iPhone XR Shockingly Outperforms iPhone 12 and 11 in New Speed Tests

iPhone XR Credit: Hadrian / Shutterstock
Text Size
- +

Toggle Dark Mode

In a surprising turn of events, the iPhone XR (a device that came out in 2018) has outperformed the iPhone 11 and even 2020’s iPhone 12 in new performance tests.

Yes, you read that right. An iPhone that’s almost three years old managed to perform better than the last two most recent models.

YouTuber Nick Ackerman recently filmed a performance test on the iPhone XR, iPhone 11, and iPhone 12, all of them running the latest iOS version, 14.5.1.

During the test, the iPhone 12 was the fastest iPhone to load most apps, followed by the iPhone XR, and the iPhone 11 came in last.

When Ackerman opened Mortal Kombat, a highly demanding game for mobile devices, the iPhone XR managed to start the game more quickly than the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 11.

What was even more surprising was that the iPhone 11 was actually the slowest, and it stayed behind for quite a few seconds when opening most apps and games.

Not only that, but according to GeekBench benchmarks, the iPhone 11 performed the worst amongst all three devices. The iPhone 11 only had a single-core of 794, whereas the iPhone XR and iPhone 12 had a score of 1103 and 1478, respectively.

In the multi-core test, the iPhone XR took the lead with an impressive score of 2435, with the iPhone 12 coming in second with a score of 2339. The iPhone 11, on the other hand, only scored 1271.

The results were similar for the 3DMark test, with the iPhone XR beating the other models by a landslide

Why Is This Happening?

Before you throw your iPhone 11 into the trash and start using the iPhone XR, keep in mind this might happen for many reasons, and none of them are because the iPhone XR is the best iPhone when compared to the iPhone 11 or iPhone 12.

Since iOS 14.5.1 is still in its early stages, it may have a performance bug that affects the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 while increasing the iPhone XR’s performance. It’s highly likely that Apple will fix this issue in the future to make the iPhone 11 and iPhone 12 run the way they’re meant to.

This isn’t the first time an iPhone surprised us with over-the-top benchmarks. When it came out, the iPhone 11 showed that it was the best-performing smartphone, period, although it isn’t doing such a good job right now. Additionally, the 2020 iPhone SE also proved its worth by outperforming even Samsung’s most expensive smartphones.

Sponsored
Social Sharing