The advantage of multi-core processors is not in opening and closing individual apps but in multi-tasking many different apps at once. If you have your alarm clock operatiing at the same time you are talking on the phone while calculating a problem or browsing the Internet or watching a video, etc.
“The advantage of multi-core processors is not in opening and closing individual apps but in multi-tasking many different apps at once. If you have your alarm clock operatiing at the same time you are talking on the phone while calculating a problem or browsing the Internet or watching a video, etc.”
True, although the need for multitasking on a phone is generally lower than it is with a full-fledged computer. So Apple is probably taking a better approach for that type of device.
Another factor is that iOS uses pre-compiled, non garbage-collected programs, which provides some advantage.
Finally, the Nexus 6P made the mistake (along with many high-end Android phones) of going with too high of a resolution screen at 2560x1440 to win the “spec wars”. That is about double the pixel density that even the best human eye can actually perceive, and that means the graphics processor is doing four times the work on pixel fill for no reason. That probably accounts for the majority of the difference on the game benchmark. The one thing such a screen improves is VR where you mount the phone in a facemask like arrangement and see the screen through magnifying optics.
(BTW on multitasking - for a long time all computers were single core, and lots of them multitasked up to hundreds of users at a time. Those computers were far less powerful than today’s phones.)