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Apple may have equipped the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max with 6 GB of RAM, but initial Geekbench result is a mixed bag for the A14 Bionic

Apple has brought 6 GB of RAM to the iPhone. (Image source: Apple)
Apple has brought 6 GB of RAM to the iPhone. (Image source: Apple)
The differences between the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 12 Pro models were thought to be only camera-based, but it turns out that Apple has also equipped them with different volumes of RAM. The increase in RAM for the Pro models should give them an advantage over the regular iPhone 12 and their predecessors, but an initial Geekbench listing offers up some rather disappointing multi-core performance.
Apple iPhone Smartphone

Apple has unveiled the iPhone 12 series, although it was a touch light on the specifications of its new iPhones. As expected, the iPhone 12 series packs the company's new A14 Bionic chipset, which it announced last month with the fourth-generation iPad Air. However, MacRumors has revealed that the Pro models have more RAM than the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 mini.

Having scrutinised the Xcode Plist files of the new iPhones, the website has determined that the iPhone 12 mini and iPhone 12 have 4 GB of RAM, the same volume of RAM that Apple included in last year's iPhone 11 series. By contrast, the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max have 6 GB of RAM, which should offer some performance advantages for the two Pro models.

The iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max have 6 GB of RAM. (Image source: MacRumors)
The iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max have 6 GB of RAM. (Image source: MacRumors)

While 6 GB of RAM and the 5 nm A14 Bionic should yield excellent raw power for the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max, an initial Geekbench listing suggests otherwise. We currently only have listing to go off, but the reference to 6 GB of RAM points to the device being a Pro model.

The 'iPhone13,3' scored 1,590 in Geekbench 5 single-core, an 18% improvement in single-core performance on the A13 Bionic. However, the device topped out at 3,210 points in the multi-core benchmark, a 9% shortfall on the chipset in last year's iPhones. Perhaps pre-release software is at fault here, but the A14 Bionic would have to up its game a lot to live up to Apple's claim of it being '50% faster than any other smartphone chip'.

The first sighting of an iPhone with 6 GB of RAM has underwhelming multi-core performance. (Image source: Geekbench)
The first sighting of an iPhone with 6 GB of RAM has underwhelming multi-core performance. (Image source: Geekbench)

Source(s)

MacRumors & Geekbench

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2020 10 > Apple may have equipped the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max with 6 GB of RAM, but initial Geekbench result is a mixed bag for the A14 Bionic
Alex Alderson, 2020-10-14 (Update: 2020-10-14)