iPhone 17 Pro Max Seriously, Apple, you put a MacBook chip in this thing… what, to open Notes faster?

[NativeMac]

I think they use iPhone as a testing ground for chip design and manufacturing techniques, and probably also get discounts on M-series chip because the volume of A-series units they order.

Beyond that I think gaming, photo and video rendering, and ML are the three reasons they keep upping the chipset because your right so much power for notes is…..uhhhh weird haha 😆

 

[teknikal90]

I think they use iPhone as a testing ground for chip design and manufacturing techniques, and probably also get discounts on M-series chip because the volume of A-series units they order.

this is the answer. The Apple Silicone 'product' is the product road map.. Not the release product.
What they've built is the roadmap to deliver great products consistently.

The neural engine was next to useless on the A11 outside of FaceID. but faceID was not the purpose of the Neural Engine development. We were just sold it back in 2017, to fund 2025+ products.

 

[casperes1996]

I’m not asking for desktop software. I understand your point, but iOS still doesn’t have any apps that can fully utilize all this power. For now, it’s just wasted performance, in my opinion.

Year after year, I don’t really see any difference in iOS fluidity compared to the 14 Pro Max…

Do you see much difference in fluidity between an M1 Pro and an M4 Pro MacBook Pro? Both do render basic animations on the desktop as smoothly as possible. Not having huge year to year differences is a sign of maturity and it’s positive. You can hold on to stuff longer.

 

[iPadified]

So why put a MacBook chip in an iPhone if iOS is still so limited? Just for the longevity of the phone?

Because right now, we have a rocket… but it’s stuck on the ground.

What would you have wanted to do with all this power?

Apple could open the door to real “pro” apps — Final Cut, Logic, Xcode… — but for now, nothing is happening.

Maybe they could focus now on pro-only apps to unlock more features and actually make the most of the smartphone’s power.

Extra camera features are nice, sure, but we’re still just circling around the same stuff

All Macs and iPads runs on a beefed up version of an iPhone chip. There is no such thing as a too fast computer/phone etc. Only means you can keep the device longer and who is sorry for that. Smartphones have plateaued in development (well Macs and iPads as well).

 

[wanha]

So why put a MacBook chip in an iPhone if iOS is still so limited? Just for the longevity of the phone?

Because right now, we have a rocket… but it’s stuck on the ground.

What would you have wanted to do with all this power?

Apple could open the door to real “pro” apps — Final Cut, Logic, Xcode… — but for now, nothing is happening.

Maybe they could focus now on pro-only apps to unlock more features and actually make the most of the smartphone’s power.

Extra camera features are nice, sure, but we’re still just circling around the same stuff

I think this is a case of technological evolution where processing power keeps improving, but there isn't an obvious outlet (i.e. use case) for it yet, but this capability accumulation will eventually enable completely new things to emerge.

This isn't just about Apple, but about the industry in general.

 

[Ctrlos]

Because we can pretend all we like but a phone is still a phone. Given the choice there can;t be any sort of professional who would prefer editing video, images or CAD files on an iPhone over a PC or Mac. I used to think that Samsung Dex was really clever until I realised I was only ever using it for the novelty over a local computer. If you have an existing monitor, keyboard and mouse you're not using them exclusively with a phone. A reason I went with the iPhone Air is because I don't want a DSLR in my pocket when I could use a DSLR. If I'm not in a position to carry my camera (ie 90% of the time!) I'm not really in the mindset for taking quality photographs.

 

[fatTribble]

The complaint seems to be that the iPhone could run more robust apps.
But the title complains that the processor is too powerful.

 

[p.willis]

I use the Pro Max’s camera regularly.

It’s a question about the phone’s power.

the camera app would use the faster chip.
and editing photos will get the job done quicker as well.

so the power does work for you even if you arent aware you are using it.

 

[FeliApple]

So what is wrong with having a portable computer that is a phone when not docked but a full computer when docked?

How does an A19 compare to the G5 Quad core from 2005? I have a 2002 Quicksilver dual processor and it's still fast enough for most routine things other than video editing. It used to be fast enough for web browsing to, but bloat has expanded out of control there and the internet is really no better for it.

Remember the Powerbook Duo and matching dock? Same idea, very portable laptop that connected to a docking station to become a full size desktop. It's a very old notion.

That Apple doesn’t think like that.

The iPad. They added a desktop chip. They destroyed touch-first multitasking instead of adding the windowing system and leaving the previous functionality untouched.

“Well, Apple could add the option”. But they didn’t. They tore it apart and then added back a worse implementation due to backlash.

So those who asked for Mac-like multitasking on MacOS partly got what they wanted, but Apple did not leave iPadOS untouched. They first eliminated and then re-added a poor implementation of what was available before.

I wish Apple did both. But experience shows that they’ll destroy the original to add it.

The backlash they got when they removed slide over and Split View shows that most iPad users don’t want that.

 

[antiprotest]

It's to support liquid glass so when you open apps they don't stutter...except, they do anyway.

 

[turbineseaplane]

All I know is that when I pull out my 6s, on iOS 12.2, it's for some reason lighting fast doing everything despite being super old.

I think Apple software is a BLOAT FEST and they have to keep adding more hardware power to keep up.

 

[FeliApple]

All I know is that when I pull out my 6s, on iOS 12.2, it's for some reason lighting fast doing everything despite being super old.

I think Apple software is a BLOAT FEST and they have to keep adding more hardware power to keep up.

Mine on iOS 10.0 is ridiculously fast too.

But by far the most significant difference is, like you said, with iOS 12. I have the phone designed for that iOS version, an iPhone Xʀ running iOS 12.

It is FAR smoother than my 16 Plus on iOS 18. You don’t even need 26 to have a not-as-well optimised major version.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Mine on iOS 10.0 is ridiculously fast too.

But by far the most significant difference is, like you said, with iOS 12. I have the phone designed for that iOS version, an iPhone Xʀ running iOS 12.

It is FAR smoother than my 16 Plus on iOS 18. You don’t even need 26 to have a not-as-well optimised major version.

It drives me insane that we have to put up with this.

I don't want or need my iPhone to keep having all these layers of bloat and complexity added on to it, which just keeps slowing it down at doing everything. Ugh...

 

[FeliApple]

It drives me insane that we have to put up with this.

I don't want or need my iPhone to keep having all these layers of bloat and complexity added on to it, which just keeps slowing it down at doing everything. Ugh...

Yeah, sadly, there isn’t much we can do.

 

[rappr]

It drives me insane that we have to put up with this.

I don't want or need my iPhone to keep having all these layers of bloat and complexity added on to it, which just keeps slowing it down at doing everything. Ugh...

One of the downsides of being so consumer focused is that consumers get bored. Which often leads to change for change’s sake, not because you have legitimate improvements to make.

 

[GMShadow]

Because then the phone is still performant in 5 years, not just 2.

People don’t use 99% of the power of their desktops these days but you don’t see endless complaining of “who asked for this!?!”

 

[kody137]

Which iPhone has an M chip in it?

 

[IJustWannaTalk]

So why put a MacBook chip in an iPhone if iOS is still so limited? Just for the longevity of the phone?

Because right now, we have a rocket… but it’s stuck on the ground.

What would you have wanted to do with all this power?

Apple could open the door to real “pro” apps — Final Cut, Logic, Xcode… — but for now, nothing is happening.

Maybe they could focus now on pro-only apps to unlock more features and actually make the most of the smartphone’s power.

Extra camera features are nice, sure, but we’re still just circling around the same stuff

Power consumption.
Screen size.
Heat.
Lack of proper input devices.

 

[IJustWannaTalk]

Yes, extra power is always welcome in theory, but it only matters if the software, ecosystem, and actual use cases keep up. Apple tends to focus on control, stability, and refinement — but not necessarily on cutting-edge innovation.

They deliver incredible hardware, yet the iOS experience remains highly controlled and limited compared to what that hardware could truly do. And right now, their lag in generative AI is quite obvious. While Google, Microsoft, and even Samsung are already integrating genuinely useful AI tools, Apple still seems to be in observation mode.

So yeah — saying an iPhone is “too powerful” might be wrong from a hardware standpoint, but if that power doesn’t translate into real value for the user, it’s just performance marketing.

Some of us REALLY don't want AI invading every aspect of our digital lives.

 

[Silverstring]

So this thread—at its core—is really just the usual “iOS is too Limited/Sucks” conversation in an unnecessary “The Chips Are Too Powerful” framing?

I’m not complaining to be clear, and I agree with OP’s criticisms of iOS/iPadOS and its app ecosystem. I don’t mean “unnecessary” as a pejorative, just that it seems to me that:

Apple could open the door to real “pro” apps — Final Cut, Logic, Xcode… — but for now, nothing is happening.

is the core “wasted iOS potential” (again, I agree) point here, and tying it to questioning particular phone/chip hardware is a superfluous wrapper.

 

[thenewperson]

It continues to baffle me why there are complaints about an iPad chip in an iPad.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

So why put a MacBook chip in an iPhone if iOS is still so limited? Just for the longevity of the phone?

Because right now, we have a rocket… but it’s stuck on the ground.

What would you have wanted to do with all this power?

Apple could open the door to real “pro” apps — Final Cut, Logic, Xcode… — but for now, nothing is happening.

Maybe they could focus now on pro-only apps to unlock more features and actually make the most of the smartphone’s power.

Extra camera features are nice, sure, but we’re still just circling around the same stuff

First off, only Apple knows chip yields and Apple's future plans. Optimizing chips over time and multiple devices (no doubt including some we are unaware of) is hella complex. The idea that some random consumer can judge whether or not some chip is wasted power is ludicrous on the face of it. That chip might actually be the cheapest available long term; or the added chip production volume may be necessary to keep a line running optimally; or it might be a test bed for something else; or whatever. We do not know.

Secondly, usage of a 2025 device is not simply +/- one standard deviation of the mean of 2025 buyers for 2025 usage.

A) There are users outside of +/- one standard deviation of the mean who want max performance right now; maximum smoothness on challenging usages.

B) Phones get used for years or even decades. I doubt if users in 2030 will opine that the 2025 iPhones they are using are overpowered. It is far better that Apple overpower devices rather than underpowering them.

Last but not least is developers. Developers can be more creative when they see more hardware power available. This is huge.

 

[MayaUser]

There is no "too fast device" on the market, my fingers still can be faster than the animations+SoC can handle in some situations...so, even the basics still cant keep up with us sometimes..not to mention that kids wants to play AAA games on this little display...and still cant keep up to 60 fps in some situations ...so is this is joke?
And people back in the day said the otherwise...why put an iphone SoC into a mac

 

[seek3r]

My favorite use of all this power is when Safari unloads all my tabs because I insisted on switching between multiple apps.

That likely is memory constraints not CPU

 

[cnnyy20p]

Even M5 is not efficient enough to make ideal Vision Pro into reality, think about that.