What you need to know
- Geekbench 6.4 is a minor update that Android users can download today from the Google Play Store.
- There are few noticeable improvements for most Android users, but 6.4 and 6.3 scores are comparable, so you can upgrade without worry.
- Highlights of the upgrade include improved Arm Scalable Matrix Extensions, RISC-V support, and improved CPU topology detection.
Primate Labs widely released the Geekbench 6.4 update for its popular cross-platform benchmark today across iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows. It's available now on the Google Play Store as an update for Android users, replacing the prior Geekbench 6.3 version. It's a recommended update for all Geekbench app users, as the team says Geekbench 6.4 scores are comparable with Geekbench 6.3 scores.
While not a flashy visual update for end users, Geekbench 6.4 includes behind-the-scenes support for more platforms and architectures. Specifically, this benchmark adds improved support for Arm Scalable Matrix Extensions (SME). The older Geekbench 6.3 version required both SME and SME2 instructions to be supported by processors, and now, chips are able to only support SME.
Geekbench says this tweak will help the benchmark improve "compatibility and performance for upcoming CPU releases."
Additionally, Geekbench 6.4 will be able to report the instruction sets being used by a device during the benchmark. For example, the app might denote AVX2, AVX512, SME, or RVV. "These reports provide insight into which instruction sets Geekbench uses during performance measurement," the team adds.
Google removed support for RISC-V in Android in 2024, but it's still an open-source instruction set that is an up-and-coming architecture option. That's why Geekbench 6.4 adds support for RISC-V Vector Extensions, which will help improve the "performance of workloads that leverage SIMD instructions when run on RISC-V CPUs that implement RVV."
So, although RISC-V support won't be that helpful for Android users, it will come in handy for desktop users and other tinkerers. Accordingly, Geekbench 6.4 has improved topology detection for Arm and RISC-V CPUs.
For Android users, the Geekbench 6.4 is a minuscule update. However, as Primate Labs' announcement explains, there's no need to hold off on installing it. Geekbench 6.3 and Geekbench 6.4 scores are comparable, so you can update your apps worry-free on the Google Play Store.
