So, it’s finally time. We finally have with us the three big flagship Android phones of 2014- the HTC One (M8), the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the Sony Xperia Z2 (the only one missing is the LG G3 that’s expected by the end of this month). Now, while the detailed reviews of all three phones are on their way, we thought we’d do a quick performance comparison of the three phones with the help of some popular synthetic benchmarks, to get a general idea of where each phone stands in terms of performance as compared to the others.
We ran four benchmarks- Quadrant Standard, Antutu X, Smartbench 2012 and 3DMark on the three phones. Now, we must make it a point to tell you that you should look at these numbers only to get a very, very general idea of the performance of the three phones. The phone manufacturers are known to tweak their devices to make them run better in certain benchmarks.
Anyway, before we get to the actual benchmarks, let’s take a quick look at the important specifications of each smartphone.
The HTC One M8 runs on Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) and is powered by a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, Adreno 330 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It has a 2600 mAh battery, dual 4MP cameras and a 5-inch full HD Super LCD3 display.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 also runs on Android 4.4.2 and the variant being sold in India sports a 1.9 1.3GHz Exynos 5 octa-core processor, a Mali-T628 MP6 GPU and 2GB of RAM. It is powered by a 2800 mAh battery and has a 16MP camera and 5.1-inch full HD Super AMOLED display.
Finally, the Sony Xperia Z2 is powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB of RAM. Like the above two, it also runs on Android 4.4.2 and sports a 5.2-in full HD IPS display. It also sports a 20.7MP camera and a 3200 mAh battery.
Right then, let’s look at the benchmark scores posted by the three phones.
| Benchmark | Samsung Galaxy S5 | Sony Xperia Z2 | HTC One (M8) |
| Quadrant Standard | 24470 | 17816 | 25773 |
| Smartbench 2012 (Productivity) | 6145 | 7210 | 9873 |
| 3D Mark Unlimited | 13032 | 18383 | 17925 |
| Antutu X | 37047 | 33429 | 34940 |
The table clearly shows that although the HTC One M8 scores the best in two of the four benchmarks, it does not emerge as the unequivocal champion. The Sony Xperia Z2 takes third place in three benchmarks but also scores the highest in 3DMark, that points towards good gaming performance. The Samsung Galaxy S5 gets the top spot in Antutu but lags behind the One M8 and the Xperia Z2 in the other three benchmarks.
However, if we were to look at these benchmark numbers in isolation (which we really, really shouldn’t), then the HTC One M8 looks like the best performing phone. But really, you should wait for our reviews to find out accurately which of the flagship phones is actually the best performer and the best one to buy. (By the way, our reviews of the Sony Xperia Z2 and the Samsung Galaxy S5 are already live).