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Fastest Phone Processor

Not sure which processor you should pick? We got you covered in our article. See what you should see in a processor and how to compare different processors. Learn which is processor available in the market and what to expect from it. See how you can pick the best, fastest phone processor for your requirements and what factors you should consider. If you want to read more useful articles then check out our page.

In this article, we are going to see which is the fastest phone processor in the market right now. And how we can compare different processors, and not only be stuck with on-paper specs. In the initial sections, we will see about processors and how they are measured.

Fastest Phone Processor

What is a processor?

First, we will be looking at the definition of processor, but if you already know about it then you can skip this section.

A processor acts like a brain for our device (phone) which is responsible for opening apps, playing games, and more. And the performance of your device is directly related to the power of its processor. Without a processor, we will not be able to perform any action. For example, you wouldn’t be able to give input and even if there was input present, there would be no output.

Let’s get a little bit more technical here, a processor is responsible for supporting hardware, feature providing, and carrying modules. The processor’s job is to carry out IO operations, process the input given by the user, and provide the output. We measure this capability to process the input with Hertz (Hz). This denotes the number of operations performed in a second by the processor. You must have heard the term Gigahertz (GHz), which means 1GHz = 1,000,000,000 Hz. The processors nowadays are so powerful that we need to measure them in GHz and not Hz. For example, a 2.5 GHz processor is capable of performing 2.5 billion operations in a second.

There are more functions for a processor but we are not going in-depth here.

We should get the latest processor since it will support all the features and give the best performance. For example, the latest Snapdragon processors have the support for 5G network capabilities. This is because 5G requires its receiver which only comes with newer processors. The processor which came 1-2 years back does not have this capability which is a huge downside for the user.

How are processors measured?

We can measure the performance of any processor by looking at these specifications:

  • Clock speed: More is good, but the base clock should also be high.
  • The number of cores: More number of cores are good but will consume more power for everything.
  • The number of threads: The more is good, but does not impact the processor’s performance much.
  • GPU: Real-world comparisons much are made, on-paper specifications do not translate to real performance.
  • Power consumption: The less is better unless battery life is not important for you.

If you want to read more in-depth about the specifications and why they are important. Then check out the “Choosing the right processor” section in the article.

What’s the difference between mobile and desktop processors?

The role and operations performed by the PC and mobile processors are the same. The only difference you are going to notice is that mobile processors do not overheat like their PC counterparts. Even if we use the processor to its limits then also the heating would not be like PC processors.

The reason for this is that mobile processors are made using the ARM architecture. Some would say that due to throttling (performance downgrade) the mobile processors do not overheat. But this is not true, throttling is present on PC processors too. 

PC processors use x86 architecture while mobile processor uses ARM architecture. The major difference between them is that x86 performs more operations for the same process while ARM tries to minimize the number of operations. And since we know that more work for the same thing will lead to overheating. This is the reason why PC processors overheat and are not power efficient.

Initially, more operations were marketed for business users who need raw performance and do not care about power consumption. And over time this problem became worse with the increase in processor power. When processors were measured in Hz, the overheating problem was not considerable. But nowadays, processors perform billions of operations per second and keep running for hours.

The ARM processors are now becoming PC grade, the most famous example would be Apple’s M1 MacBooks. They are not limited to laptops only, servers are also adopting the new ARM processors. Their ability to use less power while delivering similar performance is remarkable. This means mobile processors are getting better than their PC counterparts.

Choosing the right processor for your requirements

When there are multiple options available from the same company, it can get really hard to pick one. Here we are going to see how you can check the specifications of any processor and compare with the other.

Any processor’s capability can be measured in two specifications, the number of cores and clock speed. You should always compare these two offerings by the processor and always go which have the more. If you already know about these then you can skip this section and move to the next.

The number of cores: A core is a single unit in a processor and the processor is comprised of multiple cores. A single core is responsible for performing the task you are given and you have to wait until the task is completed. But if you have a multi-core processor then you don’t have to wait since the other core will take the second time.

Now you must be able to see the importance of having as many cores as possible. If a processor has multiple cores then it can perform multiple tasks at the same time. Now some terms are used to denote the number of cores in a processor:

  • Dual-core processor (2 cores)
  • Quad-core processor (4 cores)
  • Hexa-core processor (6 cores)
  • Octa-core processor (8 cores)

For example, the specifications for Snapdragon 888 plus say that “Number of cores” is 8, which means it’s octa-core. You should not confuse cores and threads, both are very different. Always go for the number of cores and not the number of threads. Threads are part of a core and are not a physical unit in a processor.

Clock speed: We have discussed the meaning of GHz and why it’s important in the previous section. But in a nutshell, the more Ghz (Gega-hertz) a processor has, the more work it can perform. This means you will have a better experience and your games and apps will run faster. Whenever you want to compare the raw power of two processors, you should compare their clock speeds. But keep in mind that clock speed can vary depending upon the settings like battery saver mode. Also, more clock speed means the battery will be used more even if you are doing regular work. This is why if you want better battery life, then you should get a processor with less clock speed.

NOTE: The on-paper specifications do not mean that you will get that same output. Most processors don’t reach their advertised clock speeds since they are measured in a lab environment. The best way to compare two phones is if you use them in person or watch a performance video on youtube. Software optimization also plays a huge part in performance. For example, OnePlus phones provide better processors than other phones with the same specifications. The main reason is the optimized oxygen OS, which makes their phones faster.

Apple’s phone fastest processor

The latest offering from Apple is their flagship A15 bionic chip which outperforms every other processor available in the market. All the iPhone 13 models come with the A15 chip and have the best performance in the industry. Even the graphical capabilities have increased with the new chip. The most impressive thing about Apple’s A15 chip is that even in battery saver mode, the chip outperforms the competition.

When the A15 Bionic chip is put in the power saving mode, the high-performance cores are disabled and only the high-efficient core runs. There are 2 high-performance cors “Avalanche” which are responsible for the high benchmark scores. And there are 4 high-efficient cores “Blizard” which run all the time. The high-efficiency cores are not less powerful in any sense, as they alone outperform the newest Snapdragon processors. This should show the power and capabilities of the new A15 Bionic chip. 

If you are looking to get a processor which will give you pure performance then you should go with the iPhone 13 series. Even if you pick up the last year’s iPhone 12 series with an A14 chip. Those chips are as powerful as the Snapdragon chips introduced this year. If you want to see the benchmarks for the A15 Bionic chip and Snapdragon 888 Plus then check out the “Which one is better” section.

Android’s phone fastest processor

The more powerful chips available in the market for Android phones are the Snapdragon 888 series. The Snapdragon 888 was introduced first in 2021 and then its successor Snapdragon 888 Plus was introduced with a few upgrades. The performance difference is not too huge but it would affect the gaming performance of the device. Following are the specifications for Snapdragon 888 and 888 Plus so you can decide for yourself:

Snapdragon 888: 2.84 GHz

Snapdragon 888 Plus: 2.995 GHz (Kryo 690).

If you are looking to get a device for heavy gaming, then you should go for Snapdragon 888 Plus. The additional boost in the performance makes even the most demanding games stay above 60 FPS. Even if you are not gaming, then also the day-to-day work can be done quickly. You should try the new chip for yourself or watch a comparison video between Snapdragon 888 and 888 Plus. If you want to see the benchmark comparison between Snapdragon 888 Plus and Apple’s Bionic chip, then check out the next section.

Which One is Better?

We have seen that both the processors are very capable but only one of them can come on top. Apple’s A15 Bionic chip is more capable and blows the competition out of the water. Since Apple developed their chip in-house, this means only iPhone 13 series have this performance. Snapdragon 888 Plus does not come near the raw processing power of the A15 chip. And even the last year’s A14 chip is comparable to this year’s Snapdragon 888 Plus. Below are the Geekbench 5 benchmark scores so you can compare both of the processors for yourself:

Single-core score

Apple’s A15 Bionic -> 1734

Snapdragon’s 888 Plus -> 1140

Multi-core score

Apple’s A15 Bionic -> 4818

Snapdragon’s 888 Plus -> 3828

As you can see, the A15 Bionic chip is much more powerful than the Snapdragon 888 Plus. And it has about 50% more advantage in the single-core test. Now you know which processor you should and what are the advantages.

Summary

Here we saw the best and fastest phone processor available in the market and now you can pick the best processor for your requirements. But if you are not sure about the increase in performance from Snapdragon 888 to 888 Plus then check out any compression video.

We would recommend going through the specification list of any processor and comparing the important factors such as “Number of cores” and “Clock speeds”.