Why benchmarks are more important than you think

If you’ve spent even a small amount of time reading about smartphones, you’ve probably seen various benchmark apps being mentioned and scores from different phones being compared. My goal today is not to explain how each benchmark works, but rather why it’s important to have such test results at our disposal.

Benchmark scores often start heated debates since they give a numeric value which objectively (ideally) shows how much better one phone performed than another. And with brands and models usually having their fair share of supporters, you often hear fans defending the “losing” phone by saying things such as “benchmarks don’t translate to real-world use” or something similar. And while this is somewhat true, despite benchmark apps like AnTuTu trying to make their tests as real-world-like as possible, it doesn’t make the results meaningless.

Real-world use is impossible to simulate consistently enough between phones without using preprogrammed software. So unless you want to add the variable that is a human, you’re stuck with a synthetic load. But that’s not a bad thing. Without tests that put chips to the absolute limit, how will we be able to tell which one performs better? If the test is somehow limited to a point where performance gains become unnoticeable for humans during use, then we’ll have 20+ phones with the equal top, what’s the point of that? It’s like capping top speed tests for cars at 100mph because no one should drive faster anyway.

The fight for bragging rights

Performance tests have always been for enthusiasts and finding out where a machine’s limit is. No one goes to a carrier’s store to ask the customer service representative about AnTuTu scores before choosing between a Samsung or an LG smartphone.

But people can make a competition out of anything and smartphones are no exception. Once companies noticed people are paying attention to benchmarks, the race was on. Finally, they could show in plain numbers how much better their device was. AnTuTu and Geekbench scores became the mobile equivalent of a lap time around the Nurburgring.