Following last week's introduction of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Primate Labs has analyzed Geekbench 2 scores for the phone, comparing it to a number of other smartphones including the iPhone 5.

The analysis shows the new Samsung flagship is significantly faster than competing phones including the HTC One, and its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S3. However, the S3 also benchmarked faster than the iPhone 5.

Skitched 20130318 145500From John Poole's analysis:

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is twice as fast as the Samsung Galaxy S 3. Given that the Samsung Galaxy S 3 is less than a year old, that's a remarkable achievement. I am amazed at how quickly smartphone technology is improving.

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is also twice as fast as the Apple iPhone 5. Apple has improved performance dramatically in the past (there was 2.5x increase in performance from the iPhone 4S to the iPhone 5). Will they be able to make a similar improvement for the next iPhone?

Though the iPhone does benchmark somewhat slower than its competitors, Apple's close integration of software and hardware leads to significant performance gains that Android phones can't easily replicate.

Top Rated Comments

Risco Avatar
169 months ago
Android is a far less optimised system, it needs the faster CPU to give the same fluid user experience that iOS gives. Don't read too much in to it folks.
Score: 80 Votes (Like | Disagree)
chaos86 Avatar
169 months ago
Android is a far less optimised system, it needs the faster CPU to give the same fluid user experience that iOS gives. Don't read too much in to it folks.
As a developer, I can back this up. I made a web game that ran smoothly on an iPhone 4, averaging about 30fps, great on an iPhone 5 at 60fps, and like crap on the FOUR core Galaxy S3, at about 20fps.

Don't even get me started on the fact that I had to support Android all the way back to 2.3.3, and the Android Browser which has been modified by the various hardware makers (HTC, Samsung, etc) to break a few web standards we needed. I can't wait for the day when the whole world is on a late version of Chrome.
Score: 62 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Santabean2000 Avatar
169 months ago
That's impressive. On paper.
Score: 49 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MasterHowl Avatar
169 months ago
Bet it still lags when you scroll down a Wikipedia page...
Score: 41 Votes (Like | Disagree)
169 months ago
Wait a minute. Samsung Galaxy phone model from this year is faster than Apple's iPhone from last year?

WOW!
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
169 months ago
Amazing

We want innovation not iteration !
And yet you're amazed by an iterative release
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Announces Special Event in New York Feature 1

Apple Reportedly Plans to Unveil at Least Five New Products Next Week

Sunday February 22, 2026 9:48 am PST by
In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple will have a three-day stretch of product announcements from Monday, March 2 through Wednesday, March 4. In total, he expects Apple to introduce "at least five products." Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. A week ago, Apple invited selected journalists and content creators to an "Apple Experience" in...
tim cook data privacy day

Tim Cook Warned by CIA That China Could Move on Taiwan by 2027

Tuesday February 24, 2026 4:03 am PST by
Apple CEO Tim Cook was among a handful of top tech executives who attended a classified CIA briefing warning that China could attack Taiwan by 2027, according to a sweeping investigative report by The New York Times ($). The previously unreported briefing was apparently held in a secure room in Silicon Valley in July 2023. The meeting is said to have been arranged at the request of the...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3.1 Update for iPhones Coming Soon as 'Apple Experience' Nears

Sunday February 22, 2026 5:29 pm PST by
Apple's software engineers are testing iOS 26.3.1, according to the MacRumors visitor logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. iOS 26.3.1 should be a minor update that fixes bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, and it will likely be released within the next two weeks. Last month, Apple released iOS 26.2.1 with bug fixes and support for the second-generation...