In a recent live benchmarking session, Moor Insights & Strategy answered the question “Do 8 cores really matter in smartphones?” with a series of benchmarks and real application tests. This brief supports the video with performance and experience results.

As the smartphone industry has begun to mature, one-upmanship among smartphone manufacturers and SoC vendors has bred a dangerous trend: ever-increasing processor core counts and the association between increased CPU core count and greater performance. This association originated as SoC vendors and OEMs have tried to find ways to differentiate themselves from one another through core counts.

Summary

The 8 Core Myth

Not All Cores Are the Same

ARM’s 64­bit Cores Become Attractive

The Mobile Benchmarking Problem

Making a Good Mobile Benchmark

Good Benchmarking Practices

The Benchmarks, Apps, Tools, & Phones

The Benchmarks

The Apps

The Tools

The Phones

Benchmark Tests & Results

PCMark

Basemark X

CamSpeed Gold

Application Testing

Call to Action

Table 1: Phones, SoCs, & Cores

Figure 1: Same Number of Cores, Different Levels of Performance

Figure 2: Fewer Cores, Effect on Performance

Figure 3: Frame Rates

Figure 4: Fewer Cores, Effect on Frame Rates

Figure 5: Fewer Cores, Higher Frame Rates

Figure 6: Camera Speeds

Figure 7: Fewer Cores, Effect on Camera Speeds

You can download the paper here.

Video

Companies Cited