AnandTech Finds iPhone 11 Pro Has 50-60% Higher Sustained Graphics Performance Than iPhone XS

[MacRumors]

AnandTech today published its in-depth review of the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro, including a detailed overview of the processor and graphics performance gains of Apple's latest A13 Bionic chip.

Starting with CPU performance, AnandTech found the A13 chip is around 20 percent faster than the A12 chip in last year's iPhone models, consistent with Apple's advertised claims. However, to fully achieve that improvement, the site claims Apple had to increase the peak power consumption of the CPU cores:

In virtually all of the SPECint2006 tests, Apple has gone and increased the peak power draw of the A13 SoC; and so in many cases we're almost 1W above the A12. Here at peak performance it seems the power increase was greater than the performance increase, and that's why in almost all workloads the A13 ends up as less efficient than the A12.

In terms of efficiency at the A13 chip's peak performance state, AnandTech believes the higher power draw will likely result in both the chip and the iPhone being more sensitive to temperatures and prone to throttling.

Apple says the A13 chip is up to 30 percent more power efficient than the A12 chip overall, encompassing all levels of performance.

In terms of overall performance, AnandTech emphasized Apple's lead in the mobile chip space, noting that the A13 posts almost double the performance of the next best non-Apple chip. The site also found the A13 "essentially matched" the "best that AMD and Intel have to offer" for desktop CPUs, at least based on SPECint2006, a suite of CPU-intensive cross-platform integer benchmarks.

AnandTech was even more impressed with GPU performance, noting that while peak performance has improved by roughly 20 percent as advertised, the iPhone 11 Pro had 50 to 60 percent higher sustained performance scores than the iPhone XS based on the high-end GFXBench graphics benchmark:

Where the new chip really shines and exceeds Apple's own marketing claims is in the sustained performance and efficiency of the new GPU. Particularly the iPhone 11 Pro models were able to showcase much improved long-term performance results, all while keeping thermals in check. The short version of it is that Apple has been able to knock it out of the park, delivering performance increases that we hadn't expected in what's essentially a mid-generation refresh on the chip manufacturing side of matters.

AnandTech is widely known for its coverage of components like CPUs and GPUs, so its iPhone reviews are highly regarded. AnandTech founder Anand Shimpi joined Apple's chipmaking team in 2014 and recently spoke about the A13 chip in an interview alongside Apple's marketing chief Phil Schiller.

Full Review: The Apple iPhone 11, 11 Pro & 11 Pro Max Review: Performance, Battery, & Camera Elevated by Andrei Frumusanu

Article Link: AnandTech Finds iPhone 11 Pro Has 50-60% Higher Sustained Graphics Performance Than iPhone XS

 

[kylelerner]

But can it run the new Fortnite?

 

[AvisDeene]

If only Apple would put as much effort into increasing their desktop graphic performance.

 

[zorinlynx]

This sort of thing makes me wonder how powerful these chips would be operating without power and heat constraints.

 

[dan9700]

Still no games are made for the power, when the iPad Pro landed only nba game uses the graphics to the max, no other iOS game uses the power we have

 

[DNichter]

Not surprising, Apple has a massive lead in chip performance compared to the competition. I expect to see a Mac next year with a custom Apple chip. The reasoning today is much greater than it was when Apple transitioned from Power PC to Intel (power per watt).

 

[timber]

What does Apple say to the god of diminishing returns?

Not today.

 

[realtuner]

Apple once again laying the smackdown on everyone.

It’s quite embarrassing how far ahead they are.

 

[fmcshan]

It’s mind boggling that Apple has so little RAM in its flagships, but it’s processors are so far ahead and efficient that iPhones can still outperform the competition.

 

[B4U]

Yeah, but does it have 3D Touch?
And does it run iOS 12, which is way less buggy than the iOS 13 crap?

 

[ToneDriver]

If only Apple would put as much effort into increasing their desktop graphic performance.

Could be why

And I'm not being snarky. It's just that they have quite the vested interest in that big red part.

 

[calzon65]

Impressive, will be nice to see an iPad with the A13.

 

[miami.best21]

That means better emojis.

 

[AvisDeene]

Could be whyView attachment 869943
And I'm not being snarky. It's just that they have quite the vested interest in that big red part.

I understand that, but still, it would be nice if they gave their desktops more love, especially with their current push into gaming.

 

[deconstruct60]

What does Apple say to the god of diminishing returns?

Not today.

Which article are you reading? This one basically says

"... However, to fully achieve that improvement, the site claims Apple had to increase the peak power consumption of the CPU cores ..."

So yes there are diminishing returns here. Similarly from the Anandtech source article.

"... While we suspect that a lot of people will interpret it to mean that A13 is 20% faster while simultaneously using 30% less power, it’s actually either one or the other. In effect what this means is that at the performance point equivalent to the peak performance of the A12, the A13 would use 30% less power. Given the steepness of Apple’s power curves, I can easily imagine this to be accurate. ... "

The way that Apple gets to better system lifetime on battery is by not running in 'hot rod' mode as much as they can. The hot rod mode is an even bigger problem now, not a benefit. There is pretty good chance that probably factors into why they are using the bigger battery capacity to power the phone ( as oppose to recharge other devices. )

 

[MBX]

It’s mind boggling that Apple has so little RAM in its flagships, but it’s processors are so far ahead and efficient that iPhones can still outperform the competition.

I thought so first too but after having been on the iPad Pro 12.9 for a month now it feels like this thing has 16GB or even 32GB of Ram. I never noticed any lags or "beachball moments". It most of the time even feels snappier than my previous 16GB Ram MacBook Pro.

Hugely impressed with the A12 and Ram managment on the iPad Pro.

Imagine how much more impressive it will be with the A13 and more ram.

 

[newellj]

So we have a technical triumph with the hardware, but all it's good for is running benchmarks and a few gaming apps. Oh wait, there's no revenue in providing minimally bug-free operation of core apps like Mail, Messages, Notes and Reminders.

I really like the 11PM on the hardware side, not so much on the firmware/software side. I keep thinking about buying an iPhone 7 Plus to tide me over until 13 runs core apps reliably.

 

[mannyvel]

At this point the a13 is so far ahead that Apple's basically playing its own game.

 

[Nicksd84]

Heat on my Xs is a problem. Can’t imagine it getting better. Although I guess for the camera the new chip is awesome. Can’t wait for this chip in an iPad.

 

[Juicy Box]

Could be whyView attachment 869943
And I'm not being snarky. It's just that they have quite the vested interest in that big red part.

I am probably not like most, but I personally use an iPhone because I use a Mac and work really well together. I love my Macs, and am more indifferent toward my iPhone.

If the Mac line turns to total garbage, I will most likely drop the iPhone for something else, and just leave the ecosystem.

Although, like I said, I am probably not like most Apple product users.

 

[Mike_Trivisonno]

A friend of mine bought a new Galaxy 10 Note+. It was pretty cool at the start. But now, he can't stand the thing and ordered a new iPhone 11 Pro. It was the whole Apple ecosystem that he found difficult to reproduce. Plus, his AirPods will not work the the Galaxy. And he could not figure out how to sync his photos to his iPad.

You never know how cool the Apple products are until you try to replace them!

 

[realtuner]

Which article are you reading? This one basically says

"... However, to fully achieve that improvement, the site claims Apple had to increase the peak power consumption of the CPU cores ..."

So yes there are diminishing returns here. Similarly from the Anandtech source article.

"... While we suspect that a lot of people will interpret it to mean that A13 is 20% faster while simultaneously using 30% less power, it’s actually either one or the other. In effect what this means is that at the performance point equivalent to the peak performance of the A12, the A13 would use 30% less power. Given the steepness of Apple’s power curves, I can easily imagine this to be accurate. ... "

The way that Apple gets to better system lifetime on battery is by not running in 'hot rod' mode as much as they can. The hot rod mode is an even bigger problem now, not a benefit. There is pretty good chance that probably factors into why they are using the bigger battery capacity to power the phone ( as oppose to recharge other devices. )

We’re all reading the same article. Except we’re not cherry picking a few quotes to try and diminish just how good the A13 is.

It’s years ahead of Samsung and Qualcomm.

 

[chucker23n1]

It’s mind boggling that Apple has so little RAM in its flagships, but it’s processors are so far ahead and efficient that iPhones can still outperform the competition.

It's fairly easy to explain at a technical level.

iOS apps are mostly AOT-compiled code with no garbage collection (typically written in ObjC, Swift or C++ and targeting the native CPU); Android apps are mostly JIT-compiled code with a garbage collector (typically written in Java or Kotlin and targeting the Java VM). The two have different performance characteristics; generally speaking, native code is faster especially at first execution, whereas JIT code can in some cases be faster when well-optimized against the current situation, but is typically slower.

One isn't necessarily better than the other, but it makes sense that the latter would require more RAM: whereas the former is already compiled, runs natively against the physical CPU, and has had memory allocations and deallocations defined during compile time, the latter needs each process to run a VM, a JIT compiler, and a garbage collector.

 

[The Oak]

If only Apple would put as much effort into increasing their desktop graphic performance.

Apple desktop/laptops use Intel chips - look at Intel.

 

[chucker23n1]

We’re all reading the same article. Except we’re not cherry picking a few quotes to try and diminish just how good the A13 is.

It’s years ahead of Samsung and Qualcomm.

That's not the same assertion, though.

The A13 is good; the question is: are the CPU gains as big as they used to be? Will Apple's lead shrink over time?