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Dual-core iPhone 6s might still be more powerful than next year’s top Android phones

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 9:08PM EST

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The iPhone 6s has a shockingly powerful A9 processor inside that puts it on par with Apple’s Retina MacBook in single-core tests, and the smartphone crushes all other smartphones in benchmark tests. More interestingly, it would seem that Apple’s 2015 smartphone processor is even faster than the top two processors that will power the best Android smartphones set to debut next year, at least according to early benchmark tests for Qualcomm and Samsung’s upcoming flagship chips.

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The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8990 have both been officially announced, and both are expected to power different versions of Samsung’s Galaxy S7 next year. Furthermore, the Snapdragon 820 will likely be found in many high-end Android devices in 2016.

Benchmarks for both Qualcomm and Samsung’s new flagship processors have now been leaked, with a Weibo user putting together a comparison between the best mobile chips of 2016. In addition to the Snapdragon 820 and the Exynos 8990, the image below contains scores for the Huawei Kirin 950 and the MediaTek Helio X20.

The comparison also includes Apple’s A9 chip, which handily tops all rival processors in Geekbench 3’s single-core tests. In multi-core tests (not shown in the image), it’s likely that some of these chips will come out ahead since Apple’s A9 is just a dual-core CPU.

Apple is also going to launch a new processor for next year’s generation of iPhones, the A10 that’s going to be manufactured by TSMC according to reports. In all likelihood, the new chip is going to be even faster than this year’s CPU.

It’s worth noting that these Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8990 benchmarks aren’t official, and they highlight scores for unreleased devices. That means both Qualcomm and Samsung can further tweak their mobile CPUs before they actually hit the market in 2016 handsets.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.