Performance of iPhone 16 Pro may not impress but that’s okay،
Whether or not new smartphones need faster chips is a debate for another day, but being crowned the fastest phone certainly has its charm. For the longest time, iPhones have managed to have a performance lead over major Android flagships, but the iPhone 16 Pro's A18 Pro may not be powerful enough to continue that streak of victories.
For users who use their phones primarily to browse the web, text friends, and use social media apps, most smartphones, including the most affordable ones, are powerful enough.
So while speed isn't a key consideration for most people, some people need all the speed they can get. Additionally, as many of us stay on our phones longer and repairs become easier, it makes sense to opt for a phone that can keep up with future apps.
The A18 Pro will only be 10% faster than the A17 Pro
Nguyen Phi Hung, a new X leaker on the block, claims that the Apple A18 Pro will be barely faster than the A17 Pro, the chip that powers the iPhone 15 Pro. The A18 Pro will allegedly power the iPhone16 Pro and Pro Max and according to the leak, it will only be 10% faster than the A17 Pro.
Since the leaker has no established history, it's best to take this rumor with a grain of salt. That said, this lines up with a recent rumor that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, which will power next year's Android flagships, will have more processing power than the A18 Pro.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will likely be a huge jump over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 as it will be based on the 3nm process and use new custom cores.
Given that the A17 Pro was also a 3nm chip, it's understandable that the A18 Pro wouldn't be considerably faster than it. Besides, Apple already has a comfortable lead over other chips, so even a small performance improvement could be enough to maintain the advantage.
Apple is also rumored to place great emphasis on AI performance and is expected to equip the chip with a new neural engine with more cores. This would be a substantial upgrade since the Neural Engine has remained with 16 cores since 2020's iPhone 12.
