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Leak shows Galaxy S9 will be Samsung’s most powerful phone ever, but it’s still no iPhone X

Published Dec 20th, 2017 8:51AM EST
Galaxy S9 vs. iPhone X
Image: Zach Epstein, BGR

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The Galaxy S9 is still two months away from being announced according to the most recent reports out there. However, we still have plenty of Galaxy S9 rumors to enjoy on a regular basis now that the launch is coming up fast.

The latest leak offers us purported Geekbench scores for the Galaxy S9+ model that’s going to be powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 845 platform. The benchmark suggests the Galaxy S9+ will be the most powerful Samsung smartphone has ever made, and that’s definitely what we expect from every new flagship. But unfortunately it still won’t come anywhere close to touching the iPhone X.

According to this Geekbench listing, the Galaxy S9 gets over 2400 points in single-core tests and over 8000 in multi-core. This marks the first time a Samsung phone has crossed the 2000 mark in single-core results, which is a pretty big deal. The multi-core score is also a record.

Image source: Geekbench

Assuming these new results are accurate, we should expect similar performance from Samsung’s own Exynos 9810 chip that will power next year’s flagship phones. The scores are in line with a similar leak from a few weeks ago. That Galaxy S9 device was powered by a Samsung processor.

However, these numbers pale in comparison to Apple’s iPhone X and iPhone 8, which are powered by the same A11 Bionic processor. The phones score well over 4000 in single-core tests, and they top 10000 in multi-core results.

In actual real-life usage, the A11 Bionic obliterated this year’s top Snapdragon and Exynos chips, although Android phones equipped with more RAM than an iPhone managed to keep more apps loaded in memory than the iPhone X or 8. Apple still has some serious issues with RAM management in iOS 11, but they should hopefully be addressed soon in upcoming software updates.

That said, it really looks like catching Apple will continue to be an impossible task for chip makers for at least one more year. Then, of course, the A12 chip that will power 2018 iPhones will undoubtedly be even more powerful than the A11.

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.