Last month, benchmark results showed that the A10 Fusion chip inside the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus was even more powerful than the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. The all-new Google Pixel that was unveiled earlier this week has been touted as a real iPhone 7 challenger. Pixel and Pixel XL may be among the best Android phones out there, but when it comes to raw performance, they don’t come even close to the iPhone 7.
Pixel’s lags behind iPhone 6S Plus in raw performance
In fact, even the iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone SE are more powerful than Google Pixel, according to Geekbench. Google’s new hardware is manufactured by HTC. It packs Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with two cores running at 1.6GHz and two cores running 2.15GHz. Pixel boasts 4GB RAM. On the other hand, the iPhone 7 ships with A10 Fusion chip, which includes two high-performance and two high-efficiency cores. The 4.7-inch model has 2GB RAM while its bigger sibling features 3GB RAM.
Geekbench 4 benchmarks show that Google Pixel and Pixel XL received a score of 4004 in multi-core and 1648 in single-core tests. It’s similar to the previous benchmark numbers that surfaced before Google launched its hardware. On the other hand, the iPhone 7, regardless of the model, has a multi-core score of 5564 and a single-core score of 3449.
Last year’s iPhone 6S Plus had a single-core rating of 2508 and a multi-core score of 4106. Reports suggest that the processor in Google Pixel XL is running at the lower of the two speeds (2.15GHz and 1.6GHz) mentioned in Google’s technical specifications. Even if you mathematically correct the benchmarks as per the faster clock speed, it still can’t beat the iPhone 7.
Even Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge beats Google Pixel
It’s worth pointing out that benchmark tests don’t perfectly represent the real-life performance of smartphones. But they do show the raw processing power of one device against another. Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge, which is powered by Snapdragon 820 or Exynos 8890 depending on the region, is also way ahead of Google Pixel. Galaxy S7 Edge manages benchmark scores of 6210 and 2034 in multi-core and single-core tests, respectively.
Google Pixel is a premium Android device. The search engine giant has priced them to compete against Apple’s latest iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. But benchmark tests show that they lack the raw performance to give Android fans some bragging rights.
Pixel costs $769 for 32GB version and $869 for 128GB model. It features a 5-inch full HD display with 1080×1920 pixels resolution. Google Pixel has a 12.3-megapixel rear camera with dual-LED flash and OIS, and an 8MP front snapper. It comes with a 2770mAh non-removable battery. Experts see Pixel as a move away from Nexus.
