HTC U Ultra review: All that glitters

Performance

With a shortage of new Snapdragons, most companies opted for the Snapdragon 821 for their flagship. The HTC U Ultra is one of those phones, along the likes of LG G6, Xperia XZs and a few others.

The 821 is a solid chip, but it provides only a minor advantage over the 820, which powered early 2016 flagships. But again, HTC is not alone in this, only companies with their own chipset manufacturing arms can sidestep Qualcomm's supply issues.

And those companies - Apple, Samsung, Huawei - top the charts in Geekbench 4, both single and multi-core, as well as Basemark OS 2.0.

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei Mate 9
  6112
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  5664
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  5645
• HTC U Ultra
  4201
• Google Pixel XL
  4152
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  4142
• ZTE Axon 7
  3990
• LG V20
  3824
• HTC 10 Evo
  3354

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3473
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  1911
• Huawei Mate 9
  1898
• ZTE Axon 7
  1702
• HTC U Ultra
  1647
• LG V20
  1576
• Google Pixel XL
  1507
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  1467
• HTC 10 Evo
  1109

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3796
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  2670
• Huawei Mate 9
  2637
• ZTE Axon 7
  2346
• Google Pixel XL
  2281
• HTC U Ultra
  2222
• LG V20
  2159
• HTC 10 Evo
  1913

What's Snapdragon 821 and what makes it different from the 820, anyway? Glad you asked. Both are based on Qualcomm's custom Kryo cores, four of them grouped in pairs in a big.LITTLE setup. In Snapdragon 821, the cores have improvements that allow them to stay at full throttle longer.

It's important to note that there are two variants of the 821 chip. The one marked AB, that is the one used by the HTC U Ultra and Google Pixel XL, runs at the same clock speed as the older Snapdragon 820 with the goal of providing longer battery life without any compromises with the S820-level performance. The non-AB version has a 0.2GHz boost to the two "big" cores and a small bump to GPU speed with the goal of providing improved performance while keeping the S820-level battery life.

For those reasons, the older Snapdragon 820 inside the LG V20 can be competitive in AnTuTu 6. However, in this test, the HTC U Ultra way outperforms the Huawei Mate 9, which uses the Kirin 960 chipset. It uses Cortex-A73 cores, which serve as the basis for the new Kryo cores found in the Snapdragon 835 chipset.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  173110
• LG V20
  141945
• Google Pixel XL
  141186
• HTC U Ultra
  139750
• ZTE Axon 7
  129926
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  129629
• Huawei Mate 9
  122826
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  113397
• HTC 10 Evo
  82841

Without the GPU speed boost, we expect the U Ultra to show a similar 3D performance as S820 phones. However, on a few occasions, it even lagged behind a touch.

Offscreen tests show raw performance and here the HTC U Ultra often came behind Snapdragon 820 phones like the LG V20 or the ZTE Axon 7. Even the S821 AB chip in the Pixel XL managed to get ahead.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  60
• Google Pixel XL
  47
• HTC U Ultra
  41
• LG V20
  40
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  38
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  37
• Huawei Mate 9
  30
• HTC 10 Evo
  27
• ZTE Axon 7
  15

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  39
• Google Pixel XL
  32
• ZTE Axon 7
  31
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  29
• LG V20
  29
• HTC U Ultra
  27
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  25
• Huawei Mate 9
  22
• HTC 10 Evo
  20

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

• LG V20
  20
• Google Pixel XL
  19
• HTC U Ultra
  18
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  16
• ZTE Axon 7
  15
• Huawei Mate 9
  13
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  13
• HTC 10 Evo
  12

On-screen performance can vary, you can use the Boost+ app to reduce the resolution for troublesome games and have them run much faster.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  56
• Google Pixel XL
  30
• Huawei Mate 9
  28
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  27
• LG V20
  25
• HTC U Ultra
  24
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  23
• HTC 10 Evo
  16
• ZTE Axon 7
  12

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  42
• Huawei Mate 9
  23
• LG V20
  17
• Google Pixel XL
  17
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  15
• ZTE Axon 7
  15
• HTC U Ultra
  13
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  13
• HTC 10 Evo
  11

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• ZTE Axon 7
  16
• Huawei Mate 9
  14
• LG V20
  12
• Google Pixel XL
  11
• HTC U Ultra
  10
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  8.3
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  7
• HTC 10 Evo
  6.9

Basemark X thinks highly of the HTC U Ultra, while the Basemark ES 3.1 is not particularly impressed. This goes to show you that the game's engine can have a great impact on performance.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Huawei Mate 9
  36519
• HTC U Ultra
  35875
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  32609
• ZTE Axon 7
  32243
• Google Pixel XL
  30861
• LG V20
  29385
• HTC 10 Evo
  28736
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  23513

Basemark X (medium)

Higher is better

• HTC U Ultra
  41006
• HTC 10 Evo
  39283
• ZTE Axon 7
  38812
• Google Pixel XL
  34679
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  28038

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  1517
• Huawei Mate 9
  794
• Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos)
  680
• Meizu Pro 6 Plus
  642
• Google Pixel XL
  626
• ZTE Axon 7
  606
• HTC U Ultra
  582
• LG V20
  526
• HTC 10 Evo
  520

The HTC U Ultra is definitely fast enough to serve its flagship duties, though it is not the fastest phone you can buy currently (let alone in the next couple of months). We are at least grateful that HTC didn't pull another 10 evo and resurrect an outdated chipset. Still, for the price that HTC is charging, we think it could have went up to the faster version of Snapdragon 821.