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Benchmarks are synthetic tests that give numeric, quantifiable results. They are generally applications programmed to make the devices' systems-on-a-chip (SoC) run a series of tasks and determine how long it takes them to complete.
AnandTech is a site that specialises in running rigorous tests like these, and its early findings on Samsung's latest devices are curious to say the least— particularly compared to the latest iPhones, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 845 — which will power most of the Android flagships this year — and even Samsung's own Galaxy S8 from last year.
In a number of tests — such as web browsing, writing, data manipulation, and photo editing — the Galaxy S9's Exynos 9810 consistently delivered worse results than the aforementioned chips and devices, which is bizarre considering that tests run on the chip itself showed significant improvements over 2017's Exynos chip (that powered the S8, S8+, and even Note 8 smartphones)..
"What seems clear is that there is something is very very wrong with the Exynos 9810 S9+ that I tested," AnandTech's report says. "It was barely able to distinguish itself from last year's Exynos 8895, let alone the Snapdragon 845 in the Qualcomm Reference Device which we previewed earlier this month."
There might be an explanation, however, as a Samsung spokesperson told AnandTech that the phones it tested were running special firmware specific to the demo units deployed for Mobile World Congress (MWC), and that retail devices might take full advantage of the SoC's capabilities.
Samsung corroborated this to Business Insider, confirming that the Galaxy S9s present at MWC were indeed "demo devices."
"I did get confirmation that Samsung is planning to 'tune down' the Exynos variant to match the Snapdragon performance," AnandTech's post reads, "however the current scores which I got on these devices make absolutely no sense, so I do hope this is just a mistake that will be resolved in shipping firmware and we see the full potential of the SoC."
-Business Insider
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