Asus Zenfone 6 hands-on review

Synthetic benchmarks

The Zenfone 6 is powered by the Snapdragon 855 chipset - Qualcomm's top model that you'll find on most every Android flagship this year. The Zenfone 5 had midrange hardware, while the 5z was the true flagship, but to avoid any confusion there's just the one Zenfone 6. Much better that way, we reckon.

The Zenfone 6 recognizes benchmarking apps, and pops up a prompt offering to enable a 'Zen Power Boost' mode. We ran the benchmarks both ways and the differences are marginal to non-existent, with the occasional better result in the non-Boost mode. Seeing how the Snapdragon 855 has power to spare, we feel such exercises are a bit pointless, but the option is there and it could make a difference in your particular usage scenario.

Anyway, here are the results we got out of the Zenfone 6 in some popular benchmarks, compared to some potential rivals on the high-end of the spectrum, as well as some more affordable devices.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9
  11181
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  10943
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  10800
• LG G8 ThinQ
  10735
• Asus Zenfone 6
  10721
• Huawei P30 (perf. mode)
  10114
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
  10110
• Samsung Galaxy S10e
  10081
• Huawei P30
  9789
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  9712
• vivo V15 Pro
  6527
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  5396
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  5176
• Sony Xperia 10 Plus
  4780

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S10e
  4518
• Asus Zenfone 6
  3505
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  3503
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  3499
• LG G8 ThinQ
  3419
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  3402
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
  3390
• Huawei P30 (perf. mode)
  3351
• Huawei P30
  3295
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  3291
• vivo V15 Pro
  2386
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  1715
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  1615
• Sony Xperia 10 Plus
  1340

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  377024
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  372006
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  364025
• Asus Zenfone 6
  361679
• LG G8 ThinQ
  331537
• Samsung Galaxy S10e
  325192
• Huawei P30 (perf. mode)
  314595
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
  308050
• Huawei P30
  287960
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  273913
• vivo V15 Pro
  180774
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  159110
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  144574
• Sony Xperia 10 Plus
  120573

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 6
  71
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  71
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  70
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  68
• Samsung Galaxy S10e
  67
• LG G8 ThinQ
  65
• Huawei P30 (perf. mode)
  56
• Huawei P30
  54
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
  54
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  53
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  20
• vivo V15 Pro
  17
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  14
• Sony Xperia 10 Plus
  10

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 6
  57
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  57
• Samsung Galaxy S10e
  57
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  56
• Huawei P30
  48
• Huawei P30 (perf. mode)
  48
• LG G8 ThinQ
  33
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  33
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  27
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
  27
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  19
• vivo V15 Pro
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  13
• Sony Xperia 10 Plus
  8.4

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9
  42
• Asus Zenfone 6
  42
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  42
• Samsung Galaxy S10e
  42
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  41
• LG G8 ThinQ
  40
• Huawei P30 (perf. mode)
  33
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
  33
• Huawei P30
  29
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  29
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  11
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  9.2
• vivo V15 Pro
  8.8
• Sony Xperia 10 Plus
  6.3

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S10e
  40
• Asus Zenfone 6
  36
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  36
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  35
• Huawei P30 (perf. mode)
  28
• Huawei P30
  26
• LG G8 ThinQ
  20
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  19
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  17
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
  16
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  11
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  8
• vivo V15 Pro
  7.1
• Sony Xperia 10 Plus
  5

Basemark X

Higher is better

• OnePlus 7 Pro
  45413
• Asus Zenfone 6
  45291
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  45089
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  45074
• Huawei P30 (perf. mode)
  44948
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
  44780
• LG G8 ThinQ
  44602
• Samsung Galaxy S10e
  44059
• Huawei P30
  43428
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  40269
• vivo V15 Pro
  21104
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  19106
• Sony Xperia 10 Plus
  15035

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9
  5346
• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  5016
• Asus Zenfone 6
  4979
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  4797
• LG G8 ThinQ
  4735
• Huawei P30 (perf. mode)
  4718
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro (perf.)
  4610
• Samsung Galaxy S10e
  4470
• Huawei P30
  4373
• Huawei Mate 20 Pro
  3939
• vivo V15 Pro
  2936
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  2209
• Sony Xperia 10 Plus
  1764

3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited

Higher is better

• Asus Zenfone 6 (Zen Power Boost)
  6282
• Asus Zenfone 6
  6263
• OnePlus 7 Pro
  6093
• LG G8 ThinQ
  6017
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  5816
• Samsung Galaxy S10e
  4545
• Huawei P30 (perf. mode)
  4329
• Huawei P30
  3597
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  1748
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  1353
• vivo V15 Pro
  1206
• Sony Xperia 10 Plus
  1002