The first Geekbench score for the iPhone 14 Pro with the new A16 Bionic chip reveals a very contained improvement in performance over last year’s iPhone 13 Pro. We understand better why Apple did not dwell on its latest processor during the September 7 keynote.
A disappointing benchmark for the iPhone 14 Pro
The results of a Geekbench test for an iPhone15.3, the technical identifier of the iPhone 14 Pro, show that the new iPhone 2022 has a score of 1879 in single-core CPU and 4664 in multi-core. The iPhone 13 Pro had a score of 1707 in single-core and 4659 in multi-core, which is almost the same in multi-core and only slightly slower on one core.
The most significant new feature of the A16 Bionic chip is that it is Apple’s first chip based on the 4nm etching process. The A15 Bionic chip, like the Apple M1 and M2 chips for the Mac, is based on the 5nm process. This makes it possible to reduce the size of the component, but above all to gain in energy efficiency.
Despite a smaller jump in performance than some might have hoped, Apple claims the A16 Bionic chip is “the fastest chip ever in a smartphone.” The A16 Bionic features a 5-core GPU that can provide up to 50% more memory bandwidth for graphics-intensive games. The A16 Bionic also features a new 16-core neural engine to power advanced machine learning tasks. As for the processor, the A16 Bionic has the same number of 6 cores as the A15 Bionic, but Apple specifies that it is a “new 6-core processor”.
Finally, Apple has integrated a new processor to manage everything related to the screen, such as the display, the always-on mode and even the notch animations of the iPhone 14 Pro, the Dynamic Island.