Apple's A18 Pro Leaked Benchmark Score Hints at Vastly Improved Single-Core Performance

Apple's iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are expected to debut this year with a new A18 Pro chip under the hood, and the company's purported mobile processor could bring notable performance upgrades over its predecessor — the A17 Pro — which powers the iPhone 15 Pro models, according to a leaked benchmark score. The A18 Pro could offer better single-core performance than Qualcomm's purported Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip, while the latter is tipped to offer better multi-core performance.

According to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by user Nguyen Phi Hung (@negativeonehero), Apple's hexa-core A18 Pro chip scores 3,500 points on the single-core test and 8,200 on the multi-core test on Geekbench 6. In comparison, the current-generation iPhone 15 Pro Max with an A17 Pro chip scores 2,898 points and 7,201 points on the single-core and multi-core tests, respectively.

Photo Credit: Screenshot/ X (@negativeonehero)

Meanwhile, benchmarks for the purported Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 — expected to succeed the recently unveiled Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip by the end of 2024 — recently leaked by the same user show the processor scoring 2,845 points in the single-core test and a whopping 10,628 points in the multi-core test.

As it stands, the A18 Pro could offer a 20.77 percent increase in single-core performance over its predecessor, while the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip might leapfrog Apple's chip in multi-core performance. In fact, the leaked A18 Pro single-core Geekbench 6 score is higher than that of the 16-inch MacBook Pro (3,230 points) released in late 2023 with an M3 chip.

However, it's too early to call these benchmarks reliable — the iPhone 16 Pro models aren't expected until Q3 2024, while flagship Android phones with the rumoured Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip aren't likely to debut until the last quarter. There's also no way to verify if these benchmark scores are accurate, as they aren't published on Geekbench's website.

Until last year, Apple released two 'Pro' iPhone models with the latest mobile processor, while two models would be equipped with the chip from the previous year's high-end iPhone. In 2023, Apple equipped the iPhone 15 models with a 4nm A16 Bionic processor, while the iPhone 15 Pro models came with the 3nm A17 Pro chip. It remains to be seen whether Apple releases the iPhone 16 models with a 'Bionic' processor while the Pro model gets the purported A18 Pro chip.