Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S8 will be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 835 processor, and according to early benchmarks, it’s a complete beast.
The device easily outpaces every rival smartphone available today, including the iPhone 7 Plus packing Apple’s impressive A10 Fusion chip.
Apple’s A-series chips, combined with iOS, have been an engineering marvel for years. Despite fewer cores and slower clock speeds than rival processors from the likes of Qualcomm, the iPhone consistently ranks as the most powerful smartphone on the market.
But that could be about to change — at least for a few months.
A video demonstrating the Galaxy S8’s performance in AnTuTu benchmarks shows Samsung’s new flagship achieving a higher score than every other smartphone on sale today. With 205,248 points, it easily beats the iPhone 7’s score of 181,807.
This is partly thanks to the 10-nanometer manufacturing process used by Samsung to build Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chipset. In a nutshell, it means all the transistors within the chip are closer to each other, improving performance while reducing power drain.
Qualcomm says the Snapdragon 835 is 35 percent smaller than its previous chips, and requires 25 percent less power. It’s engineered to deliver “exceptionally” long battery life, better VR and AR experiences, and improved camera capabilities.
In comparison, the A10 Fusion is made using a 14-nanometer process. It doesn’t sound like much of a difference, but the Snapdragon 835 proves that it matters. Of course, its additional four cores also help.
But the Galaxy S8 may not sit at the top of AnTuTu’s chart for long. This fall, Apple will announce the iPhone 8 (that’s what most rumors are calling it) with an A11 chip. Like every one of its predecessors, it will likely bring big improvements in performance and graphics.
Whether that will be enough to outpace the Snapdragon 835 remains to be seen. But either way, it’s pretty incredible that the devices we carry around in our pockets continue to see substantial speed increases every year — even if they don’t change much on the surface.
