The iPhone 4S might look disappointingly like its predecessor, but Apple thinks beauty is only skin deep -- asking us to look beyond a familiar frame to the hollow of hopped-up hardware hiding inside its new smart phone.
One of those new components is the A5 chip, a powerful processor Apple reckons makes the 4S perfect for gaming and other processor-intensive activities. We've pitted the 4S against other devices in a few benchmark tests, so how does it fare?
The answer is very well indeed. We ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark test on a 4S, where it managed a score of 2,181.6 (lower is better). That's great compared to the iPhone 4, which managed 3,790.3 in the same test.
As you can see in the graph above, the 4S beat its predecessor, along with Samsung's Galaxy S2 and the HTC Sensation. It didn't quite beat our iPad 2 running iOS 5, though. There's no shame in that -- Apple's second-generation tablet is frighteningly fast.
That's a good indicator of how speedy the 4S is in general. We also tested the 4S' gaming potential using an app called GLBenchmark 2.1, specifically its Egypt test, which runs a game-style 3D scenario and monitors how the phone performs when it comes to pulverising polygons.
The 4S scored 6,568 in the standard version of this test (higher is better this time), destroying our iPhone 4's score of 1,621. The evidence was plain to see on-screen -- while the iPhone 4 struggled and stuttered in places, the 4S sailed through the test, rendering each detail without breaking a sweat, or dropping the framerate.
We also ran this test on our Samsung Galaxy S2, and it scored 4,757. That's a good score, and the phone handled the 3D test with very little stuttering, though it doesn't quite match the result we squeezed from our 4S.
We've also been playing demanding games such as Infinity Blade and Real Racing 2 on the iPhone 4S, and it handles both with ease. We suspect it will be a while before developers release apps that push the processing power of the 4S to breaking point.
On a purely anecdotal level, the 4S feels very snappy indeed, with apps opening quickly, and no lag when you swoop through menus or type out messages.
Do you have an iPhone 4S? Do you think the bump in processing power makes it worth getting, or has Apple dropped the ball by not tinkering with the phone's design? Let us know down in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
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anonymous 18 October, 2011 13:27
Try using the Firefox browser on the Galaxy S2. Mine with Android 2.3.4 and Firefox 7.0.1 gives a SunSpider score of 1419 - more than twice as fast as the built in browser and faster than the iPad & iPhone.
Martin
anonymous 18 October, 2011 13:31
Um, this doesn't "prove prove it's faster than Galaxy S2" at all. It proves it can render JavaScript quicker ... which mainly comes down to the browser that is rendering it. Try a different browser on android and you would get completely different results.
Seriously CNET ... stop the biased news articles ... you're sounding more dumb by the day.
Craig Barratt 18 October, 2011 13:36
No mention of the S2 in the graphics test, probably because it's faster than the 4S, looks to me that the iphone is only faster under certain conditions (bias title?) as per above comment, when you consider that the S2 is already due to be replaced as the flagship model from samsung it leaves the apple effort a little bit weak, and thats being kind...
anonymous 18 October, 2011 13:45
Interesting there was no table for the GLBenchmark test ... just ran on S2 and it scored 6587 on Egypt standard and that was a phone that had been running for over a week without a reboot and other apps running in background.
Another example of a biased so called fair comparison!
anonymous 18 October, 2011 13:50
As above Galaxy S2, running firefox browser, Sun Spider result 1429 ... blows 4S out of the water. You can prove something is faster using just one single test. Come on CNET get your act together!
anonymous 18 October, 2011 14:13
Not an iphone user or galaxy s2 owner. Am a windows phone omnia 7 man!
CNET/CRAVE - how much do apple give you to report sh1te like this?
anonymous 18 October, 2011 14:40
omg someone else with an omnia 7 :O
yeh worst test too find a phones 'speed' only java and one browser
probably just copied from another site
Ryan J Pattinson 18 October, 2011 15:06
prove nothing cnet and tbh iphone can suck my lefty report some real news like xda -.- dennis ritchie died the other day if it wasnt for him you wouldnt have a website so respect to man greater than steve jobs
anonymous 18 October, 2011 15:23
It is not only a matter of one browser comparison...
we should also add a correction factor for MOORES LAW !
S2 release date was 4th March 2011 in UK
4S release date was ... October 2011 in UK...
that means that 4S should be 6 months better on the Moores law chart...
It sounds surreal, but in fact 4S should be a lot better than S2 by definition of PROGRESS !
anonymous 18 October, 2011 16:10
This, and just about other article on here recently, is utter crap. If you want to read what will be on cnet uk tomorrow, read the American cnet today (or any number of other tech sites they just lift things off).
iPhone 4S user.
anonymous 18 October, 2011 16:13
This is the final straw that is making me abandon Cnet and remove all their links from my RSS reader. I always knew that Cnet was biased, but I was able to ignore Apple related posts and read about other things. However, this post (and the Galaxy S2 vs iPhone 4S "comparison") crosses a line and makes it clear that Cnet is trying to make Apple look good and their competition look bad. I will be abandoning this website and I urge everyone who is not a Apple fanboy to do the same.
anonymous 18 October, 2011 16:41
I've seen the htc much slower in other tests... It all depends on what you want the result to be.... Stats don't prove anything
anonymous 18 October, 2011 16:47
Just ran glBenchmark on my S2 and got 6529 Frames (57.8 Fps).
CNET = Fail.
anonymous 18 October, 2011 17:30
I can't lie I had the galaxy 2 with sprint this phone is better apple still is apple but this 4s is almost flawless no lag great cam best apps GSM smooth as butter siri. Is neat it's honestly the all around best phone retina display is nice not better than galaxy but nice enough I got the 3d had the photon s2 and bionic all are nice phones but not better than this phone trust me p.s. and it is faster than the galaxy! I hate apple s way but I got to admit this is the first phone I really considered a true keeper
Andyt95 18 October, 2011 18:07
CNET STOP USING THE SUNSPIDER TEST!
seriously the only reason you use it is because it's the ONLY test which Apple devices will do well in! It's blatantly obvious you're Apple fanboys in your reviews, please don't spread this to the crave section too... use a real test.
And also download one of the many alternative apps. Mr.anon says he got a result which was a third the score of the iPhone, when he got firefox.
bad CNET, bad.
anonymous 18 October, 2011 18:16
Whoever did the test doesn't have a common sense to compare a browser which support flash natively(S2) and which doesn't give a **** for flash :) Just enabling flash on demand on S2 won't be equal to apple's built-in browser which doesn't try to load flash at all. That's an added reason, in addition to java rendering, why firefox on S2 blows 4S away.<br />
CNET should recruit some techies with common sense, at least to authenticate before copy paste other's articles and results :)
anonymous 18 October, 2011 18:26
whoever put this up must be insane and ready to run helter skelter begging apple for a job. good luck in ur fake result sucker. i can do better than you. may be i should get employed instead of you. blind.
Chris_Ryles 18 October, 2011 18:35
Not sure of the accuracy of this test, just beat the sensations score with a single core desire HD....
mcraymondo 18 October, 2011 19:03
They are both good phones. I don't see why everything is a competition.
anonymous 18 October, 2011 20:12
sounds like all the dissapointed galaxy s2 users have banned up to defend their precious prized posession lmao. You all should get a life and just accept this post for what it is. You all have countless posts saying how the galaxy s2 is better but yet you come here a completely go ape **** over a test smh face it apple has always been the forerunner in technology, longevity, and quality while your precious andriod was made merely to compete. Immitation only keeps you 10 steps behind and android is the epitomy of immitation. I hope apple wins its lawsuit so that android can be shown for its true colors = imposters lmao
anonymous 18 October, 2011 21:38
Facts are facts.....when the kiddies start buying their own phones and want a reliable phone, that "works" without having to be rebooted all the time when it has to work a little bit perhaps your perspective will see it. Until then how about you ask your dad for a new phone again. Yours just got beat. My friends who keep buying android phones think they're great at first. Then reality sets in and you get the real truth about the phone. Often times it's total dissatisfaction and when can I get my next new phone. Buy and iphone and be done with it. It works just as it's designed to. It doesn't need a bunch of kids to defend it and tell the poster what they did wrong as to why the phone didn't perform as well as another. Do the math....figures don't lie. Besides for the masses either phone is more than 95% of the purchasers will ever need or use.
anonymous 18 October, 2011 21:41
What is the point of any of these benchmarks, analysis and reviews? The lemmings that buy Apple's products will fall off that cliff no matter what is released.
There is a reason why most of these comments are from Android users... iPhone owners didn't get past the pretty pictures!
anonymous 18 October, 2011 21:50
To poster whom posted @ 20:12<br />
You are a **** <br />
people are not upset that a report says iPhone is better, if its better its better...its the bias reporting people care about and the fact that the report doesn't give all the facts....
anonymous 19 October, 2011 08:53
Java rendering tells you more about the browser you're using (and there's a lot to choose from on Android) than anything else, even the hardware you're running it on.
The GLBenchmark is an interesting result though. I wouldn't call it conclusive but it certainly shows that a phone released over 6 months ago might not have the 3D rendering abilities of one that was announced just the other week... albeit packing more of a punch in the screen/camera/OS department.
"Faster" is a vapid excuse for a work in this scenario and I sense that somebody's just trying to get some cheap article views/comments. Nobody likes attention seeking journalists.
anonymous 19 October, 2011 09:20
Luke Westaway is an iphone lover. I don't even own a smart phone(own a dumb phone atm) but I can tell when i see a bias review on a prouct....I'm wondering what does Cner t gets out of this money, products? Who knows?
leekee 19 October, 2011 10:50
very funny and useless review, this never heard elsewhere Luke Westaway should go back to primary IT school. as others has already pointed out, this benchmark test only javascript machine in the browser. My atrix with firefox on sunspider (and an old OS having only android 2.2) is just over 1800, so what? that's to say you should put your pricey old brick iphone 4S in the dustbin?
anonymous 19 October, 2011 12:10
i dont care about the benchmark. it is not show the true performance of those gadgets. for me i will choose GS2 because of this simple reason; iphone4s processor, it is manufactured by SAMSUNG
anonymous 19 October, 2011 13:37
Yeah samsung has manufactured apple's iphone processor, but not designed it nor put any scientific contribution towards it. Samsung simply was the labour in this case, besides its amazing how as soon as the ipad is released samsung released their tab and even its keyboard and layout is so similar to the ipad. So if this topic is about benchmarks and stupid journalism then dont think you've earned any points by saying that samsung manufactured the processor. Its like saying the labour guys at NASA are the masterminds behind their space program.
anonymous 19 October, 2011 16:24
Obviously the Android fanboys are upset and need a little help accepting the truth about how the 4S trumps the S2. Here's a link: http://www.glbenchmark.com/result.jsp
Go there then disappear...lol
anonymous 19 October, 2011 21:24
This is stupid, you are biased and this review should never be seen again. on the same subject, all you android lovers don't seem to complain when there is a review biased towards android. im saying this as a person who has neither iphone nor android. i've decided to get iphone simply because its better in my eyes. Its higher quality and just all round the best out there. Android just can't seem to get over that. It has taken android a whole year to catch up to apple and now apple have just upgraded the iphone. android and its users need to suck up the fact that apple have beaten them again, and that no matter how powerful your androids are they won't beat the superior quality. i say again, get rid of this biased review, and android need to suck up life and deal with it.
anonymous 20 October, 2011 00:30
2nd benchmark test showing the 4s smokes all phones and all these Hemroid fans start crying.
There's even a side by side video on youtube with the S2 and 4s both on wifi with the iPhone smoking the S2. but of course that's a biased review too.
Hemroid users are such herbs
anonymous 20 October, 2011 02:30
Ok I have a 4s on Verizon an a s2 on AT&T I did a browser test an app test on both of them an the truth is that the 4s kicked the s2's ***** in both an on my wifi where i pull 50 down the 4s marked a 53 down an the s2 marked a 46 that's all I got to say about that
anonymous 20 October, 2011 03:06
I got an iPhone 4S when it came out and it is such an improvement over the old phone I had. I had a Samsung Galaxy S and I don’t think I will even think about going back to Android now that I’ve got this phone. Everything just works on the iPhone 4S! One key area where the iPhone is better than my old phone is in streaming. With my old phone, I would constantly see the video buffering. With the iPhone 4S, that is not the case! It is loads faster. The app that I usually use for streaming is the DISH Remote Access app, which is from my employer DISH Network, and it is one of the best apps on my phone. Not only does it let me stream recorded shows, but I can stream live TV if I want. The iPhone makes it seem so easy! I bought one of the 16GB models, so there is only a limited amount of space I can use. Thankfully, the DISH Remote Access app doesn’t save the shows to my phone, so I have more than enough movies, without taking up space! I love this phone!
anonymous 20 October, 2011 14:15
I DID NOT click on this story, I was trying to read the Steve Ballmer story but I only get this rubbish instead (lies, damned lies and statistics as the saying goes). On my Android tablet I can't resize the screen easily anymore, on my PC I click on a story, and get a different story. PLEASE handover your website to experienced admins, basically you get what you pay for when employing staff. Even though there is a major bias towards Apple products and some of the writers try too hard to be clever, I still enjoy reading some of the stuff that is on here, when it lets me of course
anonymous 21 October, 2011 21:49
LOL @ all the Android fanboys.
The iPhone 4S is the fastest phone on the market right now. Period. Six months from now, this won't be the case, so if you want the fastest phone, you'd buy an Android phone.
But right now, iPhone 4S is the fastest.
I didn't buy the iPhone 4S because it was the fastest (I don't spend my life worrying about such petty things) -- I did buy it because of the superior user experience. I like knowing that I can update my phone to the latest OS 2 years from now; I like knowing if I have any problems with my phone; I can walk into an Apple Store and have the problem solved. I like the user interface. I like how the apps are designed. I like the overall experience.
It being the fastest phone is just a mere bullet point of why I bought the iPhone. If the 4S wasn't the fastest, I'd still buy it because of the reasons listed above.
Yet, Android fanboys are stuck on specs. I feel sorry about people who need numbers to woo them in order to buy a product. Lame.
anonymous 21 October, 2011 23:34
you have to remember that the galaxy s2 runs gingerbread which is not designed to run dual core and until ice cream sandwich which is then you will not see the real performance capability of the s2 and in other benchmarks the s2 is already out performing the iphone 4s which has the latest software on the market designed for dual core! so when s2 has ice cream and then put them against each other then we will see the real king of the phones :)
anonymous 22 October, 2011 18:00
This is how you really test the iPhone 4S against the Galaxy S2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmjSplifvHo
anonymous 22 October, 2011 18:56
please stop comparing phones...if u want iphone 4s or samsung galaxy s2, just get it for yourself...whatever you feel is the right one for you, that's the one you should have...Me, before I bought my iphone 4s, i was really tempted to get samsung galaxy s2...
Mugen13 23 October, 2011 06:56
We all know apple has a lot of cash, and its not scared about spending some of it on cnet apparently
anonymous 23 October, 2011 18:57
I'd get a Galaxy S2 if I wanted to eat my dinner from it or maybe needed more plastic in my life. The most amusing post above is " just ran on S2 and it scored 6587 on Egypt standard and that was a phone that had been running for over a week without a reboot."
A whole week without a reboot! Is that some kinda record for Android devices.........I recall my iPhone 4 went almost 14 months without a reboot, and that was only after a failed jailbreak attempt.
Come on guys. Andriod is a step up from a Windows phone but that's as far as I'm willing to commit. There are 14 IT people in my office (Microsoft house) and 10 have iPhones, 2 have Androids and 2 have Symbian devices. Two years ago only two of us had iPhones. The age range is 19 - 60 and we all look for something different in a phone. Also 9 of the 14 now use Mac's a home after having enough of PC's and their blue screens of death. 6 of the 14 own tablets and they are all iPad's.
That tells me quite a lot about dependability, functionality and stability and which vendor provides it.
anonymous 22 December, 2011 20:32
Standard Egypt test on Samsung Galasy S II gives 6522 points, Egypt High - 6379 points. Very convenient mistake you did there...
anonymous 9 February, 2012 18:08
CNET I thought that you were one of the websites who were unbiased.........but you proved me wrong.......this does not prove that the 'New' iPhone 4S is faster than the Galaxy S II.......if you use a custom browser like opera, dolphin hd, etc you get results that are of the charts.......this just shows that the javascript rendering of the stock iPhone browser is better compared to other phones........BLAH.....BLAH......BLAH......so on the whole the Galaxy S II is much better than the iPhone 4S.