[AT&T, Rogers HTC One X, Telstra One XL] iamthedudeman:
There isn't one bench mark where a dual core Cortex A9 beats a Snapdragon S4 in any test any where on the web.

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...ragon-s4-has-the-competition-on-the-defensive

With two 1.5GHz Krait cores, Qualcomm’s new part was able to thoroughly thrash dual-core ARM chips in most tests, and even beat Nvidia’s Tegra 3 quad-core SoC in benchmarks that don’t rely heavily on multi-core optimization.

Nvidia might have thought getting to quad-core first assured it victory, but Qualcomm’s Krait core is more similar to the next generation Cortex-A15 than it is to Tegra’s A9.

Clock for clock the S4 literally destroys any Cortex A9 on the market. The Tegra 3 keeps up with the S4 because it is a Quad core chip. Of coarse benchmarks which display raw horsepower the Tegra 3 will win some of them.

Will you see a difference between a tegra 3 or a Exynos quad core or a Snapdragon S4 dual core. Probably not. The Tegra 3 is fast, the Quad Exynos is fast. So is the 'dual' Snapdragon S4. If and when the quad Snapdragon S4 comes out. This would not even be a conversation. No contest.

You are saying that a last generation Cortex A9 is just as fast or faster than a Snapdragon S4 which is a A15 class SOC clock for clock. Is this right? The same S4 which beats any dual core A9, and badly. The Snapdragon S4 design is even more advanced and more efficient than the next gen Cortex A15. Lets compare the Quad Tegra 3 to the Dual Snapdragon S4.

Loses six of seven tests:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/02/htc-one-s-review/

The software for both phones were pre production. About ten days old. So take the benchmarks with a grain of salt for the pre production models. The numbers for the Trasformer Prime and the MSM8960 which run on mature hardware and software would be a more accurate benchmark. The One XL has the MSM8960 not the MSM8260A.

If you compare the chip that is actually in the One XL the MSM8960 against the tegra 3, the MSM8960 wins 4 out of six tests to tegra 3's two. Basically 4-2.

If you compare the HTC one S vs the tegra 3, the split 3 to 3.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5584/htcs-new-strategy-the-htc-one

http://www.stuff.tv/news/phone/news...ne-x-vs-htc-one-xl-–-tegra-3-vs-snapdragon-s4

He states that the Snapdragon S4 and the Cortex A15 should be close in performance clock for clock. Dhrystone MIPS is what the chip manufactures use to gauge performance when they are designing and clocking the chip do finalize the performance of the chip to wattage ratio. It is the defacto test for the manufactures.

Linpack does reflect real world peformance. It stresses the CPU and only the CPU. How could you get more real world than that?

How does any Cortex dual A9 compare the the S4 in these benchmarks?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5559/...mance-preview-msm8960-adreno-225-benchmarks/2

The Snapdragon S4 in the One XL is the msm8960 in case you were wondering.

He clearly states that there isn't a Cortex A9 that comes close clock for clock. And states the percentages.

ARM's Cortex A15 design by comparison features a 15-stage integer pipeline. Qualcomm's design does contain more custom logic than ARM's stock A15, which has typically given it a clock speed advantage. The A15's deeper pipeline should give it a clock speed advantage as well. Whether the two effectively cancel each other out remains to be seen.

At 3.3, Krait should be around 30% faster than a Cortex A9 running at the same frequency. At launch Krait will run 25% faster than most A9s on the market today, a gap that will only grow as Qualcomm introduces subsequent versions of the core. It's not unreasonable to expect a 30 - 50% gain in performance over existing smartphone designs. ARM hasn't published DMIPS/MHz numbers for the Cortex A15, although rumors place its performance around 3.5 DMIPS/MHz.

A 3.3 rating vs a rumored 3.5 for Cortex A15. They are on par with each other. A9 is old in comparison. No comparison to a Snapdragon S4 clock for clock.

What dual core A9 comes close to the Snapdragon S4?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5559/...mance-preview-msm8960-adreno-225-benchmarks/2

If you want to abstract by one more level: Krait will be faster regardless of application, regardless of usage model. You're looking at a generational gap in architecture here, not simply a clock bump.

Occasionally we'll see performance numbers that just make us laugh at their absurdity. Krait's Linpack performance is no exception. The performance advantage here is insane. The MSM8960 is able to deliver more than twice the performance of any currently shipping SoC

I cannot see how you can say a Cortex A9 core for core is as good as a snapdragon S4. That is like saying a Cortex A9 is as good as a Cortex A15. The next round of chips will be dual core A15's to compete with Qualcomms Snapdragon S4.

The only reason you are seeing quad core cortex A9's is because they don't have Cortex A15's SOC's ready. Qualcomm released their Snapdragon S4 early. Caught Nvidia and Samsung with their pants down. The Snapdragon S4 was not originally to be released with a Adreno 225. Which is just a enhanced Adreno 220. It was supposed to be released with a Adreno 320. The original plan of the S4 was to be released late Q2 2012. Not late Q1 2012. They are now going to call the Snapdragon S4 with the Adreno 320 the MSM8960 'Pro'.

They knew about that Qualcomm might release the S4 early a year ago! Samsung rushed their Exynos 4412 to market because their A15 5520 was not ready yet. That is why it still runs with the same Mali 400 as the Galaxy S2. The future is not 6 to 8 core smartphones any time soon. You will see more advanced lower wattage lower power chips first. Yes there is going to be Quad S4's and A15's. Cortex A9 will be gone by the end of this year or early next year. Replaced by Cortex A15 and Snapdragon S4 SOC's.