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This could be the fastest Android phone at the moment

By Alan Friedman

Published: Dec 15, 2022, 4:13 PM

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Android

Thanks to Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, we are going to see faster Android phones throughout the rest of this year and into 2023. The component will be produced by TSMC (with one exception that we will discuss later) using its 4nm process node and the foundry says that the new silicon will be 35% faster and 40% more energy-efficient than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. As the process node shrinks, smaller transistors are used on a chip allowing more of them to be placed inside for more powerful and less battery-draining performance.

Based on its AnTuTu score, the iQOO 11 5G could be the fastest Android handset around

One of the new Android phones powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset is the iQOO 11 5G. Already released in China, the handset is coming to India, the world's second-largest smartphone market early next month according to MySmartPrice. Not only will this be the first handset in India to be equipped with the new Qualcomm application processor but it also could be the fastest Android phone available.

Could the iQOO 11 5G be the fastest Android phone on the planet?

One way to determine how fast a phone is when compared to other models is to run benchmark tests. One such app that does this is AnTuTu although the benchmarking app was removed from the Google Play Store back in 2020 because Cheetah Mobile violated Play Store policies. While Cheetah Mobile isn't the owner of AnTuTu, it is an investor in the platform; still, AnTuTu says that it runs independently of Cheetah.

Even though AnTuTu is no longer available to install from the Play Store, there still is a way to install it on an Android phone. And perhaps that is how an unnamed source was able to provide MySmartPrice with the score for the iQOO 11 5G. The source turned over a screenshot showing that the phone tallied a score of 1,323,820. That includes a score of 270,987 for the CPU test and 607,822 for the GPU test. AnTuTu also awarded the phone 244,782 points for memory and 200,229 points for user experience.

Besides being equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the iQOO 11 5G has UFS 4.0 storage and LPDDR5X RAM.

The iQOO 11 5G beats out some very high-scoring gaming phones

Among the phones that the iQOO 11 5G has topped on AnTuTu are the ROG Phone 6 and the ROG Phone 6 Pro. Those two gaming handsets scored 1,117,968 and 1,110,082 on AnTuTu respectively with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC under their hoods. Other high-scoring models topped by the iQOO phone include the Asus Zenfone 9, Xiaomi Mi 12T Pro, and the Nubia Red Magic 7 Pro.

So based on the numbers, the iQOO 11 5G is the highest scoring and possibly the fastest Android phone in existence; that is, for the moment anyway. AnTuTu scores are changing all the time as new models and faster chips are released. Back in 2017, AnTuTu revealed that the top-scoring Android phone was the OnePlus 3T with a score of 163,013. The top-scoring phone overall was the iPhone 7 Plus with a score of 181,316.

Some Android manufacturers used to have a habit of gaming the system which would add a few points to their benchmark scores. So while we can't use benchmark apps to give us the definitive word, they still might be useful as conversation starters in the same vein as two sports fans might discuss whether Aaron Judge is the real single-season Home Run record holder.

Now to clear up a loose end, we told you that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is being manufactured by TSMC using its 4nm process node. Samsung is using an overclocked version of the chip for the upcoming Galaxy S23 flagship line. Those chipsets will be produced by Samsung's own foundry using its 4nm process node. The high-performance Cortex X-3 on the TSMC version of the chip will run at a 3.2GHz clock speed. On the Samsung-made chip, that same high-performance core will be overclocked at 3.32GHz.

By the way, the iQOO brand is owned by China's secretive BBK Electronics. That is the same company that owns Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, and Realme.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.