iPhone 4 is Faster than 3GS and Slower than iPad in Early Benchmarks

012806 IMG 0500 245 012922 photo 245
iPhone 4 results on left, 3GS on right

Early benchmarks of the iPhone 4 show it to be 31% faster than the iPhone 3GS according to the Geekbench 2 app. Geek Bench has been a popular benchmarking utility on the Mac that has recently made the jump over to the iPhone. As always, benchmarks are a bit of an artificial gauge of performance, but can be useful in head to head comparisons.

The iPhone 4 is known to use the same Apple A4 processor that is also found in the iPad, but Apple has never revealed the processor speed of the iPhone 4. The iPad is known to have a 1GHz processor. We looked at a few benchmarking utilities to see if we could determine if the iPhone 4's A4 processor was the same speed as the iPad's. Unfortunately, the state of benchmarking on iOS seems a bit primitive, and is further complicated by the fact that iOS 4.0 does not run on the iPad. GeekBench, for example, only runs on iOS 4, so we can't compare it directly to the iPhone 4's results. A couple of other benchmarking tools available produced some inconsistent results, so we can't be completely confident in them, but it appears that the iPhone 4 is indeed faster than the iPhone 3GS but slower than the iPad.

BenchTest: 3GS: 2.298, iPhone 4: 2.514, iPad: 3.667 - This benchmark only showed a small increase in speed with the iPhone 4, but some of the results seemed strange. All the "seconds" in the iPhone 4 results were listed at 0.00, though a score was still generated. It's hard to say if the results are entirely accurate.

Checkup: 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad - This also showed the trend of iPad > iPhone 4 > iPhone 3GS, but running the benchmark multiple times could result in a large variance.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Shows Off a Key Reason to Upgrade to the iPhone 17

Saturday February 7, 2026 9:26 am PST by
Apple today shared an ad that shows how the upgraded Center Stage front camera on the latest iPhones improves the process of taking a group selfie. "Watch how the new front facing camera on iPhone 17 Pro takes group selfies that automatically expand and rotate as more people come into frame," says Apple. While the ad is focused on the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the regular iPhone...
m5 macbook pro deal

Why You Shouldn't Buy the Next MacBook Pro

Tuesday February 10, 2026 4:27 pm PST by
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models as soon as early March, but if you can, this is one generation you should skip because there's something much better in the works. We're waiting on 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, with few changes other than the processor upgrade. There won't be any tweaks to the design or the display, but later this...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

Apple Says These 7 U.S. States Plan to Offer iPhone Driver's Licenses

Monday February 9, 2026 6:24 am PST by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, and then use it to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. The feature is currently available in 13 U.S. states and Puerto Rico, and it is expected to launch in at least seven more in the future. To set up the...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3

Wednesday February 11, 2026 10:07 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3, the latest updates to the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 operating systems that came out in September. The new software comes almost two months after Apple released iOS 26.2 and iPadOS 26.2. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. According to Apple's release notes, ...
Apple Logo Zoomed

Apple Expected to Launch These 10+ Products Over the Coming Months

Tuesday February 10, 2026 6:33 am PST by
It has been a slow start to 2026 for Apple product launches, with only a new AirTag and a special Apple Watch band released so far. We are still waiting for MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the iPhone 17e, a lower-cost MacBook with an iPhone chip, long-rumored updates to the Apple TV and HomePod mini, and much more. Apple is expected to release/update the following products...