Sony Xperia X Performance review: Chief of staff

Synthetic benchmarks

The Xperia X Performance is the top dog in Sony's X-series and as such, it gets Qualcomm's most powerful chipset available - the Snapdragon 820. The SoC of choice for many of this year's flagships can be found in the LG G5, some versions of the Galaxy S7 / S7 edge, and the HTC 10, to name the most prominent ones.

All of them have 4GB of RAM, while the Xperia X Performance makes do with just 3GB. "Just" as in not necessarily insufficient, but rather not quite in tune with the competition. We'll have to investigate whether this deficiency would show through in benchmarks scores.

We've had all those at the office already, plus the Xiaomi Mi 5 and the LeEco Le Max 2, so we have a pretty accurate notion of what to expect from the top-end Snapdragon. Indeed, the Xperia X Performance typically scores in the same ballpark as other models with the Qualcomm chip.

We've thrown some alternatively-powered flagships into the fight, too: the Galaxy S7 (Exynos 8890 chipset) Huawei P9 (Kirin 955), Mate 8 (Kirin 950), Meizu Pro 6 (Helio X25), Pro 5 (Exynos 7420), as well last year's Xperia Z5 (Snapdragon 810).

Starting with the basics - raw CPU power. In single-core GeekBench the Xperia X Performance is the lowest-ranking of the big-name Snapdragon 820 models, but the differences are marginal at best - the HTC has the highest-scoring Kryo core here, by a whopping 4%. A single Twister core in the Apple A9 chipset is still leading the flagship pack, though.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s
  2542
• HTC 10
  2368
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SD820)
  2345
• LG G5
  2328
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2305
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  2273
• Samsung Galaxy S7 (E8890)
  2170
• LeEco Le Max 2
  2118
• Meizu Pro 6
  1905
• Huawei P9
  1819
• Meizu Pro 5
  1545
• Sony Xperia X
  1367

The Xperia X Performance does a better job putting all cores to work. In the GeekBench multi-core test it outpaces all other Snapdragon 820's - admittedly, by a very small margin. There is, however, a very wide gap between Sony's flagship and non-Qualcomm rivals - the Kirin 955 tops this chart, inside the Huawei P9, followed by the Helio X25 (using the Pro 6 as a vehicle). The Galaxy S7's Exynos 8890 is also comfortably ahead of the Xperia X Perfomance.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei P9
  6558
• Meizu Pro 6
  6427
• Samsung Galaxy S7 (E8890)
  6360
• Huawei Mate 8
  6323
• Meizu Pro 5
  5578
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  5460
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SD820)
  5420
• LG G5
  5362
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  5358
• HTC 10
  5257
• LeEco Le Max 2
  5026
• Apple iPhone 6s
  4427
• Sony Xperia Z5
  4017
• Sony Xperia X
  3796

Basemark II 2.0 adds RAM and storage tests on top of CPU ones to give a better indication of overall performance. The Xperia X Performance posts excellent numbers neck and neck with the Xiaomi Mi 5. Kirins and Helios sit lower on this chart, but so do the G5 and HTC 10.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SD820)
  2352
• Apple iPhone 6s
  2195
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2180
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  2179
• Samsung Galaxy S7 (E8890)
  2128
• Huawei P9
  2068
• LG G5
  2065
• LeEco Le Max 2
  2063
• Huawei Mate 8
  2017
• Meizu Pro 6
  1919
• HTC 10
  1839
• Meizu Pro 5
  1837
• Sony Xperia X
  1714
• Sony Xperia Z5
  1482

In the next compound benchmark, Antutu 6, the roles are oddly reversed. Here the rest of S820 bunch is well ahead of the Xperia, to the tune of 13-15%. The X Performance does leave both the Helio X25 and Kirin 955 behind, by about as much as it trails its S820 rivals.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• HTC 10
  154031
• LG G5
  134541
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SD820)
  132849
• Samsung Galaxy S7 (E8890)
  132084
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  131758
• Apple iPhone 6s
  129990
• LeEco Le Max 2
  129461
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  116217
• Meizu Pro 6
  99195
• Huawei P9
  98069
• Huawei Mate 8
  91609
• Sony Xperia X
  77537
• Meizu Pro 5
  67531

In the graphics department, the Performance's already top-class Adreno 530 GPU gets the additional benefit of the FullHD resolution. We do realize that QHD means 80% more pixels over FullHD, so the trade-off is clear from the get-go.

In the onscreen tests in GFXBench (rendered in the each device's native resolution) the Xperia easily tops the charts. The Xiaomi Mi 5 (which also shies away from QHD resolution) is very close, yet a frame or two behind. In the very demanding 3.1 Manhattan and 3.1 Car scene tests, competing flagships with QHD resolution can only manage about half the frame rate of the Sony (and the Mi5, of course).

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SD820)
  32
• HTC 10
  31
• LG G5
  30
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  30
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S7 (E8890)
  28
• LeEco Le Max 2
  28
• Sony Xperia Z5
  18
• Meizu Pro 5
  14
• Meizu Pro 6
  11
• Huawei Mate 8
  10
• Huawei P9
  10
• Sony Xperia X
  9.2

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Performance
  31
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  29
• Sony Xperia Z5
  19
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SD820)
  16
• LG G5
  15
• HTC 10
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S7 (E8890)
  15
• LeEco Le Max 2
  15
• Meizu Pro 5
  14
• Huawei P9
  11
• Huawei Mate 8
  11
• Meizu Pro 6
  11
• Sony Xperia X
  10

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC 10
  18
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SD820)
  18
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  17
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• LG G5
  16
• LeEco Le Max 2
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S7 (E8890)
  15
• Huawei P9
  6.5
• Meizu Pro 6
  6.4
• Sony Xperia X
  5.3

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia X Performance
  18
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SD820)
  10
• HTC 10
  9.9
• LG G5
  8.8
• LeEco Le Max 2
  8.8
• Samsung Galaxy S7 (E8890)
  7.9
• Huawei P9
  7.1
• Meizu Pro 6
  6.4
• Sony Xperia X
  5.9

In the OpenGL ES 3.1-enabled Basemark ES 3.1, the Xperia X Performance doesn't score particularly high for the chipset. It's a bit odd, given that it topped the GFXBench chart for the same API. The minor positive note here is that the Le Max 2 is still further behind.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s
  879
• Samsung Galaxy S7 (E8890)
  732
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SD820)
  624
• LG G5
  587
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  580
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  564
• LeEco Le Max 2
  517
• Meizu Pro 5
  409
• Huawei P9
  341
• Huawei Mate 8
  311
• Sony Xperia X
  251

In the older Basemark X the Xperia is on par with the HTC 10, both towards the back of the S820 pack. It's the Mi 5 and the Le Max 2 that lead the way, with the two different versions of the Galaxy S7 closely behind.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• LeEco Le Max 2
  33874
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  33110
• Samsung Galaxy S7 (E8890)
  32345
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (SD820)
  32160
• LG G5
  29456
• HTC 10
  28882
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  28450
• Sony Xperia Z5
  23923
• Meizu Pro 5
  20038
• Huawei P9
  16942
• Huawei Mate 8
  15593
• Meizu Pro 6
  15209
• Sony Xperia X
  15087

Overall, the Xperia X Performance's name is very much justified. The mighty Snapdragon 820 chipset with good optimization on Sony's part means heaps of computational power.

The conservative choice of screen resolution coupled with one of the best GPU's on the market, on the other hand, result in excellent graphics performance too.

So after all, the difference in the RAM amount may not be that important or as easy to spot in benchmarking.