iPhone 5 touchscreen latency measured, found to be 2.5x faster than closest Android rival

By Joseph Keller
last updated

iPhone 5 touchscreen latency measured, found to be 2.5 times faster than closest Android device

The touchscreen on the iPhone 5 is 2.5 faster than Android devices when responding to touch input. The iPhone 5 registers touches in 55 milliseconds, compared to 85 milliseconds on the iPhone 4. These measurements come by way of app streaming company Agawi, which measured the iPhone 5 against several Android and Windows Phone devices using their TouchMarks benchmarks:

As you can see, the results are remarkable. At a MART of 55ms, The iPhone 5 is twice as responsive as any Android or WP8 phone tested. All the Android devices’ MARTs fell in the same 110 – 120ms range, with the WP8-based Lumia 928 falling into that bucket as well. (Incidentally, the ranges all span about 16ms, which is expected given the 60 Hz refresh rate of these smartphones. 1/60s = 16.6ms)

The fastest non-Apple device tested was the Samsung Galaxy S4, which registered touch input in 114 milliseconds. The HTC One and Moto X were also tested. Agawi believes that the sensitivity of Apple's screens might be due to better optimization or calibration of the touchscreen hardware on Apple devices, or the fact that iPhone apps are written in Objective-C. Agawi plans to use TouchMarks to measure touch latency on more devices soon, including the new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, as well as more Android and Windows Phone handsets.

Have you used iPhone 5 as well as Android and other devices? If so, have you noticed the difference?

Source: Agawi AppGlimpse

Joseph Keller
Joseph Keller

Joseph Keller is the former Editor in Chief of iMore. An Apple user for almost 20 years, he spends his time learning the ins and outs of iOS and macOS, always finding ways of getting the most out of his iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.

18 Comments
  • Touché!
  • disregard, i missed the numbers of the android devices. was looking at the IP5 compared to the IP4.
  • 55 * 2.5 = 114?
  • I was wondering the same thing. Maybe the slowest device measured was 140, which implies all Android devices when considering the slowest. Kudos to Apple for being more responsive on touch inputs.
  • This merely quantifies what we already knew to be true: the iPhone is much more responsive. But it's nice to have numbers to toss out there to skeptics.
  • I already know the answer to this but..., Food for thought: How many milliseconds can the human brain pickup on? The number deviations given was a waste of researchers time....
  • That was my thing. It doesn't feel like a badge of honor but more like comparing retina to 1080p and calling that indecipherable to the human eye.
  • That sounds about right.
  • From what I understand, touch screen latency is very important to people who create and work with music. Apparently, it's one of the reasons why a great number or music creators use iOS devices as opposed to android.
  • What about the new iPhones?
  • I just dumped the Galaxy S4 for the Iphone 5S, I couldn't stand the lag of the touch screen on the S4. I definitely notice the difference.
  • iPhone is clearly the IBM compatible of smartphones
  • Regarding the real world perception of latency. Here is a Microsoft video showing the difference between 10ms, 50ms and 100ms screen latency: http://youtu.be/vOvQCPLkPt4
  • i shouldn't have watched that, now i won't be satisfied until we have 1ms screen latency.
  • Ha ha ha. Now I'm scrolling up and down the page trying to imagine the page moving precisely with my finger. It seems like it might be kind of strange. The latency gives a bit of rubber banding to the beginning. Like it takes momentum to get going. I wonder if the rubber banding at the end was to pair the latency experience on the original iPhone.
  • Oh my God, people. We're talking about milliseconds here. A measurement that is nearly imperceptible to the human brain. I highly doubt anyone can see a noticeable difference between 55ms and 114ms. It's like comparing the outrageously high PPI density of the HTC One screen to the lower PPI retina display of the iPhone. Most people won't know the difference. And I don't think this kind of measurement will factor in anyone's decision to buy or not buy an iPhone: "Oh no, my Galaxy S4 has a latency of 114ms. What a piece of crap! I have to go buy an iPhone now because it has faster latency." You guys need to get real. No one really cares about latency on a smartphone.
  • Just as mentioned earlier, take a gander at http://youtu.be/vOvQCPLkPt4 before you spout off. It's pretty easy to reproduce on the devices as well.
  • The HTC One m8 was the first phone to drop below 50 me, with response of 48ms. So the m8 was more responsive then both the iPhone and samsung.