iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Benchmarks Reveal Speed of A19 Pro Chip

[MacRumors]

The first benchmark results for the A19 Pro chip in the iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air surfaced in the Geekbench 6 database today.

Based on these early results — which are unconfirmed — the A19 Pro chip across the Pro models and the iPhone Air appears to deliver up to 13% to 15% faster multi-core CPU performance compared to the A18 Pro chip in the iPhone 16 Pro models.

On the graphics side, the A19 Pro offers more significant improvements. Based on early Metal scores in the Geekbench 6 database — also unconfirmed — the full 6-core GPU variant of the chip in the iPhone 17 Pro models is up to 40% faster than the A18 Pro's 6-core GPU. In the iPhone Air, the A19 Pro chip has a reduced 5-core GPU, and one early Metal score shows it as being around 15% faster than the A18 Pro's 6-core GPU.

In its iPhone 17 Pro press release, Apple said the A19 Pro delivers up to 40% better "sustained" performance compared to the A18 Pro:

When paired with the Apple-designed vapor chamber, A19 Pro enables iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max to deliver up to 40 percent better sustained performance than the previous generation — ideal for gaming, video editing, and running large local language models. The 6-core CPU is the fastest CPU in any smartphone, and the 6-core GPU architecture includes Neural Accelerators built into each GPU core, a larger cache, and more memory than A18 Pro.

It is not entirely clear if that claim refers to CPU or GPU performance.

On its iPhone 17 Pro product page, Apple provides more realistic comparisons. There, it says the A19 Pro offers up to 20% faster CPU performance compared to the two-year-old A17 Pro chip in the iPhone 15 Pro models. That means the A19 Pro would offer sub-20% performance gains over the A18 Pro, so the Geekbench results showing a 13% to 15% year-over-year boost in CPU performance will likely prove to be accurate.

As always, benchmark results and real-world performance are not completely analogous.

Article Link: iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air Benchmarks Reveal Speed of A19 Pro Chip

 

[hellosil]

Why? Your messages and photo's wil load faster.

 

[BorisDG]

To be exact 5%. From Apple's own comparison.

16 Pro vs 15 Pro - 15%
17 Pro vs 15 Pro - 20%
-----
5% over 16 Pro

Also the CPU works @ 4.26GHz vs 4.04GHz of A18 Pro. So probably 0% IPC improvement.

A19 Pro seems focused on GPU AI stuff.

 

[TheMountainLife]

Wake me up when you can actually multitask

 

[bradman83]

Considering the A19 is the likely basis for the upcoming M5 chip in Macs the boost in graphics performance is both promising and impressive.

 

[iMac The Knife]

Wake me up when you can actually multitask

You may as well change your name to Rip Van Winkle then.

 

[Compile 'em all]

People trashing the iPhone air will finally shut up 🤣. The iPhone air is the phone to buy, sorry pro people.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

This is good news for M5. 40% GPU uplift is pretty nice.

Can't wait to see how hot this iPhone Air runs.

 

[eilavid]

Nice improvement on the GPU side. Will make the M5 even more interesting.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

I can't tell the difference in speed between a 13 pro and my 16 pro....doubt this extra speed will be noticeable by many.

Still nice to see, however.

 

[hovscorpion12]

Wake me up when you can actually multitask

That 12GB of RAM has to be for something. Apple's Ai is still basic and video editing still works flawless with no lag on 16PM.

 

[hovscorpion12]

Nice improvement on the GPU side. Will make the M5 even more interesting.

M5 could be the turning point for M3 owners.

 

[knappeduivel]

Do people actually need faster telephones? My 2020 SE2 is always as fast as I wish.

 

[MayaUser]

Yes people need faster SoC...because thats scale to the M families

 

[justanotherdave]

Wake me up when you can actually multitask

iPhones have been able to multitask for years.

You can run 4 audio production Apps in real-time (for example a MIDI keyboard App, Audiobus, effects App and a DAW) on a 10 year old iPhone 6S.

You STILL can’t properly do that on the latest Android phones.

Yes this is a niche use-case, but your claim about multitasking is false.

 

[Black.Infinity]

I think the reason the A19 Pro in the iPhone Air shows only about a 15% gain over the A18 Pro’s 6-core GPU, while the iPhone 17 Pro models achieve up to a 40% improvement, isn’t just the result of having one fewer GPU core. It’s also likely due to lower clock speeds or power limits on the iPhone Air version of the chip.

 

[MacMediaNet]

iPhone 17 Air... Is it a joke - "Air"? ... Big and heavy as a brick.

 

[justanotherdave]

Do people actually need faster telephones? My 2020 SE2 is always as fast as I wish.

Faster CPUs and GPUs allow developers to create new Apps with advanced features that weren’t possible before. It’s been this way since…forever.

Gaming is the obvious market, but power also helps with photo/video (which are very common uses on a smartphone).

 

[nikhsub1]

Man my iPhone 16PM is getting long in the tooth. Need some better CPU for sure.

 

[johannnn]

Do people actually need faster telephones? My 2020 SE2 is always as fast as I wish.

To write emails, no

But for running local LLM, running the latest 3D games, video editing, then yes

Or just for not lagging with Apples latest animations in iOS 26 lol

 

[WarmWinterHat]

iPhones have been able to multitask for years.

You can run 4 audio production Apps in real-time (for example a MIDI keyboard App, Audiobus, effects App and a DAW) on a 10 year old iPhone 6S.

You STILL can’t properly do that on the latest Android phones.

Yes this is a niche use-case, but your claim about multitasking is false.

But you can't have three Safari tabs in the background without them reloading when switching.

 

[NetMage]

Wake me up when you can actually multitask

You could multitask on the original iPhone.

 

[iMac The Knife]

M5 could be the turning point for M3 owners.

Are we talking about Apple or BMW here? 🤣

 

[partrophus]

I’ll get excited when i can connect the “Pro” to an external monitor and get stage manager/ window support. I’ve been using the Ipad Air on the latest beta and i’m sold.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

But you can't have three Safari tabs in the background without them reloading when switching.

And forget about keeping anything loaded in the background if you accidentally open the camera app. Good thing it's not easy to do by accident like swiping on the lock screen or pressing a button on the side of the phone, that'd be crazy.