Source: Apple
Apple’s latest A18 and A18 Pro chipset power iPhone 16 models, revealed at Monday’s Glowtime 2024 event. The chipsets leverage second-generation 3-nanometer technology combined with ray tracing for gaming. Although Apple has not yet released the full specifications but only talked about the new chips supported by vague comparison charts, we will compare the A18 with the A16 and the A18 Pro with the A17 Pro to give you an idea of the upgrades.
A18 vs A16 Bionic
At the core of the A18 is its upgraded 16-core Neural Engine, designed to handle large-scale generative models with twice the speed of its predecessor. This leap is complemented by a revamped memory subsystem, offering 17% more system memory bandwidth, helping with quick access to Apple Intelligence. Apple’s A18 chipset also offers a 6-core CPU with two performance and four efficiency cores. Apple claims it is up to 30% faster than the iPhone 15 CPU and about 60% faster than the iPhone 12. While the performance is at its peak, the energy consumption is reduced by up to 30%.
On the GPU side, the A18’s 5-core GPU makes it suitable for high-performance gaming, camera, and AI tasks. Apple claims that the GPU operates with 35% less power than its predecessor, the A16, used in the iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
In the gaming department, Apple adds hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a technology widely used in AAA titles that delivers realistic lighting, shadows, and reflections. This makes A18 a top choice for gaming.
Interestingly, Apple didn’t compare the A18 with the A18 Pro, leading many to speculate that both chipsets might offer nearly the same speeds and performance.
| Features | A18 | A16 Bionic |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 6-core CPU (2x Performance cores, 4x Efficiency cores) | 6-core CPU (2x Everest performance cores, 4x Sawtooth efficiency cores) |
| Neural engine | 16-core Neural Engine 2x faster for machine learning tasks | 16-core Neural Engine Up to 17 TOPS |
| Architecture | 3nm process | 4nm process |
| GPU | 5-core GPU 35% more power-efficient Hardware-accelerated ray tracing | 5-core GPU |
| Gaming and graphics | Hardware-accelerated ray tracing | No hardware-accelerated ray tracing |
A18 Pro vs A17 Pro
While the A18 Pro is an upgrade over the A17 Pro, both chipsets have almost the same configurations. The A18 Pro continues to use second-generation 3-nanometer transistors and a 16-core Neural Engine, which allows it to be more power efficient than the A17 Pro chipset. AI-powered features on the A18 Pro will run up to 15% faster than on the A17 Pro. The new 6-core CPU, featuring two performance cores and four efficiency cores, also uses about 20% less power than its predecessor.
Apple has also improved the machine-learning (ML) accelerators on the A18 Pro, promising high-efficiency, low-latency computations that drive Apple Intelligence. Moreover, these accelerators are now directly programmable, providing developers greater flexibility for AI apps.
Moreover, the 6-core GPU on the A18 Pro will run 20% faster than the A17 Pro and can perform twice the Ray Tracing.
The new display engine on A18 Pro powers features like ProMotion and Always-On Display for smooth visuals and battery optimisation. The chip also has a faster USB 3, allowing quick transfer of high-quality video footage.
| Features | A18 Pro | A17 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Six-core CPU (2+4) | Six-core CPU (2+4) |
| CPU cores | 2x Performance cores 4x Efficiency cores 15% faster CPU | 2x 3.78 GHz Performance cores 4x 2.11 GHz Efficiency cores |
| Architecture | 3nm process | 3nm process |
| GPU | Apple 6-core GPU 20% faster GPU 2x faster Hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing | Apple 6-core GPU Hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing |
| Machine learning and AI | 16-core Neural Engine; 35 TOPS | 16-core Neural Engine; 35 TOPS |
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