradarthekat
  • Reply 14 of 45
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,384member
    I like how fandroids and Apple haters loved nothing more than to tout benchmarks and specs, but benchmarks suddenly became "irrelevant" and "not important" once iPhones started blowing all Android phones out of the water.
    caliwatto_cobraradarthekatStrangeDays
  • Reply 15 of 45
    Yes both devices are too powerful, and to each his own. Whatever the tests prove some people will swear by their Samsung, singing paeans of its technological innovation and some people will swear by their Apple citing performance boost benchmarks.
  • Reply 16 of 45
    slurpy said:
    I like how fandroids and Apple haters loved nothing more than to tout benchmarks and specs, but benchmarks suddenly became "irrelevant" and "not important" once iPhones started blowing all Android phones out of the water.
    Agreed. This is happening for the last 3+ years after Apple came with A7. Apple's A series SoCs are ahead of Qualcomm/Samsung SoCs from then on and the gap is only going to widen in future. There are few Android fanboys in other forums who STILL claim that Apple's SoCs are behind due to number of cores, which is just stupid.
    edited November 2017 watto_cobraradarthekat
  • Reply 17 of 45
    Please AppleInsider just open 10 popular apps, and games side by side on the devices & do a video .I will be waiting for that.
    My 6 Plus is still a terrific device but I am looking forward to the latest flagship phones performance 
    watto_cobraradarthekatcornchip
  • Reply 18 of 45
    Benchmarks, schmenchmarks.  In the real word every friend of mine has an Android phone, because I’m living in the Philippines where almost nobody, including most of the expats here, can afford an iPhone.  And what I see in everyday use is that the simplest action taken on those Androids compares horribly to my iPhone 6. And what action is that?  It’s something that people do many times every day.  The simple action of pinching to zoom a photo.  Seems like there’s something either amiss in the touch controller or somewhere deeper down, but I constantly see Androiders pinching two and three times before a picture will start to zoom, and then it suddenly zooms too far and they’re pinching back the other way.  On every iPhone I’ve had it’s buttery smooth.  What is it about the Android universe where this simple action can’t be nailed?  

    I tried the exact same scenario in my Moto G5 Plus ($230) and I don't observe such an issue. Looks like your friends are stuck in 2013/14. Because even the mid-range Android phones (for about $200) in 2016/2017 have good enough performance to do the basic tasks without any hassle. They struggle only when the load is heavy which is expected for that price.

    What is it about the Android universe where this simple action can’t be nailed? - Unless your friends are using 2+ years old devices which cost about <$200 back then, I can't imagine such a basic issue still to be persisting. Any $200 Android phone bought in 2016 or 2017 should not have that issue. At least I have not seen such a basic issue persist in MANY devices in the past 2 years. More than 2 years back - Yes, I did see such performance issues. Not anymore.

    edited November 2017
  • Reply 19 of 45
    calicali Posts: 3,494member
    Why are we doing this?

    honestly this iPhone Vs.iKnockoff crap needs to end. It makes idiots think the knockoffs are real iPhones or comparable to one. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 20 of 45
    croprcropr Posts: 1,124member
    slurpy said:
    I like how fandroids and Apple haters loved nothing more than to tout benchmarks and specs, but benchmarks suddenly became "irrelevant" and "not important" once iPhones started blowing all Android phones out of the water.
    I remember the days when the Power Macs were struggling to keep up with the wintel CPUs.  Back then benchmarks were not important for Apple fans, it was the user experience that mattered

    Benchmarks are very important if the responsiveness is suffering and you have to wait longer than 0.5 sec or more for certain tasks to finish.  Benchmarks are less important if the responsiveness is very fast.  A user does not care if he has to wait 0.1 sec or 0.01 sec.  He won't notice the difference.  

    That an iPhone X is faster than a Samsung Note 8 is great for Apple and its marketing department, but the time that any flagship phone was sluggish are long gone.  My iPhone 6 is fast enough for any task I am using it, and I assume that the same applies for the latest Samsung phones.  So basically I don't care that much about benchmarks.
    muthuk_vanalingamgatorguy2old4funavon b7
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