In December 2022, AnTuTu published a list detailing the top 10 most powerful smartphones, highlighting a notable shift in the Android landscape. The benchmarks show that some Android devices can approach the performance levels traditionally associated with Apple’s iPhone models that rely on the company’s own processors.
Leading the chart are the Vivo X90 Pro Plus and the iQOO 11 Pro, both outfitted with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platform. The Vivo X90 Pro Plus achieved an impressive benchmark score of 1.29 million, while the iQOO 11 Pro followed closely with 1.27 million. These scores represent new peak benchmarks for Android devices at that time, signaling a high point for raw performance in flagship smartphones.
According to AnTuTu, this development marks a potential milestone, suggesting that an Android device’s performance could rival that of a top-tier iPhone. The comment echoed across technology circles, underscoring how far Android-powered flagships had come in processing speed, graphics capabilities, and overall efficiency.
In the third position, the Asus ROG Phone 6, driven by the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, reached about 1.1 million points. This device had previously topped AnTuTu’s rankings, illustrating the fast pace of performance improvements across Android gaming-focused smartphones and how near-term generations can disrupt the standing of earlier flagships.
Following closely in the top five were the Lenovo Legion Y70 and the Asus ZenFone 9, both powered by the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, recording roughly 1.1 million and 1.07 million points respectively. The lineup continued with the Xiaomi Mi 12T Pro and Redmi K50 Ultra, along with the iQOO Neo7 and the Black Shark 5 Pro, before rounding out the top ten with the Galaxy Z Fold4 5G. These positions illustrate the breadth of Android devices delivering high-end performance across different brands and price points, emphasizing the competitiveness in the premium smartphone market.
The ranking not only showcases hardware speed but also reflects broader engineering choices, including thermal management, memory bandwidth, and software optimization. Each device that makes the top tier demonstrates how manufacturers are balancing battery life, cooling solutions, and sustained performance to maintain high scores during extended benchmarks, a factor that can influence real-world usability in gaming, multimedia work, and multitasking scenarios.
Analysts note that the rapid evolution of silicon, including more efficient cores and better GPU architecture, is driving this surge in Android performance. Consumers in North America and other regions may see these devices as strong alternatives to premium iPhones, especially when considering price-to-performance value, availability, and the rapidly expanding ecosystem of Android software and accessories.
These benchmark results should be interpreted with an awareness of testing conditions and software versions, as performance can vary with updates, cooling solutions, and workload types. Still, the December 2022 snapshot provides a meaningful reference point for comparing flagship Android devices against the established performance benchmark set by Apple’s processor-driven iPhone lineup. The data was reported by AnTuTu and has been cited by technology outlets analyzing smartphone capabilities across major markets, including Canada and the United States.
Source perspective: industry coverage compiled by tech outlets and notations attributed to AnTuTu, with reports noting the growing parity between high-end Android devices and iPhones in raw performance metrics.