Galaxy S23 Ultra benchmarks suggest Android flagship parity

Initial CPU benchmarks for the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra have hit the internet, suggesting that its own chip might not offer such a huge boost.

Ahead of the launch of the Galaxy S23 Ultra, a lot has been made of a custom “Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy” chip that will be used in Samsung’s new line of phones. This redesigned component will reportedly be faster than other 2023 Android flagships powered by the out-of-the-box Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.

Now that the final hardware is in the hands of the reviewers, initial Galaxy S23 Ultra benchmarks are starting to come in. Based on Geekbench 5 scores provided by CompareDial at least the Galaxy S23 Ultra doesn’t offer a performance advantage.

Indeed, with a multi-core score of 4584, the Galaxy S23 Ultra falls a bit short of other Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phones we’ve tested. Personally, I overclocked iQOO 11 to 4855 and OnePlus 11 to 4867.

In terms of single-core computing, the Galaxy S23 Ultra scored 1480, roughly on par with the iQOO 11 (1462), but ahead of the OnePlus 11 at 1159.

Ultimately, the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s processor appears to be broadly on par with other flagship Android phones powered by a simple Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Meanwhile, all Android flagships lag far behind the iPhone 14 Pro Max in terms of processor, with its the only processor. The 1872 core score and the 5264 multi-core score blew everyone away.

That’s not to say that Samsung’s deal with Qualcomm didn’t offer other benefits, but they are more likely related to Samsung’s specific setup and don’t offer any great performance headroom over the competition.

Of course, benchmarks should never be the basis of any buying decision. For a more complete review, you’ll need to wait for our final Galaxy S23 Ultra review. Stay with us on this front.