In case you've somehow missed it we'll reiterate that the Galaxy S8 and S8+ have two distinct versions - one powered by the company’s own Exynos 8895 chipset and another one equipped with a Snapdragon 835.

Samsung has repeatedly reassured us that the two are perfectly on par when it comes to performance. Yet we know better than taking such statements for granted and had to check for ourselves.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset has its eight custom Kryo 280 cores in two clusters, working at 2.35 and 1.9 GHz, respectively. Samsung's solution, on the other hand, employs four redesigned M1 "Mongoose" V2 custom cores, clocked at 2.3 GHz and a less power-intensive cluster of four Cortex-A53 units, running at 1.7 GHz. There are some differences in the graphics department as well: an Adreno 540 on the Snapdragon 835 and a Mali-G71 MP20 on the Exynos 8895.

And now that we finally managed to test a US unit and diving right into the numbers, we kick off by saying both chips perform almost identically in the CPU department.

GeekBench favored the Exynos 8895, although performance deltas are small. Then again, the older GeekBench 3 gave an edge to the 2.35 GHz Kryo 280 core in the Snapdragon over a 2nd-gen Mongoose 2.3 GHz one in single-threaded loads. This could partially be attributed to the higher clock speed, but we believe newer and updated test scenarios and procedures are at play more than anything else here. It's only natural, as both hardware and software improves, you can't expect to continue grading performance with the exact same workloads and tests.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S8+

7375

Huawei Mate 9

7290

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

7202

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)

6600

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

6123

OnePlus 3T

5956

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

5420

Sony Xperia XZs

5044

Google Pixel XL

4265

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

3526

OnePlus 3T

2560

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

2345

Huawei Mate 9

2173

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

2161

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)

2151

Samsung Galaxy S8+

2072

Sony Xperia XZs

1972

Google Pixel XL

1960

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S8+

6338

Huawei Mate 9

6112

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

6106

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

5664

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)

5583

OnePlus 3T

4364

HTC U Ultra

4201

Google Pixel XL

4152

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

4128

Sony Xperia XZs

3979

LG G6 (US)

3648

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

3473

Samsung Galaxy S8+

1938

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

1915

Huawei Mate 9

1898

OnePlus 3T

1890

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)

1860

LG G6 (US)

1792

Sony Xperia XZs

1724

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

1696

HTC U Ultra

1647

Google Pixel XL

1507

The same logic can be applied to AnTuTu. AnTuTu 5 gave the Snapdragon 835 a very slight edge, while AnTuTu 6 sees the Exynos on top.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

81688

Samsung Galaxy S8+

80923

Huawei Mate 9

79963

OnePlus 3T

78135

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

75934

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S8+

174070

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

173110

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

168133

OnePlus 3T

165097

LG G6 (US)

141895

Google Pixel XL

141186

HTC U Ultra

139750

Sony Xperia XZs

133574

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

132849

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)

129229

Huawei Mate 9

122826

Overall, we are willing to agree with Samsung that CPUs are perfectly on par between the chipsets, yet, the graphics units tend to have a wider difference between them. The Mali-G71 GPU, inside the Exynos 8895 consistently manages to output a few more frames than the Adreno 540 in the Snapdragon.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S8+

42

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

39

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

39

OnePlus 3T

33

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

32

Sony Xperia XZs

32

Google Pixel XL

32

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)

29

HTC U Ultra

27

LG G6 (US)

25

Huawei Mate 9

22

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

Apple iPhone 7 Plus

42

Sony Xperia XZs

34

OnePlus 3T

33

Samsung Galaxy S8+

23

Huawei Mate 9

23

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

18

Google Pixel XL

17

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

16

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)

15

HTC U Ultra

13

LG G6 (US)

11

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S8+

25

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

23

Sony Xperia XZs

20

OnePlus 3T

20

Google Pixel XL

19

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

18

HTC U Ultra

18

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)

15

LG G6 (US)

15

Huawei Mate 9

13

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

Sony Xperia XZs

21

OnePlus 3T

20

Huawei Mate 9

14

Samsung Galaxy S8+

13

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

12

Google Pixel XL

11

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

10

HTC U Ultra

10

LG G6 (US)

8.1

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)

7.8

Still, in the real world usage, gaming is a smooth experience on both the international and US versions of the handsets. If ultimate frame rates are what you are after, you can choose to lower a games resolution though Samsung's Game Launcher or not force full-screen stretching on older titles. But, during our time with the S8 and S8+, we never really felt the need for any such adjustment. Even demanding titles adapt themselves seamlessly and play great on the devices.

Basemark X

Higher is better

Samsung Galaxy S8+

43862

OnePlus 3T

36958

Huawei Mate 9

36519

HTC U Ultra

35875

Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)

34951

Sony Xperia XZs

33815

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (S820)

32160

LG G6 (US)

32041

Google Pixel XL

30861

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (E8890)

28480

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better