Apple's A19 Pro Chip Explained: What It Means for Gaming and AI Performance

Apple introduced multiple new hardware products at its “Awe Dropping” event on Tuesday, including the much-awaited iPhone 17 series. The Cupertino-based tech giant's latest flagship series comes with several new upgrades, including a new design, better cameras, and longer battery life. Equipped within the smartphones, the company also introduced its latest system on chip (SoC) — the A19 series. This year, there are three variants of the A19 series. The standard platform powers the iPhone 17, whereas two variants of the A19 Pro power the iPhone Air and the iPhone 17 Pro models.

A19 Pro Chipset Introduced

Apple silicon typically goes under the radar during its smartphone-focused events due to the large number of features and upgrades being showcased. However, it is the main powerhouse enabling all of these capabilities. This is why, every year, the chipsets powering the new iPhone arrive with significant improvements.

The biggest upgrade for Apple's mobile platforms was seen in 2023 with the launch of the iPhone 15 Pro models and the A17 Pro SoC. This was the first year that the tech giant removed the “Bionic” from the chip's naming convention and opted for the “Pro” tag, creating another layer of difference between the Pro and non-Pro iPhone.

A19 Pro continues on the trend, fabricated on the same 3nm process technology. While Apple did not confirm, it is likely that, just like the previous years, these were made by TSMC. Despite no major changes in the fabrication technology itself, the tech giant claims that the wafer design itself was changed to bring higher performance compared to previous generations.

What's New in A19 Pro

Before getting into the performance gains by the A19 Pro, it should be highlighted that this year, there are two variants of the chipset. The iPhone Air gets a custom version of the mobile platform with a 6-core CPU and a 5-core GPU. On the other hand, the iPhone 17 Pro models are equipped with the most performant version of the A19 Pro, with a 6-core CPU and 6-core GPU architecture.

A19 Pro specifications
Photo Credit: Apple

Each GPU core comes with “neural accelerators” that offer an additional boost to daily workflows, and when AI models are invoked for a task, the company said. And just like the previous year, it also comes with a 16-core Neural Engine, aimed specifically for Apple Intelligence features and other complex machine learning workflows. The tech giant has also updated the display engine and the image signal processor.

The iPhone 17 Pro models also get a new thermal architecture that makes use of the vapour chamber cooling technology to improve the A19 Pro's efficiency. As per Apple, the new chipset delivers 40 percent better sustained performance than its predecessor.

Additionally, the company claims that the chipset, powered by the Neural Engine, is capable of handling AI models, high-resolution graphics, and AAA gaming titles with hardware-accelerated ray tracing and higher frame rates enabled.