The highly anticipated iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max are expected to feature the next iteration of Apple’s chipset, the Apple A18 Pro. A recent leak regarding the chip’s multi-core performance raises concerns that it may not keep pace with its competitors. According to leaked Geekbench 6 results, the A18 Pro shows a modest gain over its predecessor, the A17 Pro, which may not be enough to rival upcoming chips from Qualcomm and MediaTek.
The preliminary Geekbench 6 multi-core test score for the Apple A18 Pro is approximately 7944 points. When compared to the averaged score of 7222 for the A17 Pro, this suggests a performance increase of around 10%. In the context of current Snapdragon models, this performance is approximately 12% faster. Nevertheless, projections for the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and Dimensity 9400 indicate that they could achieve more remarkable scores of 10,628 and 11,739 respectively in the same benchmark.
Even assuming more conservative scores of 10,000 points for both the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 and the Dimensity 9400, this would position them with a significant 26% performance lead over the projected score of the A18 Pro. Furthermore, reports suggest the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 could also outdo the A18 Pro in single-core and GPU prowess.
The performance gaps highlighted by these leaks suggest that Apple’s chipset might not take the lead in the 2024 smartphone market. While fans of Apple’s hardware eagerly await the iPhone 16 series, they may have to brace themselves for a scenario where their preferred silicon is outperformed by Android competitors.
All eyes are now on the official release of these chips, expected later this year, which will confirm whether the A18 Pro can uphold Apple’s reputation for cutting-edge performance or if Snapdragon and Dimensity chips will dominate the high-end smartphone market.
