Compare the A16 Bionic to any other Apple chip

An Apple processor is at the heart of all Apple devices. Apple has used its own processors in its iPhones, iPads, and Macs for some time. The Mac lineup is almost done with its transition from Intel chips. Apple has far more devices with its own silicon than Intel’s now—all that remain are the higher-end Mac mini and the Mac Pro— and before the end of 2023, every product Apple makes will likely be powered by a home-grown chip.

What’s remarkable about Apple silicon is its performance—major PC and Android chip manufacturers can’t ignore Apple’s chips because they’re being outpaced. But all chips aren’t created equally. Understanding the performance differences between each chip will help with your buying decisions, especially when you’re deciding between iPhone 14 or MacBook models. Knowing how each chip performs gives you a better idea of what products to buy and whether or not it’s worth your money to step up to a higher model.

Let’s take a look at how the new processors compares with the rest of the processors in the iPhone, iPad, and Mac lineup and see how each performs and what that means to you. For the sake of consistency, we’ve used Geekbench 5 benchmarks. (The results are ll our own, but we’ve checked our numbers against the Geekbench database to be sure the results are expected.) Here’s every chip and how the benchmarks compare with each other.

Comparing every processor

Before we get into the individual processor, let’s let the chips fall where they may. It’s a somewhat predictable chart of course, with the M1 Pro/Max Macs at the top, followed by a mix of iPads and iPhones. But there are still some fascinating results: Owners of the iPad Pro can say their tablet is about as fast as a MacBook Air and that wouldn’t be an exaggeration. And the difference between the $399 iPhone SE and the $899 iPhone 14 isn’t as huge as their price difference indicates.

Processors for iPhone

Before we compare the performance of each iPhone processor, let’s take a look at the specifications so we can understand the differences between them.

Now let’s look at how each processor performs. The iPhone 14 Pro’s A16 Bionic processor is the fastest. Although both the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 13 use the same A15 Bionic processors the iPhone 13 uses one fewer GPU core to give it better graphics performance.

Apple still sells its iPhone 12, which is equipped with an A14 Bionic. It’s actually not much slower than the iPhone 13’s A15 Bionic–the specs between the two processors are practically the same, with the A15 Bionic’s performance cores having a slightly faster clock speed and more RAM. Consider the iPhone 12 if you are more concerned about price than features and camera quality.

The speed difference is more obvious between the iPhone 12’s A14 Bionic and the chips in the iPhone 14 models. This could be the last hurrah for the A14 Bionic, since the iPhone 12 will be replaced by the 13 as the low-cost option with Apple’s next major iPhone rollout next fall, though it’s possible it makes its way into the next Apple TV revision.

iPad processors

The staggered release of Apple’s iPad lineup creates an odd-looking performance order of CPU and its device.

Although the A15 Bionic is more recent than the A14 Bionic in the iPad Air before it, the performance gap is very small. This is likely one reason why Apple upgraded the iPad Air to an M1 in 2022. The A15 Bionic in this tablet must be clocked down to maintain a proper operating temperature, so it’s not as fast as the A15 Bionic in the iPhone 13 Pro. After a fall update, the A13 Bionic in entry-level iPads will likely go away. This would mean the end of this processor.

The iPad Pros with M1 hardware and the iPad Air have the fastest models. This is a significant difference from the iPad mini and iPad pro. It is difficult to predict Apple’s future plans for the processors in the iPad Pro and iPad mini. The iPad Pro will likely get the A15 Bionic upgrade. But what about the iPad mini. Apple could opt to give it an M1 or M2 processor to distinguish it from the entry level iPad, though the mini’s small frame means it’s more likely to get the A16.

Mac processors

With Apple’s M-series of chips for the Mac, the company’s release schedule involves the base version in the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and other Macs. Apple then alters it to create higher-end models. 

The M2 chip in the M-Series is the most recent. It was released together with the new 13-inch MacBook Pro (and the MacBook Air) in the summer 2022 right after WWDC. Apple will no longer use the M1 for those Macs. However, the M2 replaces it. Apple may also keep the M1 MacBook Air at a lower price, like the $999 M1 MacBook Air.

With the M2Apple claims an 18% increase in CPU performance overall over the M1. In the multi-core CPU test, we are able to confirm Apple’s claim. A single-core CPU test revealed a lower 13% increase for M2.

The M1 Ultra is a powerful chip. It has twice the CPU multicore performance as the M1 Max. It also excels in GPU performance.

It is available in the M1 Max. It is distinct from the M1 Pro with its graphics performance—the 32-core GPU gives it a big boost. The only device we haven’t personally tested is the 8-core CPU, 14-core GPU of the M1 Pro in the $1,999 14-inch MacBook Pro, but online benchmarks show CPU performance around 20 percent slower than the 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU M1 Pro.

You can find a fascinating comparison between the 8 core CPU M1 Pro (low-end M1) here. The M1 Pro’s 8-core M1 Pro provides a 30 percent boost in performance. However, the $1,999 14 inch MacBook Pro is 33 percent less than the M1-based $1.499 13-inch MacBook Pro. In terms of just pure performance, you’re paying a little more than a dollar per percentage point.

The chip that started it all, the good ol’ M1, may seem slow compared to the M1 Pro and M1 Max—but that’s not to undermine Apple’s original Mac processor. The M1 is a significantly more expensive processor than the Intel processors that it replaced. This results in significant performance and price.