Since Apple took the reins of its own chips, Apple Silicon, the processor market has experienced a revolution in performance and energy efficiency like never before. Today, every iPhone, iPad and Mac has a processor inside designed by Apple itselfand if you are looking to renew your equipment, understanding the differences between these chips can be crucial to making the best purchasing decision.
Here we tell you how current processors compare and which model may best suit your needs.
Apple Mac processors
Just a few days ago, Apple officially launched its new series of products with the M4 chip family, once again demonstrating the power of the Apple Silicon architecture in all Macs. Despite the fact that all Mac processors Apple chips are perfectly optimized for each device, not all chips are the same. Currently, we can see everything from the M1 chip to the brand new M4, M4 Pro and M4 Max.
So that we understand each other, what determines the processing power of these processors is the greater or lesser number of cores. The more of these there are on a chip, the greater speed and fluidity we can find in the user experience.
As expected, and with the first performance tests in hand, carried out by Geekbench 6, the new chip M4 Max is the most powerful processor from Apple, surpassing in speed, both in the CPU and the GPU, the M2 Ultra, which now seems like a “slow” processor, so to speak, compared to the brutal power of the most recent versions. Regardless, the M2 Pro is still a solid processor to keep an eye on.
Most powerful iPhone processor
iPhone processors have also taken a big leap, especially with the launch of the A18 Pro in the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max. This chip includes two high-performance cores running at 4.04 GHz and four efficiency cores, along with a six-core GPU. The difference between the A18 Pro and the A18 that we find in the standard iPhone 16 is minimal, although the former has a additional graphics corewhich translates into a small improvement in performance in the graphics section.
When brought to the fore, the A16 Bionic, which gives life to the iPhone 15, is one step behind in terms of power, while the A15 Bionic is still present in the iPhone SE and the iPhone 14, although with a notable difference in graphics in favor of the latter. For those users who do not require maximum performance and are looking for a good value for money, the iPhone SE and iPhone 14 remain more than viable options, with good processing capacity.
What is the best processor for an iPad?
The iPad line also benefits greatly from Apple Silicon chips. The M4 is the heart of the new iPad Pro 11 and 13 inches, bringing them to a power level comparable to that of many laptops, including the MacBook Air, albeit with iPadOS software.
If you’re looking for a tablet for demanding tasks, from video editing to graphic design, the iPad Pro with M4 is an excellent choice. For those who don’t require as much power, the iPad Air with the M2 remains a solid and more affordable option, with performance that leaves standard iPads behind.
At the other extreme, much cheaper, the 10th generation iPad and iPad mini offer optimal performance thanks to their A14 Bionic and A17 Pro chips, respectively. These models are ideal for multimedia consumption and basic tasks without giving up a great user experience.
