Huawei P9 review: Ascension

Performance

The Huawei P9 is powered by an in-house Kirin 955 chipset. The model number doesn't suggest a big change compared to the Kirin 950 inside the Mate 8, and that's indeed the case.

The Kirin 955 SoC features an octa-core CPU with four Cortex-A72 cores clocked at up to 2.5GHz (compared to the 2.3GHz of the Kirin 950's), and four Cortex-A53 cores ticking at up to 1.8GHz (same as Kirin 950). The GPU is again a quad-core Mali-T880 MP4.

We kicked off our benchmark routine with the GeekBench CPU test. The performance of a single Cortex-A72 core is rather uninspiring compared to the Snapdragon 820's Kryo within the Xiaomi Mi 5 and the LG G5, nor does it come close to the Apple's Twister CPU.

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s
  2542
• LG G5
  2328
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2305
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  2170
• Huawei P9
  1819
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  1490

The multi-core test is where the Kirin 955's CPU shines - thanks to the higher processor clock it does better than the Huawei Mate 8 and bested every other smartphone we've tested so far.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Huawei P9
  6558
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  6360
• Huawei Mate 8
  6323
• LG G5
  5362
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  5358
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  5095
• Apple iPhone 6s
  4427
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  3796
• Huawei P8
  3380
• Huawei Ascend P7
  1895

The compound AnTuTu 6 test gives the P9 some edge over its Mate 8 predecessor, but trails behind the current crop of flagships. That's probably due to the lower-grade GPU, but we'll talk about that in a minute.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• LG G5
  134541
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  132084
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  131758
• Apple iPhone 6s
  129990
• Huawei P9
  98069
• Huawei Mate 8
  91609

The BaseMark OS 2.0 test paints a slightly different picture, because in addition to CPU, GPU, RAM, and UX, it also gauges web and storage performance, plus overall OS behavior. Here the Huawei P9 scored an excellent mark and is on par with the LG G5 and the Galaxy S7.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s
  2195
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2180
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  2128
• Huawei P9
  2068
• LG G5
  2065
• Huawei Mate 8
  2017
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  1750
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  1440
• Huawei P8
  1112
• Huawei Ascend P7
  552

It's the graphics department where Kirins are often not quite up to par, and seeing that nothing's changed over the Mate 8 in this respect, benchmark results are very much the same. While the Kirin 955, same as Helio X25, uses Mali-T880 MP4 (quad-core) graphics, the flagship Galaxy S7's Exynos utilizes Mali-T880 MP12 (12-core graphics), hence the big difference. Qualcomm's Adreno 530 within he Mi 5 and G5 is the best, though.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• LG G5
  30
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  28
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  18
• Huawei P9
  10
• Huawei Mate 8
  10
• Huawei P8
  3.4

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• LG G5
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  15
• Huawei P9
  6.5

Huawei P9 runs on 1080p resolution, which gives it an edge over the Quad HD LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7, which cuts the gap short and makes more sense for Huawei not to opt for the best GPU on the market.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  38
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  29
• LG G5
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  15
• Huawei P9
  11
• Huawei Mate 8
  11
• Huawei P8
  4.3

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• LG G5
  8.8
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  7.9
• Huawei P9
  7.1

BaseMark X GPU test clearly shows the superiority of Galaxy S7, LG G5, and Xiaomi Mi 5. BaseMark ES.3.1 gives us pretty much the same results.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 5
  33110
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  32345
• LG G5
  29456
• Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
  27046
• Sony Xperia Z5 Compact
  23703
• Huawei P9
  16942
• Huawei Mate 8
  15593
• Huawei P8
  6307

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6s
  879
• Samsung Galaxy S7
  732
• LG G5
  587
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  580
• Huawei P9
  341
• Huawei Mate 8
  311

To sum it all up, the Kirin 955 brings a marginal improvement in performance over the Mate 8's Kirin 950. The flagship chips from Qualcomm and Samsung will remain undisturbed at the top for the time being.

Still, the Huawei P9 packs top-notch CPU punch and enough GPU power for its 1080p display. While its GPU performance may not be the best in class, there isn't a single game the P9 can't handle right now. And it offers a ROG power-saving mode that lowers the screen resolution down to 720p, which will not only save you some battery, but allow for a higher framerates if needed.