Here's How Much Faster the A18 Pro Chip is Compared to the A17 Pro

[throAU]

SE is the best value for money phone by far. You get a bunch of features for going up in price but it’s just such a big jump!

Having had a recent SE and a 13 Mini, I can say that you lose a LOT of nice things by going to the SE. MagSafe being one of those things, which means no MagSafe battery pack, no MagSafe charging (yeah it has wireless but who knows how well you placed the phone on the charger), way worse camera, smaller screen despite being physically larger, screen doesn't do anywhere near as good black, not as bright, smaller battery capacity, no faceid, etc.


It's a shame apple killed the mini, hopefully eventually that's what the "SE" turns into with a reasonably current chip, because the mini was/is SO much better.

 

[Cervisia]

never going to happen.. at least in PC area. we are talking about software which was build in 2 decades to get to the same lvl in arm sector even with all the new tech you need 10 years and there is still advancement in the area of x86. I think it would be more arm will dominate anything has battery and that's it. maybe servers due to lower wattage usage.

Yes, to challange the desktop market, ARM would need a manufacturer who sells CPUs you can put into motherboards, so one could pair it with 64GB RAM for the price of the 8GB upgrade at Apple.

But a large part of the server business is already gone, because big cloud providers can design and build their arm chips in-house, and x86 will never beat that. But a small company can't buy that hardware, and probably never will be able.

 

[chucker23n1]

never going to happen.. at least in PC area. we are talking about software which was build in 2 decades to get to the same lvl in arm sector even with all the new tech you need 10 years and there is still advancement in the area of x86. I think it would be more arm will dominate anything has battery and that's it. maybe servers due to lower wattage usage.

Never say never.

I don't know if x86 dying will happen. But I wouldn't be surprised if there comes a point where new Windows apps aren't x86-first but ARM-first.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I am genuinely curious, what would interest you? We all know that smartphones are a very mature platform, and most years we are likely only going to get iterative improvements.

I agree that smartphones, across the board, are a mature product and there isn't a whole lot more you can do with a slab.

I'd be happy with the average upgrade time, for the average individual, to be in the 4-6 year range.

 

[DrWojtek]

My future with computers is this one :
You carry it in your pocket, and wherever you go, you put it on a base to charge and it expands into macOS on a big screen. It's the future of iPhones IMO. That would put Apple in a unique position against their competitors, because Android can only expand into bigger Android, (or Tizen) not into Windows.

They kind of started doing that with iPadOS.

And boom, they won't sell a single Macbook Air anymore.

 

[throAU]

And boom, they won't sell a single Macbook Air anymore.

They'd sell MacBooks, but it would certainly provide what a lot of people need without needing to buy one. If for no other reason that a phone screen is pretty useless for those tasks and no one wants to cary a portable monitor around with them.

The iPad didn't kill the MacBook Air, and it isn't just because it runs iPad OS.

 

[Contact_Feanor]

To be fair, they might care so little that they didn’t shoo the cat off the shift key.

I suspect it's one of these cases:

 

[Ramchi]

I have M4 in my iPad Pro. Thanks for the speed in A18 Pro. My iPhone 15 Pro Max is sufficient for my use!

 

[HylianKnight]

Whatever makes you feel better donating £1200 to Apple for no reason.

People don’t need a reason. It’s their money to do with as they please. Same goes for you; if you don’t see any reason to give Apple your money, then no one should give you any **** for it.

 

[Stiksi]

Having had a recent SE and a 13 Mini, I can say that you lose a LOT of nice things by going to the SE. MagSafe being one of those things, which means no MagSafe battery pack, no MagSafe charging (yeah it has wireless but who knows how well you placed the phone on the charger), way worse camera, smaller screen despite being physically larger, screen doesn't do anywhere near as good black, not as bright, smaller battery capacity, no faceid, etc.


It's a shame apple killed the mini, hopefully eventually that's what the "SE" turns into with a reasonably current chip, because the mini was/is SO much better.

And all those little nice things cost hundreds, that's a lot of money.

Personally, I wouldn't use wireless charging anyway, it's a huge step backwards in efficiency, the SE's camera is fine, so is the screen. The battery capacity matters less to me than how much it costs to replace it. I prefer touch ID, especially for NFC payments.

It's all about what you need and how much you are willing to pay now and in the future for the extra things you would like. I don't think many people actually do the math of how much of a premium they are paying for the upgrades over what they actually need.

The SE's feature set was top of the line a couple years back and people's needs are basically the same now. They upgrade the devices based on what they want to sell you, not what you need.

 

[throAU]

The SE's feature set was top of the line a couple years back and people's needs are basically the same now. They upgrade the devices based on what they want to sell you, not what you need.

Time moves on, having lived with both I 100% feel the cost increase is well worth it in terms of user experience over the past 2 years.

I used to be a touchID hold out too, before I actually used it.

Speaking of doing the math:
A couple of hundred dollars over 2 years is what... 28 cents a day or less... I'll gladly pay that for the convenience given how many times per day I unlock my device, look at it, listen to it, etc.

 

[chucker23n1]

1. The button doesn’t provide a new function, just a different way to do something which already exists

"A mouse doesn't provide a new function, just a different way to do something which already exists"

 

[urtules]

I’m not in the market for a laptop myself, but I’m looking forward to more performant mini PCs that still can be passively cooled (currently using a 1360P).

That would be MacBook Air, zero funs. Very portable.

 

[Sammy in SoCal]

1. Drop a photo into ChatGPT and you get the same result
2. The button doesn’t provide a new function, just a different way to do something which already exists
3. 99% of people don’t have a connection fast enough to take advantage of WiFi 7
4. Honestly who cares about faster MagSafe charging? It cooks your phone, and the 15 Pro battery life is enough to last a whole day anyway, making fast charging irrelevant
5. The 15 pro goes to 2 nit, I’m sure you’ll see the 1 nit difference buddy
6. It’s literally 5% bigger, my 15 PM already lasts 12h SOT

Whatever makes you feel better donating £1200 to Apple for no reason.

But wait. Are you deducting whatever trade in value or what you can sell it for privately(15PM) from that £1200? After all, currently, your iPhone 15PM is going to have it highest value. And there’s many reasons if you are a tech enthusiast..

Faster more efficient chip. Better battery thermals. Larger battery that’s more easily removable. Better neural cores for AI tasks. Better gpu. Updated faster and more efficient qualcomm modem(X75). WiFi 7. Updated Ceramic Shield. Camera button as you mentioned and all the updated camera and video improvements. Anti-reflective coating on the lens(maybe finally we will get rid of those green dots on camera/videos) Studio quality four-mic array. Wind noise reduction. Audio mix. Better speakers.

 

[greg624]

WHO CARES. IT IS ALL THE SAME. IT IS JUST A PROFIT GENERATOR FOR APPLE. WE DO NOT NEED A NEW PHONE EVERY YEAR.

Every company releases a new phone every year. It’s not meant for you to buy it every year. Most people upgrade in 3-5 years. Incremental upgrades over that amount of time usually add up to be a pretty solid upgrade. The most buyers upgrading to this phone have a 13 or older.

 

[krazzix]

iPhone 16 pro is now faster, even in multicore, than my $4,000 i9 iMac from just 4 years ago.

 

[dukebound85]

Can’t do visual intelligence, use the camera button, take advantage of WiFi 7, faster MagSafe charging, dim down to 1 nit or last as long battery wise, but sure buddy whatever helps you feel better about not upgrading this year lol

lol buddy, these differences aren't that noticeable. Whatever makes you feel better about upgrading this year lol

 

[w_aldo]

"A mouse doesn't provide a new function, just a different way to do something which already exists"

Are you really comparing a button with very basic functionality to arguably the best universal input device of all time?

 

[chucker23n1]

Are you really comparing a button with very basic functionality to arguably the best universal input device of all time?

I am, because it’s not a button. It’s a one-dimensional trackpad. It has two press depths, and you can slide across for zoom.

If you’re gonna insist on calling it a mere button, I’m gonna insist on pointing out that you’ve either not understood the feature or are underselling it to score Internet points.

 

[w_aldo]

I am, because it’s not a button. It’s a one-dimensional trackpad. It has two press depths, and you can slide across for zoom.

If you’re gonna insist on calling it a mere button, I’m gonna insist on pointing out that you’ve either not understood the feature or are underselling it to score Internet points.

Come on bro. You know what else had press depths? 3D touch. That had over 400 press depths and it was on the part of the phone that you use the most - the screen, and that STILL wasn't used. It wasn't used to the point where Apple removed it because it was so pointless.

After a year or so, this is going to become completely insignificant. Everyone has the muscle memory of using the vol up/down button or just touching the shutter button on the screen. No one is going to use this, I guarantee it.

 

[w_aldo]

But wait. Are you deducting whatever trade in value or what you can sell it for privately(15PM) from that £1200? After all, currently, your iPhone 15PM is going to have it highest value. And there’s many reasons if you are a tech enthusiast..

Faster more efficient chip. Better battery thermals. Larger battery that’s more easily removable. Better neural cores for AI tasks. Better gpu. Updated faster and more efficient qualcomm modem(X75). WiFi 7. Updated Ceramic Shield. Camera button as you mentioned and all the updated camera and video improvements. Anti-reflective coating on the lens(maybe finally we will get rid of those green dots on camera/videos) Studio quality four-mic array. Wind noise reduction. Audio mix. Better speakers.

It's fine if you upgrade every year and think it's worth it, but to the vast majority of people, it's not. No real, non tech person actually cares if the CPU is 10% faster. Phone tech has matured so much that all of these incremental upgrades are irrelevant unless you skip 2-3 years.

 

[chucker23n1]

Come on bro. You know what else had press depths? 3D touch.

My point exactly. 3D Touch, too, was not just "button doesn’t provide a new function". 3D Touch, too, did stuff you could already do a different way.

Are you also going to argue against keyboard shortcuts? Gestures?

That had over 400 press depths and it was on the part of the phone that you use the most - the screen, and that STILL wasn't used. It wasn't used to the point where Apple removed it because it was so pointless.

So now you've moved the goalpost from "this feature barely does anything" to "people aren't going to use it". Uh, sure?

 

[chucker23n1]

It's fine if you upgrade every year and think it's worth it, but to the vast majority of people, it's not.

The vast majority of people upgrade every ~3 years, so that isn't relevant.

 

[creediddy]

Essentially this article should state that the A-series chip took 4 years to beat the M-series chip rather than place the M-series chips in the iPhone Pro. Great achievement, but the iPad has been given the bigger and faster CPU and GPU updates and the iPhone has been incremental at best. Those are facts.

 

[Moukee]

Essentially this article should state that the A-series chip took 4 years to beat the M-series chip rather than place the M-series chips in the iPhone Pro. Great achievement, but the iPad has been given the bigger and faster CPU and GPU updates and the iPhone has been incremental at best. Those are facts.

The iPad also has fewer thermal and power restraints, as have the Macs. This is the reason the iPhone doesn't ship with M series processors, and it's the same reason the iPad Pro isn't shipping with M Ultra chips, or the Apple Watch isn't shipping with an Intel Core i9.

The A and M series are fundamentally based on the same architectures, but the A chips are physically smaller and the chosen CPU core layout is for maximum efficiency.