Xiaomi Mi 3 vs Xiaomi Mi 4: Winners and sinners

Performance

Performance

The Xiaomi Mi 4 is powered by the latest version of the Snapdragon 801 chipset (MSM8974AC) with a quad-core 2.5GHz Krait 400 processor, overclocked Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB of RAM. The Mi 3 also has a Snapdragon 801 chipset (MSM8274AB), but its CPU clock is down to 2.3GHz, the Adreno 330 GPU clock is a bit lower too, and there's 2GB of RAM.

First, we ran the AnTuTu compound test, which in addition to the CPU calculations, throws in GPU and RAM routines, too. The Xiaomi Mi 4 gets an excellent mark here, just a tad better than the Mi 3.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  37009
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  36018
• LG G2
  35444
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  35298
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  34972
• Oppo Find 7a
  33344
• Sony Xperia Z2
  33182

We tried out the anti-cheat version of the popular Basemark OS II benchmark and we found both devices don't use any tricks to climb up the score table. The overall ratings in this benchmark are the best we've seen to date, though the Mi 4 has again a small lead over the Mi 3.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 4
  1324
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  1289
• Oppo Find 7
  1212
• HTC One (M8)
  1126
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1082
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1080

The Xiaomi Mi 4 posted better results in both single and multi-core performance, probably because of the higher CPU clock.

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7
  2606
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  2573
• HTC One (M8)
  2428
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  2415
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  2400
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2253

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7
  10391
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  10063
• Sony Xperia Z2
  10044
• HTC One (M8)
  9860
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  9508
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  9007

The Adreno 330 is a popular GPU, available in both the Snapdragon 800 and Snapdragon 801 chipsets. It runs on a slightly higher frequency (28 MHz more) in the Xiaomi Mi 4, so we expected slightly better results than the Xiaomi Mi 3. The Mi 4 however turned out absolutely on par with its predecessor, as well as some of the S801-powered flagships out there such as the Galaxy S5, Xperia Z2, Find 7.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  28.4
• Oppo Find 7
  28
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  27.8
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  27.6
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  27.4
• Sony Xperia Z2
  27.2

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  30.1
• Sony Xperia Z2
  28.7
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  28.2
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  28.2
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  28.1
• Oppo Find 7
  19.9

The Open GL ES3.0 Manhattan test puts the Xiaomi Mi 4 among the best devices we've tested so far and it is once again on par with the Xiaomi Mi 3.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S5 (801)
  11.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  11.7
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  11.6
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  11.6
• HTC One (M8)
  11.1
• Oppo Find 7
  11.1

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia Z2
  12.2
• HTC One (M8)
  11.9
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.7
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  11.5
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  11.3
• Oppo Find 7
  6.7

The BrowserMark 2.1 tests HTML 5 performance, while Mozilla's Kraken 1.1 is JavaScript-centric. The Xiaomi Mi 4 did slightly better on both.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy S5 (801)
  6043
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  6137
• Oppo Find 7
  6363
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  6586
• Sony Xperia Z2
  7041
• HTC One (M8)
  10296

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7
  1452
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1398
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1224
• HTC One (M8)
  1069
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  744
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  706

Winner: Tie. Going solely by benchmark numbers the Xiaomi Mi 4 narrowly won most tests, but the differences are too slim to notice in daily use.