HTC Nexus 9 review: Game on

Performance

HTC Nexus 9 features 64-bit Nvidia Tegra K1 chipset with 2.3GHz dual-core Denver CPU, Kepler DX1 GPU, and 2GB of RAM. The setup is arguably the best available for an Android tablet at the moment and fits the high stature of the tablet.

In the CPU benchmark section, the Nexus 9 posted the highest scores we've seen on most occasions. It handily crushed the competition on most occasions and by quite a margin.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• HTC Nexus 9
  3470
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  3276
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  3165
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2925
• Apple iPhone 6
  2924
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  2884
• Sony Xperia Z3
  2860
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  2748
• LG G3
  2687

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• HTC Nexus 9
  60297
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  46824
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  42505
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  41510
• Sony Xperia Z3
  40393

The Basemark OS II (multi-core) section is where the dual-core chipset fell slightly short from the quad-core competitors. However, its single-core performance came second only to that of the iPhone 6 Plus.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• HTC Nexus 9
  1890
• Apple iPhone 6
  1252
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  1222
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  1192
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  1181
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  1141
• Sony Xperia Z3
  1109
• LG G3
  945
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  830

Basemark X

Higher is better

• HTC Nexus 9
  28244
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  24456
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  18684
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  18297
• Apple iPhone 6
  17054
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  12911
• Sony Xperia Z3
  12637
• LG G3
  12436
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  6501

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  4031
• HTC Nexus 9
  3777
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2588
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  2334
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  2251
• Sony Xperia Z3
  2114
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  1999
• LG G3
  1787

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  15012
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  10413
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  9604
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  9446
• Sony Xperia Z3
  8792
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  8547
• LG G3
  8337
• HTC Nexus 9
  7187

Nvidia's Kepler DX1 GPU produced truly eye-popping benchmark scores. It blazed past 60fps in the GFX T-Rex off-screen test and went past 30fps in the incredibly taxing GFX Manhattan off-screen test. Both scores are the highest we've seen to date on any device and a new measuring stick in the segment.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC Nexus 9
  60.2
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  53.1
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  44.6
• Apple iPhone 6
  42.6
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  41.7
• Sony Xperia Z3
  27.7
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  27.7
• LG G3
  27.6
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  16.4

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6
  51
• HTC Nexus 9
  46.2
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  39.6
• Sony Xperia Z3
  29.3
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  28.1
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  26.4
• LG G3
  20.6
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  17.4

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC Nexus 9
  31.5
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  27.3
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  18.6
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  18.5
• Apple iPhone 6
  17.7
• Sony Xperia Z3
  12
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  12
• LG G3
  11.9
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  8

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6
  29.2
• HTC Nexus 9
  22.6
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  19.8
• Sony Xperia Z3
  12.7
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  11.7
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  11.2
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  8.5
• LG G3
  7.4

The tablet excelled in the Kraken 1.1 JavaScript benchmark too. It beat all android devices in BrowserMark, though it fell short from Safari for iOS.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• HTC Nexus 9
  3953
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  4647
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  4650
• Apple iPhone 6
  4710
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  5351
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  5567
• Sony Xperia Z3
  6355
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  6500
• LG G3
  7610

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  3389
• Apple iPhone 6
  3153
• HTC Nexus 9
  2588
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2208
• Sony Xperia Z3
  1533
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  1467
• LG G3
  1254
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  952
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  795

Overall, HTC Nexus 9 is an absolute beast when it comes to hardware performance. There's no task that the tablet won't munch through with ease.