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The Snapdragon 805 handily bests the competition

We got a chance to test out Qualcomm's Snapdragon 805 processor. Here's why it's the fastest CPU/GPU combo yet.

Eric Franklin Former Editorial Director
Eric Franklin led the CNET Tech team as Editorial Director. A 20-plus-year industry veteran, Eric began his tech journey testing computers in the CNET Labs. When not at work he can usually be found at the gym, chauffeuring his kids around town, or absorbing every motivational book he can get his hands on.
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Eric Franklin

manhattan.jpg
GFXBench 3.0's Manhattan demo is one of the most demanding benchmarks for mobile devices. Kishonti

It's been a while since we've seen a mobile processor make a significant jump in performance over previous efforts. Both the Tegra 4 and Snapdragon 800 leapfrogged the competition in 2013, and now it's time for the next evolution.

I got a chance to test out Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 805 processor, and while it easily beats every ARM CPU/GPU combo before it, it's not orders of magnitude faster than its predecessors. Check out the charts and analysis below, and look for future coverage of the 805 later this year once it actually starts arriving in devices.

Comparison devices

Device ChipsetCPUGPU
HTC One M8 Qualcomm Snapdragon 801Krait 400Adreno 330
Samsung Galaxy S5 Qualcomm Snapdragon 801Krait 400Adreno 330
Apple iPhone 5s Apple A71.3GHz dual-corePowerVR G6430
Qualcomm reference tablet Qualcomm Snapdragon 805Krait 450Adreno 420

Graphics performance (GFXBench 3.0)

Qualcomm reference tablet 17.4Samsung Galaxy S5 11.9HTC One M8 11.7Apple iPhone 5s 10.9
Note: In frames per second; longer bars indicate faster performance

Graphics performance 2 (Manhattan)

Qualcomm reference tablet 40.4Samsung Galaxy S5 28.5HTC One M8 27.7Apple iPhone 5s 26.1
Note: In frames per second; longer bars indicate faster performance

The 3DMark benchmark running at 720p and 1080p easily maxed out on all the devices I tested, making its usefulness as a comparison tool limited. 3DMark Unlimited unfortunately runs at the test device's native resolution, making a one-to-one comparison between Qualcomm's reference tablet -- with a high 2,560x1,440 screen resolution -- and the 1080p phones on the list impossible.

Instead, GFXBench 3.0 made for a much more relevant benchmark, since it pushes devices harder while running them all at 1080p.

As you can see from the results above, the 805 has at least a five frames-per-second advantage over its nearest competitor, the Snapdragon 800. And that's on the more-demanding Manhattan benchmark. On the more forgiving T-Rex test, the advantage is even greater.

Qualcomm still plans to release its 64-bit 808 and 810 early next year, but for right now, the 805 is king.