The web browsing on the just-launched iPhone 3GS is fast enough that it not only beats immediate competitors but even Apple's own claimed testing, mobile ad provider Medialets finds. Using the same SunSpider JavaScript benchmark Apple has used to demonstrate the added speed, the firm says the faster iPhone took about 16.5 seconds to complete the benchmark, or just a third the time of an iPhone 3G with the same iPhone OS 3.0 release. The speed is well above Apple's general claim of having "2X faster" performance across its newer device.

Comparisons against other competitors with strong web browsers also show the 3GS taking a definitive lead. Regardless of its extra RAM and fast OMAP processor, the Palm Pre is only as fast as the previous-generation iPhone in the SunSpider test. The T-Mobile G1, which uses Android 1.5 and so should have a fast JavaScript engine borrowed from Google Chrome, is over five times slower than the iPhone and roughly twice as slow as the Pre.

The difference is close enough that the 3GS has speeds more closely approaching a MacBook with nearly four times the processing power, according to the testers.

Medialets doesn't immediately speculate as to why the iPhone takes the lead, but notes that all four phones' operating systems are using WebKit as their rendering engine and shouldn't see differences in other aspects of rendering websites. However, Apple's 3GS hardware is believed to be the fastest of the three and is combined with a JavaScript engine that normally outperforms Chrome and all other browsers on the desktop.