As usual, we expect the latest smartphones carrying the most up to date hardware and software to offer the fastest performance.
In addition, there are household names in the industry whose phones, considering their high prices, are expected to be at the top of the list in terms of everything – be it design, specs, features and so on.
While this is seen as the norm, it seems 2016 has something different to offer. Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are considered the best devices in the handset market right now. However, it is still not easy to convince an iPhone 6S user to ditch the Apple phone for a flagship Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge. It gets even worse when trying to suggest that the newly launched Vivo Xplay 5 Elite is faster than Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge to a diehard Sammy lover. One would be quick to ask – what’s Vivo?
Well, you will be surprised with the latest benchmarks coming from the famous mobile benchmarking tool AnTuTu. According to the tests, the latest Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G5 as well as Apple’s iPhone 6S and iPhone SE were nowhere near the top of the list as far as the fastest phones as of May 2016 is concerned. Surprisingly, the phones at the top of the list are from least known smartphone OEMs from China.
At the top of the list of the fastest smartphones yet in 2016 is the Vivo Xplay 5 Elite. This device managed a score of 138, 706, which it meant it topped the likes of LeEco Max 2 that had a score of 138, 026 and Lenovo ZUK Z2 Pro that managed a score of 136, 853. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge managed to come in at position five with a score of 134, 599, but still unable to beat another Chinese phone in the shape of Xiaomi Mi5 which had a score of 136, 773.
The AnTuTu benchmark tests further showed that Apple’s iPhone 6S and iPhone SE are the fastest smartphones the company has at the moment, with the former managing a score of 133, 781 while the latter recorded 131, 401. LG G5, Meizu Pro 6 and Huawei Honor V8 complete the list of the top 10 fastest smartphones as tested by AnTuTu.
In case you didn’t know, the top three phones are all powered by a Snapdragon 820 SoC, similar to what powers Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, LG G5 as well as Xiaomi Mi5. However, while the top three phones have a RAM of 6GB, the other phones have lower RAM, with Apple’s iPhone 6S and iPhone SE having the lowest.
With Samsung Galaxy Note 6 (Note 7) rumored to be coming in with a RAM of 6GB, it is possible that the top names on this current list might be outdone by this phablet when it is released later this year. Still, it is disappointing to see that the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10 and even iPhone 6S Plus are not featured on this list, especially since the performance starts dropping drastically towards the bottom end.
But as we all know, these benchmark tests have very little to do with the real world performance of these devices. Don’t be surprised to find the Galaxy S7, LG G5, HTC 10, iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, just to name but a few, topping the list when it comes to executing day-to-day tasks.