The new iPhone 16 Pro is a pretty impressive device when it comes to the new front-facing functionalities and the hardware changes. Apple saw fit to introduce a new Camera Control button, which, as the name suggests, controls most of the camera features on the iPhone 16. We can say that the new Camera Control button is the highlight of the upgrade, but we also should not take the new A18 Pro chip lightly, given how it performs against the competition and Apple's custom M1 chip for the Mac.
The A18 Pro chip in iPhone 16 Pro scores higher than the M1 chip's average multi-core score
The Geekbench results of Apple's latest A18 Pro chip were recently leaked ahead of the device's release in September next week. The single and multi-core score of the SoC gave us an idea of the iPhone 16's performance and how it could stack up against the iPhone 15 Pro models as well as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip. From a different perspective, the performance of the A18 Pro chip of the iPhone 16 Pro is much closer to that of the company's desktop-class M1 chip.
9to5mac conducted a comparison where it took 10 results of the M1 chip benchmark, belonging to the iPad Air, and calculated the average single and multi-core score results. We have recently discovered that the A18 Pro chip's single core score is 3,409 and the multi-core score is 8,492, and in comparison to the M1 chip's average, the iPhone 16 Pro is really playing catch up with the big boys.
The average multi-score of the M1 chip was reported to be 8,351, which is slightly lower than the A18 Pro's 8,492, and at first glance, the performance gap is marginal. We have to take note that the M1 chip is based on TSMC's 5nm architecture and was launched four years ago in 2020 for the MacBook Air and Pro models. The A18 Pro chip, on the flip side, is based on the company's second-generation of 3nm process from TSMC, delivering more or less the same performance.
However, the die size is different between the two chips and it plays a major role when it comes to data transactions between the transistors. We should also note that this is only a single comparison, meaning that multiple tests could draw different results. Nonetheless, it is still an impressive feat for the iPhone 16 Pro and the A18 Pro chip, as it is gradually reaching the performance levels of the company's Mac lineup.
Apple is expected to announce the M4 MacBook Pro models next month, which will possibly come with the second generation of 3nm process from TSMC as well, similar to the A18 Pro chip. The M1 chip is still a very capable SoC and we have seen various experiments in the past suggesting how it is future-proof for the next few years. We will share additional details on the iPhone 16 Pro and the A18 Pro chip as soon as further information is available.
