Daniel Eran Dilger
After performing a series of web and raw computing benchmarks, Apple's iPhone 5 was declared the world's fastest smartphone.
Fastest iPhone ever, of course
A report by PC Mag pitted iPhone 5 against previous iPhone models, then against top Android models from Samsung (Galaxy S III, released in June) and Google (Motorola Droid RAZR M, released last week).
Apple's latest iPhone 5 easily beat previous years' iPhone models, often by a factor of two. In browser tests, it scored nearly twice as fast as iPhone 4S in Browsermark, where it was more than three times as fast as iPhone 4, even with all phones upgraded to iOS 6 (which improves browser speeds).
In general purpose benchmarks, PC Mag said iPhone 5 was more than 2.5 times as fast as iPhone 4S, and over 4.2 times as fast as iPhone 4. Apple continues to sell all three models.
In graphics tests, iPhone 5 scored 2.2 times as high as iPhone 4S and more than 8 times as fast as iPhone 4. The scores for all iPhone models are detailed at PC Mag.
Taking on the fastest Android phones
PC Mag noted that last year's iPhone 4S running iOS 6 on its dual core, 800MHz A5, "is about on par with leading Android 4.0 phones like the Samsung Galaxy S III and the Motorola Droid RAZR M, both of which are using 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processors," adding that "obviously, the difference is that Safari is a faster browser than the Android browser."
The new iPhone 5 "takes things to the next level," the site wrote, stating that "its Browsermark score is 80 percent higher, and it shows much quicker Sunspider times."
In general purpose Geekbench scores, iPhone 5 won overall by a narrower margin, but as the site noted, "the 'memory' and 'stream' scores, both of which test loading data in and out of RAM, come out much better on the Apple device."
In a graphics-specific processing test, iPhone 5 beat the S III and RAZR M by more than a factor of three.
"Based on these benchmarks, the iPhone 5 lives up to the promise of being twice as fast as the iPhone 4S. It's also, for now, the fastest handheld computer sold in the US," the report concluded.
Apple's custom A6 achieves its speed advantage through what TechInsights called "a very unique processor design," which appears to use three graphics cores and an entirely new ARM dual core GPU designed by Apple (pictured above).
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
186 Comments
"Benchmarks don't matter to you Appletards, right?"
—The Anti-Apple Brigade, upon reading this
Of course it is, and I always assumed it would be. Which is why the kneejerk, myopic troll reactions of LOL UNDERSPECCED ONLY 1 GB RAM DUAL CORE were so fucking stupid. This is always the case though- the trolls get disproven about absolutely EVERYTHING they say, every single attack gets exposed to be bullshit, yet they repeat the same shit the next year. And not just Apple haters mind you, but also from supposedly Apple fans. Even the leaked case, which was universally decided to be 'ugly as hell, not Apple-like, trash' etc online, and now once the phone is in people's hand its being described as possibly the nicest/most beautiful device ever made. The contrast is always mindblowing, yet every time its the same thing.
Not only is it the best phone on the planet, it's also the fastest!
For Fandroids, who live and die exclusively by specs, this is pretty devastating news for them, and I've seen quite a few meltdowns today already on various sites. I'd imagine that more than a few of them have now been put on 24 hour suicide watch. What a horrible shame.
And what about that drop test video made by a site called "Android Authority"? The Galaxy S3 got crushed by the iPhone!
Today is not a good day to be a Fandroid. 
I bet that some Fandroid trolls are at this very moment down in their parent's basements, desperately rooting their phones and trying to overclock them to the point of the CPU burning out, just so that they can upload fraudulent results to the test sites, which is exactly what some of them have been doing lately.
Designs like this CPU scare intel because imagine what they are doing for notebook cpu's that we haven't seen...
[quote name="Apple ][" url="/t/152797/apples-iphone-5-is-fastest-smartphone-in-the-land#post_2195739"]Not only is it the best phone on the planet, it's also the fastest! For Fandroids, who live and die exclusively by specs, this is pretty devastating news for them, and I've seen quite a few meltdowns today already on various sites. I'd imagine that more than a few of them have now been put on 24 hour suicide watch. What a horrible shame. :lol: And what about that drop test video made by a site called "Android Authority"? The Galaxy S3 got crushed by the iPhone! :lol: Today I bet that some Fandroid trolls are at this very moment down in their parent's basements, desperately rooting their phones and trying to overclock them to the point of the CPU burning out, just so that they can upload fraudulent results to the test sites, which is exactly what some of them have been doing lately. [/quote] I particularly enjoyed that video at about 5:08 where he refers to the S III's case as "cheap plastic."