Benchmark your PC today

As a lifelong gamer, 3D performance (and by "3D" I mean polygonal, not stereoscopic) in tablets is something of particular interest to me. Over the last couple of years, I've watched mobile devices increase in performance, getting closer and closer to the capabilities of PCs and consoles. Judging by their performance histories, tablet and smartphone 3D performance is likely to exponentially increase over the next few years and we may soon be carrying around devices that are as powerful as an Xbox (or more powerful) right in our pockets.

Futuremark's latest version of its long-running benchmark series, 3DMark is now available for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Android (version minimum). The company is planning to release versions for iOS and Windows RT as well. The Android version was released to the press last week and I've had a little time to run it on a few of Android's fastest devices.

What is it?
3DMark's mobile platform test is called Ice Storm and depicts a sci-fi spaceship battle over an ice planet. The 3DMark score is derived from the results of three different tests: two graphics tests made to stress the system's GPU and one physics test focusing on CPU performance. The tests can be run at both 1,xpixel resolution with normal textture and post-processing (partical effects, etc.) or at 1,x1, with higher quality textures and post-processing effects. The images are then scaled to the device's native resolution.

Graphics Tests 1 is an overall triangle throughput test that throws an average of , vertices into the average frame, equally about , triangles and million pixels rendered per frame. Graphics Test 2 focuses on pixel processing, and includes many more post-processing effects like particles, blurring, and high dynamic range. The test renders million pixels per frame, but only 75, vertices are displayed per frame.

During Physics Test 1, GPU load is kept to a minimum as the CPU is focused on making physics calculations. While the results from the graphics tests provide a good indication as to how well 3D games will perform, the physics test is better indicator of overall system performance.

Scoring
The 3DMark score is not a unit of measure, but is instead derived using a weighted harmonic mean from both the graphics physics scores combined, with a higher score indicating faster performance and higher frame rates.

I also threw in a gaming laptop just to give you an idea of how far mobile GPUs have to go before they get anywhere near matching what's currently available on higher end platforms. Currently, there's no Extreme version of the test on PC.

As you can see from the devices' relative performance, Nvidia's Tegra 3 is getting a bit long in the tooth. Not a bad showing, but one that will continue to be overshadowed by newer processors from Qualcomm and Samsung, until Tegra 4 with its ridiculously bountiful core GPU makes its debut.

Also of note (heh) is the Samsung Exynos 4 Quad () in the Note While the Note 's Mali TMP4 can't keep up with the higher end GPU's, the Exynos 4 Quad's CPU performance ranks as one of the fastest on the list. Its impressive performance indicates that for non-graphically intensive tasks (for example, quickly and accurately interpreting signals from the S Pen sylus), it's more than up to the challenge.

While I'd love to start using 3DMark as an official benchmark for tablets and smartphones, more testing will first need to take place. Certain smartphones will throttle their processor speeds if things get too hot internally, lowering overall performance. And there's nothing like a 3D game to get a processor revved up. This unfortunately leads to inconsistent scores. There are ways around this (refrigeration and surrounding the device with frozen fruit packages have been suggested), but until I can figure out a method I'm comfortable with, I won't yet promise you'll see scores for every tablet or smartphone review.

If I do decide that 3DMark is a useful enough test for reviews, expect a much larger and comprehensive post in the future. One detailing the graphics and physics test results of every tablet and smartphone that both make sense to test and that I of course still have access to.

3DMark is now available for Android (or above), Windows 7, and Windows 8. Look for a Window RT and iOS version soon.

The standard WildLife test is designed to give feedback on how a game performs over a short period of time. With mobile games, people typically play in brief spurts when they find some free time; be it on the bus, on the subway, or a quick battle royale session on your lunch break, but not always.

The 3DMark WildLife Stress Test, on the other hand, shows how a device performs over a longer stretch of time, and takes note of performance degradation that can crop up due to increased heat levels and throttling (which we'll get to a bit later in this article). As UL explains, "Instead of producing a single score, the main result from the stress test is a chart that shows you how the device’s performance changed during the test."

When running on Android devices or Windows PCs, WildLife uses the Vulkan API. On iOS devices (like the iPhone and iPad), WildLife uses Apple's Metal API.

3DMark WildLife Unlimited: Android Phones Vs iPhones - A One-Off Test Run

Given that we make heavy use of 3DMark benchmarks for our smartphone reviews, we decided to take a look at how some smartphones that we have in our lab (both new and old) stack up against each other. The results were somewhat surprising, but we caution you to reserve your opinion and final analysis until you've digested the next segment of our testing efforts here as well. Alas, without further ado

We decided to run WildLife Unlimited, which allows each device to run as fast as it can independent of the given refresh rate thanks to off-screen rendering; the standard WildLife test is capped by the device's refresh rate. What we can clearly see here is that the GPU in Apple's line of iPhones is an absolute performance monster, as it's easily able to dispatch its Android rivals in this short-burst benchmark.

What's remarkable is just how far the divide is between the iPhones and flagship Android devices. To put things in perspective, the iPhone XR, which was at the bottom rung of Apple's flagship smartphone lineup, put up a score of , which is 42 percent faster than the OnePlus 8/8T. The iPhone XR’s performance was also 27 percent faster than the mighty ASUS ROG Phone 3 in X-Mode.

The iPhone 11 Pro, Apple's flagship device, really threw down the gauntlet with a score of , more than doubling the performance that the OnePlus 8/OnePlus 8T could muster, while outpacing the ROG Phone 3 (X-Mode) by 87 percent. The spread could grow even wider with the iPhone 12 family, as recent leaked benchmarks show the A14 Bionic outpacing flagship Android phones by as much as 60 percent in single-threaded synthetic CPU tests. And Apple is claiming up to a 50 percent boost over its Android rivals in GPU benchmarks.

We've reached out to UL Benchmarks with a few questions to better understand the company's new benchmark, how it measures and weights performance, as well as how it utilizes these 3D graphics APIs. 

But there's a LOT more to the picture here than just these performance runs 

WildLife Stress Test Unlimited - iPhone Thermal Performance Degradation Is Dramatic

Where things really get interesting is with the WildLife Stress Test Unlimited, which we alluded to earlier. Since this test take a lot longer to run (20 minutes versus roughly a minute for WildLife Unlimited), we were paying close attention to any performance drop-offs, and this is where the iPhones showed their Achilles heel. 

During its WildLife Stress Test Unlimited run, the iPhone 11 Pro put in a best loop score of , which was of course recorded on its first run. However, once it completed that first run, performance dropped off considerably over the next 19 minutes until 20 runs were completed. By the end, exhausted from thermal throttling, the iPhone 11 Pro put in a final run score of That puts its benchmark stability at percent.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro (L), OnePlus 8 (R) - Stark Contrast

Taking into account the steep drop-off in performance, the iPhone 11 Pro’s lowest benchmark run score was still higher than most of its Android rivals. However, the overachieving ASUS ROG Phone 3 in X-Mode was able to topple the iPhone 11 Pro's worst run and it should be noted that iPhone's performance levels off and stays down at the 4K mark after about the 13 minute mark. Speaking of the Android competition, the OnePlus 8/8T barely encountered any thermal throttling during the minute exercise, posting a benchmark stability rating of over 99 percent. Regardless, the performance picture is completely different in the stress test, and our OnePlus 8 score on its fastest loop is much more on par with the iPhone 11 Pro after just a few runs. Of note is that each run is only about a minute in length, and people usually don't game for just a minute at a time obviously, but likely over several minutes at least. 

Update 10/16/20, PM: iPhone SE ( - A13 Bionic) and iPhone XS Max (A12 Bionic) Stress Tests were added. Note that the sharp drop off continues, regardless of iPhone model. We will also note that we stress tested Samsung's Galaxy S20 Ultra (Snapdragon +) as well, with similar results to our OnePlus 8 results (top right). Almost no performance bleed off occurs with these Android phones and a 99+% stability rating is rendered by the WildLife Stress Test benchmark for the Snapdragon models we tested. 

It appears that Apple is targeting “peak” over “sustained” performance when it comes to the GPU in the A13 or A12 Bionic, while the Adreno GPU in the Snapdragon is a cool as a cucumber no matter the situation in the WildLife Stress Test. Whatever the case, this has been a rather eye-opening first look at 3DMark WildLife, and we’ll be interested in seeing how things pan out once we get an A14 Bionic-equipped Apple device in house, to see how far the lead for iPhones extends and or shrinks with continuous load. The rumored Qualcomm Snapdragon , which could be unveiled as early as December 1^st, will have a lot of ground to makeup if it wants to vie for supremacy in this space, at least when it comes to the top benchmark scores, but perhaps not with respect to performance over time and thermal saturation.

So the question is, how do you game on your smartphone? Do you game for any more than say 10 minutes at a time? If so, make sure you consider how your phone holds up and not just what a one-time benchmark score might show. The picture for the iPhone 11 Pro here got a lot less rosy after a few halo runs. 

If you'd like to try out 3DMark WildLife for yourself, you can grab it here for Android, iOS or Windows PCs.

3DMark for Android includes a comprehensive array of CPU and GPU assays for compatible phones, including Sling Shot and Sling Shot Extreme. Its developer has released a new update, which may make it even more relevant to the software ecosystem in which it works. For a start, this version () confers a bit variant on the app, so as to work effectively with many newer phones.

3DMark also claims that this update fixes some compatibility issues that were in effect between the Sling Shot Extreme test and the ARMMali-G72 and Mali-G76 GPUs. Ironically, however, this may mean that the benchmark scores for thesechipsets will be reduced after running this benchmark compared to earlier reports attained on the same device.

3DMark Android v can now also correct for Huawei Performance Mode. It had been enabled by default any time any newer phone from this OEM detected the opening of a benchmarking app. However, the same company has come to agree that this behavior should be optional. Therefore, 3DMark Android v gives scores for these devices in either performance or default mode.

Finally, this new version of 3DMark for Android has a fix for a few bugs found in Sling Shot and Sling Shot Extreme, and now outputs result-files with a given workload-version number.

Use 3DMark to test the performance of your smartphone or tablet, then see how it compares with other Android and iOS devices. You can even compare your scores with tablets running Windows or Windows RT.

Features

• The world's most popular benchmark, now available on Android
• Compatible with more than 1, different Android devices.
• Run high quality Android benchmark tests.
• Includes Ice Storm test based on OpenGL ES
• Test the latest devices with Ice Storm Extreme.
• Compare scores across Android, iOS and Windows.
• Easy to use, no technical know-how needed.

3DMark is used by millions of people, hundreds of hardware review sites and many of the world's leading technology companies. It's the industry standard benchmark for graphics performance measurement, a professional level diagnostic tool now available to everyone for free!

Ice Storm

Use Ice Storm to test the performance of your Android powered smartphone or tablet. Ice Storm includes two graphics tests designed to stress the graphical (GPU) performance of your device and a physics test to stress its processing (CPU) performance.

Ice Storm Extreme

Designed for the latest smartphones and tablets, Ice Storm Extreme raises the rendering resolution to p and uses higher quality textures and post-processing effects. Ice Storm Extreme will soon be included in the Windows version of 3DMark too, allowing you to compare Android and Windows tablets directly.

What's New

Minor bug fixes and UI improvements.

Improved

*Added the ability to delist devices based on Android version.

Compatibility

• Delisted devices that comply with our benchmark rules after being updated with the official update from Samsung are relisted in the Device Channel.
• Samsung Galaxy S IV: scores are valid when using Android and x or later.
• Samsung Galaxy Note III: scores are valid when using Android or later.

Fixed

• Fixed a bug that prevented downloads on devices set to use Turkish language.

30 k

A powerful benchmark for your Android device

Requirements

• Requires Android or higher

More information

	Package Name	aunds-abbruch.deation
	License	Free
	Op. System	Android

Older versions

Rate this App

Rating

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As a lifelong gamer, 3D performance (and by "3D" I mean polygonal, not stereoscopic) in tablets is something of particular interest to me. Over the last couple of years, I've watched mobile devices increase in performance, getting closer and closer to the capabilities of PCs and consoles. Judging by their performance histories, tablet and smartphone 3D performance is likely to exponentially increase over the next few years and we may soon be carrying around devices that are as powerful as an Xbox (or more powerful) right in our pockets.

Futuremark's latest version of its long-running benchmark series, 3DMark is now available for Windows 7, Windows 8, and Android (version minimum). The company is planning to release versions for iOS and Windows RT as well. The Android version was released to the press last week and I've had a little time to run it on a few of Android's fastest devices.

What is it?
3DMark's mobile platform test is called Ice Storm and depicts a sci-fi spaceship battle over an ice planet. The 3DMark score is derived from the results of three different tests: two graphics tests made to stress the system's GPU and one physics test focusing on CPU performance. The tests can be run at both 1,xpixel resolution with normal textture and post-processing (partical effects, etc.) or at 1,x1, with higher quality textures and post-processing effects. The images are then scaled to the device's native resolution.

Graphics Tests 1 is an overall triangle throughput test that throws an average of , vertices into the average frame, equally about , triangles and million pixels rendered per frame. Graphics Test 2 focuses on pixel processing, and includes many more post-processing effects like particles, blurring, and high dynamic range. The test renders million pixels per frame, but only 75, vertices are displayed per frame.

During Physics Test 1, GPU load is kept to a minimum as the CPU is focused on making physics calculations. While the results from the graphics tests provide a good indication as to how well 3D games will perform, the physics test is better indicator of overall system performance.

Scoring
The 3DMark score is not a unit of measure, but is instead derived using a weighted harmonic mean from both the graphics physics scores combined, with a higher score indicating faster performance and higher frame rates.

I also threw in a gaming laptop just to give you an idea of how far mobile GPUs have to go before they get anywhere near matching what's currently available on higher end platforms. Currently, there's no Extreme version of the test on PC.

As you can see from the devices' relative performance, Nvidia's Tegra 3 is getting a bit long in the tooth. Not a bad showing, but one that will continue to be overshadowed by newer processors from Qualcomm and Samsung, until Tegra 4 with its ridiculously bountiful core GPU makes its debut.

Also of note (heh) is the Samsung Exynos 4 Quad () in the Note While the Note 's Mali TMP4 can't keep up with the higher end GPU's, the Exynos 4 Quad's CPU performance ranks as one of the fastest on the list. Its impressive performance indicates that for non-graphically intensive tasks (for example, quickly and accurately interpreting signals from the S Pen sylus), it's more than up to the challenge.

While I'd love to start using 3DMark as an official benchmark for tablets and smartphones, more testing will first need to take place. Certain smartphones will throttle their processor speeds if things get too hot internally, lowering overall performance. And there's nothing like a 3D game to get a processor revved up. This unfortunately leads to inconsistent scores. There are ways around this (refrigeration and surrounding the device with frozen fruit packages have been suggested), but until I can figure out a method I'm comfortable with, I won't yet promise you'll see scores for every tablet or smartphone review.

If I do decide that 3DMark is a useful enough test for reviews, expect a much larger and comprehensive post in the future. One detailing the graphics and physics test results of every tablet and smartphone that both make sense to test and that I of course still have access to.

3DMark is now available for Android (or above), Windows 7, and Windows 8. Look for a Window RT and iOS version soon.

Use 3DMark to test the performance of your smartphone or tablet, then see how it compares with other Android and iOS devices. You can even compare your scores with tablets running Windows or Windows RT.

Features

• The world's most popular benchmark, now available on Android
• Compatible with more than 1, different Android devices.
• Run high quality Android benchmark tests.
• Includes Ice Storm test based on OpenGL ES
• Test the latest devices with Ice Storm Extreme.
• Compare scores across Android, iOS and Windows.
• Easy to use, no technical know-how needed.

3DMark is used by millions of people, hundreds of hardware review sites and many of the world's leading technology companies. It's the industry standard benchmark for graphics performance measurement, a professional level diagnostic tool now available to everyone for free!

Ice Storm

Use Ice Storm to test the performance of your Android powered smartphone or tablet. Ice Storm includes two graphics tests designed to stress the graphical (GPU) performance of your device and a physics test to stress its processing (CPU) performance.

Ice Storm Extreme

Designed for the latest smartphones and tablets, Ice Storm Extreme raises the rendering resolution to p and uses higher quality textures and post-processing effects. Ice Storm Extreme will soon be included in the Windows version of 3DMark too, allowing you to compare Android and Windows tablets directly.

What's New

Minor bug fixes and UI improvements.

Improved

*Added the ability to delist devices based on Android version.

Compatibility

• Delisted devices that comply with our benchmark rules after being updated with the official update from Samsung are relisted in the Device Channel.
• Samsung Galaxy S IV: scores are valid when using Android and x or later.
• Samsung Galaxy Note III: scores are valid when using Android or later.

Fixed

• Fixed a bug that prevented downloads on devices set to use Turkish language.

3DMark for Android includes a comprehensive array of CPU and GPU assays for compatible phones, including Sling Shot and Sling Shot Extreme. Its developer has released a new update, which may make it even more relevant to the software ecosystem in which it works. For a start, this version () confers a bit variant on the app, so as to work effectively with many newer phones.

3DMark also claims that this update fixes some compatibility issues that were in effect between the Sling Shot Extreme test and the ARMMali-G72 and Mali-G76 GPUs. Ironically, however, this may mean that the benchmark scores for thesechipsets will be reduced after running this benchmark compared to earlier reports attained on the same device.

3DMark Android v can now also correct for Huawei Performance Mode. It had been enabled by default any time any newer phone from this OEM detected the opening of a benchmarking app. However, the same company has come to agree that this behavior should be optional. Therefore, 3DMark Android v gives scores for these devices in either performance or default mode.

Finally, this new version of 3DMark for Android has a fix for a few bugs found in Sling Shot and Sling Shot Extreme, and now outputs result-files with a given workload-version number.

The standard WildLife test is designed to give feedback on how a game performs over a short period of time. With mobile games, people typically play in brief spurts when they find some free time; be it on the bus, on the subway, or a quick battle royale session on your lunch break, but not always.

The 3DMark WildLife Stress Test, on the other hand, shows how a device performs over a longer stretch of time, and takes note of performance degradation that can crop up due to increased heat levels and throttling (which we'll get to a bit later in this article). As UL explains, "Instead of producing a single score, the main result from the stress test is a chart that shows you how the device’s performance changed during the test."

When running on Android devices or Windows PCs, WildLife uses the Vulkan API. On iOS devices (like the iPhone and iPad), WildLife uses Apple's Metal API.

3DMark WildLife Unlimited: Android Phones Vs iPhones - A One-Off Test Run

Given that we make heavy use of 3DMark benchmarks for our smartphone reviews, we decided to take a look at how some smartphones that we have in our lab (both new and old) stack up against each other. The results were somewhat surprising, but we caution you to reserve your opinion and final analysis until you've digested the next segment of our testing efforts here as well. Alas, without further ado

We decided to run WildLife Unlimited, which allows each device to run as fast as it can independent of the given refresh rate thanks to off-screen rendering; the standard WildLife test is capped by the device's refresh rate. What we can clearly see here is that the GPU in Apple's line of iPhones is an absolute performance monster, as it's easily able to dispatch its Android rivals in this short-burst benchmark.

What's remarkable is just how far the divide is between the iPhones and flagship Android devices. To put things in perspective, the iPhone XR, which was at the bottom rung of Apple's flagship smartphone lineup, put up a score of , which is 42 percent faster than the OnePlus 8/8T. The iPhone XR’s performance was also 27 percent faster than the mighty ASUS ROG Phone 3 in X-Mode.

The iPhone 11 Pro, Apple's flagship device, really threw down the gauntlet with a score of , more than doubling the performance that the OnePlus 8/OnePlus 8T could muster, while outpacing the ROG Phone 3 (X-Mode) by 87 percent. The spread could grow even wider with the iPhone 12 family, as recent leaked benchmarks show the A14 Bionic outpacing flagship Android phones by as much as 60 percent in single-threaded synthetic CPU tests. And Apple is claiming up to a 50 percent boost over its Android rivals in GPU benchmarks.

We've reached out to UL Benchmarks with a few questions to better understand the company's new benchmark, how it measures and weights performance, as well as how it utilizes these 3D graphics APIs. 

But there's a LOT more to the picture here than just these performance runs 

WildLife Stress Test Unlimited - iPhone Thermal Performance Degradation Is Dramatic

Where things really get interesting is with the WildLife Stress Test Unlimited, which we alluded to earlier. Since this test take a lot longer to run (20 minutes versus roughly a minute for WildLife Unlimited), we were paying close attention to any performance drop-offs, and this is where the iPhones showed their Achilles heel. 

During its WildLife Stress Test Unlimited run, the iPhone 11 Pro put in a best loop score of , which was of course recorded on its first run. However, once it completed that first run, performance dropped off considerably over the next 19 minutes until 20 runs were completed. By the end, exhausted from thermal throttling, the iPhone 11 Pro put in a final run score of That puts its benchmark stability at percent.

Apple iPhone 11 Pro (L), OnePlus 8 (R) - Stark Contrast

Taking into account the steep drop-off in performance, the iPhone 11 Pro’s lowest benchmark run score was still higher than most of its Android rivals. However, the overachieving ASUS ROG Phone 3 in X-Mode was able to topple the iPhone 11 Pro's worst run and it should be noted that iPhone's performance levels off and stays down at the 4K mark after about the 13 minute mark. Speaking of the Android competition, the OnePlus 8/8T barely encountered any thermal throttling during the minute exercise, posting a benchmark stability rating of over 99 percent. Regardless, the performance picture is completely different in the stress test, and our OnePlus 8 score on its fastest loop is much more on par with the iPhone 11 Pro after just a few runs. Of note is that each run is only about a minute in length, and people usually don't game for just a minute at a time obviously, but likely over several minutes at least. 

Update 10/16/20, PM: iPhone SE ( - A13 Bionic) and iPhone XS Max (A12 Bionic) Stress Tests were added. Note that the sharp drop off continues, regardless of iPhone model. We will also note that we stress tested Samsung's Galaxy S20 Ultra (Snapdragon +) as well, with similar results to our OnePlus 8 results (top right). Almost no performance bleed off occurs with these Android phones and a 99+% stability rating is rendered by the WildLife Stress Test benchmark for the Snapdragon models we tested. 

It appears that Apple is targeting “peak” over “sustained” performance when it comes to the GPU in the A13 or A12 Bionic, while the Adreno GPU in the Snapdragon is a cool as a cucumber no matter the situation in the WildLife Stress Test. Whatever the case, this has been a rather eye-opening first look at 3DMark WildLife, and we’ll be interested in seeing how things pan out once we get an A14 Bionic-equipped Apple device in house, to see how far the lead for iPhones extends and or shrinks with continuous load. The rumored Qualcomm Snapdragon , which could be unveiled as early as December 1^st, will have a lot of ground to makeup if it wants to vie for supremacy in this space, at least when it comes to the top benchmark scores, but perhaps not with respect to performance over time and thermal saturation.

So the question is, how do you game on your smartphone? Do you game for any more than say 10 minutes at a time? If so, make sure you consider how your phone holds up and not just what a one-time benchmark score might show. The picture for the iPhone 11 Pro here got a lot less rosy after a few halo runs. 

If you'd like to try out 3DMark WildLife for yourself, you can grab it here for Android, iOS or Windows PCs.

30 k

A powerful benchmark for your Android device

Requirements

• Requires Android or higher

More information

	Package Name	aunds-abbruch.deation
	License	Free
	Op. System	Android

Older versions

Rate this App

Rating

Similar to 3DMark

Xender

Transfer files and share apps

Google PLAY

The best place to buy movies, books and apps for Android

Secure VPN

Browse the Internet privately and anonymously

ArgoVPN

Access any website without restrictions

Discover Tools apps

Cast Videos

Cast videos, music, and photos to any device