Apple has retained the same CPU and GPU core count for the A18 Pro and A17 Pro, but in terms of performance, the company’s silicon that exclusively powers the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max delivers some nominal gains over its predecessor. Earlier, we reported that the chipset is not just 28 percent faster than its direct predecessor in Geekbench 6’s single-core and multi-core test, but it is equal to Apple’s desktop-class M1 SoC that launched four years ago. Now, the latest benchmark tests the GPU side of things, showing that the A18 Pro is just as fast as an older Apple Silicon while obtaining a decent performance lead over the A17 Pro.
Apple previously claimed that the A18 Pro is 200 percent faster in ray tracing compared to the A17 Pro
It is thoroughly impressive how a single year’s difference can bring a major performance bump for a smartphone chipset. Geekbench 6 Metal scores shared by content creator Vadim Yuryev reveal that the A18 Pro is 18 percent faster than the A17 Pro despite both chipsets sporting the same number of GPU scores. This difference alone highlights how introducing an architectural improvement can have a positive effect on the benchmarking results. Another feat that the A18 Pro has accomplished is that, in the very same Metal test, the chip is equal to the M1.
As you can tell in the image below, the four-year-old M1 obtains a score of 32,532, while the A18 Pro achieves 32,997 points. Even though the A18 Pro is faster, the differences that you are seeing right now are within the margin of error, so we can conclude that both chipsets are equal. However, one area that sets apart the A18 Pro is in hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which the M1 does not support. In fact, the A17 Pro was the very custom SoC from Apple to feature dedicated ray tracing cores, with the A18 Pro said to be 200 percent faster in this category.
Now, all that remains to be seen is how these results translate into gaming performance. We were genuinely shocked when we witnessed with our own eyes how well AAA games could run on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max featuring the A17 Pro. This effectively means that the A18 Pro could deliver a higher framerate while maintaining its performance thanks to an improved cooling solution present inside the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max.
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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