Apple's new mid-range phone, the iPhone 16e, debuted earlier this week. Apple makes no attempt at hiding the fact that the iPhone 16e features a weaker GPU than other iPhone 16 series phones, thanks to a 4-core setup, but it appears the new device is also weaker on the CPU side.
The iPhone 16e has now seemingly made a trip over to Geekbench with the model number "iPhone 17,5" and 8 GB of RAM listed. The phone records a single-core score of 2,706 and a multi-core score of 7,942. In comparison, the vanilla iPhone 16 scored 3,377 and 8,362 on those two tests respectively in our review. Those numbers indicate the standard iPhone 16's CPU could be as much as 10% more powerful than the iPhone 16e's, which makes for interesting reading seeing as both phones share the same CPU core count and clock speed.
Geekbench's Metal test reflects the lack of the extra GPU core on the iPhone 16e's A18 chip. The iPhone 16e scores 24,188 on the Metal test, versus the vanilla iPhone 16's 28,042 score. Missing one core seemingly translates into the iPhone 16 being about 15% more powerful on the GPU side.
While it's disappointing to know that the iPhone 16e fails to match the iPhone 16's performance across the board, the new device also costs $200 less. Potential buyers may consider the slightly worse performance and lack of an ultra-wide-angle camera a worthy trade-off.