Nubia didn't cut any corners when it comes to internals. The Z11 is fully loaded and ready to brush elbows with most any 2016 flagship. It might not quite tick all the boxes, like its close relative the ZTE Axon 7, with its QHD AMOLED panel, but the top-tier Snapdragon 820 is still a shared trait. Plus, the FullHD resolution really does go a long way in boosting GPU performance.
That being said, we can definitely hold the Z11 up to high standards when it comes to synthetics. Chinese OEM's like Xiaomi and Huawei are constantly pushing the envelope on cost-efficiency, so even the Z11's tantalizing price tag in the $400 to $500 ball park doesn't really give it a neck up any more.
Choosing competitors to pit it up against was surprisingly easy. As already mentioned, Xiaomi's pricing has proven aggressive enough to put even the Mi5 flagship in reach. Provided, you can get your hands on one, while keeping shipping and import costs low. But even beyond Xiaomi, there are many other handset that fit the bill. The equally well-equipped OnePlus 3 instantly springs to mind. Huawei also has a wide selection of devices to offer, like the Honor 8, Mate 8 or P9, all under $500.
As for more Western-friendly manufacturers, like LG with the G5 and HTC or Samsung, there is definitely a premium to be paid for flagship offers. But some of the mid-rangers that do stay within budget, still have a trick or two to impress with and don't really fall that behind the Z11 in performance.
Kicking things off with an all-round benchmark, like AnTuTu, and we can clearly see the Snapdragon 820-powered Nubia Z11 hold its own. It is, however, worth noting that the Nubia seems to score a bit below its Snapdragon 820 peers in this benchmark. The differences are far from substantial, so we could easily write it off to poor software optimization.
AnTuTu 5
Higher is better
Huawei Honor 8 78710
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 77623
Huawei Mate 8 76785
HTC 10 75229
Nubia Z11 71940
Samsung Galaxy C7 51156
Oppo F1 Plus 47112
Meizu m3 note 41838
Samsung Galaxy C5 35780
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 35710
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
HTC 10 154031
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 151619
OnePlus 3 141764
LG G5 134541
Xiaomi Mi 5 131758
ZTE Axon 7 129926
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 129229
Nubia Z11 129099
Meizu Pro 6 99195
Huawei P9 98069
Huawei Honor 8 94892
Huawei Mate 8 91609
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 85162
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 77442
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 76186
Samsung Galaxy C7 62818
Oppo F1 Plus 51299
Huawei Honor 5c 51220
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 49094
Meizu m3 note 44898
Samsung Galaxy C5 44438
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 35134
Basemark OS II 2.0 paints a pretty similar overall picture to AnTuTu.
Basemark OS II 2.0
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 2690
OnePlus 3 2365
Xiaomi Mi 5 2180
Huawei Honor 8 2099
Huawei P9 2068
LG G5 2065
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 2050
Huawei Mate 8 2017
Meizu Pro 6 1919
ZTE Axon 7 1915
HTC 10 1839
Nubia Z11 1790
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 1728
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 1696
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 1426
Samsung Galaxy C7 1222
Huawei Honor 5c 1221
Oppo F1 Plus 1092
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 1007
Meizu m3 note 852
Samsung Galaxy C5 815
Looking at the purely CPU-based GeekBench tests, we can see the four Kryo cores inside the Z11 are pulling their weight and perform pretty much as expected. Upon closer inspection, the GeekBench 3 table does show some room for improvement. The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, for instance, tops the chart with a good 1300 point lead, which is a notable achievement.
Interestingly enough, Huawei's own Kirin chips seem to be dominating in this kind of multi-threaded loads. Much the same can be said for the deca-core MediaTek Helio x20 in the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4.
GeekBench 3 (multi-core)
Higher is better
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 6600
Huawei P9 6558
Meizu Pro 6 6427
Huawei Honor 8 6380
Huawei Mate 8 6323
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 5566
OnePlus 3 5520
LG G5 5362
Xiaomi Mi 5 5358
HTC 10 5257
Nubia Z11 5249
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 5166
Samsung Galaxy C7 5103
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 4140
Huawei Honor 5c 3933
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 3695
Oppo F1 Plus 3242
Samsung Galaxy C5 3083
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 3039
Meizu m3 note 3028
GeekBench 3 (single-core)
Higher is better
OnePlus 3 2383
HTC 10 2368
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 2345
LG G5 2328
Nubia Z11 2313
Xiaomi Mi 5 2305
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 2151
Meizu Pro 6 1905
Huawei Honor 8 1831
Huawei P9 1819
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 1596
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 1543
Samsung Galaxy C7 933
Huawei Honor 5c 898
Oppo F1 Plus 857
Meizu m3 note 807
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 745
Samsung Galaxy C5 695
GeekBench 4 (multi-core)
Higher is better
Huawei Honor 8 5447
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 4456
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 4130
OnePlus 3 4045
ZTE Axon 7 3990
Nubia Z11 3926
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 3885
GeekBench 4 (single-core)
Higher is better
Nubia Z11 1755
Huawei Honor 8 1720
OnePlus 3 1719
ZTE Axon 7 1702
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 1694
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 1551
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 1546
Moving on to graphics, the Adreno 530 inside the Snapdragon 820 is a definite powerhouse by current standards. Combined with the 1080p resolution of the Z11, preliminary expectations were naturally high. However, the slight, but notable, performance handicap we saw in the CPU department is present in GPU tests as well.
Our review unit didn't exhibit any signs of overheating during the tests, so the culprit is definitely not thermal throttling. Still looking at both the Open GL 3.0 and 3.1 tests, the Z11 consistently comes in over 7 frames behind its equally-specked competitors. Perhaps the stylish Nubia UI 4.0 is still in need of some optimization work.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 49
LG G5 47
HTC 10 47
OnePlus 3 46
Xiaomi Mi 5 45
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 40
Nubia Z11 31
Huawei Honor 8 18
Huawei Mate 8 18
Meizu Pro 6 18
Huawei P9 18
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 15
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 15
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 14
Samsung Galaxy C7 9.8
Huawei Honor 5c 7.8
Oppo F1 Plus 7
Samsung Galaxy C5 6.4
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 5.7
Meizu m3 note 5.4
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 4.9
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 32
OnePlus 3 31
HTC 10 31
Xiaomi Mi 5 30
LG G5 30
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 29
Nubia Z11 22
Meizu Pro 6 11
Huawei Honor 8 10
Huawei Mate 8 10
Huawei P9 10
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 9.5
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 9.5
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 9
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 7.2
Samsung Galaxy C7 6.2
Huawei Honor 5c 4.5
Samsung Galaxy C5 4.2
Oppo F1 Plus 3.3
Meizu m3 note 2.5
GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 19
OnePlus 3 18
HTC 10 18
Xiaomi Mi 5 17
Nubia Z11 16
LG G5 16
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 15
Huawei P9 6.5
Meizu Pro 6 6.4
Huawei Honor 8 6.3
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 5.4
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 5.4
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 5.3
Samsung Galaxy C7 3.4
Huawei Honor 5c 2.7
Samsung Galaxy C5 2.6
Onscreen rendering is where the benefits from FullHD kick in. Still, however, with those odds evened as well, the Z11 falls behind the 1080p Xiaomi Mi 5 and OnePlus 3. The performance argument still stands.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
OnePlus 3 45
Xiaomi Mi 5 43
Nubia Z11 34
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 31
LG G5 28
HTC 10 28
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 27
Huawei Honor 8 19
Huawei P9 19
Huawei Mate 8 18
Meizu Pro 6 18
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 15
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 15
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 14
Samsung Galaxy C7 9.6
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 9.5
Huawei Honor 5c 8.3
Oppo F1 Plus 7
Samsung Galaxy C5 6.3
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 5.7
Meizu m3 note 5.4
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
OnePlus 3 30
Xiaomi Mi 5 29
Nubia Z11 22
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 18
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 15
LG G5 15
HTC 10 15
Huawei Honor 8 11
Huawei Mate 8 11
Meizu Pro 6 11
Huawei P9 11
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 9.5
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 9.4
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 9
Samsung Galaxy C7 6.1
Huawei Honor 5c 4.8
Samsung Galaxy C5 4.1
Oppo F1 Plus 3.3
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 3.2
Meizu m3 note 2.5
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
OnePlus 3 18
Nubia Z11 17
Xiaomi Mi 5 17
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 12
HTC 10 9.9
LG G5 8.8
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 7.8
Huawei P9 7.1
Huawei Honor 8 6.9
Meizu Pro 6 6.4
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 5.5
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 5.4
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 5.4
Samsung Galaxy C7 3.4
Huawei Honor 5c 3
Samsung Galaxy C5 2.6
Last, but not least, there is Basemark X. It is that little bit kinder to the Nubia, but, overall, still mostly singles it out for underwhelming utilization of the Snapdragon 820 and Adreno 530 GPU.
Basemark X
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 36322
Xiaomi Mi 5 33110
OnePlus 3 32715
LG G5 29456
HTC 10 28882
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 28480
Nubia Z11 23899
Huawei P9 16942
Huawei Honor 8 16592
Huawei Mate 8 15593
Meizu Pro 6 15209
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 14717
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 13666
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 12190
Samsung Galaxy C7 10445
Huawei Honor 5c 7735
Oppo F1 Plus 6204
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 5383
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 5210
Samsung Galaxy C5 5039
Meizu m3 note 4567
Basemark X (medium)
Higher is better
Lenovo Moto Z Droid 42493
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge 40998
Xiaomi Mi 5 35292
Nubia Z11 30864
HTC 10 30680
Huawei P9 29583
LG G5 29148
Huawei Honor 8 28832
Huawei Mate 8 27425
Xiaomi Redmi Pro 23846
Meizu Pro 6 23774
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 23643
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 23300
Samsung Galaxy C7 21164
Huawei Honor 5c 16171
Oppo F1 Plus 14843
Meizu m3 note 11604
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 11199
Samsung Galaxy C5 9598
All things considered, we can only make the conclusion that the Nubia Z11 is a well-spec'd underachiever. Don't get us wrong, we are well aware that synthetics rarely translate linearly to real-world performance. The Z11 is just as snappy and responsive as any other recent flagship we have tested in everyday usage scenarios. Even heavy multitasking loads can't bog it down.
However, the numbers don't lie and there is definitely room for Nubia to improve the Z11's performance numbers across the board.
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