Sony Xperia XZ Premium review: The showstopper

Performance

The Sony Xperia XZ Premium was among the first devices to have a Snapdragon 835 inside and naturally we were curious how fast exactly it is. The chipset offers an octa-core Kryo 280 processor (4x2.46GHz and 4x1.9GHz), the latest Adreno 540 GPU, and 4 gigs of RAM.

Starting off with the CPU tests the Sony Xperia XZ Premium scores similarly to Snapdragon 835-powered Galaxy S8+ and the Exynos 8895 Octa and higher than the Kirin 960-propelled P10 Plus. In the GeekBench 4 multi-core scores (where all 4 high-speed cores are going full speed) the Xperia XZ Premium lags slightly behind the Galaxy S8 and S8+ (in both Exynos and Snapdragon flavor).

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  6338
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  6175
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  6106
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  5837
• Huawei P10 Plus
  5821
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  5664
• OnePlus 3T
  4364
• Google Pixel XL
  4152
• Sony Xperia XZs
  3979
• LG G6 (US)
  3648

When it comes to single-core performance the Xperia XZ Premium's 2.46GHz Kryo cores are outpaced only by Apple's custom solutions. The Snapdragon 835's single-core performance is practically the same as the single-core performance of the Kirin 960 and the Exynos 8895 Octa.

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3473
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  1945
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  1943
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  1938
• Huawei P10 Plus
  1937
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  1915
• OnePlus 3T
  1890
• LG G6 (US)
  1792
• Sony Xperia XZs
  1724
• Google Pixel XL
  1507

Graphics are a different story - the Mali-G71 MP20 GPU inside Samsung's Exynos 8895 Octa scores higher than Qualcomm's Adreno 540. Graphics-wise the Snapdragon 835 is only a slight improvement over the 821, at least in Basemark X.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  43862
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  42370
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  38507
• OnePlus 3T
  36958
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  34951
• Sony Xperia XZs
  33815
• LG G6 (US)
  32041
• Google Pixel XL
  30861
• Huawei P10 Plus
  30602

In the OpenGL 3.1 bits of GFXBench the Adreno 540 inside the Xperia XZ Premium shapes up as a top performer, only a notch behind the Galaxy S8+ Mali-G71 MP20 GPU. Don't be fooled by the Xperia's super high onscreen framerates - those tests are apparently rendered at 1080p instead of the native 2160p.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  42
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  39
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  39
• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  39
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  36
• OnePlus 3T
  33
• Sony Xperia XZs
  32
• Google Pixel XL
  32
• LG G6 (US)
  25
• Huawei P10 Plus
  19

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  42
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  41
• Sony Xperia XZs
  34
• OnePlus 3T
  33
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  23
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  23
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  18
• Google Pixel XL
  17
• Huawei P10 Plus
  12
• LG G6 (US)
  11

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  23
• OnePlus 3T
  20
• Sony Xperia XZs
  20
• Google Pixel XL
  19
• LG G6 (US)
  15
• Huawei P10 Plus
  12

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  25
• Sony Xperia XZs
  21
• OnePlus 3T
  20
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  13
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  13
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  12
• Google Pixel XL
  11
• Huawei P10 Plus
  9
• LG G6 (US)
  8.1

The results continue in the same pattern in Basemark ES 3.1 where the Adreno 540 sits behind the Mali GPU which in turn is second to the PowerVR Series7XT GPU inside Apple's A10 chipset.

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  1517
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  1189
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  1111
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  842
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  817
• LG G6 (US)
  647
• OnePlus 3T
  641
• Google Pixel XL
  626
• Sony Xperia XZs
  623

While these scores are great for 1080p resolution, we can't say what would happen when the 4K mobile gaming kicks in. But by the looks of the number of games to support the lower 1440p resolution, meaningful 4K gaming is not happening anytime soon.

Finally, we were able to run BaseMark OS II compound bench - it gauges CPU, GPU, RAM, Web, and OS performance. Here, the Xperia XZ Premium aced every single stress test and thus occupies the top spot in the chart.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  4127
• Huawei P10 Plus
  3447
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  3401
• OnePlus 3T
  3328
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  3272
• Sony Xperia XZs
  2606
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  2364

The numbers from Basemark OS II 2.0 (we're not sure we'll ever learn to live with that designation) put the iPhone 7 Plus on top of the chart, followed by the two S8 Galaxies close together, with the Xperia a notch below, and the G6 struggling to keep up.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  3796
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  3376
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  3319
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  3298
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  3174
• Huawei P10 Plus
  2940
• OnePlus 3T
  2678
• Sony Xperia XZs
  2386
• Google Pixel XL
  2281
• LG G6
  2126

The hugely popular Antutu 6 benchmark seems to think that the Xperia XZ Premium belongs with the G6 instead of the S8s of this world - we're not entirely sure what's going on here.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7 Plus
  174987
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  174435
• Samsung Galaxy S8+
  174070
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  168133
• OnePlus 3T
  165097
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  144223
• LG G6
  143639
• Google Pixel XL
  141186
• Sony Xperia XZs
  133574
• Huawei P10 Plus
  126252

The Snapdragon 835 is a definite step up from the Snapdragon 821, but not really a huge one. Naturally, the latest chipsets are as much about futureproofing as serving to the current needs on the market, so don't expect the Xperia XZ Premium feel drastically faster than its Snapdragon-821 rivals. It's only under extreme loads that differences begin to appear. Of course, once software catches up and starts utilizing more of the available power things will change.

What's most important is the real-life performance and the Sony Xperia XZ Premium performs splendidly - the phone is snappy and is a real pleasure to use. But does it run cool?

Sony has employed a new thermal-spreading architecture - there are no heat pipes, just a special 3-layer copper plating running across the entire back and taking the heat from the evenly spread chipset, camera, and display driver across the body. The new component design has allowed for great heat distribution, so you will never feel the Xperia XZ Premium running hot even when watching 4K HDR videos for a long time. It's one of the coolest flagships around, and we give Sony the credit for that.