Apple has once again employed the tactic of chip-binning with its iPhone 16e. This approach has resulted in the A18 chip inside the iPhone 16e having one less GPU core compared to its counterparts found in the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. This seemingly small difference translates into a significant performance drop, with the A18 in the iPhone 16e surprisingly lagging behind the older A16 Bionic in benchmark tests. The A16 Bionic, debuting in the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max nearly three years ago, outperforms the new chip, raising eyebrows over Apple’s latest release.
This isn’t an isolated observation. A previous analysis indicated the binned A18 achieved 15% lower scores in the Geekbench 6 Metal benchmark compared to its non-binned counterpart. Further testing by YouTuber Dave2D on the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited reinforces these findings. The results were stark: the 4-core GPU version of the A18 managed only 2,882 points, while the older A16 Bionic posted a score of 3,170. The non-binned A18, with its full 5-core GPU, pulled a more impressive 4,007 points, highlighting a dramatic 28.04% performance gap.
These results naturally raise questions and might spark some disappointment among potential buyers who expected more from Apple’s latest device. While it’s clear that economic strategy might have driven Apple to such decisions to make the iPhone 16e more affordable, the performance disparity cannot be ignored. Enthusiasts and tech reviewers are likely to continue examining the iPhone 16e’s capabilities to determine whether these findings hold true across the board or are exceptions. As more benchmark data emerges, it will provide a clearer picture of how the binned A18 truly stacks up against its predecessors.
