Snapdragon 8 Elite fails to match A18 Pro in CPU efficiency, Dimensity 9400 lags even further behind
The smartphone SoC arena is ablaze once again, with Apple's A18 Pro, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite, and MediaTek's Dimensity 9400 locked in a fierce showdown for the performance and efficiency crown. Early assessments from experts have started appearing on the interwebs, and the results seem to be the most intriguing in recent memory.
Regarding raw multi-core CPU performance, the Snapdragon 8 Elite appears to be leading the pack, at least in synthetic benchmarks. In Geekbench 6, the 8 Elite pulls ahead of the rest with a whopping 10,521 points, becoming the first smartphone SoC to break the 10,000-point barrier in Geekbench 6. For the first time in a long time, the A18 Pro managed only the second position. The SoC scored 9,376 points, edging out the Dimensity 9400 by the skin of its teeth.
Although Apple failed to hold onto its multi-core leadership this time around, it did manage to retain its single-core crown, beating the Snapdragon 8 Elite and the Dimensity 9400 by a substantial margin. That's not all for Apple's wins, however. The A18 Pro manages to outpace its competitors in one other key area - efficiency.
As per Geekerwan's analysis, the A18 Pro pulls in around 12 watts during Geekbench's multi-core test, compared to the Snapdragon 8 Elite's 16.5 watts. To be more precise, the A18 Pro consumes around 27% less power while being only 11% slower. The Dimensity 9400, on the other hand, pulls in over 18 watts in the same test, which is around 50% more than the A18 Pro despite being almost neck and neck in performance.
Shifting to single-core, things start to appear even more promising for Apple. The SoC already leads the bunch in single-core performance figures as we have discussed before, while simultaneously being the most efficient. AiFei's analysis reveals that the A18 Pro scores around 3,400 points in Geekbench 6 while pulling in only 6.6 watts. The Snapdragon 8 Elite, however, consumes almost 5% more power, despite scoring 7% lower than the A18 Pro.
All in all, the A18 Pro appears poised to continue its leadership in terms of single-core performance as well as efficiency. The graphics side of things, however, may not be as pleasant for Apple, considering that both the Dimensity 9400 as well as the Snapdragon 8 Elite may have the upper hand over the A18 Pro in that regard.
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