Finding things you can test on iPhones and Android devices is kinda tricky. App launch times, while relevant to overall sense of speed, does not really test performance, and many of the apps that I could use to test an iPhone’s performance don’t run on Android.

Given this, there are 6 total tests I felt I could run that were a fair comparison of speed. I broke the tests in to 3 segments:

Segment 1: I ran 3 browser benchmarks back-to-back, and then immediately ran Geekbench 5’s CPU benchmark. This was in an effort to get a sustained load on the phones and see which held up better.

1. Run JetStream 2
2. Run MotionMark
3. Run Speedometer
4. Run Geekbench 5 CPU benchmark
   

Segment 2: Take 10 HDR photos in Adobe Lightroom, add a preset profile to each one, and export the photos to the camera roll. I only timed the export part.

Segment 3: Export a 31 second video in Adobe Rush using all of the sample clips included in the app when you first download it.

Segment 1: Benchmark apps

In all cases, the iPhone 11 Pro demolished the Pixel 4. I’ll also add that the Pixel got noticeably warm by the third run, while the iPhone never felt like it was breaking a sweat.

Also relevant info, I let both phones sit for a while after this test run and then tried the Geekbench test again. I wondered how much better they would be if they were running that benchmark from a cool state. The iPhone was less than 1% better, and basically within the margin of error, while the Pixel was 21% faster in single core and 10% faster in milticore.

Segment 2: Lightroom Export

The process for this was:

1. Take 10 photos in Lightroom using the HDR camera mode
2. Let those process and apply one of my presets to it, which will apply about 15 sliders to each photo
3. Export to the camera roll
   

The export was 2x as fast on the iPhone, and the processing of the HDR photos was at least 2x as fast, but I didn’t time that so I’m not sure of the exact number.

Segment 3: Adobe Rush Export

And finally, I installed Adobe Rush, selected all 5 of the sample videos and exported the resulting 31 second video. Again, the iPhone destroyed in this test, exporting 3x faster than the Pixel.

Takeaway

This is nothing we already know, the iPhone continues to have a massive lead in CPU and GPU performance over the competition. And while tests like this can be dismissed as not representative of real world use, I think the differences can be seen throughout the phone experience.

Take night mode on each phone as an example. These phones take very comparable shots, but the Pixel requires you to hold the camera still for 2-10x longer than the iPhone. Similarly, the iPhone previews portrait effects while you align your shot and the photo is ready immediately. Meanwhile, the Pixel can’t preview the effect in real time, and after you take the shot it requires a good3-5 seconds before the effect is rendered. And finally, there’s video where the iPhone can do 4k HDR with 120 samples per second at 60fps, all while the Pixel caps out at 4k30 and doesn’t get HDR in that mode.

Obviously, many of the things we do on our phones don’t take advantage of all the power we have today, so many things are just as fast on either phone, but if you’re looking for a device that will last you years and still feel good, then the more headroom you can have on day one, the better.