Most of you probably know that Samsung released two distinct versions of their Galaxy S4 in order to keep up with the expected demand. Both are similar physically but runs on different engines.
One version runs on a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chip which is also the version that we officially have along with the rest of North America.
Another version runs on Samsung Exynos 5 Octa that uses two bank of four cores – one bank for performance when needed, and another one to save on battery. This version is available in some parts of Asia.
Performance
The Snapdragon version (GT-I9505) is powered by a 1.9GHz quad-core processor with Adreno 320 GPU. The Exynos version (GT-I9500) has a 1.6GHz quad-core processor and the PowerVR SGX544 GPU. So which one’s better in benchmarks?
Well according to SamMobile, the Exynos version fared better on Antutu benchmark, scoring 28018 points as opposed to the Snapdragon version which scored 23607 points.
PocketNow also did a benchmark comparison between the two and Exynos won in Antutu, GeekBench2, Quadrant, and Sunspider benchmarks. The only benchmark the Snapdragon 600 won was on the 3D Mark which seems to be an edge from its Adreno 320 GPU.
| Snapdragon 600 | Exynos Octa | |
|---|---|---|
| Antutu Benchmark | 24497 | 28378 |
| GeekBench2 | 3179 | 3594 |
| Quadrant Standard | 12236 | 12878 |
| SunSpider Javascript Benchmark | 837ms | 668.65ms |
| 3D Mark (Ice Storm) | 11212 | 10483 |
| 3D Mark (Ice Storm Extreme) | 6645 | 6433 |
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In real-world usage, the Exynos version also responds a little bit faster than the Snapdragon version when launching apps, loading web sites, and overall navigation. PocketNow also concluded that the Exynos version lasts a just a tad longer than its Snapdragon counterpart.
LTE
What the Exynos version lacks though is LTE support (up to HSPA+ only) and that’s one reason why it’s not shipping in parts of the world where LTE-usage is heavy.
It’s interesting to point out though that there’s another variant released only in Korea that runs on a 1.8GHz quad-core Exynos Octa 5 chip with LTE. Don’t go rushing to Korea to get one though as their LTE band is different from ours.
Conclusion
While the Exynos variant is not officially available here, online sellers already have them and are selling it for Php3,000 more than its Snapdragon counterpart. Now it’s up to the consumer if they’re willing to give up that Php3k and LTE support for a little bit of power and battery that they can get from the GT-I9500 version. Which side are you on?