Samsung Galaxy Note10 review

Synthetic benchmarks

The Galaxy Note10 is available in two different hardware configurations depending on region. Some markets get the Snapdragon 855 SoC, but in our neck of the woods it's the version with Samsung's in-house Exynos 9825 chipset. The extra 5 on top of the Galaxy S10's Exynos 9820 means a 7nm manufacturing process to match the Snapdragon's and marginally increased clock speeds here and there, but not a ton of difference as we saw while testing the Note10+.

The CPU configuration goes like this - 2 oversized custom Mongoose M4 cores, clocked at 2.73GHz (so same as in the E9820), 2 standard Cortex-A75 cores at 2.4GHz (vs. 2.31GHz on the old model), and 4 Cortex-A55s listed at 1.95GHz. The GPU has also been tweaked but Samsung doesn't disclose clock speeds. The Note10 is only available with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS3.0 storage - if for whatever reason you want 12GB of RAM, you'd need to look at the Note10+, which can also be had with 512GB of onboard memory.

The increased clock speeds result in a minor bump in multi-core CPU benchmarks compared to the S10 and virtually no difference under single-core loads. Single-core performance is still far and away the best in the Android world and only a little behind last year's iPhone (new one on the way). Snapdragon 855 devices still have a slight advantage in multi-core performance.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS
  11472
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  11181
• Lenovo Z6 Pro
  11155
• Sony Xperia 1
  10985
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  10943
• Asus Zenfone 6
  10721
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  10684
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  10403
• Oppo Reno 10x zoom
  10395
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  10353
• Samsung Galaxy S10
  10174
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  10014
• Huawei P30 Pro
  9649

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS
  4823
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  4544
• Samsung Galaxy S10
  4543
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  4541
• Asus Zenfone 6
  3505
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  3503
• Lenovo Z6 Pro
  3479
• Sony Xperia 1
  3447
• Oppo Reno 10x zoom
  3424
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  3402
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  3323
• Huawei P30 Pro
  3270
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  3000

Over in Antutu, there's a marginally more noticeable improvement - we gather it's the combined effect of the higher clocks and the faster UFS3.0 storage (S10 is on UFS2.1). Once again, the Snapdragon competition is ever so slightly ahead.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9
  372006
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  368846
• Oppo Reno 10x zoom
  364220
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  364025
• Asus Zenfone 6
  361679
• Lenovo Z6 Pro
  357672
• Sony Xperia 1
  356734
• Apple iPhone XS
  346379
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  344442
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  342208
• Samsung Galaxy S10
  328366
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  316156
• Huawei P30 Pro
  290189

In graphics benchmarks, the Note10 shows a notable advantage against its big brother in onscreen tests thanks to its lower resolution. Oddly enough, it can't quite match the Plus' performance in offscreen tests, which we can't quite pinpoint the reason for. The Adrenos of this world still do have the uppoer hand in most gaming applications.

3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited

Higher is better

• Lenovo Z6 Pro
  6351
• Asus Zenfone 6
  6263
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  6093
• Oppo Reno 10x zoom
  6052
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  5816
• Sony Xperia 1
  5792
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  5287
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  5269
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  4850
• Samsung Galaxy S10
  4550
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  4315
• Huawei P30 Pro
  3522

3DMark SSE Vulkan

Higher is better

• Lenovo Z6 Pro
  5018
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  4862
• Oppo Reno 10x zoom
  4840
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  4833
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  4763
• Sony Xperia 1
  4505
• Samsung Galaxy S10
  4238
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  4231
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  4068
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  3973

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS
  98
• Asus Zenfone 6
  71
• Sony Xperia 1
  71
• Lenovo Z6 Pro
  71
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  71
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  70
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  68
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  68
• Samsung Galaxy S10
  68
• Oppo Reno 10x zoom
  67
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  59
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  56
• Huawei P30 Pro
  54

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS
  60
• Asus Zenfone 6
  57
• Oppo Reno 10x zoom
  57
• Lenovo Z6 Pro
  57
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  57
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  56
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  55
• Sony Xperia 1
  55
• Huawei P30 Pro
  50
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  50
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  38
• Samsung Galaxy S10
  37
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  33

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS
  60
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  43
• Samsung Galaxy S10
  43
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  42
• Asus Zenfone 6
  42
• Sony Xperia 1
  42
• Lenovo Z6 Pro
  42
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  42
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  41
• Oppo Reno 10x zoom
  40
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  33
• Huawei P30 Pro
  29
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  28

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS
  47
• Asus Zenfone 6
  36
• Lenovo Z6 Pro
  36
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  36
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  35
• Oppo Reno 10x zoom
  35
• Sony Xperia 1
  33
• Huawei P30 Pro (perf. mode)
  29
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  28
• Huawei P30 Pro
  27
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  24
• Samsung Galaxy S10
  23
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  19

Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone XS
  36
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  23
• Samsung Galaxy Note10
  19
• Samsung Galaxy Note10+
  13
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  13
• Samsung Galaxy S10
  13

Predictably, the Galaxy Note10 delivers great performance, worthy of its top-tier status. The one slight issue is that it can heat up significantly under sustained load, with thermal throttling taking away some 10% of its absolute maximum potential.