iPhone 5s slaughters quad-core rivals in performance tests

[Draconian Guppy]

Some of the new icons look really bad (e.g Game Center, Safari, etc), so I hid those in a folder.

But overall, imo they did a nice job reorganizing things and making the UI a bit less bland.

After seeing screenshots of the Beta, I really dreaded the coming update, but after using it for a week, I'm surprised how nice it turned out.

 

Personally, I like the Control Center and that the camera is now even faster (since they killed the shutter animation).

It's not really that much different than iOS 6, but they've added some nice touches.

Well seeing as how the icons changed within same iterations, some are probably WIP.

[theyarecomingforyou]

It's interesting that the iPhone 5S has a considerable lead when it comes to web rendering but things become very different when looking at gaming performance in the 3DMark tests, especially with compute heavy tasks like physics. No doubt the iPhone 5S is a powerful phone but the limited screen size and low resolution mean that it's certainly not for everyone. I'm looking to upgrade my phone soon but I'm looking mostly at the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the HTC One Max and the Nokia 1520 - I really don't have any favourite at the moment.

[Draconian Guppy]

It's interesting that the iPhone 5S has a considerable lead when it comes to web rendering but things become very different when looking at gaming performance in the 3DMark tests, especially with compute heavy tasks like physics. No doubt the iPhone 5S is a powerful phone but the limited screen size and low resolution mean that it's certainly not for everyone. I'm looking to upgrade my phone soon but I'm looking mostly at the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, the HTC One Max and the Nokia 1520 - I really don't have any favourite at the moment.

yeah, I agree, they should really be pushing 1080p by now.

[notchinese]

How exactly does it slaughter them? It wins some, but not all. Other manufacturers will come out with a new chip before long that will then take the lead back. Its purely a back and forth.

[theyarecomingforyou]

How exactly does it slaughter them? It wins some, but not all.

Indeed. A lot of the tests it excels in are largely theoretical, like the browser benchmarks. When it comes to graphical tests the results are very much more mixed. That said, the more closed nature of the platform tends to translate to better optimised apps / games so even if it's only equal in benchmark performance it will probably excel in the real-world.

 

Other manufacturers will come out with a new chip before long that will then take the lead back. Its purely a back and forth.

Of course but it's not competing with what's out in the future but what is available now. As long as performance is strong now then that will hold until the next yearly update.

[Draconian Guppy]

Indeed. A lot of the tests it excels in are largely theoretical, like the browser benchmarks. When it comes to graphical tests the results are very much more mixed. That said, the more closed nature of the platform tends to translate to better optimised apps / games so even if it's only equal in benchmark performance it will probably excel in the real-world.

 

 

Of course but it's not competing with what's out in the future but what is available now. As long as performance is strong now then that will hold until the next yearly update.

This is what i've been saying all along! Specs don't matter in such a closed, highly optimized ecosystem as iOS.

[AJerman]

you were getting pretty defensive going on about how javascript benchmarks are not fair. yeah,there might be some discrepancies,but we cant dismiss the benchmarks,knowing full well theres a new instruction set here in play. And I did say that apple did it first,but only because other manufacturers were trying to one up each other with 8 core chips.

 

 

 im not dismissing quad core, im dismissing its importance in comparison to single threaded performance on a phone today. I do know that processes can be spread out across the cores,thats nice and all, but in non multithreaded apps, your speed is always going to be capped by the core speed,no matter how many cores you add,and we're not at a point yet where most of these apps are are being multithreaded. thats still a long way,and using it as marketing material is kinda gimmicky.  people keep dogging on windows phone because "lolz it doesnt support quad core" , but who cares since background tasks are suspended anyways,and the amount of software needing the power of many cores is low.

I never got defensive because I never defended one side or another. I simply stated how determining CPU performance on a phone by a javascript test is ridiculous, and it is. I don't have a bias towards one platform or another, so I don't really get defensive over one or another. I admit that I'm not the biggest fan of Windows Phone, but that's mostly because I can't stand the UI. I still give it the respect it deserves though.

 

As for people dogging on Windows Phone because it's dual core, who cares what they say. That was kind of the whole point of everything I've said in this thread. Dual core vs quad core doesn't matter when it runs fine. Android can utilize multiple cores more, so great if there are quad core Android phones. iOS and WP work fine on dual core and don't need quad core. It all depends on what works best for that particular platform, which is why benchmarks like these are mostly pointless. I'm not attacking or defending anyone, just saying how this whole thread is a waste of time. :laugh:

[vcfan]

I never got defensive because I never defended one side or another. I simply stated how determining CPU performance on a phone by a javascript test is ridiculous, and it is. I don't have a bias towards one platform or another, so I don't really get defensive over one or another.

 

As for people dogging on Windows Phone because it's dual core, who cares what they say. That was kind of the whole point of everything I've said in this thread. Dual core vs quad core doesn't matter when it runs fine. Android can utilize multiple cores more, so great if there are quad core Android phones. iOS and WP work fine on dual core and don't need quad core. It all depends on what works best for that particular platform, which is why benchmarks like these are mostly pointless. I'm not attacking or defending anyone, just saying how this whole thread is a waste of time. :laugh:

fair enough

[The Norwegian Drone Pilot]

Well, to be honest, comparing some benchmarks on a phone with a resolution lower than 720p to some phones with a 1080p resolution is not a good way to decide who are fastest or not. It's that simple.

 

And just because a CPU is really fast as a dual-core, it doesn't mean anything that the dual-core CPU is going to be better when it comes to workload in real usage even if the dual-core CPU is faster per CPU than per CPU's on the quad-core CPU. The more CPU cores and RAM you have, the more things you can do at the same on the phone. And everyone knows that iOS 7 is pathetic and handicaped when it comes to that.

 

A Quad-Core CPU is way more future proof than a Dual-Core CPU is. So it's more easier for us to keep the phone for longer than just 1 year then.

 

But when you see something like this, it doesn't really help / matter to deliver better performance on an iPhone 5S over Android phones that already are insanly fast when it comes to performance. I will NEVER EVER downgrade from a Samsung Galaxy S4 with a very mature Android OS to something stupid like that witch miss so much. It's like going from Windows 7 to WIndows 3.11 and take your 8 GB of RAM and use 16 MB RAM of that instead.

 

So my question is, are you willing to offer all of that just to have a better performance on a phone that have ****ty hardware except for the CPU and an OS that are from the stone age?

[mmjm]

surprise surprise, not

 

My Android phone has 1GB ram, i barely use it and i still had to remove a bunch of apps because it was getting so sluggish I couldn't swype or punch in phone numbers without it stuttering.

[adrynalyne]

Well, to be honest, comparing some benchmarks on a phone with a resolution lower than 720p to some phones with a 1080p resolution is not a good way to decide who are fastest or not. It's that simple.

 

And just because a CPU is really fast as a dual-core, it doesn't mean anything that the dual-core CPU is going to be better when it comes to workload in real usage even if the dual-core CPU is faster per CPU than per CPU's on the quad-core CPU. The more CPU cores and RAM you have, the more things you can do at the same on the phone. And everyone knows that iOS 7 is pathetic and handicaped when it comes to that.

 

A Quad-Core CPU is way more future proof than a Dual-Core CPU is. So it's more easier for us to keep the phone for longer than just 1 year then.

 

But when you see something like this, it doesn't really help / matter to deliver better performance on an iPhone 5S over Android phones that already are insanly fast when it comes to performance. I will NEVER EVER downgrade from a Samsung Galaxy S4 with a very mature Android OS to something stupid that miss so much. It's like going from Windows 7 to WIndows 3.11 and take your 8 GB of RAM and use 16 MB RAM of that instead.

 

So my question is, are you willing to offer all of that just to have a better performance on a phone that have ****ty hardware except for the CPU and an OS that are from the stone age?

 

 

"I find I can multitask on my phone better with 4 cores instead of 2", said no one ever.

 

Dual cores don't even have their cores tapped out on usage on phones.  I'm sure someone can show me them capped on a benchmark, but its a benchmark.  Nothing more needs to be said about that.

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

Most impressive results. Look forward to checking one out at some point :) 

[Draconian Guppy]

 

But when you see something like this,

This is something really biased, some of those things on the list, the average joe doesn't even know about!

[Andre S. Veteran]

Those are browser tests, not CPU tests. The difference could be entirely attributable to the iPhone 5s browser being more optimized than its competitors. Not only that but 3 of the tests are javascript benchmarks. Note how low the iPhone 5s scores in the 3dmark physics tests, which are actual CPU tests. The gaming results are clearly excellent, but not necessarily a reflection of better CPU performance either - these games are most likely GPU-bound.

[The Norwegian Drone Pilot]

This is something really biased, some of those things on the list, the average joe doesn't even know about!

It's not biased. It's the truth regardless of what others might think or know about the different OS'es. Stating facts is not the same as having an opinion on things. Opinions and facts are 2 different things.

 

EDIT: The average joe (iOS / iPhone users) doesn't even care what some weird numbers say and what the specs and what the overall technilcal stuffs are. All they care about is to get a phone they will feel good with.

 

Didn't the iPhone users give a damn about what the specs and the technical stuffs was?

 

Think about how good the iPhone would be (specs wise) if it would have a 1080p screen, Quad-Core of the same type of CPU as it have now and 2-3 GB with RAM?

[Draconian Guppy]

It's not biased. It's the truth regardless of what others might think or know about the different OS'es. Stating facts is not the same as having an opinion on things. Opinions and facts are 2 different things.

I'm not saying they're not facts, i'm saying some are mostly useless to the average person, such as:

 

33. Able to change file extensions without the need to import the file into an app because of a true file system.

Flash Custom ROM?s ? No need root if you buy an Oppo Phone.

62. Make geeks happy (intangible)

69. No Porn Apps

70. WiFi direct

71. No Wireless Charging

97 Run shell Scripts

[adrynalyne]

This is something really biased, some of those things on the list, the average joe doesn't even know about!

More importantly, a lot of them are obscure things almost nobody would do, or are only available on some devices.

[The Norwegian Drone Pilot]

I'm not saying they're not facts, i'm saying some are mostly useless to the average person, such as:

 

33. Able to change file extensions without the need to import the file into an app because of a true file system.

Flash Custom ROM?s ? No need root if you buy an Oppo Phone.

62. Make geeks happy (intangible)

69. No Porn Apps

70. WiFi direct

71. No Wireless Charging

97 Run shell Scripts

Again, it's still things that are missing in the same way as 64-bit CPU support is missing on Android. Doesn't matter what this and that user knows about iOS or Android or what they use and so on, it's facts about things that the iOS OS is missing that even stone age old Android versions have alot of.

[Draconian Guppy]

Again, it's still things that are missing in the same way as 64-bit CPU support is missing on Android. Doesn't matter what this and that user knows about iOS or Android or what they use and so on, it's facts about things that the iOS OS is missing that even stone age old Android versions have alot of.

I'm trying to take you seriously, but again, answer this, the AVERAGE JOE ( the millions that buy iPhones and will continue buying), you think care about any of the above? 

 

How does, for example, not being able to run shell scripts, limit the smartphones MAIN capabilities such as calling, photography, music, games?

[-T- Member]

Interesting comment under that article on Anand. I recall reading there earlier in the week regarding the 64Bit A7 and the users complaining about the dubious nature of the article

 

 

 

ddriver - Wednesday, September 18, 2013 - linkActually, there are quite a lot of discrepancies in this review.

For starters, the "CPU performance" page only contains JS benchmarks and not a single native application. And iOS and Android use entirely different JS engines, so this is literally a case of comparing apples to oranges.

Native benchmarks don't compare the new apple chip to "old 32 bit v7 chips" - it only compares the new apple chip to the old ones, and also compares the new chip in 32bit and 64 bit mode. Oddly enough, the geekbench at engadget shows tegra 4 actually being faster.

Then, there is the inclusion of hardware implementation in charts that are supposed to show the benefits of 64bit execution mode, but in reality the encryption workloads are handled in a fundamentally different way in the two modes, in software in 32bit mode and implemented in hardware in 64bit mode. This turns the integer performance chart from a mixed bad into one falsely advertising performance gains attributed to 64bit execution and not to the hardware implementations as it should. The FP chart also shows no miracles, wider SIMD units result in almost 2x the score in few tests, nothing much in the rest.

All in all, I'd say this is a very cleverly compiled review, cunningly deceitful to show the new apple chip in a much better light than it is in reality. No surprises, considering this is AT, it would be more unexpected to see an unbiased review.

I guess we will have to wait a bit more until mass availability for unbiased reviews, considering all those "featured" reviews usually come with careful guidelines by the manufacturer that need to be followed to create an unrealistically good presentation of the product. That is the price you have to pay to get the new goodies first - play by the rules of a greedy and exploitative industry. Corporate "honesty" :)

I don't say the new chip is bad, I just say it is deliberately presented unrealistically good. Krait has expanded the SIMD units to 128 bit as well, so we should see similar performance even without the move to a 64bit ecosystem. Last but not least, 64bit code bloats the memory footprint of applications because of pointers being twice as big, and while those limited memory footprint synthetic benches play well with the single gigabyte of ram on this device, I expect an actual performance demanding real world application will be bottlenecked by the ram capacity. All in all, the decision to go for 64 bit architecture is mostly a PR stunt, surely, 64bit is the future, but in the case of this product, and considering its limited ram capacity, it doesn't really make all that sense, but is something that will no doubt keep up the spirit of apple fanboys, and make up for their declining sales while they bring out the iphone 6, which will close all those deliberately left gaping holes in the 5s.

[adrynalyne]

Again, it's still things that are missing in the same way as 64-bit CPU support is missing on Android. Doesn't matter what this and that user knows about iOS or Android or what they use and so on, it's facts about things that the iOS OS is missing that even stone age old Android versions have alot of.

Using your logic, each OS should have the same exact features as the other.

 

I see a problem with that...do you?

[The Norwegian Drone Pilot]

I'm trying to take you seriously, but again, answer this, the AVERAGE JOE ( the millions that buy iPhones and will continue buying), you think care about any of the above? 

 

How does, for example, not being able to run shell scripts, limit the smartphones MAIN capabilities such as calling, photography, music, games?

Over 1 million new Android users everyday cares about those stuffs. So if that's not telling you something, then i don't know what to say.

[Draconian Guppy]

Using your logic, each OS should have the same exact features as the other.

 

I see a problem with that...do you?

 

Yeah, figure we're arguing with a user named "Exynos" so ...

Over 1 million new Android users everyday cares about those stuffs. So if that's not telling you something, then i don't know what to say.

? What? you seriously think 1 million android users every care about shell execution? seriously?

 

I tried having a normal conversation, you're just biased.

[Draconian Guppy]

All in all, I'd say this is a very cleverly compiled review, cunningly deceitful to show the new apple chip in a much better light than it is in reality. No surprises, considering this is AT, it would be more unexpected to see an unbiased review.

Interesting comment under that article on Anand. I recall reading there earlier in the week regarding the 64Bit A7 and the users complaining about the dubious nature of the article

Exactly what I though when I started looking at JS benchmarks.

[The Norwegian Drone Pilot]

? What? you seriously think 1 million android users every care about shell execution? seriously?

 

I tried having a normal conversation, you're just biased.

FIrst of all, you should learn to read what i'm saying. I was saying over 1 million new Android users everyday cares about the stuffs that Armando did write about in his article. They don't cares only about one single thing there, they cares about that they can get all of the things in that list.

 

They cares about that they can get the whole package with freedom to choose whatever that is best for them.

 

With Android, you don't have to adapt to Android. Android simply adapts to you while you have to adapt to whatever Apple with iOS is telling you to do or not do.

 

Do you see the difference on why so many choose Android today over iOS and why so many doesn't really care that a smartphone from the stone age have some better benchmark scores that nobody that uses iOS cares about as the average joe under iOS doesn't cares about what those benchmarks numbers says?