Game performance test: iPhone 6 beats Galaxy S6

Comparative testing by game review company GameBench shows that on a range of basic performance, Apple's iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which were launched last fall, beat the top Android flagships released this year. Although they sometimes have an advantage in pixel resolution, the Android devices are not only slower, but also have inferior picture quality.

Back in April this year, AppleInsider conducted a detailed comparison of the image performance of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus with Samsung's Galaxy S5, S6 and Note 4.

Shortly afterwards, game testing company GameBench evaluated video games running on the iPhone 6 and Galaxy S6, as well as Google's Nexus 6 and HTC One M9, measuring the median frames per second (FPS) while running different types of games developed by multiple developers.

Overall, the tests showed that Apple's iPhone 6 performed best in terms of median FPS and the lowest FPS achieved during the test. It also achieved the best performance in terms of FPS stability, which is a measure of how well a device can sustain high-performance gaming.

The company's full report also details that "iPhone games use only about a quarter of the RAM of the Android games we tested."

Our tests found that iOS devices not only outperform competing Android devices, but also use less RAM and lower CPU frequencies. Being faster while using fewer hardware resources suggests that Apple's iOS software (along with third-party apps on the platform) performs better.

Screen resolution comparison

Android fans often hastily blame poor graphics performance on the higher-resolution screens used in many Android phones, and that's only partly true: as we've often said before, Samsung uses extremely high-resolution screens - paired with relatively weak processors, which is why its high-end devices perform more like basic devices, even though the Galaxy S6 retails for more than the iPhone 6.

However, to work around the engineering flaw of too many pixels without enough GPU horsepower to match, many game developers scaled down Android graphics to the point where games looked no better, or sometimes even worse, and were slower overall, as GameBench noted in its latest report comparing the performance of the iPhone 6 Plus and Galaxy S6.

"Does the Galaxy S6 offer a noticeably higher resolution during gaming? From what we can tell, it generally doesn't upscale games from 1080p or 720p to the next level, and this new level really left us testers underwhelmed."

GameBench's tests show that the same game can perform differently on iOS and Android, depending on how well their code is optimized and whether the developer chooses to set a maximum frame rate (which limits quality but improves the game's frame rate stability), as well as the level of graphics quality the developer sets for the game's genre.

For example, GameBench found that while Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas seemed to run at similar frame rates and resolutions on the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, and Android, the same was not true for the Samsung, which was "faster but weighed down by its higher screen resolution."

On the contrary, in order to achieve performance compatible with iOS, the picture quality is compromised on Android, as can be seen from the following comparison screenshots detected by GameBench:

Game running smooth experience comparison

The test also found that in the two racing games, Asphalt 8 and Real Racing, the former seemed to set the maximum frame rate of both the iPhone 6 and Galaxy S6 to 30 FPS, allowing the HTC One M9 to achieve a higher frame rate in the first game, even if it maintained a less continuous stability. The research report pointed out that "Nexus 6 had the worst smooth experience, and the frame rate drops occurred very frequently and seriously."

The second racing game also capped the iPhone's frame rate at 30 FPS, but allowed all three Android phones to achieve an uncapped frame rate. This resulted in the game's smoothness and continuity being compromised on the iPhone 6, while the other three phones would occasionally hit the maximum frame rate, but at the expense of smoothness.

For the zombie shooter Dead Trigger 2, GameBench reported that the developer had not set a maximum frame rate for iOS, which resulted in "an extremely smooth experience on the iPhone 6, almost console-like, and otherworldly," while the Galaxy S6 maxed out at 30 FPS. The HTC One and Nexus 6 performed even worse, despite setting similar frame rates.

Another shooter, KIll Shot, had its maximum frame rate set on the iPhone 6 but not on Android, resulting in higher frame rates on the Android device, but lower frame rate stability. Conversely, Modern Combat 5 had its maximum frame rate set on Android devices but not on iOS, resulting in "the iPhone 6 being able to get 60 FPS, creating a very smooth and console-like experience. The game looks absolutely incredible."

Despite having a 30 FPS max, which should help it achieve better frame rate stability, the Galaxy S6 ranked "second, partly due to two large frame rate drops."

GameBench noted that XCOM: Enemy Within, a turn-based war strategy game that is "a mobile port of a full-scale PC game," ran "at a very stable 30 FPS on the iPhone 6, with only occasional dips to 18 FPS," but conversely, Samsung's Galaxy S6 struggled.

These game tests show the difference between iOS and Android. The reason why games run better on iPhone is often that developers have spent more time adapting these games to iOS, and applications on this platform can make them more money. GameBench also analyzed a highly optimized game, Boom Beach, which can run at a high frame rate across the board. This shows that part of the problem with Android games is that not many games are truly optimized for Android.

All in all, GameBench concluded, "Our testing found the iPhone 6 to be in the lead, as the iPhone 6 delivered a 10% smoother experience than the Galaxy S6 across 10 high-end games."

Samsung's stumbles will further weaken Android gaming prospects

While Apple's iPhone 6 outperforms Samsung's fastest Android phones, it's worth noting that Apple's low-cost iPhone 5s, which came out in 2013, combines 64-bit performance with a lower screen resolution to run top games smoothly, something that the next-best Android devices, including the Nexus 6, still cost quite a bit more in the Android universe.

In fact, HTC's decline and LG's poor performance, combined with disappointing sales of the Galaxy S6 this year, mean that high-end Android phones are losing market share faster than Android phones overall. This means that developers who want to bring their games to both iOS and Android platforms have to target the larger population of low-end Android products, resulting in fewer optimizations for the small number of high-end Android devices that require 64-bit CPUs and advanced GPU support.

Google is desperate to push Android to the "next billion" users, few of whom will buy Samsung's most expensive gadgets. That means there's little hope that Android will become the leading gaming platform many expect it to be. A string of failed Android video game systems, including Google's own Android TV, will also fail to attract serious game development for Android.

Samsung's device, despite being newer and ostensibly packing improved hardware (including faster speeds and more RAM), fares slightly worse than the iPhone 6, which may help explain why the company was in a hurry to get its next Note 4 out before Apple's iPhone 6s and 6s Plus.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.