Which budget phone is the fastest?

If you need flagship options with out the price ticket, there’s a wide selection of choices on the market proper now. Google’s new Pixel 9a joins the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE and Apple iPhone 16e as nice middle-of-the-market picks for the budget-conscious. In truth, the 9a is the most cost-effective of the three at simply $499 relatively than $659 and $599, respectively, but it continues to sport a twin digicam configuration and flagship-tier Tensor G4 processor. Can it actually be that good of a deal?

If you’ve been questioning which of those three telephones nails the smartphone fundamentals the finest, then you definately’ve come to the proper place. I’ve run every by means of our benchmarking suite to see which can finest deal with day by day workloads, heavier use circumstances, and intensive gaming classes. Check out the desk earlier than for a fast overview of how these telephones stack up by way of processing elements.

Pixel 9a vs Galaxy S24 FE vs iPhone 16e benchmarks

Let’s dive proper in to see how Apple’s A18, Google’s Tensor G4, and Samsung’s Exynos 2400e — all developed in-house — evaluate in the trade’s hottest benchmarks. We’ll begin our assessments with a run of GeekBench 6, giving us a take a look at how the phone’s processors deal with single-core sure duties, like booting up an app or net web page for the first time, and extra typical multi-core conditions like flicking by means of social apps or your picture gallery.

Apple’s customized CPU cores held a big benefit over its Android rivals till Qualcomm’s Oryon CPU core got here alongside. However, neither the Pixel 9a nor Galaxy S24 FE have these, so we’re again to seeing a big lead for Apple over Arm Cortex cores in each single- and multi-core eventualities. Apple’s single-core win is notably large, nearly doubling the efficiency of the Pixel 9a. Thankfully, the Galaxy S24 FE closes the hole in multi-core conditions, that are way more widespread these days.

More efficiency is higher, after all, however there’s a little bit of a ceiling for what you’ll want on your day-to-day duties. Browsing the net and posting to social runs completely advantageous on the Pixel 9a. Instead, you’ll want actually CPU-intensive duties (like video enhancing) to really feel the distinction in actual apps. Still, the iPhone 16e is undoubtedly the most future-proof, however I’m somewhat involved about how properly the Pixel 9a will deal with no matter apps we’re all working on our telephones 5 or 6 years down the line.

When it involves graphics, all three of those telephones have some compromises in comparison with the quickest in the enterprise. The iPhone 16e’s A18 chip has simply 4 GPU cores, down from 5 in the common iPhone 16 and 6 in the Pro fashions. Likewise, the Galaxy S24 FE’s last-gen Exynos 2400e chip has a barely older GPU design, and Google’s use of a mid-tier Arm Mali setup has by no means been benchmark-topping. Still, this makes for a relatively attention-grabbing comparability.

Just final 12 months, the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE’s Xclipse 940 graphics chip was a top-tier flagship GPU. It is clearly leaps and bounds forward of the competitors in each fast bursts and extended gaming classes. Its drop to 71.9% of its finest end in 3DMark’s Wild Life Extreme Stress Test isn’t notably nice, however its massive head begin over the competitors signifies that it by no means actually comes near closing the hole.

The Pixel 9a lands at the backside of the pile on a fast check, however the phone holds up higher beneath average stress in comparison with the iPhone 16e. Apple’s budget mannequin provides up most of its efficiency, falling to only 70.4% of its peak, with out a lot temperature build-up, falling beneath the budget Pixel beneath average load. By the finish of our 20-minute stress check, the three had been again of their beginning order, though the efficiency hole had narrowed considerably, owing to the Pixel 9a’s fairly first rate 79.1% stability rating and temperature.

At first look, Apple may seem to come back out on high in relation to packing a high-performing chip in an inexpensive smartphone. However, the iPhone 16e’s simple CPU benefit is unlikely to make a lot of a significant distinction to your day by day expertise. Especially as the phone has inferior battery life in comparison with the Galaxy S24 FE and ranks even additional behind the extremely frugal Google Pixel 9a. Furthermore, the phone doesn’t fairly have the graphics grunt of Apple’s costlier flagships and may change into scorching sufficient to throttle exhausting in longer classes. The iPhone 16e is an affordable effort from Apple however doesn’t essentially strike the excellent stability.

Still, outdoors of heavy emulation, high-end cellular video games don’t push handsets fairly as exhausting as our stress check, which means all three of those telephones will deal with even a few of the market’s most intensive cellular video games with out an excessive amount of problem. You may need to show some settings right down to hit 60fps on supported titles. But in case you’re trying to do quite a lot of gaming on a budget or plan to maintain enjoying lengthy into the decade, the Samsung Galaxy S24 FE strikes the finest stability of day-to-day efficiency with extra highly effective gaming capabilities. That mentioned, it is the costliest of the three telephones, so be ready to pay for these additional frames.

That leaves the Google Pixel 9a final however on no account least. Granted, it doesn’t win any of our benchmarks, and I’m somewhat involved about precisely how properly the phone will maintain up come the finish of its seven years of software program assist in comparison with the different two, which can see equally lengthy lifespans. However, the Tensor G4 inside the Pixel 9a performs nearly identically to the one in the Pixel 9, and that phone’s no slouch. Given it’s a great deal cheaper than the iPhone 16e and Galaxy S24 FE, it’s nonetheless actually in the combine and can take you thru a busy workday and extra with out dropping the ball.

It could be a cop-out, however there’s not likely a foul choose between these three; all of it will depend on your budget. Of course, there’s loads extra that makes an amazing phone too, together with the digicam, battery life, and software program options that may most likely tilt the scales a technique or the different. Speaking of battery life, I’ll be trying extra intently at how these three mid-range fashions stack up in opposition to one another there as properly in one other article, so keep tuned.