Apple was quite breathless in regards to the performance of the new A11 Bionic CPU used across the board in its 2017 iPhones at the launch of the devices.
Typically, Apple has delivered performance that's been on par or slightly better than its Android contemporaries, even when it packs less RAM into its devices thanks to the heavy optimisation it can apply given its control over the iOS. However, it's an interesting move to offer it across the range because it gives scope for all three phones to deliver similar performance. The real question then is how well the A11 Bionic actually performs.
At an anecdotal level, the iPhone 8 Plus is a fast and responsive smartphone, but it's at the benchmark level that this is made starkly clear. Here's how the iPhone 8 Plus compared against a range of its smartphone contemporaries using Geekbench 4's CPU test:
Handset | Geekbench 4 CPU Single Core (higher is better) | Geekbench 4 CPU Multi Core (higher is better) |
---|
Apple iPhone 8 Plus | 4113 | 10221 |
Samsung Galaxy S8+ | 2020 | 6690 |
Samsung Galaxy S8 | 1989 | 6628 |
Huawei P10 Plus | 1863 | 6544 |
Nokia 8 | 1932 | 6529 |
OnePlus 5 | 1976 | 6506 |
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 | 2024 | 6490 |
HTC U11 | 1919 | 6362 |
Sony Xperia XZ Premium | 1908 | 6324 |
Apple iPhone 7 Plus | 3374 | 5649 |
Huawei 10 | 1922 | 5633 |
Apple iPhone 7 | 3452 | 5599 |
LG G6 | 1810 | 4228 |
Apple iPhone SE | 2449 | 4171 |
Google Pixel XL | 1629 | 4051 |
I'm used to 2017's mostly-Snapdragon-835-driven 2017 class of Android phones having broadly similar performance, and my expectations were that Apple would match or slightly exceed them. Instead, Apple's delivered performance that sets the new high-water mark and not by a small margin. To be fair, Apple is able to fine tune its iOS to get these kinds of results, but it definitely puts it in the kind of absolute lead position it hasn't quite had these past few years.
The same story plays out in the 3D space, where Apple's new in-house GPU impresses. Here's how it compares using 3DMark's Ice Storm Unlimited test:
Handset | 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Result |
---|
Apple iPhone 8 Plus | 59205 |
HTC U11 | 40239 |
Sony Xperia XZ Premium | 40086 |
OnePlus 5 | 39497 |
Apple iPhone 7 Plus | 37956 |
Apple iPhone 7 | 37717 |
Samsung Galaxy Note 8 | 32277 |
HTC U Ultra | 29968 |
Apple iPhone SE | 29276 |
Huawei P10 Plus | 28491 |
Google Pixel XL | 28458 |
Samsung Galaxy S8 | 28409 |
LG G6 | 28344 |
Samsung Galaxy S8+ | 28120 |
Again, while benchmarks aren't the total picture when it comes to smartphone performance, and the intricacies of Apple's Metal API mean that there's an argument that you can only compare iPhones with iPhones, there's still a huge performance gulf between the iPhone 8 Plus and any other available 2017 handsets.
The 5.5 inch 1080x1920 display in the iPhone 8 Plus is, by modern smartphone standards, a little ordinary on a specification level, but what Apple has done here is fine tune the actual colour display characteristics of the panel, including Apple's own "true tone" display first seen in the iPad Pro lines.
This automatically adjusts the white balance relative to your conditions to give a more natural feel to images and a true white balance for stark page elements. It mostly works well, but it's a pretty subtle effect that you really have to drop side by side with an older iPhone to really appreciate at all, which means that while it's nice, it's also easy to miss.