The iPhone X has finally been revealed and now we can finally compare official stats from two of this fall’s biggest smartphone launches. The iPhone X and Galaxy Note 8 are two premium devices that will be going head to head into the holiday shopping season. Of course, we don’t want to forget about the Galaxy S8 which has been one of the hottest smartphones of 2017 so far. All of these devices have their own marketing buzz words, unique features, and beautiful design. Of course, all of that is worth nothing if the device has no muscle to get the job done.
There’s no doubt that when we compare iPhone X vs Galaxy Note 8 vs Galaxy S8, we are comparing three of the top devices on the market. Each device is a top quality flagship smartphone and, frankly, I would be happy to own any one of them. With that said, the benchmarks set by these processors are a great way of comparing different devices running different operating systems and using different hardware. Geekbench has long been one of the most trusted ways of measuring the ability of a CPU. For those that aren’t familiar with Geekbench, here’s a quick rundown. Basically, Geekbench will give a processor a series of tasks and measure how long it takes for the processor to complete those tasks. The higher the Geekbench score, the better the processor.
Now that the iPhone X Geekbench score is available, we are able to compare 3 of the hottest devices on the market. Check out the chart below:
As you can see, the iPhone X is no match for the Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8. The A11 chip that Apple put into the iPhone X is clearly the most advanced mobile chip on the market right now. In fact, the iPhone X even outpaces the iPad Pro which, of course, is Apple’s premium tablet offering.
I think the difference in scores between the three devices highlights the biggest advantage Apple has going for it which is in-house software and hardware design. The Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S8 both rely on the Android operating system which is developed by Google and the Snapdragon 835 chip which is developed by Qualcomm. Neither company makes their software or chip only for Samsung devices. Samsung has to play with the cards available to them while Apple gets to create the cards they play with. In the benchmark scores; the difference shows.
So, how do these scores translate to real world performance between iPhone X vs Galaxy Note 8 vs Galaxy S8? Realistically, the real world performance probably won’t feel as dramatically different as the numbers suggest. The iPhone X will certainly be quicker at performing certain tasks. For example, if you were to load a large app or game on all of these devices, you would find that the iPhone X was able to load the app faster and run the app with fewer stutters or pauses. In smaller, less CPU intensive apps like Twitter, for example; the difference would be negligible.
Part of the reason for the powerful chip in the iPhone X is the new FaceID feature. There are dedicated cores that are meant to be able to analyze and learn the details of your face. Apple has optimized their own chip to do the exact tasks they want it to do while Samsung is using a mass production chip used across a variety of devices.
Despite those numbers above, comparing the iPhone X vs Galaxy Note 8 vs Galaxy S8 on benchmark scores alone is a waste of time. Benchmark scores are only part of the equation. You also need to ask yourself if the device you’re looking at has the features you want. For example, if you want face scanning and animated emojis then the benchmark score doesn’t matter a whole lot because there’s only one device that can deliver that feature for you. If you want a built in stylus with your device then, again, benchmark scores can’t be used as the only information to guide your decision.
One thing is for sure: Apple came to play this year. The iPhone X carries a premium price tag but inside that device is premium hardware that works perfectly with the software it’s paired with. The A11 chip will be a powerful mobile chip for years to come and should offer iPhone X users a lot of longevity with their device. There should be no worries about whether the next major iOS update will be coming to the iPhone X because, clearly, it will be able to handle the update.
What do you think? Do Geekbench scores affect your decision when making a purchase or are the numbers just a nice bit of information to have when researching? What do you consider other than hard performance numbers when choosing your device? And, most importantly, are those numbers from the iPhone X enough to justify its price tag? Let us know your thoughts!
