Sony Xperia Z3+ preview: First look

Synthetic benchmarks

The Sony Xperia Z3+ is powered by the Snapdragon 810 chipset with an octa-core processor, Adreno 430 GPU and 3GB of RAM.

Having a pre-production model with us, we only ran part of the typical benchmarks, just to get a glimpse of the device's performance. Mind you, the test results of the final devices that will ship to actual buyers, may perform differently.

First off, it's the CPU-centric GeekBench test, where the Xperia Z3+ scores virtually identical to the S810-equipped LG G Flex2, and inches ahead of the S808 LG G4. Another S810 device, the HTC One M9 is marginally better, but none gets close to the Exynos 7420 monster inside the Samsung Galaxy S6.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6
  5215
• HTC One M9
  3761
• LG G Flex2
  3604
• Sony Zperia Z3+ pre-production
  3603
• LG G4
  3509
• Sony Xperia Z3
  2860

The compound Antutu benchmarks which throws memory and storage performance alongside processor power puts the Xperia Z3+ ahead of the Snapdragon 810 crop, though the Galaxy S6 is in a league of its own.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6
  69396
• Sony Zperia Z3+
  52040
• HTC One M9
  51427
• LG G4
  49295
• LG G Flex2
  47680
• Sony Xperia Z3
  40393

Basemark OS II 2.0 proves less favorable on the Xperia Z3+ and in overall results the Sony device trails both the S808 G4 and the S810 G Flex2. The One M9 posts an even lower score though, if that's any consolation.

The CPU result from the benchmark reveal the culprit for the low total score, and in this respect the Xperia Z3+ takes the last spot, a long distance behind even the LG G4 with its supposedly inferior chipset.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• LG G Flex2
  1726
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  1674
• LG G4
  1584
• Sony Zperia Z3+
  1408
• HTC One M9
  1365

Basemark OS 2.0 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6
  6306
• LG G4
  5871
• LG G Flex2
  5597
• HTC One M9
  4688
• Sony Zperia Z3+
  4199

Basemark OS 2.0 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6
  26799
• LG G Flex2
  18856
• HTC One M9
  18047
• LG G4
  17739
• Sony Zperia Z3+
  14532

We ran the Basemark X benchmark to test the graphics performance of the Xperia Z3+ and it did well, though not exceptionally. While it is better than the rest of the S810 smartphones, Sony's own Xperia Z4 Tablet (also a pre-production unit), posts a somewhat better score, though it has to deal with twice as much pixels.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S6
  27169
• Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet
  23298
• Sony Zperia Z3+
  21354
• HTC One M9
  19848
• LG G Flex2
  19360
• Sony Xperia Z3
  12637

Overall, the performance of the Sony Xperia Z3+ is in line with what's to be expected from its hardware. It is on par with the rest of the Snapdragon 810 smartphones, occasionally pulling ahead of them. It's no match for the Galaxy S6, and that shouldn't surprise anyone by now.

However, we need to reiterate, that we ran the benchmarks on a pre-production unit, so those results may change by the time the software is finalized.