My expectation for the prosumer hardware is peak clock some around 3.5 ghz — this will smoke anything that Intel or AMD will be able to put out 2021 at a fraction of the power consumption. At last 2000 GB5 single-threaded.
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Additional Benchmarks Reveal A15 Bionic Performance Improvements in iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro
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My expectation for the prosumer hardware is peak clock some around 3.5 ghz — this will smoke anything that Intel or AMD will be able to put out 2021 at a fraction of the power consumption. At last 2000 GB5 single-threaded.
This sounds like a glass half-empty argument. Apple has never produced a 5-core A-series processor destined for the iPhone. Yes, they have 8-core graphics on their X/Z A-series for iPads, but never 5 on iPhones. You can look at it as the Pro models getting a bonus core rather than the non-Pros being shortchanged a core. I suspect Apple added the fifth core in order to support features like ProRes, available only on the Pros.
Cinematic video is mostly supported by the neural engine, which has to intelligently figure out where to keep main focus. Keep in mind even with the A15 increasing processing power of the neural engine over the A14 from 11.8 trillion ops to 15 trillion, the A15 can only manage a meager 1080p at 30fps, which is bare minimum for quality video. I can easily see how the A14 would not be able to handle the feature well. Unless we are privy to behind the scenes engineering and marketing conversations, we do not always know whether features are not present due to technological limitations or to marketing. Companies do routinely hold features back in able to have something to sell next year, but I suspect this feature isn’t one of them. I really don’t think those older phones could handle it.
I hope you realize how completely unreliable those number you posted about TDP areWhat is the TDP for the A15 Bionic?
EDIT: I will answer my own question. The TDP for the A15 is 8.5 watts. The TDP for the A14 Bionic is 7 watts.
Apple A15 Bionic - Benchmark, Test and Specs
Apple A15 Bionic - Benchmark, Geekbench 5, Cinebench R20, Cinebench R23, Cinebench R15 and FP32 iGPU (GFLOPS) benchmark resultswww.cpu-monkey.com
What is the TDP for the A15 Bionic?
EDIT: I will answer my own question. The TDP for the A15 is 8.5 watts. The TDP for the A14 Bionic is 7 watts.
Apple A15 Bionic - Benchmark, Test and Specs
Apple A15 Bionic - Benchmark, Geekbench 5, Cinebench R20, Cinebench R23, Cinebench R15 and FP32 iGPU (GFLOPS) benchmark results
Apple does not publish TDP of their chips and does not have an official TDP definition. Past chips (including A14) where thermally constrained to around 5 watts maximal power usage according to tests. There is no reason to assume A15 will be any different.
I don’t understand this obsession on specs and numbers.
What I find more interesting is the question: “what does this SoC enable me to do?”
Apple could have provided a faster A15, but would that be at the cost of battery life? No thanks. Would that increased speed enable me to do more of X or Y, or open up an entire new feature? Probably not, at least measurably so.
Also, there are things that aren’t measured by raw CPU/GPU benchmarks, such as the new hardware encoder for ProRes, or perhaps other additional additions or improvements in the chip supporting operations that are outside the CPU/GPU realm.
So far I can see, their SoC’s now enable me to create better photos and videos, and there is a slight increase in how long the battery lasts.
For a device that is updated every year, that sounds about right to me.
At this stage, why would you update your phone every year anyway? I usually skip one or two generations.
What I find more interesting is the question: “what does this SoC enable me to do?”
Apple could have provided a faster A15, but would that be at the cost of battery life? No thanks. Would that increased speed enable me to do more of X or Y, or open up an entire new feature? Probably not, at least measurably so.
Also, there are things that aren’t measured by raw CPU/GPU benchmarks, such as the new hardware encoder for ProRes, or perhaps other additional additions or improvements in the chip supporting operations that are outside the CPU/GPU realm.
So far I can see, their SoC’s now enable me to create better photos and videos, and there is a slight increase in how long the battery lasts.
For a device that is updated every year, that sounds about right to me.
At this stage, why would you update your phone every year anyway? I usually skip one or two generations.
I fully agree with you! The thing is, a lot of people in this thread are interested in A15 because it is an indicator of what to expect from the upcoming MacBook Pros. And faster hardware in MacBook Pros indeed allows me to do more, since I can run my scripts and workflows quicker.
Of course, "I'm not buying the 13 because there is only 10% CPU improvements" is silly at its core. These smartphones are faster than laptops that cost twice as much.
+10% single core and +18% multicore is decent. Not mind blowing but also not mediocre either. Not bad. With better battery life and a brighter screen compared to the 12 pro max, this bodes well for Apple.
the major question I have is: is the 13 pro max subject to the same screen dimming problem as the 12 pro max. So as the 12 pro max heats up, whether from fast charging or from running a game or from operating in a hot environment, the screen temporarily dims pretty significantly and performance is temporarily throttled so the phone could cool down. But a dim phone in direct sunlight is a major annoyance as it’s very hard to see the screen. This can be particularly bad if the screen dims while you’re on the highway trying to use the phone as your gps.
I hope Apple has addressed that issue in the 13 pro max.
the major question I have is: is the 13 pro max subject to the same screen dimming problem as the 12 pro max. So as the 12 pro max heats up, whether from fast charging or from running a game or from operating in a hot environment, the screen temporarily dims pretty significantly and performance is temporarily throttled so the phone could cool down. But a dim phone in direct sunlight is a major annoyance as it’s very hard to see the screen. This can be particularly bad if the screen dims while you’re on the highway trying to use the phone as your gps.
I hope Apple has addressed that issue in the 13 pro max.
How much stronger is iPhone 13 mini over my 1st gen iPhone se lol? I’m upgrading Friday
3-4x?
3-4x?
I suppose this comment is not really in the spirit of these forums but IMO speed differences between the A14 and A15 are largely moot. The A14 introduced a 5nm process and big performance improvements. A week ago it was the fastest processor available in any phone. The A15 is based on the same process. Think how incrementally Intel cpu performance increased from year to year. Other than adding more cores we're not likely to see any large performance gains until we see chips based on a different process. I think the change from A14 to A15 is among the most trivial differences between the iPhone 12 and 13 with respect to day-to-day use.
It’s an improvement over the A14, but it’s pretty much the same as the M1. That’s a bit disappointing. Not so much for the iPhone, but for what it could mean for the M2.
Your assumption that big performance jumps are only made possible by smaller nodes, is simply not true. Previously, we saw big performance jumps every year even if the same process was used. But now, it seems that those architectural gains are starting to asymptote.
Really? I feel like it bodes well considering the difference between the A14 and the M1.
Geekbench averages suck and should not be used because they include obviously bad results at about 10% of most common scores. These are either people who don’t know enough to run a benchmark in a clean state, are using a unrealistically hot device or are otherwise squirreling up the results. Any valid averaging would exclude these scores
and for the haters - this occurs for all cpus and android devices, not just Apple, so no rants
and for the haters - this occurs for all cpus and android devices, not just Apple, so no rants
Thank you. I think modest bump is the words he was looking for. Apple fan boys have outdone themselves this year.
I know I am not the OP you reacted to.
But because (as I understand) it is more cost effective to disable one core, than setting up a whole separate production line for producing chips with a lesser number of cores. This is common practice with all chip manufacturers.
It would be off topic to go in too much details here, but if you search around you will find lots of information about this subject.
@cmaier correct me if I am wrong
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If the wafer are full of defects, it is quite unlikely that it will just be affecting the GPU cores only. Most likely is that most of the wafers would be OK, but some of those would be more power efficient compared to others. Those less power efficient wafers would be used to make the 4 cores GPU SoC I would think.
