Technical terms and definitions used across our reviews and guides.
Also: Solar Bay
A ray tracing stress test that measures a phone's ability to render realistic lighting effects. Ray tracing is computationally expensive and tests the latest GPU architectures.
Also: Wild Life Extreme, WLE, 3DMark WLE
A GPU stress test that runs 20 consecutive loops of demanding 3D rendering to measure both peak graphics performance and sustained performance under thermal load.
Also: Variable Refresh Rate, VRR, Dynamic Refresh Rate
A display's ability to dynamically adjust its refresh rate between a minimum and maximum (e.g., 1–120Hz) based on on-screen content, saving battery when full speed isn't needed.
Also: Adobe RGB (1998)
A color space designed for print workflows, covering more greens and cyans than sRGB. Less relevant for phone content consumption but useful as a gamut coverage benchmark.
Also: Active-Matrix OLED
Samsung's branding for OLED panels that use an active-matrix transistor grid to control individual pixels. Functionally similar to OLED with Samsung's specific manufacturing process.
Also: f-number, f-stop, f/, F-number
The size of a camera lens's opening, written as f/1.8, f/2.2, etc. Lower numbers mean a wider opening that lets in more light and produces more background blur.
Also: Average Picture Level
The percentage of a display showing bright content during an HDR test. A 10% APL window means only 10% of the screen is lit, which lets displays push higher peak brightness.
A directional sharpness difference in a camera lens, where horizontal detail resolves more clearly than vertical (or vice versa). Measured as a percentage difference between the two directions.
Also: AF, Auto Focus, Auto-Focus
The system that automatically adjusts focus to keep subjects sharp. Modern phones use phase detection (PDAF) or laser autofocus for speed, plus AI-based subject tracking.
Also: AOMedia Video 1
A royalty-free video codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media, offering similar compression efficiency to H.265. Increasingly supported for video playback and streaming.
Also: b bias, Blue-Yellow Bias
A measurement of systematic blue-yellow color shift in camera output. Positive b_bias means a warm (yellow) cast; negative means a cool (blue) cast. Used to diagnose white balance errors versus sensor-level hue confusion.
Also: Bass (60–250Hz)
Low-frequency sound (60–250Hz) that provides warmth and body to music and media. Most phone speakers begin producing meaningful output somewhere in this range.
Also: Bit Rate, Bit-Rate
The amount of data processed per second in a video or audio stream, measured in megabits per second (Mbps). Higher bitrate generally means better quality but larger file sizes.
The aesthetic quality of out-of-focus areas in a photo. Physical bokeh comes from lens optics; portrait mode simulates it computationally using depth estimation.
Also: Brilliance (6–20kHz)
The very highest audible frequencies (6–20kHz), contributing airiness and sparkle to audio. Phone speakers often roll off in this range.
Also: Capacitive Fingerprint, Side-Mounted Fingerprint, Side Fingerprint
A fingerprint reader that detects the electrical differences between fingerprint ridges and valleys. Typically mounted on the side or rear of the device rather than under the display.
The graph of charging speed over time from 0–100%. Most phones charge fastest in the first 30–50% then slow down to protect battery longevity, resulting in a characteristic curve shape.
Also: CA, Color Fringing, Purple Fringing
Color fringing at the edges of high-contrast details in a photo, caused by a lens focusing different wavelengths of light at slightly different points. Measured in pixels.
Also: CIELAB, Lab Color Space, L*a*b*
A color space designed to approximate human vision, separating color into Lightness (L*), green-red axis (a*), and blue-yellow axis (b*). Used as the reference framework for color accuracy measurements.
Also: Coder-Decoder
Short for coder-decoder — the software algorithm that compresses and decompresses audio or video data. Different codecs trade off between file size, quality, and processing requirements.
Also: Display Color Mode, Display Mode
A manufacturer preset that adjusts a display's color output — typically trading accuracy for vividness or vice versa. Names vary by brand (Natural, Vivid, Standard, Adaptive, etc.).
Also: Color Gamut Standard
A defined range of colors that a display or camera can reproduce. Common color spaces include sRGB (web standard), Display P3 (flagship target), and Rec. 2020 (future standard).
Also: Kelvin, Color Temp
A measure of light's warmth or coolness, measured in Kelvin. Daylight is around 5500K (neutral white); indoor lighting is around 3000–4000K (warm/yellow). Cameras adjust white balance to compensate.
Also: X-Rite ColorChecker, ColorChecker Classic, Color Checker
The X-Rite ColorChecker Classic, a standardized chart of 24 color patches used worldwide as the reference target for measuring camera color accuracy.
Also: CoreML
Apple's machine learning framework that runs AI models on the Neural Engine, GPU, or CPU. The backend used in our GeekBench AI testing for iPhones.
Also: Central Processing Unit
The general-purpose processor cores that handle most phone tasks: app launching, web browsing, system operations, and background processes.
Also: A-weighted Decibels, A-Weighted Decibels
A measurement of sound pressure adjusted to reflect human hearing sensitivity. The A-weighting de-emphasizes very low and very high frequencies that we perceive as quieter.
Also: ΔC, DeltaC, Delta C (ΔC)
The difference in color saturation between a measured color and its reference value. Positive ΔC means oversaturated; negative means undersaturated.
Also: ΔE, ΔE2000, Delta E 2000, DeltaE, dE, dE2000, dE 2000
The standard measure of color accuracy. It quantifies how far a displayed or captured color is from the true reference value. Below 1.0 is imperceptible to the human eye; above 3.0 is noticeable.
Also: ΔH, DeltaH, Delta H (ΔH)
Hue accuracy — whether a color's actual tint matches the reference. A high Delta H means colors are shifting to incorrect hues (e.g., blue drifting toward purple), distinct from saturation errors.
Also: ΔL, DeltaL, Delta L (ΔL)
The luminance (brightness) difference between a measured color and its reference. Positive means brighter than it should be; negative means darker.
Also: DoF, DOF
The range of distance in a scene that appears acceptably sharp. Larger sensors, wider apertures, and longer focal lengths produce shallower depth of field (more background blur).
Also: Digital Magnification, Digital Crop
Magnification achieved by cropping and upscaling the image from the sensor, which progressively degrades quality. Used beyond the optical zoom range.
Also: DCI-P3, P3, DCI P3
A wider color space than sRGB, originally developed for digital cinema. It covers roughly 25% more colors, particularly in reds and greens. The standard target for modern flagship displays.
Also: Dolby Atmos Speakers, Atmos
A spatial audio format that adds height channels to surround sound, creating an immersive 3D audio experience. Available on many flagship phone speakers and supported headphones.
A premium HDR format using dynamic metadata with up to 12-bit color depth. Requires specific hardware support and licensing from Dolby.
Samsung's latest OLED panel branding, indicating support for HDR10+, 120Hz refresh, and reduced blue light emission compared to earlier AMOLED generations.
Samsung's flagship panel technology combining LTPO variable refresh rate with Dynamic AMOLED 2X, supporting 1–120Hz adaptive refresh with HDR10+ and reduced blue light.
Also: DR, Dynamic Range
The span of brightness levels a camera can capture, from the darkest shadows to the brightest highlights. Measured in exposure values (EV). More dynamic range means detail is preserved in both bright skies and dark shadows.
Also: Electronic Image Stabilization
Software-based stabilization that crops and shifts the video frame digitally to compensate for camera movement. Uses a portion of the sensor's field of view as a stabilization buffer.
Also: 35mm Equivalent, Full-Frame Equivalent
A camera's focal length converted to the 35mm full-frame equivalent, allowing field-of-view comparisons across different sensor sizes. A phone's "24mm" main camera refers to this equivalent.
Also: Exposure Value, Stops
A unit measuring brightness range. Each additional EV represents a doubling of light. A camera with 12 EV of dynamic range can capture detail across a 4,000:1 brightness ratio.
Also: EXIF Data, EXIF Metadata, Exchangeable Image File Format
Metadata embedded in a photo file recording the camera settings used: ISO, aperture, shutter speed, focal length, and more.
Also: f10 Cutoff, -10dB Cutoff
The frequency at which a speaker's output drops 10dB below its midrange level on the low end. A lower cutoff frequency means the speaker reproduces deeper bass.
Also: Focal Length (mm)
The distance (in millimeters) between a camera lens and its sensor, determining field of view and magnification. Lower numbers (e.g., 13mm) capture wider scenes; higher numbers (e.g., 120mm) zoom in tighter.
Also: Foldable Phone
A phone with a flexible display that physically folds, either book-style (opening into a tablet) or flip-style (folding vertically into a compact form). Tested on both inner and outer displays.
Also: FPS, Frames Per Second
Frames per second — how many individual images are captured (video) or rendered (gaming) each second. Higher FPS means smoother motion. Common video rates are 24, 30, and 60 fps.
Also: FR
How evenly a speaker or microphone reproduces sound across the audible range (20Hz–20kHz). A flat response means all frequencies play at roughly equal volume.
Also: Color Gamut, Gamut
The percentage of a defined color space (like sRGB or Display P3) that a display can reproduce. Higher coverage means the display can show a wider range of colors.
Also: Gallium Nitride, GaN Charger
A semiconductor material used in modern chargers that enables higher wattage in smaller, cooler-running adapters compared to traditional silicon chargers.
Also: Geekbench, GB6
A cross-platform benchmark that measures CPU performance through real-world workloads. Reports separate single-core (one core speed) and multi-core (all cores working together) scores.
Also: Graphics Processing Unit
The specialized processor cores that handle graphics rendering for games, animations, video playback, and visual effects.
Also: AVC, H264, Advanced Video Coding
A widely used video compression standard (also called AVC) used in our battery video playback tests. Efficiently encodes 1080p video and is supported by all modern devices.
Also: HEVC, H265, High Efficiency Video Coding
A newer video compression standard that achieves the same quality as H.264 at roughly half the file size. Used for 4K video recording on most modern phones.
Also: FP16, Half Precision, Float16
A floating-point format using 16 bits per number, offering better AI inference accuracy than INT8 at roughly double the computational cost.
Also: High Dynamic Range
A display mode that produces brighter highlights and deeper blacks than standard content, using metadata to map brightness levels beyond what SDR (standard dynamic range) can show.
Also: Multi-Exposure HDR, Auto HDR
A technique where the camera captures multiple frames at different exposures and merges them into one image with detail in both shadows and highlights.
The baseline open HDR standard using static metadata to define peak brightness and color for the entire video. Supported by virtually all HDR-capable phones.
Also: HDR10 Plus
Samsung's extension of HDR10 that adds dynamic metadata, adjusting brightness and color on a scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame basis.
Also: HEIC, HEIF/HEIC, High Efficiency Image Format
High Efficiency Image Format — a modern photo file format that compresses images to roughly half the size of JPEG with similar or better quality. The default photo format on iPhones and many Android flagships.
Also: AI Zoom, Space Zoom
A zoom method that combines optical magnification with AI-enhanced digital cropping, producing better results than pure digital zoom but not as clean as native optical.
Also: Noise (Image), Photo Noise, Sensor Noise
Random grain or speckle in a photo, typically increasing in low light or at high ISO settings. Measured as the standard deviation of pixel values across a uniform area.
Also: Ingress Protection, Ingress Protection Rating, IP
A two-digit code indicating dust and water resistance. The first digit rates dust (6 = fully dustproof), the second rates water (8 = submersible beyond 1 meter).
Partial dust protection (objects >1mm) and water resistance for submersion beyond 1 meter. A lower tier of protection found on some budget devices.
Limited dust protection and splash resistance from any direction. Not submersible — protects against rain and accidental splashes only.
Also: IP58/IP59
Partial dust protection with water resistance for extended submersion beyond 1 meter. Less dust protection than IP68 but the same water rating.
Fully dustproof with splash resistance from any direction. Better dust protection than IP54 but the same basic water resistance — splashes only, not submersion.
Fully dustproof with protection against low-pressure water jets from any direction. Handles rain and splashes easily but not designed for submersion.
The most common flagship rating: completely dustproof and water-resistant for submersion beyond 1 meter. Exact depth and duration vary by manufacturer (typically 1.5–6 meters for 30 minutes).
Also: IP68/IP69, IP69K, IP68/IP69K
A higher water resistance rating indicating protection against high-pressure, high-temperature water jets. Typically paired with IP68 for phones claiming extra durability.
Splash resistance from any direction, with no formal dust protection rating (the X means untested). Common on basic wearables and some budget phones.
The camera sensor's light sensitivity setting. Higher ISO values brighten the image but introduce more noise and can degrade color accuracy.
Also: Resolution Chart, ISO 12233
A standardized resolution test chart used to measure camera sharpness. Contains patterns of converging lines at different orientations and frequencies for MTF analysis.
Also: Image Signal Processor
A dedicated processor that handles converting raw camera sensor data into a finished photo. Controls noise reduction, color processing, HDR, autofocus, and exposure — the engine behind computational photography.
Also: JPG, .jpg, .jpeg
The universal photo compression format, supported everywhere. Produces smaller files than RAW but applies lossy compression that discards some image data permanently.
Also: Laser AF, ToF AF
An autofocus assist system that emits an infrared laser beam to measure distance to the subject, helping the camera focus faster in low light.
Also: Liquid Crystal Display
A display technology that uses a backlight filtered through liquid crystals. Generally cheaper than OLED but cannot achieve true blacks since the backlight is always on.
Also: Bluetooth LE Audio, Low Energy Audio, Auracast
A Bluetooth audio standard that uses the LC3 codec for better sound quality at lower bitrates, enables multi-device broadcasting (Auracast), and reduces latency for gaming.
Also: Barrel Distortion, Pincushion Distortion
Warping of straight lines near the edges of an image, caused by lens optics. Barrel distortion bows lines outward (common on ultrawide lenses); pincushion distortion bows them inward.
The previous standard for flagship mobile RAM, offering high bandwidth for multitasking. Still found in many upper mid-range and recent flagship phones.
Also: LPDDR5X
The latest generation of low-power mobile RAM, offering higher bandwidth and better power efficiency than LPDDR5. Used in flagship phones for faster multitasking.
Also: Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide, LTPO AMOLED, LTPO OLED
A display backplane technology that enables variable refresh rates (e.g., 1–120Hz) by allowing each pixel's transistor to hold its state longer, saving battery when full speed isn't needed.
Also: LTPO2 AMOLED
The second generation of LTPO backplane technology, offering faster refresh rate switching and improved power efficiency over the original LTPO.
Also: Illuminance, lx
The unit of illuminance, measuring how much light falls on a surface. Our camera tests use three levels: 1,000 lux (bright daylight), 100 lux (indoor), and 10 lux (low light).
Also: Line Widths per Picture Height, LWPH, Line Widths Per Picture Height
The unit for measuring camera sharpness. It counts how many alternating black-and-white lines can be resolved across the full height of the image.
Also: Macro Mode, Macro
Extreme close-up photography, sometimes enabled by a dedicated macro lens or the ultrawide camera's close focusing distance. Captures detail invisible to the naked eye.
Also: Magnetic Wireless Charging
Wireless charging with built-in magnets (MagSafe or Qi2) that snap the phone into perfect alignment on the charger, improving charging efficiency and convenience.
Also: MagSafe Charging
Apple's magnetic charging and accessory system using a ring of magnets around the wireless charging coil. Ensures precise alignment for optimal charging efficiency and supports snap-on accessories.
Also: Milliamp-Hours, Milliamp Hours, mAH
The unit of battery capacity, measuring total charge stored. Higher mAh generally means longer battery life, though efficiency of the processor and display matters too.
Also: MP, Megapixel
The total number of pixels a camera sensor captures, in millions. Higher megapixel counts provide more detail for cropping but don't guarantee better image quality.
Also: Mic Noise, Audio Noise
Unwanted background hiss or interference in a microphone recording, measured as deviation from a clean signal. Lower noise means clearer voice capture.
Also: Millimeter Wave, mmWave 5G, mm Wave
A high-frequency 5G band that delivers extremely fast speeds over very short distances. Requires direct line of sight and is primarily available in dense urban areas.
In dynamic range testing, instances where a darker step on the test target actually appears brighter than the previous step in the captured image — indicating tone curve irregularities.
Also: Modulation Transfer Function
A measure of how well a camera lens preserves contrast at fine detail levels. Higher MTF means sharper images with better-resolved detail.
Also: Multi-Frame Noise Reduction
Capturing several images in rapid succession and combining them computationally to improve sharpness, reduce noise, or extend dynamic range beyond what a single exposure can achieve.
Also: Apple Neural Engine
Apple's name for the dedicated AI/ML processing cores in their chips. Handles tasks like photo computational photography, Face ID, Siri processing, and on-device language models.
Also: Near Field Communication
A short-range wireless technology used for contactless payments (Apple Pay, Google Pay), transit cards, and quick device pairing. Works within a few centimeters.
Also: cd/m², Candelas per Square Meter
The unit of display brightness (technically candelas per square meter). A typical indoor screen runs around 200–500 nits; HDR peak brightness can exceed 2,000 nits.
Also: Neural Networks API, Android NNAPI
Android's standard interface for running machine learning models on a device's available hardware accelerators (NPU, GPU, or CPU). Used in our GeekBench AI testing.
Also: Nonapixel, Nona-Bayer, 9-in-1 Pixel
A sensor layout grouping nine same-color pixels together (3×3), enabling 9-to-1 binning for extreme low-light performance. Used on sensors with 108 megapixels or higher.
Also: Neural Processing Unit, AI Processor, AI Engine
A dedicated processor optimized for machine learning and AI tasks like photo processing, voice recognition, and on-device language models. Also called a Neural Engine (Apple) or TPU (Google).
Also: Optical Image Stabilization
A mechanical system that physically shifts lens elements or the sensor to counteract hand shake during photo and video capture. Reduces blur in handheld shots.
Also: Organic Light-Emitting Diode
A display technology where each pixel produces its own light, enabling true blacks (pixels turn completely off) and high contrast ratios. The dominant panel type in flagship phones.
Also: Optical Fingerprint, Optical Sensor
An under-display fingerprint reader that uses light to photograph your fingerprint. More common in mid-range phones; can struggle with wet or dry fingers.
Also: Optical Magnification
Magnification achieved by physically moving lens elements, preserving full image quality. A 5x optical zoom uses a telephoto lens with 5 times the magnification of the main camera.
Also: Overshoot, Sharpening Overshoot, Sharpening Artifacts
An artifact from aggressive software sharpening where bright halos appear along edges in a photo. Our sharpness scores are penalized proportionally for overshoot.
Also: Plastic OLED, P-OLED (Plastic OLED)
An OLED panel built on a flexible plastic substrate instead of glass, enabling curved or foldable display designs.
Also: Phase Detection Autofocus, Phase Detection AF, Phase Detection Auto Focus
An autofocus system that uses paired pixels on the sensor to measure focus by comparing two slightly offset images. Faster and more accurate than contrast-based autofocus.
Also: Periscope Telephoto, Folded Optics, Periscope Camera
A telephoto lens design that uses a prism or mirror to bend the light path sideways inside the phone, fitting a long focal length into a thin body. Enables 5x+ optical zoom.
A test signal with equal energy per octave, sounding like a soft rush of static. Used as the standard signal for measuring speaker maximum volume because it represents real-world audio content more accurately than pure tones.
Also: Pixel-Binning
A technique where multiple small sensor pixels are combined into one larger virtual pixel, improving low-light performance at the cost of resolution. A 48-megapixel sensor might bin down to 12-megapixel output.
Also: Portrait, Bokeh Mode
A camera mode that uses depth sensing or AI to blur the background behind a subject, simulating the shallow depth-of-field look of a large-sensor camera.
Also: Pixels Per Inch, Pixel Density
The pixel density of a display, calculated from resolution and screen size. Higher PPI means individual pixels are harder to distinguish, producing a sharper-looking screen.
Also: Perceptual Quantizer, SMPTE ST 2084
The HDR brightness standard (SMPTE ST 2084) that defines how digital values map to real-world luminance levels. Used to evaluate how accurately a display reproduces HDR content.
Also: Apple ProRAW
Apple's format that combines RAW sensor data with computational photography processing (like Smart HDR and Deep Fusion), giving photographers more editing flexibility while preserving Apple's image pipeline benefits.
Also: Apple ProRes
Apple's professional video codec offering near-lossless quality at large file sizes. Available on Pro-tier iPhones for professional video workflows.
Also: Pulse-Width Modulation, Pulse Width Modulation
A method of dimming displays by rapidly flickering the pixels on and off. Low-frequency PWM can cause eye strain or headaches for sensitive users; high-frequency PWM is generally imperceptible.
Also: Qi Charging, Qi Wireless
The universal wireless charging standard maintained by the Wireless Power Consortium, supported by virtually all phones with wireless charging.
Also: Qi2 Charging
The next generation of the Qi wireless charging standard, adding magnetic alignment (similar to MagSafe) for more efficient power transfer and precise pad placement.
Also: Qualcomm Neural Network, Qualcomm QNN
Qualcomm's proprietary AI framework optimized for running neural network inference on Snapdragon processors' NPU, GPU, and CPU.
Also: Tetrapixel, Quad-Bayer, 4-in-1 Pixel
A sensor pixel layout where groups of four same-color pixels sit together, enabling 4-to-1 pixel binning in low light while capturing full resolution in bright conditions.
Also: INT8, Quantized, INT8 Quantized
A machine learning inference mode that uses 8-bit integers instead of floating-point numbers, running faster and more efficiently with minimal accuracy loss. The most common on-device AI format.
Also: Random Access Memory, Memory
Short-term working memory that stores active apps and data. More RAM means more apps can stay loaded in the background without needing to reload.
Also: RAW Image, RAW Photo, RAW File
An unprocessed image file containing all data from the camera sensor before any computational photography is applied. Used in our testing to isolate sensor performance from software processing.
Also: RT, Ray-Tracing
A rendering technique that simulates how light bounces and interacts with surfaces in a 3D scene, producing realistic reflections, shadows, and lighting. Very demanding on mobile GPUs.
Also: Rec 2020, BT.2020, BT2020
An ultra-wide color space defined for future 4K/8K broadcasting. No current display fully covers it, but coverage percentage indicates how future-proof a panel's color range is.
Also: Hz, Hertz
How many times per second the display redraws its image. 60Hz is standard; 120Hz feels noticeably smoother for scrolling and animations; 144Hz and 165Hz push further for gaming.
Also: Display Resolution, Screen Resolution
The total number of pixels on a display, expressed as width × height (e.g., 2796×1290). Higher resolution at the same screen size means finer detail and sharper text.
Also: Root Mean Square Error
A measure of average deviation from a reference. In display testing, lower RMSE means the tone mapping curve more closely follows the PQ standard.
Our stabilization metric: the ratio of residual camera shake (after stabilization) to the input shake amplitude. Lower values mean the stabilization system removed more of the original movement.
Also: Color Saturation
How vivid or intense colors appear. Oversaturation makes colors look unnaturally punchy; undersaturation makes them look washed out. Distinct from hue accuracy — colors can be vivid yet wrong.
Also: Screen to Body Ratio
The percentage of a phone's front face occupied by the display. Higher ratios mean thinner bezels and more screen in the same physical footprint.
Also: Standard Dynamic Range
The conventional brightness and color range used by most non-HDR content. Limited to a narrower brightness range than HDR, typically peaking around 200–500 nits.
Also: Image Sensor Size, Camera Sensor Size
The physical dimensions of a camera's image sensor, usually expressed as a type fraction (e.g., 1/1.3 inch). Larger sensors capture more light per pixel, improving low-light performance and depth-of-field.
Also: Sensor-Shift OIS, IBIS
A type of OIS where the entire image sensor moves to compensate for camera shake, rather than moving lens elements. Can stabilize any lens mounted above it.
Also: Exposure Time
How long the camera sensor is exposed to light, measured in fractions of a second (e.g., 1/60s). Longer exposures brighten the image but increase motion blur.
Also: FP32, Single Precision, Float32
A 32-bit floating-point format providing the highest AI inference accuracy but requiring the most processing power. Used as a quality baseline.
Also: Slow-Mo, Slo-Mo, High-Speed Video
Video recording at high frame rates (120fps, 240fps, or higher) played back at normal speed, making fast action appear dramatically slowed down.
Also: Signal-to-Noise Ratio, Signal to Noise Ratio
The ratio of useful image or audio information to background noise, measured in decibels. Higher SNR means cleaner output with less visible or audible grain.
Also: System on Chip, System-on-Chip, Chipset, Processor
The main processor combining CPU, GPU, neural engine, and modem into a single chip. Examples include Apple's A19 Pro and Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Also: Update Policy, Software Support
A manufacturer's commitment to providing Android OS upgrades and security patches for a specified number of years. Longer support means the phone stays secure and functional longer.
Also: 3D Audio, Head Tracking Audio
Audio processing that simulates 3D surround sound through headphones or speakers, making sounds appear to come from specific directions around the listener.
Also: BrowserBench Speedometer
A browser benchmark that measures web application responsiveness by simulating user interactions with complex web apps. Higher scores mean faster, more responsive web browsing.
Also: Sound Pressure Level
A measure of sound volume in decibels (dBA). Our speaker tests measure SPL at a fixed 50-centimeter distance from the device.
The standard color space used by most web content and consumer displays. It defines a specific range of colors; Display P3 and Adobe RGB are wider alternatives.
Also: GPU Stability, Thermal Stability
The ratio of a benchmark's worst loop score to its best, showing how much performance drops under sustained load. 100% means no throttling; lower percentages indicate thermal constraints.
Also: Audio Standard Deviation
In speaker and microphone testing, how much the output varies across frequencies. Lower standard deviation means a flatter, more balanced frequency response.
Also: Standby Battery Drain, Idle Drain
Battery consumed while the phone sits idle with the screen off. Affected by background processes, connectivity, and how aggressively the OS manages sleep states.
Also: Dual Speakers
A dual-speaker configuration (typically one bottom-firing and one earpiece) that creates spatial separation in audio, making media sound wider and more immersive than a single speaker.
Also: Stouffer Wedge, Step Wedge
A precision optical target with graduated density steps used to measure a camera's dynamic range. Each step represents approximately 1/3 of an exposure value.
A benchmark that runs continuously for an extended period to measure sustained performance under thermal load, revealing how much a device throttles when it gets hot.
Also: Sub Bass, Sub-Bass (20–60Hz)
The lowest audible frequencies (20–60Hz), felt as much as heard. Phone speakers generally can't reproduce these frequencies and roll off steeply below 100Hz.
Samsung's term for AMOLED panels with the touch digitizer integrated directly into the display, reducing thickness and improving outdoor visibility.
Also: Super Retina XDR, Super Retina
Apple's branding for their OLED displays, indicating HDR support with high peak brightness. Uses the same underlying OLED technology as other manufacturers.
Also: Brightness Stability, Brightness Sustained
How well a display maintains its peak HDR brightness over time. Displays often throttle brightness after several minutes to manage heat, measured as a percentage of initial peak.
Also: Telephoto Lens, Tele, Telephoto
A camera lens with a longer focal length than the main camera, providing optical magnification for distant subjects. Zoom levels typically range from 2x to 10x.
Also: TFLite, TF Lite
Google's lightweight machine learning framework optimized for mobile devices. Can run on CPU, GPU, or NPU depending on device support.
Also: Total Harmonic Distortion
The percentage of a speaker's output that consists of unwanted harmonic artifacts rather than the intended sound. Lower THD means cleaner audio reproduction.
Also: Throttling, CPU Throttling, GPU Throttling
The automatic reduction of processor speed when a device gets too hot, protecting hardware but reducing performance. Measured as GPU stability percentage in our stress tests.
Also: Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 5, TB4, TB5
Intel's high-speed data and display protocol, supporting up to 40Gbps (Thunderbolt 4) or 80Gbps (Thunderbolt 5) transfer speeds. Rare on phones but found on some Samsung flagships.
Also: Tonal Curve
The mathematical mapping a camera applies to convert scene brightness into pixel values. Affects contrast, shadow detail, and highlight retention. Most cameras apply an S-curve for more pleasing contrast.
Also: Tone Map, Tone-Mapping
The process a display uses to convert HDR content's brightness metadata into the actual luminance levels it can produce, compressing the source's range to fit the panel's capabilities.
Also: Input Latency, Touch Response Time
The delay between a finger touching the screen and the display responding, measured in milliseconds. Lower latency means more responsive, immediate-feeling interactions.
Also: Touch Scan Rate
How frequently the display scans for finger input, measured in Hz. A 240Hz touch sampling rate polls for touches twice as often as a 120Hz display, reducing perceived input delay.
Also: Highs, Treble / Highs
Higher frequencies (2–10kHz) responsible for detail, presence, and clarity in audio. Excessive treble sounds harsh; insufficient treble sounds muffled.
Also: Universal Flash Storage
The standard for smartphone internal storage. UFS 4.0 offers significantly faster read/write speeds than UFS 3.1, improving app loading, file transfers, and system responsiveness.
The latest Universal Flash Storage standard, offering sequential read speeds up to 4,200 MB/s — roughly double UFS 3.1. Reduces app install times, photo processing, and file transfer durations.
Also: Ultrasonic Fingerprint, Ultrasonic Sensor
A fingerprint reader that uses sound waves to create a 3D map of your fingerprint through the display glass. Generally faster and more reliable than optical sensors, especially with wet fingers.
Also: Ultrawide Lens, Ultra-Wide Camera, Ultra-Wide Lens, UW
A camera lens with a short focal length (typically 12–16mm equivalent) that captures a much wider field of view than the main camera, useful for landscapes and tight spaces.
Also: UDC, Under Display Camera
A front camera hidden beneath an active area of the display, eliminating the punch-hole cutout. Image quality from under-display cameras currently trails conventional front cameras.
Also: In-Display Fingerprint, Under Display Fingerprint
A fingerprint reader embedded beneath the screen (optical or ultrasonic), allowing you to unlock by touching a designated area on the display rather than a physical button.
Also: Usable Range (EV), Usable Dynamic Range
The portion of a camera's dynamic range where tonal transitions are actually distinguishable above the noise floor. Derived from distinguishable steps divided by three (each test step = 1/3 EV).
Also: USB-C 2.0
The baseline USB data standard with maximum transfer speeds of 480 megabits per second. Found on budget and some mid-range phones; noticeably slow for large file transfers.
Also: USB-C 3.1
A USB standard supporting up to 10 gigabits per second data transfer, roughly 20 times faster than USB 2.0. A meaningful upgrade for transferring large photo and video libraries.
Also: USB-C 3.2
A USB standard supporting 5–20 gigabits per second depending on the specific variant (Gen 1, Gen 2, Gen 2x2). Check the Gen designation for the actual speed tier.
Also: USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen2
A specific USB standard supporting 10 gigabits per second data transfer — roughly 20 times faster than USB 2.0. The most common fast USB tier on flagships.
Also: USB PD, USB-PD, Power Delivery
A universal fast-charging standard built into USB-C that negotiates voltage and current between the charger and device, supporting up to 240W. The baseline charging protocol for most phones.
Also: USB Type-C, USB Type C, Type-C
The universal reversible connector standard used by virtually all modern smartphones. The physical connector is the same, but data transfer speeds vary by USB version.
Also: Ultra-Thin Glass, Ultra Thin Glass
Ultra-thin flexible glass used as the top layer on foldable displays, replacing plastic film for better durability and feel. Still more fragile than standard phone glass.
Also: Ultra-Wideband, Ultra Wideband
A short-range radio technology that enables precise spatial awareness between devices, used for features like AirDrop directional finding, digital car keys, and item trackers.
Also: Vapor Chamber, VC Cooling
A thin, sealed copper chamber filled with a small amount of liquid that evaporates and condenses to spread heat across a larger area, helping the processor sustain peak performance longer.
A camera lens that can physically change its aperture size (e.g., f/1.4 to f/2.4), adjusting depth of field and light intake. Rare in smartphones.
Darkening at the corners and edges of a photo relative to the center, caused by lens optics. More pronounced at wider apertures and on ultrawide lenses.
Also: Watt-Hours, Watt Hours
An alternative battery capacity measure (mAh × voltage / 1000) that accounts for voltage differences between batteries, making cross-device energy comparisons more accurate.
Also: WB, Auto White Balance, AWB
A camera's correction for the color temperature of ambient light, aiming to render neutral tones as truly neutral. Errors show up as warm (yellow) or cool (blue) color casts.
Also: 802.11ax, WiFi 6
A Wi-Fi standard offering improved speeds, better performance in crowded networks, and lower battery consumption compared to Wi-Fi 5.
Also: WiFi 6E, 802.11ax 6GHz
An extension of Wi-Fi 6 that adds the 6GHz band, offering faster speeds and less congestion in environments with many connected devices.
Also: 802.11be, WiFi 7
The latest Wi-Fi standard supporting wider channels, higher throughput, and multi-link operation for connecting across multiple bands simultaneously. Requires a Wi-Fi 7 router.
Also: Fast Charging, Wired Fast Charging
The maximum power delivery rate when charging via cable, measured in watts. Higher wattage charges faster, though actual speeds depend on the phone's charging curve management.
Also: Wi-Fi Charging
Charging via electromagnetic induction through a charging pad, without a physical cable connection. Typically slower than wired charging.