AnTuTu has released the public beta of AnTuTu V12, and this is more than a simple update to the popular smartphone benchmarking app. The company has significantly changed how it tests phone performance, with a bigger focus on workloads that are supposed to resemble real-world usage.
The new version is now available through the AnTuTu website and major app stores. It brings changes to all four major parts of the benchmark: CPU, GPU, memory and UX. AnTuTu has also completely redesigned the app interface and added better support for tablets and foldable phones.
But there is one detail that matters more than the new interface or even the higher scores we are already seeing from some phones.
AnTuTu V12 scores cannot be directly compared with AnTuTu V11 scores.
That means the existing AnTuTu performance rankings are effectively getting a reset.
AnTuTu has traditionally been one of the most widely used ways to compare smartphone performance. But benchmark scores are often criticized for being theoretical numbers that do not always represent what users experience in everyday use.
With V12, AnTuTu says it is trying to address exactly that.
The CPU test has been adjusted to better represent the way a phone actually uses its processor. Instead of treating CPU performance as a simple race for the highest clock speed, the new test considers the way processors move between high and low clock speeds during normal use.
That matters because a phone does not run its CPU at maximum performance all the time. It needs high performance when handling demanding tasks, but also needs to reduce power consumption when the workload is light.
AnTuTu says the new CPU workloads are designed to better reflect this behaviour.
The memory section has also received a major overhaul. AnTuTu V12 adds a dynamic latency stress test designed to simulate situations where different memory workloads are happening at the same time. The goal is to see how well a device handles interference and maintains stability under heavier loads.
The benchmark also adds new memory fragmentation tests and further optimizes sequential and random read/write testing.
Application-level I/O has also been improved to better measure the read and write performance that users might encounter during actual operations.
This could make the memory score more useful for comparing phones with similar specifications, because simply looking at RAM capacity does not tell the whole story about how a device behaves under load.
The GPU test is another major part of V12. AnTuTu says it has optimized its graphics processing pipeline to produce more detailed visuals, smoother shadows and more demanding lighting effects. The new workload is intended to put greater pressure on GPUs and better represent the requirements of future high-end games.
V12 also introduces a new Cooperative Matrix test based on Vulkan Cooperative Matrix technology. It evaluates the ability of different GPU computing units to work together on matrix calculations. That is interesting as mobile GPUs continue to take on more demanding workloads, including AI and increasingly sophisticated graphics.
The goal is not simply to make the benchmark produce a bigger number. AnTuTu says the updated graphics workload is designed to provide a better picture of how a device handles heavy GPU workloads.
AnTuTu says its new algorithms more closely follow the rendering and response mechanisms used by modern operating systems. The company claims this should make the UX score more representative of perceived system smoothness.
This is one of the more important changes because CPU and GPU scores are easy to understand, but neither tells you exactly how responsive a phone feels when opening apps, navigating the interface or performing everyday tasks.
A benchmark that better measures those interactions could provide a more useful indication of the experience users actually get from a phone.
Early V12 results are already showing significantly higher numbers than the V11 generation. For example, AnTuTu’s current Chinese performance ranking shows the RedMagic 11S Pro+ at more than 4.11 million points under V11. Early V12 testing reported by ZOL puts the same phone at around 4.60 million points, although these numbers should not be treated as a direct performance gain because the benchmark itself has changed. This is exactly why AnTuTu is warning users not to compare V11 and V12 scores.
A phone scoring 4.6 million in V12 is not necessarily 10 or 15 percent faster than a phone scoring 4 million in V11. The tests, workloads and scoring system are different.
This is not a new issue for AnTuTu. When V11 launched last year, AnTuTu similarly warned that V10 and V11 scores were not comparable because of changes to the scoring system.
This could have a noticeable impact on how smartphone performance is discussed. It has been common to see phones compared using AnTuTu scores for a long time. A manufacturer launches a phone, posts a huge score and uses it as evidence that its device is faster than the competition.
V12 makes those comparisons more complicated. Once manufacturers and reviewers start publishing V12 scores, users will need to make sure they are comparing phones tested using the same AnTuTu version. Mixing V11 and V12 numbers will not give a meaningful comparison.
AnTuTu V12 also introduces a completely redesigned user interface with a cleaner visual language. The company says it has simplified elements from previous versions while making the interface more suitable for different screen sizes.
The news section has also been redesigned with a card-based layout and category filters.
More importantly, AnTuTu has specifically optimized the interface for larger devices such as tablets and foldable phones, allowing more information to be displayed and making the controls better suited to larger screens.
V12 also adds support for 16 KB memory pages on Android. Google has been moving Android toward support for 16 KB page sizes, which can improve performance in some scenarios by reducing memory-management overhead.
The most interesting part of V12 is not the redesigned interface or the fact that flagship phones are suddenly crossing new score milestones. It is AnTuTu’s attempt to make its benchmark more representative of how people actually use their phones.
And I think that is a good direction.
Related Posts
