As already mentioned, Motorola's take on an upgraded "Plus" device for this generation of Moto G phones is mostly confined within the bounds of a new camera and a fingerprint reader. There is also the addition of a 4GB RAM option for some extra cash, but sadly, that seems to be the only hardware improvement Motorola has decided to offer.
That definitely leaves the G4 Plus at a performance disadvantage, even within its modest $250 or so price range. The Snapdragon 617 SoC is part of the older generation, you can mostly tell by the old Adreno 405 GPU. The CPU clock speed is lower compared to the chipset that replaces it - the 625. Not to mention that the latter has the major advantage of being made on an efficient 14nm process. The G4 unfortunately doesn't get to enjoy any of that even in its Plus variant.
There are still, however, a couple of silver linings to enjoy, or at least be content with. For one, there is the undeniable speed bonus that comes with using a vanilla Android ROM. Just like the G4, its plus sibling is very snappy while performing most everyday tasks. If you opt for 4GB of RAM, you get some extra multitasking wiggle room as well.
As for the other "win", of sorts, while quite underwhelming performance-wise, the Adreno 405 does, at least support OpenGL ES 3.1. As will become quite clear from the GPU tests, it can't really do much with it in terms of 3D rendering, but the latter is a prerequisite for running Android 7 Nougat. That means the Moto G4 and G4 Plus still have an update path lined up for the future, when a lot of more powerful older devices are currently left lacking any support from Qualcomm on the matter and will likely be missing out on the fresh Google goodness.
The 5.5" 1080p segment is fairly popular and includes high-profile devices like the Xiaomi Redmi 3 and the Meizu m3 Note. We have tested Redmi 3 with both the Helio X10 chipset and the Snapdragon 650. The Meizu m3 note has Helio P10, which sits below the X10. The Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) packs an Exynos 7870, while the Oppo R7s uses an older Snapdragon 615 chipset. These, along with some other devices we picked out as mostly price rivals of the G4 Plus, provide a few excellent points for performance comparison across the board.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
Xiaomi Mi 5 131758
LeEco Le Max 2 129461
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 85162
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 76186
Vivo V3Max 76170
ASUS ZenFone 3 ZE552KL 62632
Huawei P9 Lite 52768
Oppo F1 Plus 51299
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 49094
Lenovo Moto G4 46949
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10) 45474
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 45190
Meizu m3 note 44898
Huawei Honor 5X 35469
Lenovo Vibe K5 33414
Oppo F1s 30657
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 27487
You can see the power of the A72 cores used in the the Redmi note 3 (Snapdragon 650) in the single-core test. They are about twice as fast as the A53 core of the Moto phone. Then there is the Snapdragon 820 inside the Xiaomi Mi 5 and LeEco Le Max 2, which are both on a whole different level performance-wise.
For multicore performance, however, the eight A53 cores in the MediaTek version of the Redmi note 3 come out ahead.
GeekBench 3 (multi-core)
Higher is better
Xiaomi Mi 5 5358
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 5166
Meizu MX5 5110
LeEco Le Max 2 5026
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10) 4537
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 4140
Vivo V3Max 3978
Huawei P9 Lite 3799
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 3695
LG Nexus 5X 3527
Oppo F1 Plus 3242
Lenovo Moto G4 3182
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 3085
Huawei Honor 5X 3053
Meizu m3 note 3028
Oppo F1s 2967
Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615) 2880
Lenovo Vibe K5 2493
Moto G (3rd gen) 2GB of RAM 1589
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 1437
GeekBench 3 (single-core)
Higher is better
Xiaomi Mi 5 2305
LeEco Le Max 2 2118
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 1596
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 1543
Vivo V3Max 1238
Huawei P9 Lite 899
Oppo F1 Plus 857
Meizu m3 note 807
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 745
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 722
Lenovo Moto G4 713
Oppo F1s 706
Huawei Honor 5X 705
Lenovo Vibe K5 616
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 471
Moving over to the GPU, the Adreno 405 did fine in the 720p days, but it always struggled on 1080p. Games definitely won't run at the full resolution of the G4's screen, but will have to upscale instead.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
Xiaomi Mi 5 45
LeEco Le Max 2 44
LG Nexus 5X 16
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 15
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 14
Vivo V3Max 14
Meizu MX5 10
ASUS ZenFone 3 ZE552KL 9.9
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10) 8.5
Huawei P9 Lite 7.8
Oppo F1 Plus 7
Lenovo Moto G4 6.5
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 6.4
Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615) 5.8
Huawei Honor 5X 5.6
Meizu m3 note 5.4
Oppo F1s 5.1
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 4.9
Lenovo Vibe K5 4.8
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 1.8
Moto G (3rd gen) 2GB of RAM 1.7
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
Xiaomi Mi 5 43
LeEco Le Max 2 28
LG Nexus 5X 17
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 15
Vivo V3Max 14
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 14
Oppo F1s 10
ASUS ZenFone 3 ZE552KL 9.7
Meizu MX5 9.5
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 9.5
Lenovo Vibe K5 9.4
Huawei P9 Lite 8.3
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10) 7.9
Oppo F1 Plus 7
Lenovo Moto G4 6.8
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 6.6
Huawei Honor 5X 6.1
Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615) 5.8
Meizu m3 note 5.4
Moto G (3rd gen) 2GB of RAM 3.9
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 3.8
As already mentioned, the Adreno 405 is pretty much helpless when it comes to OpenGL ES 3.1 rendering. However, it might just hold the key to a Nougat update in the future.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
Xiaomi Mi 5 30
LeEco Le Max 2 28
LG Nexus 5X 11
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 9.5
Vivo V3Max 9.4
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 9
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 7.2
ASUS ZenFone 3 ZE552KL 6.2
Meizu MX5 4.8
Huawei P9 Lite 4.6
Lenovo Moto G4 4.2
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 4.1
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10) 4
Oppo F1 Plus 3.3
Meizu m3 note 2.5
Oppo F1s 2.4
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
Xiaomi Mi 5 29
LeEco Le Max 2 15
LG Nexus 5X 11
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 9.4
Vivo V3Max 9.1
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 9
ASUS ZenFone 3 ZE552KL 6.2
Oppo F1s 6
Huawei P9 Lite 4.9
Meizu MX5 4.7
Lenovo Moto G4 4.5
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 4.4
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10) 3.9
Oppo F1 Plus 3.3
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 3.2
Meizu m3 note 2.5
GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)
Higher is better
Xiaomi Mi 5 17
LeEco Le Max 2 16
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 5.4
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 5.3
ASUS ZenFone 3 ZE552KL 3.4
Huawei P9 Lite 2.8
Lenovo Moto G4 2.6
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 2.6
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
Xiaomi Mi 5 17
LeEco Le Max 2 8.8
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 5.5
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 5.4
ASUS ZenFone 3 ZE552KL 3.4
Huawei P9 Lite 3
Lenovo Moto G4 2.8
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 2.8
Basemark X shows that even the Helio X10 chipset (with a PowerVR G6200 GPU) is a bit faster. The G4 Plus still mostly holds its own within its price range.
Basemark X
Higher is better
LeEco Le Max 2 33874
Xiaomi Mi 5 33110
LG Nexus 5X 16609
Vivo V3Max 15430
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 14717
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 13666
ASUS ZenFone 3 ZE552KL 10494
Meizu MX5 10403
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10) 8540
Huawei P9 Lite 7681
Lenovo Moto G4 6932
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 6380
Oppo F1 Plus 6204
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 5383
Huawei Honor 5X 5009
Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615) 4802
Meizu m3 note 4567
Lenovo Vibe K5 4263
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 2180
Moto G (3rd gen) 2GB of RAM 1866
Oppo F1s 419
Basemark X (medium)
Higher is better
Xiaomi Mi 5 35292
LeEco Le Max 2 27147
Vivo V3Max 26128
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650) 23643
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 23300
ASUS ZenFone 3 ZE552KL 21251
Huawei P9 Lite 15754
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10) 15359
Oppo F1 Plus 14843
Lenovo Moto G4 11860
Meizu m3 note 11604
Motorola Moto G4 Plus 11566
Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) 11199
Huawei Honor 5X 10107
Oppo F1s 9740
Lenovo Vibe K5 9020
Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) 4157
The Lenovo Moto G4 Plus is definitely fast enough for daily use and most apps will be happy with it. Some would have benefitted from the more powerful A72 cores used in newer chipsets, but it's really the games that take a hit. The Adreno 405 will deliver lower level of graphical effects than what you get from similarly priced 5.5" 1080p phones. This applies even more to the G4 Plus, since its price hike of about $50 over the regular G4, place it in an even more competitive price segment. You can definitely find some extra graphics oomph elsewhere for that kind of money.
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