Sony Xperia Z3 review: Hat trick

Synthetic benchmarks and performance

The Sony Xperia Z3 is powered by an MSM8974AC Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset, which runs the Krait 400 CPU at the maximum 2.5GHz and clocks the GPU at 578MHz. The MSM8974AB chipset that powers the previous Sony Xperia Z2 is slightly behind with the CPU at 2.3GHz and the GPU at 550MHz.

To get the numbers sorted, the Xperia Z3 has a Snapdragon 801 chipset with four Krait 400 cores clocked at 2.5GHz, an Adreno 330 GPU @578MHz and 3GB of RAM.

Our opener is GeekBench 3, which is a multi-thread CPU benchmark. The Sony Xperia Z3 did well to match the performance of the Xperia Z2 and the Xperia Z3 Compact but the Snapdragon 801-powered Galaxy S5 and Oppo Find 7a are still the leaders here.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• HTC One (E8)
  3229
• Oppo Find 7a
  3093
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  3011
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  2968
• Sony Xperia Z3
  2860
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2856
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  2856
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2638
• LG G3 - EU version
  2563
• HTC One (M8)
  2367

The new compound AnTuTu 5 shows a rather underwhelming result - close to the rest of the recent Snapdragon 801 smartphones but still quite a few points behind. Naturally, the LG G3 is last, because of its higher resolution display - AnTuTu gauges onscreen GPU performance too.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• HTC One (E8)
  46857
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  46566
• HTC One (M8)
  44020
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  43164
• Sony Xperia Z3
  40393
• LG G3 - EU version
  39905

The Basemark OS II gives an overall CPU score and breaks down the single and multi-core performance of smartphones. The Sony Xperia Z3 matched the overall performance of the Snapdragon 801-powered flagships, but for unknown reasons its single-core and multi-core scores are behind the curve.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  1167
• HTC One (E8)
  1146
• LG G3 - EU version
  1126
• HTC One (M8)
  1126
• Sony Xperia Z3
  1109
• Sony Xperia Z1
  1101
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1082
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1080
• Oppo Find 7a
  1057

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7a
  2580
• HTC One (E8)
  2579
• HTC One (M8)
  2428
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  2415
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  2282
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2253
• LG G3 - EU version
  2213
• Sony Xperia Z3
  2114

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7a
  10256
• HTC One (E8)
  10219
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  10063
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  10063
• Sony Xperia Z2
  10044
• HTC One (M8)
  9860
• LG G3 - EU version
  9611
• Sony Xperia Z3
  8792

When it comes to offscreen benchmarks, the higher clock speed of the new Adreno 330 easily sees the Xperia Z3 among the best performers.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7a
  28.4
• HTC One (M8)
  28.4
• HTC One (E8)
  28
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  27.8
• Sony Xperia Z3
  27.7
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  27.4
• Sony Xperia Z2
  27.2
• LG G3 - EU version
  27.2
• Sony Xperia Z1
  23
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  22

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (E8)
  12.3
• Sony Xperia Z3
  12
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  11.8
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  11.7
• LG G3 - EU version
  11.4
• Oppo Find 7a
  11.4
• HTC One (M8)
  11.1
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  9

The GFXBench onscreen suite tells a different story. Lower resolution phones (720p or so) like the Xperia Z1 Compact and the most recent Xperia Z3 Compact climb on top, but as far as 1080p devices go, the Sony Xperia Z3 matches the results of the S801-running HTC One (E8) and Oppo Find 7a, beating the Samsung Galaxy S5 by a whisker.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  41.3
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  34
• HTC One (M8)
  30.1
• HTC One (E8)
  29.9
• Sony Xperia Z3
  29.3
• Oppo Find 7a
  28.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  28.7
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  28.1
• LG G3 - EU version
  20.5

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  25.4
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  17
• HTC One (E8)
  12.9
• Sony Xperia Z3
  12.7
• Sony Xperia Z2
  12.2
• HTC One (M8)
  11.9
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.7
• Oppo Find 7a
  11.4
• LG G3 - EU version
  7.2

The Sony Xperia Z3 turned out to be the best performer we've tester so far in the on-screen BaseMark X graphic benchmark.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z3
  12637
• HTC One (M8)
  12396
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  12080
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11744
• LG G3 - EU version
  11552
• Sony Xperia Z1
  9399
• HTC One (E8)
  3063

With web browsing central to the smartphone experience, the Xperia Z3 is the best in class at both browser benchmarks - the JavaScript-centric Kraken and the compound BrowserMark 2.1. Good job!

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  6043
• Sony Xperia Z3
  6355
• HTC One (E8)
  6460
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  6480
• Oppo Find 7a
  6660
• LG G3 - EU version
  6987
• Sony Xperia Z2
  7041
• HTC One (M8)
  10296

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z3
  1533
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  1500
• LG G3 - EU version
  1474
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1398
• HTC One (E8)
  1362
• Oppo Find 7a
  1327
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1224
• HTC One (M8)
  1069

The Sony Xperia Z3 clearly showed some great scores - close to the top in most of the tests. Indeed, the Xperia Z3 manages to deliver a buttery-smooth UI and hiccup-free high-performance gaming. That's hardly a surprise with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chipset inside, proven time and again as a really capable flagship platform.