System Performance

Tablets have always been devices where performance can be pushed further than a smartphone. There's much more thermal headroom and bigger batteries to drive high performance SoCs. Both Apple and NVIDIA have SoCs that cannot feasibly be put in a smartphone due to their heat and power usage, and these chips find their way into tablets where these factors can be managed and the additional performance can be utilized by more sophisticated applications. At the same time, some vendors opt to use the same silicon in both phones and tablets. In the case of the Galaxy Tab S2, Samsung has decided to use their Exynos 5433 SoC which previously shipped in the Galaxy Note 4 Exynos.

The CPU side of Exynos 5433 is a quad core Cortex A57 cluster with a max frequency of 1.9GHz, and a quad core Cortex A53 cluster with a max frequency of 1.3GHz. The GPU is ARM's Mali-T760 MP6 GPU with a max frequency of 700MHz. On average the results should be similar to the Galaxy Note 4 Exynos, although software improvements to both the browser as well as Android itself will obviously have an impact.

As always, the first group of tests are our web browser tests to characterize JavaScript performance, followed by BaseMark OS II and PCMark to evaluate the CPU and other aspects of a device's performance.

Kraken 1.1 (Chrome/Safari/IE)

Google Octane v2  (Chrome/Safari/IE)

WebXPRT 2013 (Chrome/Safari/IE)

WebXPRT 2015 (Chrome/Safari/IE)

Android, and most specifically Chrome's lackluster JavaScript performance is something we've been commenting on for a while now. On top of that, the Galaxy Tab S2 simply doesn't have Samsung's latest and greatest SoC, and these factors combined together give results that aren't very impressive when one considers how much better the iPad Air 2 performs despite being over one year old at this point.

Galaxy Tab S2 Stock Browser vs Chrome

Looking at the Javascript performance in Samsung's stock browser provides some interesting but not unexpected data. It's clear that there's a much higher degree of optimization for Samsung's SoCs in their own browser than in Chrome, which isn't surprising. However, Samsung's browser isn't without its own issues. It actually crashes in the zlib test of Google Octane, and although the incomplete score of 7354 is higher than what Chrome achieves, the fact that the JavaScript code couldn't be properly executed points to some more concerning issues than performance

The other problem with using a device's stock browser for comparisons is that Android devices shipping with Google Mobile Services also include Chrome, and in my experience users are far more likely to utilize Chrome based on their awareness of the Chrome brand than they are to use the included OEM web browser. In short, while stock browser results may give a better idea of what kind of JavaScript performance a device is technically capable of, the Chrome results are more relevant when examining the performance and experience that the average user will have.

Basemark OS II 2.0 - System

Basemark OS II 2.0 - Memory

Basemark OS II 2.0 - Graphics

Basemark OS II 2.0 - Web

Basemark OS II 2.0 - Overall

When examining the overall score in BaseMark OS II one may think that the Tab S2 performs extremely poorly. However, when looking at the sub tests it becomes clear that the overall score is being brought down by very low storage and graphics scores. What's surprising is the large gap between the graphics resuIts on the Tab S2 and the Galaxy Note 4 Exynos which uses the same Exynos 5433 SoC. I re-ran the benchmark several times to see if there was anything strange going on but there doesn't appear to be any problem with the testing, and I'm not quite sure why there's such a large gap between the two.

Moving past storage and graphics, the Tab S2 gets fairly good scores in the web and system tests. However, it still lags very far behind the iPad Air 2, and there's really no way to excuse this when both devices cost the exact same amount.

PCMark - Web Browsing

PCMark - Video Playback

PCMark - Writing

PCMark - Photo Editing

PCMark - Work Performance Overall

PCMark is still an Android only benchmark so the results here will strictly be comparing to other Android tablets. Overall, the Tab S2 does well. Upon examining the sub tests it can be seen that the Tab S2 is always fairly close the top of the charts, with certain devices achieving extraordinary scores in some tests which makes the Tab S2 look comparatively slower than it would be with more devices for comparison.

Exynos 5433 is not Samsung's best silicon, and even Exynos 7420 would likely struggle to compete with an SoC designed exclusively for full sized tablets. In the end the Tab S2's performance is just not competitive with the iPad Air 2 or even the Nexus 9 which is priced at $399 and often sells for even less. If I were looking at the 8" Tab S2 I would probably consider its performance acceptable relative to the competition at that size and price, but the market segment of full sized flagship tablets costing $500 or more is a completely other story.

I think Samsung definitely needs to reconsider their process of designing tablets, and part of that has to involve using chips that befit the larger size and greater capabilities of a tablet compared to a smartphone. It's in everyone's best interest to not have one company holding an enormous performance lead in any market, and if there's any company that has the capabilities, integration, and resources to fight with Apple over the tablet performance crown I would think it would be Samsung.

Intro and Design System Performance Cont'd: GPU and NAND
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  • extide - Thursday, October 15, 2015 - link

    You only ever get bluescreens with bad hardware or really sketchy drivers. It is not possible for pure user mode code to cause a blue screen
  • R. Hunt - Thursday, October 15, 2015 - link

    Sure, much better if you want is a laptop replacement that can occasionally serve as a tablet, but as a pure tablet, the app store, which is still a wasteland, lets it down.
  • kmmatney - Friday, October 16, 2015 - link

    This. I was really disappointed with the App store, and there is still a big disconnect between Apps and normal windows programs, even in Windows 10. I ending up selling my Windows tablet - done for now. Might try again in a few years.
  • thedons1983 - Saturday, October 17, 2015 - link

    Completely different product, and is terrible as a tablet, even with Windows 10... The windows store is an absolute joke, moreover.
  • colonelclaw - Thursday, October 15, 2015 - link

    Considering that Samsung themselves manufacture the very processors in Apple kit, then why on earth are their own tablets so pathetically underpowered? According to these benchmarks the Air2/6S is anything between 2 and 3 times faster, a crazy difference. What's going on?
  • blackcrayon - Thursday, October 15, 2015 - link

    Maybe it's cost - Apple pays Samsung to fabricate Apple designed chips. But maybe Samsung doesn't want to pay Samsung (so to speak) to develop a similar design or would just rather use an existing chip to save development costs. After all, Samsung is incorporating close to "off the shelf " ARM cores (lower dev cost) vs. Apple's custom designed cores, & Apple is in the position to specifically optimize their OS and developer tools for it.
  • limitedaccess - Thursday, October 15, 2015 - link

    There is a two fold issue here.

    Apple uses their latest and highest power design for their largest SKUs. While Samsung for the Tab S line for two generations has basically used what can be considered their last gen design.
  • blackcrayon - Thursday, October 15, 2015 - link

    (And as for the GPU, Apple is just using more / faster GPU cores than Samsung is choosing to, again cost I presume since nothing stops Samsung from using another especially in a tablet).
  • lilmoe - Thursday, October 15, 2015 - link

    The SoC price difference is easily mitigated with the price difference of the screen. For the same size/resolution, AMOLED is considerably more expensive than the best LCD.

    Outside of benchmarks, for the average users, the performance difference isn't THAT perceivable. Anandtech are heavily concentrating their "performance difference" pm browser javascript benchmarks, which aren't the whole picture when it comes to browsing speed. Both browsers on the Tab and iPad perform almost the same as most users see it. Don't forget, Android on Samsung's devices take full advantage of all the extra cores.

    As Samsung sees it, users most probably prefer a better screen over faster performance. There's lots of merit to that compromise.
  • FlyBri - Thursday, October 15, 2015 - link

    @lilmoe I have to totally disagree with you that the SoC price difference is mitigated with the price difference of the screen. Don't get me wrong, AMOLED screens are great (I have a Note 5 and Tab S 10.5), but the LCD screen on an iPad Air 2 is pretty damn good (I have one as well), and would be more than happy using that LCD if that meant getting a much more powerful SoC and a better overall tablet for the same price, or cheaper (which the Air 2 is). And you say that for average users the performance difference isn't perceivable -- except if you're playing graphics intensive games, which some average users do -- and the iPad Air 2 completely blows the Tab S2 out of the water, even though the Air 2 is already a year old. Also, many "average users" do a lot of web browsing and reading -- heck, Samsung copied the iPad's 4:3 aspect ratio because they felt more users are doing just that. Yet in exactly those scenarios, the Tab S2's battery life is absolutely horrible and completely unacceptable.

    People may prefer a better screen over performance, but in the specific scenario between the screens in the Air 2 and Tab S2, I don't think there is really any merit to excuse the difference in performance, battery life, and overall tablet experience. If you can now get an Air 2 for $350-400, the Tab S2, even if you factor in the more expensive AMOLED screen, is worth $300, maybe $350, but not $500. If Samung had to switch to a top quality LCD panel to give me a true Air 2 rival in terms of performance, battery life, tablet experience, etc., I'd happily go with that every single time.

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