Apple A18 Pro in iPhone 16 Pro Max scores similar to M1 and beats A17 Pro in GPU test

At the iPhone 16 series launch event, Apple detailed the new A18 Pro chip as a proper successor to the predecessor. Per the details shared, the new SoC is 15% faster in CPU performance and 20% better in GPU. As for the CPU part, a recent Geekbench run has already confirmed that the chip is faster.

Now, the GPU score of the Apple A18 Pro has surfaced. The iPhone 16 Pro Max with the new flagship mobile SoC has a Metal score of 32,997. In comparison, the iPhone 15 Pro Max with A17 Pro can score anywhere around 28,022 points. That means the new GPU is about 18% faster in this benchmark.

What's more interesting is that this Metal score of Apple A18 Pro is higher than the M1 SoC. To fill you in, per Geekbench's database, the SoC that powered the late 2020 MacBook Air and 2021 iPad Pro can score around 32,548 in the GPU test. While the difference isn't huge, it's quite impressive that the iPhone 16 Pro Max chip can beat it on that specific benchmark run.

This higher GPU score than the Apple A17 Pro could mean much better gaming performance, especially in AAA games. We've seen many of these titles launching for the iPhone 15 Pro line, such as Resident Evil Village, Assassin's Creed Mirage, and Death Stranding. While it was impressive for these smartphones to run these games natively, the performance left much to be desired.

Occasional hiccups, sudden frame drops, and the phone getting hot (Black Shark Fun Cooler 4 curr.  $17.90 on Amazon) were some of the key complaints. The Apple A18 Pro of the iPhone 16 Pro line could fix these with its much more capable GPU. Of course, synthetic benchmark scores aren't a proper indicator of real-life performance. So, we will still need to wait for game benchmarks to come to a conclusion in this regard.