When it comes to a smartphone, performance is one of the most important factors. Performance keeps everything running smoothly – and this is where one manufacturer outshines the competition. Here you can read more about it.
When it comes to performance, one smartphone manufacturer dominates our list of the best: With its own iPhones, Apple supplies high-performance devices that make competitors like Samsung & Co. look old. The new iPhone 13 models lead the top four places in terms of performance. The powerful Apple A15 Bionic processor works inside the new iPhone generation. In the graphics benchmark (GFX-Bench) it manages an impressive 100 frames per second with the iPhone 13 Pro Max (for testing) and even 101 frames/s with the smaller iPhone 13 Pro (for testing). The iPhones also perform very well in the performance test, in which a standardized PDF document with around 5 MB is loaded completely via WLAN and displayed in the browser, with a loading time of just 1.3 seconds.
The Apple CPU works with six cores and achieves a clock speed of up to 3.2 gigahertz. Even the Snapdragon 888+, which is built into Asus’ ROG Phone 5s Pro (for testing), for example, doesn’t stand a chance. For comparison: We are talking about a processor with eight cores and a clock rate of over 3 gigahertz and 18 GB of RAM. Nevertheless, the Apple models do better because the hardware can be perfectly matched to the software.
Why the competition can’t keep up here
Since the market launch of the first iPhone in 2007, Apple has had a decisive advantage over the competition: Apple not only produces the smartphone itself, but also supplies the iOS operating system and the processors. As a result, hardware and software are perfectly matched and Apple manages to deliver more performance with fewer resources. To put it colloquially: Everything is from a single source here and the processor knows exactly what it has to do. Conversely, it is also the case that the Apple processor would have a hard time struggling in any other smartphone.
In the meantime, however, not only Apple is building its own processors, the competition has also stepped up here in recent years. Samsung also uses its own Exynos processors in its smartphones. The problem that the Samsung CPU faces: Although the hardware comes from a manufacturer, the software, Android, is supplied by Google. That’s why there can never be harmony here, as is the case with Apple, despite having its own processors.
It’s different with Google itself. Last year, the company launched the Google Pixel 6 Pro (for testing), a smartphone in which the company’s own Tensor processor was installed for the first time. Hardware and software for the Pixel device come from a single source, just like Apple. In theory, Google smartphones should be able to compete with Apple. However, Google’s CPU is not tuned to the performance of Apple’s processors. That could well change in the future.
Is Apple automatically better?
No, that doesn’t mean that Apple smartphones are automatically better. We are talking about gradations in the level of performance at the highest level. In other words, these peak values, which differ marginally, are hardly noticeable in everyday use. In principle, the processors of high-end smartphones are over-performers and do much more than the user expects from their device in everyday life.
Benchmarks cannot be transferred to everyday smartphone use. Here the absolute maximum performance of the mobile phone is required, the CPU is pushed to its limit. Factors such as heat development and overheating also play a role here. Another problem that Apple has very well under control. Nevertheless, it is not of great relevance for everyday use. Hardly any user will actually load their smartphone to the maximum possible performance. Even with fast games with powerful graphics, there are still a few resources lying dormant in today’s smartphone processors.
In addition, everyone has their own criteria that are decisive for them when buying a smartphone. Where a great camera is important to one person, another prefers strong performance, a good battery or perhaps only the design or the purchase price is decisive for one or the other.
How to find the right smartphone for you
Simply answer the following questions to find a smartphone that’s right for you. We also recommend that you take a look at our extensive smartphone buying guide.