Faster than real time on every configuration we publish
Measured speed of Essence 2 and Expression 2, from phones to the cloud.
Published 2026-09-29.
Every configuration we publish renders faster than real time, including 10-minute sustained runs on iPhone 15 and Samsung Galaxy S25+.
The numbers
| Configuration | Essence 2 | Expression 2 |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 15 iPhone · Swift package | 2.1× real timeiPhone 15 · Swift package 2.17.3 · measured 2026-09-27 | 5.5× real timeiPhone 15 · Swift package 2.18.0 · measured 2026-09-27 |
| Samsung Galaxy S25+ Android | 2.0× real timeSamsung Galaxy S25+ · essence2-android 0.7.0 · measured 2026-09-25 | 2.4× real timeSamsung Galaxy S25+ · expression2-android 0.4.10 · measured 2026-09-23 |
| Apple M4 iMac (Mac16,3, 10-core GPU) macOS · Swift package | 4.2× real timeApple M4 iMac (Mac16,3, 10-core GPU) · Swift package 2.21.3 · measured 2026-10-08 | 8.7× real timeApple M4 iMac (Mac16,3, 10-core GPU) · Swift package 2.21.3 · measured 2026-10-08 |
| Apple M4 macOS · CLI | 4.2× real timeApple M4 · CLI 2.8.1 · measured 2026-09-27 | 8.4× real timeApple M4 · CLI 2.8.1 · measured 2026-09-27 |
| Intel Core i7-13700F (x86_64) Linux · CLI CPU only (no GPU) | 2.0× real timeIntel Core i7-13700F (x86_64), CPU only (no GPU) · CLI 2.8.1 · measured 2026-09-27 | 2.2× real timeIntel Core i7-13700F (x86_64), CPU only (no GPU) · CLI 2.8.1 · measured 2026-09-27 |
| Chrome on Apple M4 Web browser (WebGPU) | 1.7× real timeChrome on Apple M4 · web viewer · measured 2026-09-27 | 1.9× real timeChrome on Apple M4 · web viewer · measured 2026-09-27 |
| NVIDIA RTX 4090 Cloud API · GPU | 4.1× real timeNVIDIA RTX 4090 · cloud API · measured 2026-09-27 | 17.0× real timeNVIDIA RTX 4090 · cloud API · measured 2026-09-23 |
Times real time: seconds of avatar video rendered per second. At 1.0× or more, an avatar holds a live conversation. Select a figure for its release and date. All configurations and how we measure.
In Chrome on an Apple M4 with WebGPU, the figure is the engine’s render speed in the tab, not the frame rate a visitor sees.
How we measure
× real time is seconds of avatar video rendered per second, end to end from speech audio in to frame out, one session, unpaced; each figure is the slowest of three quiet runs on the published release. At 1.0× or more an avatar holds a live conversation.
The full method and the raw data: How we measure. Every published configuration: Performance.
Where it renders
Essence 2 and Expression 2 render on the device: iPhone, iPad and Mac (Swift package), Android arm64 (Android SDK), macOS on Apple silicon and Linux x86_64/arm64 (CLI, Python SDK), and in a browser tab with WebGPU. Both models run live on a standard Linux PC with no GPU.
Android, and Essence 2 on iPhone and iPad, need a physical device, not an emulator or the Simulator.
Try it
- Sample avatars you can try without an account: Essence 2
sofia-ramirezand Expression 2wise-pup. Talk to one in the quickstart. - Render on the phone, the Mac or in the browser: On the device.
- Render on a PC with no graphics card: CPU only (no GPU).