Vivo V3Max review: Horizons expanding

Performance

Vivo equipped the V3Max with the octa-core Snapdragon 652 chipset - the first to feature a Cortex-A72 processor - the successor to the A57. The exact Snapdragon 652 configuration in the V3Max is four 1.8GHz Cortex-A72 and four 1.4GHz Cortex-A53.

The GPU is also no slouch in the graphics department with an Adreno 510 GPU, and there is also 4GB of RAM. Sounds nice, let's see how it does in benchmark tests.

Starting with the CPU intensive GeekBench 3, where the V3Max fails to score as well as the similarly spec'd Samsung Galaxy A9. The reason is that GeekBench 3 tests the single-core performance of the Cortex-A53 core, which isn't exactly a speed champion.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• HTC 10
  2368
• LG G5
  2328
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  1466
• Motorola Moto X Force
  1273
• Vivo V3Max
  1238
• Meizu m1 metal
  883
• Meizu m3 note
  807

However, multi-core results show the V3Max in a slightly better light, not too far off from the Snapdragon 810 rocking Moto X Force.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• LG G5
  5362
• HTC 10
  5257
• Meizu m1 metal
  4825
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  4759
• Motorola Moto X Force
  4693
• Vivo V3Max
  3978
• HTC One A9
  3209
• Meizu m3 note
  3028
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  2842

The compound AnTuTu benchmark places the V3Max way ahead of the Galaxy A9 and its Snapdragon 617. While the V3Max isn't comparable to most flagships, it doesn't fall too far behind the Moto X Force.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• HTC 10
  154031
• LG G5
  134541
• Motorola Moto X Force
  87290
• Vivo V3Max
  76170
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  64591
• HTC One A9
  60324
• Meizu m3 note
  44898

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• LG G5
  2425
• Motorola Moto X Force
  2085
• HTC 10
  1965
• Vivo V3Max
  1465
• HTC One A9
  1072
• Meizu m1 metal
  943
• Meizu m3 note
  930
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  727

The Adreno 510 GPU is quite recent, but still an entry-level graphics chip compared to the Adreno 530 or even the Adreno 430 of the past year's crop of flagships. As a result, the Vivo V3Max and Galaxy A9 managed the same result, far behind the LG5 and HTC 10.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC 10
  31
• LG G5
  30
• Motorola Moto X Force
  20
• Vivo V3Max
  9.4
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  9.3
• Meizu m1 metal
  4
• HTC One A9
  3.8
• Meizu m3 note
  2.5

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• LG G5
  15
• HTC 10
  15
• Motorola Moto X Force
  12
• Vivo V3Max
  9.1
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  9.1
• HTC One A9
  4
• Meizu m1 metal
  3.9
• Meizu m3 note
  2.5

BaseMark X shows that Vivo has managed to optimize the Adreno 510 GPU better than Samsung. Here, we see the V3Max beat the Galaxy A9 ever so slightly again.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• LG G5
  29456
• HTC 10
  28882
• Motorola Moto X Force
  26697
• Vivo V3Max
  15430
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  15290
• Meizu m1 metal
  8526
• HTC One A9
  6617
• Xiaomi Redmi 3
  5108
• Meizu m3 note
  4567

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• LG G5
  587
• Motorola Moto X Force
  525
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  253
• HTC One A9
  132

Overall, the Snapdragon 652 was a wise choice for Vivo. Not only does this chipset feature the new Cortex-A72 CPU, but it's also got the capable Adreno 510 GPU and loads of RAM.

As a result, you get close to flagship-grade performance for a third of the price. The feature-heavy Funtouch OS runs very nicely on Android 5.1.1 and there are no hiccups to report.

During our testing, the V3Max didn't get unpleasantly warm at all, despite the 28nm chip. Kudos to both Qualcomm and Vivo for pulling it off.