Sony Xperia XZ review: X to the Z

Synthetic benchmarks

The Sony Xperia XZ is powered by the Snapdragon 820 SoC like the majority of Android flagships this year. The chipset is not exclusive to the XZ in Sony's lineup either - the X Performance runs on Qualcomm high-end silicon as well.

In case you've been living under a rock for the past year or so - the Snapdragon 820 is manufactured on a 14nm process, has 4 custom Kryo CPU cores (typically 2x2.15GHz + 2x1.6GHz), and relies on the Adreno 530 for graphics rendering. What sets the XZ apart from all of this year's top-dogs (not exactly in a good way either) is the 3GB of RAM - the rest of the big names have gone with 4GB, with the OnePlus 3 having 6GB of RAM (though it's not actually using all of it actively).

RAM shouldn't have much of an effect on GeekBench scores - a CPU-focused benchmark, and yet the Xperia XZ doesn't fare quite as well as the rest of its peers. In the single-core test of the older GeekBench 3 the XZ places last among all S820 devices, and on par with the Exynos version of the Galaxy S7 edge. The Sony top-dog is comfortably ahead of the Huawei P9, at least.

In the multi-core test the Xperia shows average performance for its hardware and the gaps between the members of Qualcomm camp are minimal. The octa-core CPUs inside the Kirin 955 and Exynos 8890 power the Huawei P9 and Galaxy S7 edge to unreachable levels.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• OnePlus 3
  2383
• HTC 10
  2368
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  2345
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  2345
• LG G5
  2328
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2305
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  2273
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  2151
• Sony Xperia XZ
  2136
• Huawei P9
  1819
• Sony Xperia X
  1367
• Sony Xperia Z5
  1252

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  6600
• Huawei P9
  6558
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  5566
• OnePlus 3
  5520
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  5460
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  5420
• Sony Xperia XZ
  5394
• LG G5
  5362
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  5358
• HTC 10
  5257
• Sony Xperia Z5
  4037
• Sony Xperia X
  3796

GeekBench 4 hasn't been around long enough yet, but we do have a few devices to measure the XZ up against, and the comparison isn't making it look good either. Sure, the A10 chip in the iPhone 7 is a powerhouse, but the Sony smartphone is a few percent behind the Galaxy S7 edge and the OnePlus 3, both powered by the same Snapdragon 820 chipset.

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  3488
• OnePlus 3
  1719
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  1696
• Sony Xperia XZ
  1578

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  5654
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  4128
• OnePlus 3
  4045
• Sony Xperia XZ
  3868

Moving on to Basemark OS II 2.0 to look at some numbers representing overall performance. Here the XZ is in a group with its X Performance brother and the Xiaomi Mi5. The Snapdragon-powered S7 edge and the OnePlus 3 post a few percent higher scores, the Moto Z is substantially ahead, and the iPhone 7 is in a league of its own. On a positive note, the XZ outperforms both the LG G5 and the HTC 10.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  3416
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  2690
• OnePlus 3
  2365
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  2352
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2180
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  2179
• Sony Xperia XZ
  2151
• Huawei P9
  2068
• LG G5
  2065
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  2050
• HTC 10
  1839
• Sony Xperia X
  1714
• Sony Xperia Z5
  1580

Antutu is not showing the Xperia XZ in a good light either - compared to other similarly equipped devices, that is. Save for the Xperia X Performance, the XZ is the lowest-ranked Snapdragon 820 smartphone here, with the HTC 10 and Moto Z far ahead. The Huawei P9 loses to the Sony flagship once again.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  179386
• HTC 10
  154031
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  151619
• OnePlus 3
  141764
• LG G5
  134541
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  132849
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  131758
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  129229
• Sony Xperia XZ
  124266
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  116217
• Huawei P9
  98069
• Sony Xperia Z5
  77848
• Sony Xperia X
  77537

On the graphics front, the Xperia XZ does a good job with Basemark X scores on par with the LG G5 and marginally ahead of the HTC 10 and Galaxy S7 edge (Exynos). Other models post higher figures here on the same hardware - it's a matter of fine-tuning.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  36322
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  33110
• OnePlus 3
  32715
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  32160
• Sony Xperia XZ
  29548
• LG G5
  29456
• HTC 10
  28882
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  28480
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  28450
• Sony Xperia Z5
  24941
• Huawei P9
  16942
• Sony Xperia X
  15087

In GFXBench the Xperia XZ is among the better-performing Snapdragon 820's. In the Car Scene, in particular, the Sony manages to top the chart beating everyone in the onscreen part (not a big feat, considering a lot of the competitors sport 1440p screens), but also in the offscreen section, rendered at 1080p on all devices. A similar showing in Manhattan - highest S820 score onscreen, second best offscreen. The iPhone 7 breezes through this test thanks to a combination of powerful GPU and low screen resolution.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  43
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  32
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  32
• HTC 10
  31
• Sony Xperia XZ
  31
• OnePlus 3
  31
• LG G5
  30
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  30
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  29
• Sony Xperia Z5
  21
• Huawei P9
  10
• Sony Xperia X
  9.2

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  60
• Sony Xperia XZ
  32
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  31
• OnePlus 3
  30
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  29
• Sony Xperia Z5
  22
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  18
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  15
• LG G5
  15
• HTC 10
  15
• Huawei P9
  11
• Sony Xperia X
  10

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XZ
  20
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  19
• HTC 10
  18
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  18
• OnePlus 3
  18
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  17
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• LG G5
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  15
• Sony Xperia Z5
  12
• Huawei P9
  6.5
• Sony Xperia X
  5.3

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XZ
  19
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  18
• OnePlus 3
  18
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  12
• Sony Xperia Z5
  12
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  10
• HTC 10
  9.9
• LG G5
  8.8
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  7.8
• Huawei P9
  7.1
• Sony Xperia X
  5.9

Android flagships have slowly started to catch up with the iPhone 6s in Basemark ES 3.1, but we do have the iPhone 7 now and the chart doesn't look one least bit like a race between equals. The Xperia XZ is on par with the Mi5 and the G5, but the rest of the droids, including the Moto Z Droid, post higher scores. Not as high as even the iPhone 6s, but still.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  1547
• Apple iPhone 6s
  879
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
  733
• Lenovo Moto Z Droid
  648
• OnePlus 3
  625
• Samsung Galaxy S7 edge (Snapdragon)
  624
• LG G5
  587
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  580
• Sony Xperia XZ
  577
• Sony Xperia X Performance
  551
• Huawei P9
  341
• Sony Xperia X
  251

A Snapdragon 820 was always going to be powerful, and inside the Xperia XZ it shows its muscle. Other makers have done a better job of tailoring the SoC to their needs, though, and the XZ often ends up behind. It's a top-of-the-line chipset, of course, and you won't be left waiting for it - it's just that it's potentially capable of a little more as seen in other devices.