Apple introduces a new A series system-on-chip each year to pair with its latest iPhones. The company is taking a completely new approach this year. The new A16 processor is reserved only for the “Pro” model iPhones, while the standard iPhone 14 models get the same A15 we were introduced to last year (the 5-core GPU version that was found in the iPhone 13 Pro models).
This-year and last year splits are not the only thing that is unique. The A16 is a minor improvement on the previous SoC. While there are some minor changes, most users won’t notice them. The differences between A15 and A16 appear to be relatively mild compared to Apple’s typical yearly cadence.
This year, it was earlier. Some predictions were made about the A16They were led by assumptions that didn’t all work out. Although some things were true, the A16’s performance gains are only half what I expected. There are also fewer technological advancements. Here’s what’s new in the A16, and what you can expect from Apple’s first “Pro-only” A series chip.
What’s changed from A15 Bionic
The A16 looks very similar to the A15 from first glance. There are four high performance CPU cores and two high efficiency cores. Five GPU cores are available, as well 16 Neural Engine Cores that can run machine learning or AI algorithms. The A15 is the same.
The chip is manufactured on a new “4 nanometer” process from TSMC, according to Apple, making it the first such processor in a smartphone. According to Nikei Asia’s teardownThis is a costly change. The site found that the chip costs “over 2.4 times more than the A15 version used in the iPhone 13 Pro Max released last year.” The site reports that Apple is paying $110 for each chip, which has raised the iPhone’s production costs “to an all-time high.” To its credit, Apple hasn’t increased the price of the iPhone 14 Pro models over last year.
It’s worth noting, however, that TSMC’s “N4” process is not a 4nm process in the truest sense with TSMC itself even calling it “An enhanced version of N5 technology.” While it’s a more advanced process than earlier A series processors, it is not a real next-generation silicon manufacturing process; you’ll have to wait for the 3nm process next year for such a thing.
The iPhone 14 Pro does not include the A16 chip.
Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry
The transistor count has gone up a few percent to 16 billion (from 15 billion), and it’s likely that most of that higher budget is spent in the new display engine (which manages the iPhone 14 Pro’s display down to 1Hz in always-on display mode and can crank it up to 2,000 nits in bright sunlight), memory controller, and image signal processor.
They appear to have been very little changed for the general purpose parts of the processor. The high-performance CPU cores carry the code name “Everest” and can clock up to 3.46 GHz, a roughly 7% boost over the A15’s maximum of 3.24 GHz for its “Avalanche” cores. The high-efficiency cores are code-named “Sawtooth” and clocked up to 2.02 GHz, which is almost the same speed the 2.01 GHz of the A15’s 2.01 GHz “Blizzard” cores. While these cores carry a new name, the architectural changes appear minor at best, as they don’t deliver performance outside the expected uplift from the increase in clock speed.
The Neural engine still uses 16 cores as in A15. Apple claims that it can perform up to 17 trillion operations per seconds, an approximate 8% increase on the 15.8 trillion performed by the A15. I think it’s likely the same design just clocked a little higher.
The most important change is the switch from LPDDR4x to LPDDR5 memory. This should give you 50 percent more memory bandwidth than LPDDR4x in the A15. Apple actually made the switch to LPDDR5 in the M1 processor line (on the M1 Pro, Max, and Ultra), which is based on the A14 chip architecture–the only real surprise here is that the company waited this long to do it in their iPhone-bound chips. In some cases, the A15’s memory bandwidth may limit the task. In these cases, the A16 should perform better.
At first glance, it appears that we have an A15 with a faster clock speed, possibly with a new image signal processor and display engine. We’ve read reports that there are new security measures in the processor’s ROM; unsurprising, considering how hard Apple works on both the hardware and software side to make their devices difficult to hack.
Performance of your CPU
Given that the CPU architecture hasn’t changed much, but just runs at a clock speed up to 7 percent higher (and with more memory bandwidth available), we should expect most CPU benchmarks to show performance gains of 10 percent or less.
Geekbench 5 data shows that single-core CPU performance has increased by approximately 8-10 percent over A15. Multi-core performance fares a little better, but it’s likely that those tests are more easily able to overwhelm the chip’s caches and would therefore get some benefit from the increased memory bandwidth.
Performance of the GPU
The A16 Bionic has five GPU cores, just as the higher-end A15 does, and I don’t believe there have been any architectural changes. However, high-end 3D graphics can be extremely demanding on memory bandwidth. I believe the switch to LPDDR5 will have a significant effect here. I don’t have any real insight into the GPU clock speeds, but it would be reasonable to expect that the cores can clock around 7 percent higher, just as the high performance CPU cores do.
Taking a look at one of the most strenuous 3D graphics benchmarks, 3DMark Wild Life, performance varies from around 7 percent faster on easier modes to around 19 percent in the “Wild Life Extreme Unlimited” test. That’s a good improvement, and in line with what I would expect from a mild clock speed increase and big memory bandwidth boost.
As shown in the GeekBench compute score, the GPU is used for general-purpose computations. The performance boost is between 7-8 percent and 9-10 percent.
A15+ would be a better name.
There’s no doubt that the A16 is not simply a “binned” version of the A15 (“binning” is when chips that are tested to perform better in manufacturing are separated and sold as a different model). This is a brand new chip. There aren’t any major architectural changes here that I can see. Only minor tweaks to increase clock speed and power efficiency. This is less of a leap over last year’s model than we are used to seeing in Apple’s yearly iPhone revamp, a fact that is only underscored by the fact that the standard iPhone 14 models are still using last year’s A15 while still providing important features like Action Mode, Photonic Engine, and 4K Cinematic mode.
Apple
Apple didn’t promote any particular feature of the processor as “new” other than the display engine (which is required to manage the iPhone 14 Pro’s always-on display and 1Hz refresh rate), and in fact marketed it most directly against Android phones and the A13, it’s three-year-old flagship. The performance charts just don’t look very impressive with a 7-10 percent performance bump.
To that end, I feel like Apple probably shouldn’t have given this chip the A16 moniker. In most ways that matter, it’s a tuned-up A15. Even the new “4nm” manufacturing process is best described as a modified 5nm process. It’s probably unreasonable to expect groundbreaking advancements every year, with entirely new architectures delivering 20% performance improvements. The occasional “tune-up” year is fine, especially since Apple has such a commanding lead in smartphone performance right now. A title such as A15+, A15 Pro or A15 Pro is a better representation of the chip.
