This year, Apple has packed the new A18 chipset on iPhone 16 and 16 Plus while the premium iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max feature the more powerful, A18 Pro SoC. On paper, both chipsets appear very similar so we conducted various benchmarks to find out the real-world performance differences between A18 and A18 Pro. On that note, let’s check out the findings.
Apple A18 vs A18 Pro: Specs Comparison
| A18 | A18 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Six-core CPU (2+4) | Six-core CPU (2+4) |
| CPU Cores | 2x 4.05GHz Performance cores 4x 2.42GHz Efficiency cores |
2x 4.05GHz Performance cores 4x 2.42GHz Efficiency cores |
| Process Technology | TSMC’s 3nm process (N3E) | TSMC’s 3nm process (N3E) |
| GPU | Apple 5-core GPU Hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing |
Apple 6-core GPU Hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing |
| Memory Support | LPDDR5X, up to 7500 MT/s | LPDDR5X, up to 7500 MT/s |
| Machine Learning and AI | 16-core Neural Engine; 35 TOPS | 16-core Neural Engine; 35 TOPS |
| Modem | Snapdragon X75 5G modem Up to 10 Gbps Peak Download Up to 3.5 Gbps Peak Upload |
Snapdragon X75 5G modem Up to 10 Gbps Peak Download Up to 3.5 Gbps Peak Upload |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 | Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 |
Apple A18 vs A18 Pro: Geekbench 6 CPU
In our first Geekbench 6 CPU test, the A18 scored 3,141 in single-core and 7,804 in multi-core. Whereas, the A18 Pro does slightly better due to a large cache size and achieves 3,358 in single-core and 8,814 in multi-core. The A18 Pro CPU is only about 5-7% faster than the A18 CPU which is pretty narrow. I would say both the chipsets deliver nearly identical CPU performance.
Apple A18 vs A18 Pro: AnTuTu Benchmark
In the AnTuTu benchmark, the A18 achieves a total score of 1,668,567 points. And the A18 Pro gets 1,816,016 points, offering an overall performance gain of around 8.8%. The A18 Pro CPU and GPU deliver around 8-10% faster performance than the A18.
| A18 | A18 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| AnTuTu Score | 1,668,567 | 1,816,016 |
| CPU | 409,372 | 451,848 |
| GPU | 675,209 | 728,942 |
| Memory | 224,979 | 268,756 |
| UX | 359,007 | 366,470 |
Apple A18 vs A18 Pro: Geekbench 6 GPU
In the Geekbench 6 GPU test, the 6-core A18 Pro GPU scores 32,569 and the 5-core A18 GPU achieves 28,030 points. The test was done on Apple’s Metal graphics API. Here, the difference is substantial, where the A18 Pro GPU offers around 16% better graphics performance than the A18.
Apple A18 vs A18 Pro: 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test and Solar Bay
To test the GPU further, we ran the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress test on both A18 and A18 Pro. The 5-core A18 GPU gets the best loop score of 3,600 points and the lowest loop score of 2,370 points, with a stability of 65.8%.
On the other hand, the 6-core A18 Pro GPU gets the best score of 4,574 points and the lowest score of 3,096 points, at 67.7% stability. Here, the performance difference comes down to a massive 30%. Besides having an extra GPU core, it seems the graphite substructure in the iPhone 16 Pro Max greatly helps the GPU to sustain its peak performance, even under sustained load.
| 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test | A18 | A18 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Best loop score | 3,600 | 4,574 |
| Lowest loop score | 2,370 | 3,096 |
| Stability | 65.8% | 67.7% |
In the 3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited test which puts the Ray Tracing units through its paces, the A18 gets an overall score of 7,068 with an average frame rate of 26.9 FPS. In contrast, the A18 Pro gets 7,985 points and achieves an average frame rate of 30.4 FPS. In Ray Tracing capability, the performance difference is around 13% between A18 and A18 Pro.
| 3DMark Solar Bay Unlimited | A18 | A18 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 7,068 | 7,985 |
| Average frame rate | 26.9 FPS | 30.4 FPS |
Apple A18 vs A18 Pro: Geekbench AI
In the latest version of Geekbench AI 1.1, the 16-core Neural Engine on both A18 and A18 Pro performs along the same lines. In fact, the A18 does slightly better in Half Precision (FP16) and Quantized (INT8) data types. Both Neural Engines have access to faster LPDDR5X memory (up to 7500 MT/s) which results in better performance. Simply put, A18 and A18 Pro are powerful enough to run on-device Apple Intelligence features for AI/ML tasks.
| Geekbench AI | A18 | A18 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Single Precision Score | 4,231 | 4,582 |
| Half Precision Score | 32,518 | 31,990 |
| Quantized Score | 44,953 | 43,995 |
The Verdict
After comparing the A18 and A18 Pro chipsets on several benchmarks, we can conclude that the A18 chipset is a notch below the A18 Pro. Recent reports also show that both chipsets have different SoC designs. However, you get the same CPU cores, but the cache size has been halved on A18. And on the GPU side, you get one less GPU core.
Overall, the performance difference in CPU is somewhere between 5% to 8%. In the GPU department, the A18 trails by around 15-20%. As far as day-to-day usage is concerned, you won’t find much difference except in sustained gaming performance. In my book, both are flagship-level chipsets.