According the Independent researchers at Which magazine in London, the Apple’s iPhone 6 Handset beats Samsung's Galaxy S5 in independent speed tests.

Independent researchers tested the processing speeds and performance of the latest phones from Apple, Samsung, HTC and LG. Processing speed determines how quickly the phones can open apps, play videos and games, multitask and more.
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus might be the fastest smartphones around right now, but don’t expect that to last for long. Experts will soon test the raw speed of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 and Sony Experia Z3, which are both expected to give Apple’s new handsets a run for their money.
To put the phones through their paces, researchers used ‘Geekbench 3 software’ to calculate their speed. The software is designed to replicate how people use their phones in the real world and calculates single and multi-core performance. The phones were given a score for the numerous performance tests, which were then combined and weighted. The higher a phone's score, the better and faster it is and if a score is double, for example, the phone offers double the performance.

Both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models have a dual core, 1.4GHz A8 processor. Their rivals, such as the Samsung Galaxy S5 have quad-core processors. Quad-core processors are believed to be faster, yet having more cores doesn't necessarily increase speed.
It instead increases the phone's ability to do more things at once, faster, which is a small but significant distinction.
Last year, Which crowned the iPhone 5S the fastest phone,followed by LG's G2 and the Samsung Galaxy S4.
The iPhone 5S was recorded to have a multi-core speed of 3,971, which is almost 600 points lower than this year’s fastest – the iPhone 6 at 4,569 – showing how quickly technology improves.
While processor speed matters when it comes to opening apps and playing games, Which did not compare the quality of the phones’ cameras or screens.
By Lee Jae-sueng(jasonlee@koreaittimes.com)