LG G3 vs Samsung Galaxy S5: South Korean derby

South Korean derby

GSMArena team, 18 June 2014.

Performance

In our review of the LG G3, we were left unimpressed by the underperforming Qualcomm MSM8975AC Snapdragon 801 chipset. Our Korean model G3 showed lower numbers when compared to other flagships, which could have been due to unfinalized hardware.

Now we've retested with the LG-D855 model available in Europe and other regions, which should hopefully reflect a more finalized build than the one launched for the Korean market, despite having less RAM (our 16GB model comes with 2GB of RAM).

The Galaxy S5 also comes with a Snapdragon 801 processor, except that it's of the Qualcomm MSM8974AC variety. It's also clocked in at 2.5GHz with four Krait 400 cores alongside an Adreno 330 GPU, so we're expecting similar performance across both devices - except when it comes to graphics benchmarks. In this latter case, the LG G3 has way more pixels to push out than its competition, so we're expecting slightly lower numbers due to the QHD screen.

When it comes to CPU performance, the European LG G3 again underperforms like its Korean version. Using Basemark OS II we see that Samsung's lead narrows.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

  • Oppo Find 7a
    3093
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    3011
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    2856
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    2687
  • LG G Pro 2
    2585
  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    2563
  • HTC One (M8)
    2367

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    1151
  • LG G Pro 2
    1140
  • HTC One (M8)
    1126
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    1082
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    1080
  • Oppo Find 7a
    1057
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    945

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

  • Oppo Find 7a
    2580
  • HTC One (M8)
    2428
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    2415
  • LG G Pro 2
    2401
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    2253
  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    2137
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    1787

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

  • Oppo Find 7a
    10256
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    10063
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    10044
  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    9937
  • HTC One (M8)
    9860
  • LG G Pro 2
    9802
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    8337

AnTuTu 4 tests the entire system - CPU and GPU, but also RAM and storage. The LG G3 managed to better its score compared to the Korean version, and falls in more closely to other current flagships.

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8)
    37009
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    36018
  • Oppo Find 7a
    33344
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    33182
  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    32780
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    30482
  • LG G Pro 2
    29603

Graphics benchmarks was where we expected the G3 to struggle more compared to other flagships, but again it surprises by coming in very close to the competition. The only real area where it struggled was in the onscreen Manhattan test, where the high screen resolution and the high-quality rendered graphics account for what seems to be a relatively poor performance.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8)
    28.4
  • Oppo Find 7a
    28.4
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    27.8
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    27.6
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    27.2
  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    27.2
  • LG G Pro 2
    22.9

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8)
    30.1
  • Oppo Find 7a
    28.8
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    28.7
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    28.1
  • LG G Pro 2
    24.1
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    20.6
  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    20.5

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    11.9
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    11.8
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    11.7
  • Oppo Find 7a
    11.4
  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    11.4
  • HTC One (M8)
    11.1
  • LG G Pro 2
    8.7

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

  • Sony Xperia Z2
    12.2
  • HTC One (M8)
    11.9
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    11.7
  • Oppo Find 7a
    11.4
  • LG G Pro 2
    9.2
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    7.4
  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    7.2

Real world graphics can be measured more effectively using the benchmark feature of Epic Citadel. Here, the device is forced to run in native 1440p resolution with Ultra graphics quality, where despite scoring below other flagships, it's still able to achieve a respectable score of 43.2 fps.

Epic Citadel (Ultra)

Higher is better

  • HTC One (M8)
    59
  • Oppo Find 7a
    57.7
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    53.7
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    52.6
  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    43.2
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    42.9

Both browsers offer a mobile version of Google's Chrome browser, as well as their own takes on the stock Android browser. We saw some markedly better results from the EU version of the G3 here, giving the Galaxy S5 a bit more of a run for its money.

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    1474
  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    1398
  • LG G Pro 2
    1346
  • Oppo Find 7a
    1327
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    1254
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    1224
  • HTC One (M8)
    1069

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

  • Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
    6043
  • LG G Pro 2
    6578
  • Oppo Find 7a
    6660
  • LG G3 16GB (2GB RAM, int'l)
    6987
  • Sony Xperia Z2
    7041
  • LG G3 32GB (3GB RAM, Korean)
    7610
  • HTC One (M8)
    10296

Winner: Samsung Galaxy S5. While the numbers are close, the G3 falls below other flagships in all our tests, even after getting a more finalized European version. Either the QHD screen really takes a toll in all aspects of performance, or LG are having a hard time with this particular iteration of Snapdragon 801.

Also, it's worth noting that the LG G3 has some serious overheating issues, and that the quoted benchmark numbers dropped significantly after just a few minutes of active benchmarking.

Reader comments

  • Anonymous
  • 17 Jun 2021
  • L2Q

why lg g3 is a good phone right

  • Anonymous
  • 02 Mar 2020
  • 2Au

hey ferdie are you the one who killed betty?

  • Fenty
  • 05 Sep 2019
  • ptu

We are in the middle of 2019 and i missed those years and days. everything was better and cooler and mor loveable than now. 💔