Early iPhone 6 Benchmark Results Show Only Modest Gains For A8

MojoKid writes: Historically speaking, we typically see impressive performance gains each time Apple releases a new custom processor for its mobile products. Certainly that was true of the A7 SoC, the world's first 64-bit smartphone processor. So, can we expect the same kind of performance bump from the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, both of which sport the new custom A8 SoC? Maybe not. The iPhone 6 recently surfaced in results for the Basemark X benchmark and armed with a dual-core 1.4GHz Cyclone CPU and A8 GPU, the iPhone 6 scored 21,204.26 and a earned a place at the top of the chart, though not by much. By comparison, the iPhone 5s scored 20,253.80 in the same benchmark. In other words, the iPhone 6 is currently less than 5 percent faster than the iPhone 5s, at least as far as the Basemark X benchmark is concerned.

Comments

power consumption?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares about performance anymore. Fast enough is fast enough. Which one lasts longer on battery?

Re:power consumption?

[93 Escort Wagon]

Who cares about performance anymore.

The people who own the phone that does better on the benchmarks, that's who.

Re:power consumption?

[bennomatic]

Well, I'd suggest the right question is, how much does this one benchmark matter? Fast enough isn't necessarily fast enough, as people will come up with more and more powerful applications.

That said, the primary CPU isn't the only thing that governs speed. My understanding (and I could be totally wrong, but here goes) is that there's a separate and very fast GPU. Apple's done a lot of work with Grand Central Dispatch (is that the right technology?) to help developers offload as much as possible to the GPU, so what looks like a 5% gain on the CPU might in the real world be 10 times that in a performance increase. And at least Apple claims that the 6 is 50% faster than the 5s (again, IIRC), so if they're telling something that's approaching a reasonable truth, it's not just based on CPU, but on other metrics as well.

Re:power consumption?

[countach]

Well... in most circumstances the GPU will only help graphics related performance. That's only impressive when you wanted better graphics performance, and not general performance. You can't offload anything onto the GPU. Only certain specific types of things, and certain math.

Anyway, this whole article is premature. The benchmarks may not even be iPhone 6, they may be spoofed. They are only one benchmark. Let's wait see what real analysis reveals. Whatever the answer I doubt it will hurt sales.

Re:power consumption?

[gl4ss]

fanboiz care.

in the way that they like to mention how it has a new processor. since uh, there's not that much to mention about the iphone6 except nfc.

it's a budget phone for premium pricing... and that's where apple is going now. budget in the sense that it costs less for apple to make the 6 than what it cost for them to make 5 when 5 came out. much less.

battery life? about the same. it's about the same thing after all. it's 600 bucks + device and marketed partially with having a faster cpu so that's why you should as a consumer care if it's that much faster or not, because you can buy similar devices that play same kind of games, has about the same kind of screen, connects to all the same social networks, has about the same battery life but has one third of the price.

you know why they call the 6+ retina hd? because fullhd is so 2012.

Re:power consumption?

[swb]

in the way that they like to mention how it has a new processor. since uh, there's not that much to mention about the iphone6 except nfc.

Not much except a much larger screen size, which is obviously the big new feature for iPhone users.

The smartphone as a concept across any brand hasn't done anything new and different since the iPhone first came out. It's all been incrementalism -- faster CPUs, more pixels, bigger screens, faster wifi, etc.

Modest Gains for everyone but Apple

[Nyder]

I'm guessing Apple didn't get modest gains, I'm sure they are making money hand over fist.

What is the purpose of all this?

[Ronin Developer]

Okay Fanboys and FAndroids - what is the point of this discussion?

I am a survivor of the PC Wars, the Clone Wars and the OS Wars. I saw the evolution of the mobile phone - starting with a Panasonic Bag phone myself.

We are talking about smartphones and which is faster, better. We are talking about putting down people who like the way does things because we don't agree with their priorities or policies.

The fact is, we are talking about a device that is, inherently, a phone. What do most of you use your smart phones for? Email reading? Sending messages? Gaming? Watching video? Productivity? Solving world hunger?

It's a phone with two different ways of approaching the world. Android is free for download. It works until the software can't keep up with the hardware evolution. Same goes for iOS. It's free (comes with the phone and updates are free) and it works until the software can't keep up the hardware evolution.

The choice between Android and Apple is a personal one. I am not a gamer and don't watch videos on my phone. My kids are. They are quite happy with the iPhone 5s and, until now, the 4s. iOS 8 will probably not work well, if at all, on a 4s. So, they may be getting an upgrade.

We have Apple devices in our household. They just work. We have Windows devices as well. My boys' Windows laptops continue to get viruses and malware despite having taking all the necessary "precautions". I spend several days every few months fixing their Windows devices. So, tell me...is Windows better than Apple? I would say "yes" when considering which has more productivity applications or in wider use for business. But, for what I do and need, Apple is perfect. I design systems for a living.

Yes, I used to code down to the metal and build my own PCs. No time for that now. I want something that just works.

All this applies to these Apple/iOS and /Android battles. It doesn't matter.

I use my smartphone, an iPhone 5, to do the things I need to do. I am not rendering games so I don't care about rendering rate. I take pictures, but most can't see the difference between 8 and 16 megapixels anyway...unless you are creating posters. I send and receive email and texts (from time to time). I use it to handle my calendar. I like the way iOS behaves and how to develop for it. Maybe, you don't. That's your choice. I also like the way Apple focuses on fit and finish. Until recently, Android devices were plastic.

A year ago, Apple came out with their Gold finished iPhone. All the FAndroids made fun over this. A year later, Samsung is pushing a gold finished phone like it's all the rage. WTF?

They are phones with the ability to help us get other things done. Android has found its way into embedded systems. iOS isn't ever going there. And, if I start programming embedded systems again, I will worry about it. I can code native Object-C and Java. But, I use other tools to develop across both iOS and Android platforms rather than getting down to the metal.

For me, a phone is little more than a phone right up until it makes it me money and helps put food on my table and roof over my head. If it means I have to code to make money and I *actually* make money. That's good. If it is smart enough to make money for me by watching the stock market and buying and selling for me automagically so I get rich? Well, I am all for that. I won't care what platform it's on..I will want one. I bet you will too (unless you're earthy crunchy).

Until then, stop worrying about what Apple does if you don't like Apple.

Buy what you like. If you have to discussion over the devices, do so in a civil tongue. If not, I can get as much discourse and hatred reading the political posts on CNN.