The first benchmark results for Apple’s iPhone 16 series performance have begun to emerge. While the Geekbench results shared last week fell short of expectations, especially in multi-core performance, new tests reveal the power of the A18 Pro processor more clearly. This development also supports Apple’s claims about the performance increase offered by the A18 chips at its September 9 launch.
Apple is using the A18 Pro processor in the iPhone 16 Pro models. This chip is based on Apple’s second-generation 3nm process technology and offers a significant performance increase over previous generations. Scoring 3429 points in single-core tests and 8790 points in multi-core tests, the A18 Pro is about 15-20% faster than the A17 Pro processor in the iPhone 15 Pro. This increase means a difference of about 30-35% compared to the iPhone 15 with the A16 Bionic processor. This performance increase is seen as a remarkable development, especially for applications and games that require intensive processing power.
Comparing A18 Pro with M1 chip
What’s more interesting is that the A18 Pro has achieved performance comparable to Apple’s first-generation M1 chip. The M1 was released as a processor developed by Apple for its Mac and iPad models, and was highly acclaimed for its performance at the time. However, the A18 Pro’s Geekbench results show that this chip even surpasses the M1 in some areas. For example, while the M1 chip’s multi-core performance remains around 8,351 points on average, the A18 Pro is 5% faster with 8,790 points. This is considered an indication that mobile devices are now approaching desktop-level processing power.
Of course, it should be noted that these benchmark results do not fully reflect real-world usage scenarios. However, these results show the progress Apple has made in mobile processor technology. In particular, the A18 Pro’s powerful GPU cores and additional features such as the USB 3 controller allow the iPhone 16 Pro to deliver faster performance in graphics processing and data transfer.
Apple’s iPhone 16 series stands out not only for its processor power, but also for its hardware integration. The high performance provided by the A18 Pro, in particular, when combined with the device’s RAM capacity and compatibility with the Apple ecosystem, raises expectations from mobile devices even higher. Some technology experts are discussing the idea that the iPhone could be used like a desktop computer by connecting to an external display with this hardware power in the future. This scenario could turn the iPhone into a portable computer, not just a smartphone. It is thought that such use could be more efficient, especially when compared to solutions such as Samsung’s DeX platform, thanks to Apple’s in-ecosystem integration and software optimizations.
However, there is currently no feature that can fully utilize the power of the iPhone 16. For example, there is no mode yet that provides a full desktop experience when connected to a USB-C monitor. In the future, Apple could integrate features like Stage Manager into the iPhone, allowing the device to appeal to a much wider range of uses. This could allow users to increase their productivity by using the iPhone with an external keyboard and mouse.