When Apple launched the iPhone 14 lineup in late 2022, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max immediately caught everyone’s attention. This wasn’t just because of the design but the big advancement Apple brought to the table in the form of the Apple A16 Bionic chip. This chipset now powers the likes of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus and as the last chip based on a 4nm process, it does deliver a lot.
iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max: Apple A16 Bionic performance
In simple terms, the A16 Bionic Chip is Apple’s 2022 chip for its Pro iPhone models and it subsequently made its way to the base iPhone 15 models. It first debuted with the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max and is manufactured on a 4nm process. The chipset features a hexa-core CPU with two performance cores and four efficiency and a five-core GPU.
This chip also includes a 16-core “Neural Engine” for machine learning and contrary to many rumours, Apple still went with a Qualcomm modem for sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G support. At the time of its launch, Apple claimed that the A16 Bionic’s 6-core CPU is up to 40 per cent faster than the competition and there is no denying that this chip is fast.
In synthetic benchmarks, the A16 Bionic performed better than the A15 Bionic found on the iPhone 13 Pro and iphone 14 models. It was also faster than competing Android devices but lagged behind some flagships when it came to graphical performance. If we only look at CPU performance, the A16 Bionic is not a bionic upgrade over the A15 Bionic or A14 Bionic.
However, this chip’s performance is much better than the likes of the A13 Bionic, which debuted way back in 2019. The launch of A16 Bionic once again showed that Apple holds a good lead over rivals and its older chipsets when it comes to CPU performance but the graphic performance is an area where Apple still needs to improve.
Apple A16 Bionic: Performance and efficiency
The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max launched with new features like all-day battery life, a Dynamic Island, and computational photography via a new 48MP main camera. These features were made possible by the A16 Bionic chip under the hood of these devices. Apple claims the A16 Bionic chip’s new 16-core Neural Engine performs nearly 17 trillion operations per second and the camera hardware performs up to 4 trillion operations per photo.
It is quite natural for all that performance to result in poor efficiency but the A16 Bionic also performs well in terms of battery life. This is because the A16 Bionic’s performance cores consume 20 per cent less power than before while the efficiency cores consume one-third of the power compared to rivals. This ability to extract top-shelf performance while consuming less power allows Apple to use a smaller battery while also delivering great battery life.
Apple A16 Bionic: Supported phones
As mentioned earlier, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max were the first to get an Apple A16 Bionic chip. The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus, which launched alongside the iPhone 14 Pro models, launched with the A15 Bionic chip.
Last year, Apple expanded the use of the A16 Bionic chip to two more devices with the launch of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus. The iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max debuted with the A17 Pro chip, which was Apple’s first chip to be fabricated using a 3nm process and improved graphics performance.
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