The A18 Pro is said to launch later this year and will likely exclusively power the more expensive iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, with the less costly models featuring the A17 Pro. Unfortunately, in terms of multi-core performance, Apple may be unable to justify the premium being charged on its ‘Pro’ handsets because a tipster says that the newest A-series SoC may only register a 10 percent performance improvement compared to its direct predecessor.
On the plus side, Apple may prioritize record-breaking battery life by deliberately reducing the A18 Pro’s multi-core performance
On X, @negativeonehero provided some details of the A18 Pro, describing its performance as ‘A17 Pro + 10%’ when replying to his own post talking about the multi-core results of both chipsets. This means that the A18 Pro should obtain slightly more than 8,000 points in Geekbench 6, which is nothing to scoff about, but that was if Apple’s upcoming flagship silicon was not about to take on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and Dimensity 9400. When talking about these two and their scores, you will understand why we say that the Android smartphone camp may celebrate in droves later this year.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is rumored to be a multi-core powerhouse, with an earlier Geekbench 6 leak revealing that Qualcomm’s first 3nm chipset secured more than 10,000 points in the benchmark, making it significantly faster than the A18 Pro as it competed with the M3. MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 also allegedly surpassed the 10,000 points threshold, making Apple come in last as far as these numbers go. However, where the A18 Pro can shine is single-core performance, with previous test results showing that the SoC can outperform both the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and Dimensity 9400 in this category but coming up short on the multi-threaded front.
A18 Pro = A17 Pro + 10% https://t.co/2tuAlLbNdz
— Nguyen Phi Hung (@negativeonehero) March 10, 2024
However, it is also possible that Apple might be deliberately gimping the multi-core performance of the A18 Pro to give it enhanced efficiency. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max have previously been reported to sport a bigger battery than their direct predecessors, and with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max already recording above-satisfactory endurance, it is possible that Apple might have different priorities this year. However, it is no secret that a talented pool of individuals have resigned from Apple, with a number of them hailing from the silicon division as they sought greener pastures.
During the release of the A15 Bionic in 2021, it was stated that several chip engineers had left Apple, which may have explained why the chipset did not impress in CPU performance. While the Cupertino giant might be going through the same range of issues, there is no question that the industry standard in smartphone chip performance and efficiency was raised by Apple, so even if the A18 Pro disappoints in raw multi-core gains, there are other areas where it can remain unmatched. Of course, we will learn about all of these and more in future updates.
News Source: @negativeonehero
