Apple’s 2½ year old iPhone 12 is 6% faster than the latest Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra for single-core performance
Although the Galaxy S23 Ultra is still a week away from release, multiple leaked Geekbench 5 scores reveals Apple’s 2½ year old iPhone 12 outperforms Samsung’s latest flagship in single-core performance by 6.15%.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra averages around 1480 for single-core performance, compared to the faster iPhone 12 with a score of 1571.
Powered by the A14 Bionic, the iPhone 12 demonstrates how far ahead Apple are when it comes to chip technology. Apple’s investment in R&D for their proprietary SoC has certainly paid its dividends, with Qualcomm and Samsung lagging behind by years with their Snapdragon and Exynos chips, respectively.
Despite being over 6% faster for single-core performance, the iPhone 12 is 15.64% slower for multi-core performance compared to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, with scores of 3867 vs 4584. However, single-core performance is generally considered more important when it comes to overall speed for everyday usage, as most tasks are unable to scale efficiently across multiple cores. Apps that can benefit from multiple cores include video editing, 3D rendering, graphic intensive games and demanding productivity apps.
| Model | Single-core |
|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra | 926 |
| Samsung Galaxy S22 | 1047 |
| Samsung Galaxy S22+ | 1098 |
| Samsung Galaxy S23 | 1473 |
| Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra | 1480 |
| Samsung Galaxy S23+ | 1500 |
| Apple iPhone 12 | 1571 |
| Apple iPhone 12 mini | 1571 |
| Apple iPhone 12 Pro | 1573 |
| Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max | 1577 |
| Apple iPhone 13 | 1698 |
| Apple iPhone 13 mini | 1699 |
| Apple iPhone 13 Pro | 1710 |
| Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max | 1710 |
| Apple iPhone 14 | 1724 |
| Apple iPhone 14 Plus | 1725 |
| Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max | 1872 |
| Apple iPhone 14 Pro | 1874 |
Comparing the Galaxy S23 Ultra against its current closest competitor, the iPhone 14 Pro, reveals Samsung’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 powered flagship is 21.02% slower for single-core performance, and 14.86% slower for multi-core performance against Apple’s latest A16 Bionic powered device.
It’s no secret that Apple’s Bionic ARM chips are years ahead of its competitors. Unable to compete, Samsung ditched their own Exynos chips altogether for the Galaxy S23 series, which they used in the European market for previous lineups. Going forward, it appears Samsung will now use Qualcomm Snapdragon chips exclusively for all markets, albeit still being unable to keep up with Apple's performance.
However, the gap is evidently closing - as we previously reported, last year’s Galaxy S22 Ultra scored an abysmal 926 for single-core performance, and 2911 for multi-core performance. The new S23 Ultra with the revised Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip has boosted speeds by 59.83% and 57.47%, respectively - an impressive feat in itself.